Parma's evolution under Cuesta

In his first analysis article for Kognia Sports Intelligence, Vincent Leifholz analyses Parma's start to the season, comparing how new manager Carlos Cuesta has implemented a change in playing style compared to last season, when Parma returned to Serie A.

Before joining Kognia in September 2025, Vincent was a performance analyst, working at multiple clubs including Hannover 96 and FC Hansa Rostock.

Decision for a new path

Crowned by the Serie B title, Parma Calcio returned to Serie A for the season 24/25 after three years of abstinence. In their first season back in Italy’s top league, under the leadership of Cristian Chivu, the club managed to maintain their league status. This summer, after Chivu’s departure to Inter, the club decided on a new path and signed 30-year-old Spaniard Carlos Cuesta as the new head coach. Cuesta’s move from Arsenal to Parma made him the youngest head coach in Europe’s top-5 leagues. For Cuesta, who previously worked as an assistant under Mikel Arteta, Italy is not entirely new; he had already worked in Juventus Turin’s youth academy and therefore had prior exposure to Italian football.

A change in approach or just some unfortunate luck

After six games, Parma currently sit 14th in Serie A. With seven goals conceded, they are around the league average defensively. Their problem lies in attack – in six matches they have scored only three goals, all from set pieces. The data inevitably leads to the question of why Cuesta’s attacking play has not yet clicked and in which areas Parma have to improve to become more goal-dangerous.

When we combine the data from the offensive and passing Kognia templates, it becomes clear that Cuesta’s team generate a lot of opportunities in the opponent’s box - they play many balls into the box (72nd percentile) as well as into the final third (67th percentile) and generate a sufficient number of shots (42nd percentile). These positive numbers are underpinned by the xG value, which stands at 6.1 (37th percentile), more than double their actual goals scored (3, 11th percentile). Their solid number of shots results in rarely hitting the target (21st percentile) and their crosses yield too little finishing (32nd percentile).

One option to address this issue in front of goal could be to become even more variable and unpredictable, especially with runs behind the opponent’s defensive line (21st percentile), to play quickly behind the lines or creating more space for Cuesta’s dominance in front of the defensive line.

Many areas of improvement - but not the crucial one 

If we take a look at how Parma held on in the league last season and compare it with this season, It shows that last season’s style was more vertical, with their vertical passing overcoming opponents more frequently last season  (11th percentile 25/26 vs 26th percentile 24/25). This tactic shows the ball possessor executing a pass to a teammate who is in a more vertically advanced position and therefore overcomes opponents. 

Their attacking approach is notably different now the team are in their second season in Italy’s highest competition. They play significantly more passes into the opponent’s box (35.5 vs 26.7 per 90), shoot more often (11.3 vs 10.1), have a higher xG (1.02 vs 0.79), and generally play more passes overall (723 vs 712). In terms of generating high quality shooting opportunities, their xG was 27.7 and they scored 41 goals - this season it is currently 6.1 and they have scored 3 goals.

The coming weeks will be intriguing to see if Parma can reward their hard work in front of the opposition goal and what options Cuesta will take to become even more dangerous, in order to finally score the first goal of the game from open play.