Another turbulent season at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris is over and Genoa are still in Serie A by the slimmest of margins.
This marks the second consecutive season that the Grifone left it late to preserve their top-flight status. But like the previous year, Genoa got hot when it mattered, and an easy last five games compared to their relegation rivals helped keep them up.
The end of the season and the beginning of the season started similar in many ways and it was only when president Enrico Preziosi began to tinker with the club that Genoa saw their fortunes change.
The season got off to a decent start under Luigi De Canio as the club went unbeaten in five of their first eight games. But the biggest problem the team showed in those early games was a lack of talent all over the field.
Genoa showcased their youth early on by regularly deploying the likes of Ciro Immobile, Alexander Merkel, Mario Sampirisi and Andrea Bertolacci. But the team’s inexperience showed, and after giving up a two goal lead to Roma on October 21, Preziosi sacked De Canio. In his place came former Juventus boss Luigi Delneri and with him came the most unexciting counter attacking football to be seen in years.
Five straight losses followed as Delneri showed he couldn’t adapt to the talent at his disposal or to the teams Genoa played. Delneri’s iron-fist rule of the club didn’t sit well with the players either and his man management contributed to Genoa’s plunge down the table. The Italian coach gained a mere eight points from 39, and when he was finally removed in late January it was easy to see the pressure was lifted from the players shoulders.
Davide Ballardini took over for Delneri in what was the second time in his career that he was employed to be a firefighter coach, and put out the blaze that was Genoa. With Ballardini’s first match against Juventus, must expected the Italian to be in the job a very short time and Genoa to continue their free-fall. However, if Delneri was stale and boring, Ballardini was anything but.
Borriello’s 12 goals led the way for the Grifone and were an important reason the club retained their top-flight status.
In his first match against the Bianconeri, Ballardini deployed a 3-5-2 formation that pressed Juventus deep in their own half. This fresh approach by the club showed the Grifone could hold their own against the big boys. Even when the club went down a goal Genoa fought on for an equaliser something that wouldn’t have happened under either of their previous coaches.
Of course, Ballardini was helped by Preziosi’s signing of several players in January that vastly improved the side. The signing of two centre-backs – Thomas Manfredini and Daniele Portanova – solidified the back-line, Matuzalem’s arrival from Lazio exile was a masterstroke and his addition allowed Juraj Kucka to return to the form he’d been missing for months.
Meanwhile, the club added depth to give Ballardini the option of changing tactics and formations, something he did freely. All of this combined to pull Genoa out of the muck in the end and rescued the club from sure relegation under Delneri. In the 17 games Ballardini oversaw the Grifone, the team lost only four times and those losses came against teams that finished in the top six in the final standings.
Of course his situation is still up in the air, but hopefully he’ll be back for next season. But with rumours of Delneri returning or even Zdenek Zeman joining the club, Ballardini will most likely find himself somewhere else next term.
Player of the Season
It’s difficult to pick a player of the season for the Grifone as several players contributed to the club’s survival at different times. But only one man stood up and was counted on from day one and that was the marvelous Marco Borriello. The Italian joined the club on loan from Roma thanks to Zeman declaring the target man as surplus goods, and Roma’s garbage was Genoa’s gold.
The big man’s goals were extremely timely and kept the team above water as they fought relegation, but it wasn’t only his goals that made him so important. Borriello’s play continually made the team better, bringing teammates into the attack and taking defenders away from the ball.
Goal of the Season
Not only was Borriello the player of the season, but he tallied the team’s goal of the year against Pescara. The big man chested down a long ball from the defence, controlled it in the box and curled a left footed strike from about 18-yards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88dNMBfjfh4&list=PL2e8L_p3qh48aDNX1Kp7jmfABkuWiDY20
Best and Worst Signings
Finally, the club’s best and worst signing happened in conjunction with each other. The worst signing was without a doubt Luigi Delneri. His work as coach was destructible for the club and if left in charge any longer, he would not have only relegated the club, but he would have given Genoa an even worse reputation then they already have.
With Delneri being the team’s worst signing, that makes Ballardini the best signing of the season. His work with the team completely overhauled the season. Genoa wasn’t just a sinking ship when he took over, they were a sunken ship. What Ballardini did was nothing short of a miracle, and his reputation as a coach should be enhanced greatly. Unfortunately, it seems he is destined to stay with the lower sides in Serie A, if he is afforded the chance to continue as a top-flight coach in the future.
In the end, the 2012/13 season was yet another roller coaster ride for both club and supporters. Hopefully the club’s hierarchy can learn from the mistakes that were made and build off of the excellent last 17 games of the year. But Genoa aren’t a club that learn from their mistakes. Rather, they continue making the same ones.
Follow Drew Farmer on Twitter: @CalcioFarmer. Drew is a Forza Italian Football senior writer and Genoa correspondent. He also hosts the Forza Italian Football Club Focus Podcast.
