Patrick Vieira has been appointed head coach of Serie A side Genoa after Alberto Gilardino was sacked. Vieira will be reunited with former teammate Mario Balotelli, who played with Vieira at Manchester City and Inter Milan and worked with him while in charge of Nice.
Can Patrick Vieira change the course of La Superba and keep them afloat in Italy's top division, or will it be a battle with relegation and a possible return to Serie B after two years back in the top flight?
Managerial Career So Far
Patrick Vieira's managerial career began at New York City FC in 2015, where he guided them to the playoff semi-finals, improving from 17th in his first season to 4th in 2016 and then 2nd in 2017.
No club can ignore how impressive such a progression is.
In June 2018, Vieira moved back to Europe to take charge of French side Nice. In his first season at the club, he led his team to a 7th-place finish. However, the good results didn't last, as in 2020, he parted ways with the club after a run of losses across multiple competitions and was eliminated from the Europa League.
In 2021, he moved back to the Premier League in England, a league that Vieira is all too familiar with, to take charge at Crystal Palace.
During the 21/22 season, he guided the Eagles to a 12th-place finish and an FA Cup semi-final, where they were narrowly beaten by Chelsea. However, in 2023, the club sacked him after 12 games without a win, and the team left just three points above the relegation zone.
A few months later, Vieira returned to France to take over at Strasbourg shortly after their takeover by the Chelsea owners; during his time at the club, the club went on an eight-game winless run, which fans blamed on the fact the club had signed four 20-year-olds for a combined £53 million.
But ultimately, Vieira's young team continued to struggle and with fans aiming their hostilities at the American owners, Vieira mutually agreed to terminate his contract with the club in July 2024.
Gilardino's Sacking
Serie A is undoubtedly one of the toughest leagues for tacticians, who get chewed up and spat out at a high and alarming rate with no difference from the giants at the top of the table and the minnows at the bottom.
Firing a head coach seems to be the preferred method of Serie A clubs for trying to deliver a short-term change. In other words, the Italian clubs are not quite as patient as perhaps their Premier League and Bundesliga rivals are.
Genoa's season hasn't been the greatest, but given the circumstances around the club, it isn't easy to see what else Alberto Gilardino could have done.
He was initially brought in from the Primavera youth team as an interim manager in 2022, with the team near the bottom of Serie B, and took them to promotion that same season.
But after a positive mid-table campaign, Genoa sold most of their best players and many of the players who did remain got injured, causing multiple additional setbacks for the club. What more could have been done so far this season with what look to be limited resources available to the manager?
The timing of the announcement also raises some questions.
The international break is often used to sack a coach and give time for the new boss to settle in and make the necessary changes they feel are right. It is generally not done a couple of days before the end of the break, with squads returning to their respective clubs to find that their tactics and approach have transformed overnight.
Why Vieira?
Patrick Vieira feels like an odd choice; perhaps they are potentially trying to follow the footsteps of other clubs like Como, who brought in Cesc Fabregas and Sergi Roberto to help build more of an international brand. Genoa have also brought in free agent Mario Balotelli to boost this particular area.
Considering Genoa is an American-owned football club, it makes perfect sense; however, as a sporting decision, it doesn't add much other than someone who, while having played in Serie A before, is relatively unfamiliar with the modern Italian game and who additionally doesn't have the best managerial record.
When it was announced that Mario Balotelli would be returning to Serie A, it was seen as a much-needed return; however, the fact that Vieira signed as manager a few weeks later, whilst he will be familiar with Balotelli having played at Inter Milan and Manchester City together, they seemingly have never really gotten on.
With the history of temper tantrums and idiotic behaviour that Balotelli has shown at previous clubs, this pairing of player and manager will inevitably bring some sort of drama; Genoa will be hoping that the drama is a last-minute winner rather than a training ground bust-up.
Genoa restarts their season after the international break this Saturday at home to Cagliari, who sit in 16th joint on the point above Genoa, which should be a perfect test for Vieira, who will need a vital win to give them a kick start heading towards the end of the first half of the Serie A season.
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