Not surprisingly, Shevchenko was still out of class. He coached Genoa for 69 days and played 11 games, winning 1-0 against Serie A worst team Salernitana in the Coppa Italia, with another 10 draws and 7 defeats, including 9 league games, 3 draws and 6 defeats. In Italian football, it is only a matter of time before such achievements are fired.
Only 5 goals in 11 matches
What is even more embarrassing is that Genoa has only scored 5 goals and conceded 18 goals in these 11 games, and there is probably not enough material to sum up the Ukrainian's short Serie A coaching experience. The media with good things even took stock of Genoa's top ten shots and made a highlight. Shevchenko, who was known as a "nuclear warhead" as a player, had his first coaching experience in Serie A as a "red gun without a gun head", and offensive lack of skill became the label of his rule in Genoa.
The most typical match was the 2-0 away defeat to Juventus in the league, and Genoa did not even have a single shot on goal, let alone a shot on target. Not only that, as a weak side on paper, Genoa was far behind the opponent in the data of fouls, and the whole team could only mechanically shrink in its own half, without creating even one threat to the other side. Post-match technical statistics show that the center of gravity of the Genoa team is 38.76 meters, what concept? This means that the main activity area of the whole team is within the middle line, 11 people are behind, and the opponent can't score the ball even if he earns.
Some say Shevchenko is in hell mode and Genoa's schedule is too brutal. It is true that sheva's first four opponents include Roma, AC Milan and Juve, but the lack of play and content is the most criticized point of Shevchenko compared to the result. Before the formation of their usual three-forward configuration, they could only adopt the most conservative posture. After a tough start, the 0-1 defeat to rival Sampdoria and relegation rival Spezia was truly fatal.
In his final game in charge of Genoa, Shevchenko waited for his own three strikers. The addition of Yeboa allowed Sheva to sacrifice for the first time in the Coppa Italia against his old club Milan, the Trident of the Black Wind in the front court composed of Yeboa, Kesedo and Ekuban. Although it lacks the wingers who survived when Shevchenko coached the Ukrainian national team, this game against Milan can be said to be genoa's best performance.
Unfortunately, Shevchenko could not wait for the expected Atlanta attacker Milanchuk, but waited for his own class. Completing the first serie A coaching career at the San Siro Stadium was perhaps the most dignified result, with Milan fans placing signs: "A long story of love, a scene in Manchester engraved in my heart, the eternal legend of Sheva." "Whoever expects to say goodbye is also a farewell."
New Owner "Enigma Operation"
Compared with Shevchenko's own problems, the responsibility of Genoa management cannot be ignored, and even the main responsibility is assumed. After driving out the experienced Baraldini, he insisted on finding a coach who was more famous than his actual combat ability to support the new boss, and finally locked in Shevchenko, who had never coached the club before, which was also a common problem for Serie A American clubs. And the contract was signed for two and a half years, with an annual salary of up to 2 million euros, and it seemed iron-hearted that Sheva was the spokesperson who took Genoa to the international, but in the end the star manager only insisted for two months, and Genoa had to pay 5 million euros.
Sheva is also angry with Genoa, and obviously gave him a lot of promises before coaching the club's top brass, otherwise he would not have easily waded through this muddy water. After all, before he took over, Genoa only accumulated 9 points, ranking third from the bottom of the standings, and in the contract signed by the two sides, 80% included a relegation clause to ensure that Sheva could have a long-term stable coaching environment. On the other hand, genoa's assurances to Sheva that reinforcements were not immediately in place, such as Milanchuk, which may have been really mindful of Shevchenko, and eventually led to the freezing point of the relationship between the two sides.
Shevchenko led the team to play 9 league games, and then look at the standings, the Griffins have been surpassed by Cagliari, and there is a 5-point gap with 17th-place Venice, at this point in time, Shevchenko is also normal, because there is still half a month before the end of the winter window, there is still time and opportunity to adjust, otherwise Genoa will fall into the abyss of relegation and cannot extricate itself.
But Genoa's management continued their operations, and after Sheva, they brought in Labadia, who also had no Experience in Serie A coaching. Although both parents are Italian, Labadiah himself is an authentic German, born and raised in Germany, and has nothing to do with Italy except for his blood and career. This is mainly due to the fact that Genoa's newly hired general manager is a German, the 39-year-old Spools, who used to be Lonnick's right hand man. Perhaps the Americans believe that they can rely on a group of Germans to forge a unique path in Italy, so that Lonnick failed to practice the business route in Milan, by Ronnick's deputy in Genoa, hoping that Genoa's port can really blow a fresh north wind in the future, rather than learning from another American team Parma struggling in Serie B.
Author: Primary Five
This article was originally published in the Sports Plus app
Images are from the web