Cagliari 1-0 Frosinone: Michel Adopo ends a four-match losing run against the run of play
Frosinone had 63.7% of the ball and nine shots on target, but it was Michel Adopo's 38th-minute strike, teed up by Paul Mendy, that settled it as Cagliari snapped a four-match losing streak.
Frosinone did almost everything a team can do to win a football match without actually winning it. They had nearly two-thirds of the possession, nine shots on target to Cagliari's four, and more than double the passes completed. None of it mattered: Michel Adopo's 38th-minute finish, set up by Paul Mendy, was the only goal of the game, and it was enough to hand Cagliari a result that went clean against the pattern of play.
It was a lopsided afternoon in almost every column. Frosinone completed 399 of their 500 passes and won 13 corners to Cagliari's three, yet could not find a way past a Cagliari defence that otherwise rode its luck. The hosts' one moment of real quality, Adopo's strike, proved to be the difference in a game their underlying numbers suggest they probably should not have won.
Cagliari end a four-match slide
The win matters more for where Cagliari were coming from than for how it was achieved. Their previous four Serie A matches had all ended in defeat — against Monza, Bologna, Roma and, most recently, a 1-2 loss at Lazio — making this their first win since a 1-0 victory over Udinese back in September. Frosinone, by contrast, arrived unbeaten in four (a win over Sassuolo, a draw at Atalanta, and wins over Lecce and Torino either side of it), a run this result brings to an end.
Discipline
The game was littered with bookings without ever boiling over into a red card. Frosinone picked up three yellows — Gabriele Bracaglia inside the first quarter-hour, Anthony Oyono just after the hour and Ilario Monterisi late on — while Cagliari matched them with three of their own, two of them arriving within a minute of each other as Jacopo Fazzini and Nicola Grandu were both booked around the 70-minute mark.
| Stat | Cagliari | Frosinone |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 36.3% | 63.7% |
| Shots on target | 4 | 9 |
| Passes completed | 208/299 | 399/500 |
| Corners | 3 | 13 |
| Fouls committed | 14 | 12 |
| Offsides | 3 | 1 |
| Yellow cards | 3 | 3 |
Match facts
- 13' — Gabriele Bracaglia (Frosinone) booked
- 38' — Michel Adopo (Cagliari), assisted by Paul Mendy
- 60' — Anthony Oyono (Frosinone) booked
- 69' — Jacopo Fazzini (Cagliari) booked
- 70' — Nicola Grandu (Cagliari) booked
- 85' — Ilario Monterisi (Frosinone) booked
- 87' — Zé Pedro (Cagliari) booked
What's next
Cagliari climb to 9th with 16 points and travel to Como on 21 November. Frosinone stay 6th on 20 points and visit AC Milan the following day.
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