Re: Vincenzo di Stefano - Manager, Genoa CFC (Serie A)
With his squad back to full training following the break, di Stefano received an email from the Genoa board suggesting he change things up in an effort to jump start the club and improve results. Despite his desire to instill his preferred system, injuries and the influence of the board swayed the Italian to adopt a 4-2-3-1 for the crucial Derby della Lanterna with Sampdoria. Captain Alberto Gilardino returned from his ankle sprain slightly short of fitness, but personally requested he start the match.
The departure from di Stefano's 3-5-2 seemed to put Il Grifone on the back foot early on, with Sampdoria holding roughly two-thirds of possession for the first 20 minutes and forcing GK Mattia Perin into several quality saves. However, Genoa slowly worked their way into the match, culminating with Šime Vrsaljko's fantastic individual effort down the right flank put him in on goal at a tight angle shortly before the interval. His attempted chipped cross deflected first off of the keeper before caroming off of a defender and nestling into the side netting on the opposite side of goal.
This seemed to deflate the Sampdoria players, and they abandoned their apparent focus on possession in the Genoa end in favor of a more direct approach. di Stefano instructed his men to sit deeper and play for the counter, which eventually resulted in Fetfatzidis' 74th minute strike from outside the box to seal the manager's first career win in Serie A with a 2-0 derby victory.
Up next is a home tie with Livorno, which kicks off a difficult stretch of three matches in eight days (Sun-Wed-Sun), with a difficult trip to Udinese followed by hosting Napoli. It should provide a stiff test for the injury-hit squad, with Burdisso and Antonini out with long-term injuries, and Vrsaljko facing a fitness test after suffering a thigh bruise late in the derby. De Maio and Gilardino appear fully healed from their ankle sprains, but 3-in-8 might be too much to ask at this point.
With his squad back to full training following the break, di Stefano received an email from the Genoa board suggesting he change things up in an effort to jump start the club and improve results. Despite his desire to instill his preferred system, injuries and the influence of the board swayed the Italian to adopt a 4-2-3-1 for the crucial Derby della Lanterna with Sampdoria. Captain Alberto Gilardino returned from his ankle sprain slightly short of fitness, but personally requested he start the match.
The departure from di Stefano's 3-5-2 seemed to put Il Grifone on the back foot early on, with Sampdoria holding roughly two-thirds of possession for the first 20 minutes and forcing GK Mattia Perin into several quality saves. However, Genoa slowly worked their way into the match, culminating with Šime Vrsaljko's fantastic individual effort down the right flank put him in on goal at a tight angle shortly before the interval. His attempted chipped cross deflected first off of the keeper before caroming off of a defender and nestling into the side netting on the opposite side of goal.
This seemed to deflate the Sampdoria players, and they abandoned their apparent focus on possession in the Genoa end in favor of a more direct approach. di Stefano instructed his men to sit deeper and play for the counter, which eventually resulted in Fetfatzidis' 74th minute strike from outside the box to seal the manager's first career win in Serie A with a 2-0 derby victory.
Up next is a home tie with Livorno, which kicks off a difficult stretch of three matches in eight days (Sun-Wed-Sun), with a difficult trip to Udinese followed by hosting Napoli. It should provide a stiff test for the injury-hit squad, with Burdisso and Antonini out with long-term injuries, and Vrsaljko facing a fitness test after suffering a thigh bruise late in the derby. De Maio and Gilardino appear fully healed from their ankle sprains, but 3-in-8 might be too much to ask at this point.
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