A lot of the talk at the moment regarding AC Milan and young coaches in Serie A revolves around Thiago Motta, but there is another manager who is impressing.
Calciomercato.com write how Alberto Gilardino continues to amaze with Genoa, who were promoted from Serie B last season and are 12th in the Serie A table with 33 points, meaning they are already close to sealing safety.
On Monday evening at San Siro, despite the 2-1 defeat against Inter, Gilardino’s men demonstrated that they have some important characteristics. First of all, at 2-0 down in the 38th minute, the Rossoblù did not give up and continued with character and personality, playing their way.
Furthermore, Genoa demonstrated that – in addition to good individuals – they have a collective spirit that perhaps brings out more than the sum of the parts. In the second half they penned Inter in their area, scoring a goal and having another disallowed for offside.
Both in Monday’s match and in the reverse fixture at the Marassi (which ended 1-1), Genoa were one of the very few teams capable, at least this season, of putting Simone Inzaghi’s steamrolling Inter in difficulty.
Thiago Motta and Raffaele Palladino may be stealing the headlines and earning the links with bigger clubs, but both have more experience too given that Motta is in his fourth season in Serie A and Palladino in his second, while Gilardino is in his debut season (after four seasons between Serie C and D, and a year in Serie B).
Gilardino’s name could therefore easily be among the possible candidates for the bench of a big club in the near future, such as Juventus or Milan, if they decide to change manager in the summer. The 2006 World Cup winner has a special bond with both clubs.
As for Juve, the Piedmontese-born former striker has never hidden that he supported them as a child, as well as having been close to joining them on at least a couple of occasions, without ever actually joining them.
As for Milan, however, the history books do the talking: 132 appearances and 44 goals in three seasons, winning a Champions League, a European Super Cup and a Club World Cup.
