Monza’s 4 points after 5 rounds: goals at both ends, but no clean sheet

1-4 at Inter left Monza with 0 points after round 1

Monza’s Serie A season began with the clearest of setbacks: a 1-4 away defeat at Inter in round 1. The result left the club with 0 points and in position #19 after the opening round. It remains the team’s heaviest defeat of the campaign so far, and it established a difficult defensive starting point before the season had found any rhythm.

The wider numbers underline the scale of the opening problem without reducing the story to one result. Monza have kept 0 clean sheets across the recorded campaign, while conceding 12 goals in their 5 matches. The team have also scored in every game, so the issue has not been an inability to create a scoreline. The evidence instead points to a side that has regularly remained involved in matches but has not protected its own goal often enough.

2-3 against Udinese made it 2 defeats from 2 rounds

The response at home against Udinese brought another loss, this time by 2-3 in round 2. Monza were still without a point after the match, although their position moved to #18. The defeat also began the club’s longest losing streak of the season so far: 2 games.

That home result helps explain why the overall home record is mixed rather than secure. Monza have taken 1 win and 1 loss at home, with 4 goals scored and 4 conceded. They have not yet drawn in front of their own supporters. The Udinese scoreline also fits the broader profile of a team that has found the net in each recorded match but has not produced a clean sheet.

The league context suggests that open matches have not been unusual across Serie A. The league average is 2.90 goals per match, while Monza’s own games have repeatedly produced goals at both ends. That comparison does not explain the individual results, but it places their early defensive record inside a generally productive scoring environment.

1-1 at Parma ended the losing streak in round 3

The first change in direction came away to Parma in round 3. The 1-1 draw supplied Monza’s first point and moved the club to position #17. It ended the 2-game losing streak, but it did not yet turn the opening into a sustained recovery. The result was a stop to the slide rather than a decisive break from it.

The away split remained a clear contrast with the home record. Monza have collected 0 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses on the road, scoring 4 goals and conceding 8. The draw at Parma is the only away match in which the team has avoided defeat, and the 1-1 score is also the only recorded game in which Monza and the opponent finished level.

There was one encouraging constant in this early sequence: Monza did not fail to score. Their attacking output across the campaign has reached 8 goals, and the team’s penalty record includes 1 scored and 0 missed. Those details do not erase the defensive weakness, but they help distinguish the opening problem from a complete attacking collapse.

2-3 at Lecce kept Monza on 1 point after round 4

The next away assignment brought another narrow defeat. Monza lost 2-3 at Lecce in round 4, leaving the team on 1 point and moving it back to position #18. The score was different from the opening loss at Inter, but the consequence was similar: a promising attacking contribution did not produce a result because the defensive margin remained too thin.

This was the second away defeat of the campaign and the third match in which Monza conceded at least 3 goals. The figures are season totals, not a description of every performance: 12 goals have been conceded in 5 matches, compared with 8 scored. The lack of a clean sheet remains 0, and every match has included a Monza goal. Together, those facts describe a team that has stayed on the scoreboard but has not controlled the defensive side of its matches.

The tactical record shows that Monza have mainly used a 3-4-2-1, selected in 4 games, with a 3-4-3 used in 1 game. The data does not establish that the formation caused the results. It does show a largely consistent structural choice during a start in which the results remained uneven.

2-1 over Sassuolo delivered 4 points after round 5

The first win arrived at home against Sassuolo in round 5, when Monza prevailed 2-1. It is the club’s biggest win of the season so far, although the one-goal margin means it was still a close scoreline. More importantly, the victory changed the tone of the recorded campaign: Monza followed two defeats, a draw and another defeat with their first three-point result.

The home victory also gives the split a more balanced shape. Monza’s home record now stands at 1 win, 0 draws and 1 loss, with 4 goals for and 4 against. That is stronger than the away record in points taken, though the home goal difference remains level. The win did not produce Monza’s first clean sheet; the defensive total remains 0 across the season.

Gustavo Varela has been the clearest individual source of finishing. He has scored 4 goals in 4 appearances, which accounts for half of Monza’s 8 league goals. Ricardo Mangas and S. Birindelli have each supplied 2 assists in 5 appearances. Their contributions help explain how Monza have continued to score through a difficult run of results, while the team’s overall record shows that chance creation has not yet been matched by defensive security.

Position #16 and 4 points mark the current table picture

After 5 of the season’s 38 rounds, Monza sit in position #16 with 4 points from 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses. Their goal record is 8 scored and 12 conceded, producing a goal difference of -4. The club’s position has ranged from a low of #19 in round 1 to a high of #16 in round 5, so the latest movement is upward within the short sample, even though the season total remains modest.

The recorded stretch from round 1 through round 5 is listed both as Monza’s best stretch and as their worst stretch: 4 points from 5 games. That apparent contradiction is important. It means the current sample contains the club’s strongest and weakest defined run at the same time; there is no separate sequence in the supplied data that improves on it or falls below it. Recent form is therefore best described through the order of results: 2 opening defeats, a draw, another defeat, then a win. The season total is the resulting 4 points.

Monza are 9 points behind the league leader. The remaining rounds of the 38-round campaign offer time to change that distance, improve the away record and address the absence of a clean sheet, but the available evidence does not establish how those future matches will unfold. For now, the clearest story is a team that has climbed from #19 to #16 through its first win, while its attack has remained productive and its defence has yet to provide a shutout.