This is The Genoan Journey. A one season experiment in which a young aspiring guy who doesn’t often watch Serie A becomes a fan of a mid-table Italian side in order to achieve happiness and a sense of value whilst writing weekly about the team’s endeavours. Forza Genoa!

It must be difficult being a football manager in 2017. I am not sure there are many professions that come with the same baggage as being a football manager. Being in the limelight 24 hours a day, dealing with a group of guys who can often cause you many issues, as well as striving to gain results in one of the most cutthroat industries on the planet.

In Ivan Juric, Genoa have a man who absolutely loves the club, I do not think that can be denied. We see the passion he brings every match on the sideline, as well as in the occasional press conference where he may get teary. The club is going through a very dragged out sale and luck has not been on the side of the Grifone. After a tricky start, there is a lot of talk in the press about a potential early sacking at Genoa and for me, I am not sure it is entirely just. We started off well against Sassuolo gaining a point away from home, and then in the second match going 2 up early against the Italian champions, before succumbing to a fightback worthy of champions. In our last game we played the vast majority of the match a man down and we didn’t look particularly out of place, losing only by the one-goal margin.

I strongly believe Juric should be giving more time and if you believe the press Walter Mazzari is in line to take over. After watching him last season in the Premier League with Watford, he does not convince me at all and I do not believe he is the right man to take us forward. However, I would be interested to know other opinions on this managerial topic, are there fans out there who would prefer a change of management?

Serie A roundup

Perhaps not surprisingly, Juventus, Inter and Napoli all keep their winning starts and makes it 4 out of 4, with the most emphatic win coming from Napoli as they put 6 past Serie A new boys, Benevento. Milan also got back on track with a 2-1 win over Udinese, Nikola Kalinic grabbing a brace and making that 3 goals in 2 games – very impressive from the former Blackburn striker.

My goal of the week is going to go to Fiorentina’s Chiesa. Feast your eyes on this, a great touch, a tidy bit of skill to get around the defender and then he finesses it past the goalkeeper.

The Game

Coming into this game Lazio looked very accomplished. Making a very good start to the campaign and most recently dishing out a 4-1 thrashing to a rejuvenated Milan side – bringing them back down to Earth. Managed by Simone Inzaghi, brother of Milan legend Pippo Inzaghi, Lazio are playing some excellent football and are a win away from making their best start since the 1999/2000 season – a season in which they won the Scudetto. A lot of fingers are being pointed in the direction of Inzaghi when asked who the next Juventus manager could be when Allegri is finished.

In Ciro Immobile, Lazio have a very good striker who is in top form scoring 7 of the 12 league goals Lazio have scored this season – he is red hot! A former Genoa attacker, he has had a fairly dotted career which includes a spell at Dortmund in which he failed to make a huge impression. What is clear is the man has found a home in Lazio, netting 26 times last season and continuing to find the back of the net this season.

Lazio also has some former premier league names with the likes of Lucas Leiva and Luis Alberto – both Liverpool men who enjoyed very contrasting spells in Merseyside. I was very interested to see how Luis Alberto got on after hearing some positive things since he has started playing for Lazio. I had also heard some very good things about Lazio’s attacking midfielder Milinkovic-Savic, a very strong and physical player with equally positive technical ability.

Below is how the teams lined up, and as you can see many changes for Genoa. It is hard to think anything else but ‘Is this the last throw of the dice from Juric?’. Of course, it did not help that many key players were suspended or injured, in the likes of Bertolacci and Lapadula.

This was a very surprising lineup as the team had remained rather unchanged for the first few games, with first starts for Zukanovic, Spolli, Rosi, Cofie, Centurion and new man Ricci – big changes! Could these fresh faces save Juric the cut? That was the question.

The game kicks off and Lazio were looking typically confident, they had the look of a team who are vying for champions league football. Contrastingly, Genoa made a start that is reminiscent of last weeks match vs Udinese – slow, messy and being dominated. Early doors Nico Spolli gives the ball away in his own half and Miguel Veloso is forced to bring the Lazio attacker down resulting in a free kick.

From the free kick, Milinkovic-Savic hits a fantastic shot towards the corner, forcing Mattia Perin into a great save. Unfortunately, he parries it out into the 6-yard box where basically the whole Lazio team are lining up to rebound the ball past Perin. Luckily for Lazio centre-half Bastos he was the guy to grab the goal. A case of very sloppy and lazy defending from Genoa, not a single defender running in to clear the rebound.

Boos reign down on the players, the Stadio Luigi Ferraris is aloud with whistles and jeers – the Ultras do not like what they are seeing. 25 minutes of Lazio battering goes by before Genoa can even get into the game, a fantastic run by Adel Taarabt gets the crowd going and begins to breathe life into the team. After this, Genoa started to play a bit and looked to try and create chances – perhaps the fast start of Lazio had taken its toll on them and they were trying to catch their breath.

33 minutes in and Genoa make their first change, Centurion is off and in his place steps forward 16-year-old Pietro Pellegri. Could he be the guy to make the difference in this very one-sided affair? The rest of the half goes by with Lazio missing some great chances, in form Immobile shooting just side as well as Basta somehow missing the target from very close.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during halftime, Juric must have been fuming from that first half display, especially after all the chat during this week in regards to his foreseeable future at the club. I can imagine it now, “Do you want fucking Walter Mazzari to be managing you this time next week? Because if that is what you are after by all means continue the way you are going!”.

And boy did Genoa start differently. The 56th minute looked like any ordinary minute, Adel begins running at the Lazio defence. and tries to thread through a ball to the young Pellegri, it somehow bounces through to him and he takes a shot. The ball ricochets off big bad Radu and past the helpless Strakosha – the crowd erupt into a huge mass of celebration and euphoria – finally some luck!

The luck didn’t last long, however, Lazio came straight back with a fierce attack and in the process injure Spolli. As he is off the field recieiving treatment subsitute Jordan Lukaku (brother of Romelu), tears down the left flank and squares a lovely ball to the left alone Immobile – continuing his impressive start to 2017/18 campaign. Juric looked defeated…

If anybody needed evidence for football gods, the next bit of play basically confirmed the realness. Zukanovic ventures forward with the ball and spots a sharp run by Pellegri, he whips the ball over the defender and there to meet the ball with a fantastic volley is the young Genoan once more. The Marassi becomes a bowl of elation and cheering, the young man had done it once again. The camera pans over to the bench, and wiping away a tear sits Pellegris father – a truly poignant moment. What is it about our staff and tears?

The stadium was truly bouncing, and Juric must’ve been counting his blessings – the young Genoan had saved the day whilst Lazio had battered them silly. But alas, it was not to be. As Genoa look to bring some stability to the play, a very silly mistake by the former Lazio man Santiago Gentiletti lets the goal machine Immobile in once more and he deftly dinks the ball over a helpless Perin – who moments before had made an incredible save to deny Lukaku.

After an amazing comeback, the Grifone had let it slip from right in front of them. The third Lazio goal killed the game and perhaps had put the nail in the Ivan Juric coffin – I am sure we will know for sure soon. On the whole, Lazio deserved to win, they had played a great game bar a defensive hiccup and looked to be the real deal. But you can’t help but feel sorry for the Genoans, a centre-half off the pitch for the second goal and a mistake for the third had allowed Lazio to take all 3 points.

As I said at the start of the piece, I hope we keep going with Juric as I believe he is the right man to take us forward. Clearly, a devoted man to the job and a guy who is passionate about his football.

You cannot look no further than Pietro Pellegri for Man of the Match this week, what a performance from the young man. Hopefully, he can take advantage of Lapadula’s injury and get a solid run in the team – maybe he can inspire the team and take us forward regardless of his age. Dick of the day has to go to Isaac Cofie, 55 minutes on the field without making an impression and to top it off got rolled over by a beefed up Milinkovic-Savic after trying to take the ball form him – fairly embarrassing!

This week we have a double game week and I will write about both the midweek tie against Chievo and then the weekend game against Inter, in next weeks post. Chievo have had a mixed start, but at home, I think we have to back ourselves. I am going for a 2-1 win here, of course, Pellegri to get both goals. Inter, on the other hand, I do not see us getting a result against. What a start they have had, and I expect us to lose this one 2-0 unless Perin has the game of his life against the in-form Icardi.

We are currently languishing in 16th place but luckily a fair few teams have had equally poor starts – lets hope we gain a few more points over the coming weeks – even if it were just for my mental health.

Thank you for reading, Forza Genoa!