This 2021-22 Serie A season is indeed not as usual. It is rare for a big club in the top competition of the Italian League to change coaches a lot. Except for AC Milan and Atalanta, the other five clubs that are always involved in the championship competition have a new captain. And the fun thing is, all the coaches are fighting to prove who is the best.
Jose Mourinho
The biggest spotlight is on Jose Mourinho. Replacing his compatriot, Paulo Foncesca, the Portuguese coach became the new ‘allenatore’ of AS Roma. His arrival was greeted with enthusiasm and high expectations from I Giallorossi supporters who had longed for achievement.
Of course this is not an exaggeration, because Mourinho is a famous name. He is still considered one of the best coaches in the world with a classy career record that is full of titles. Mourinho is also no stranger to Italy. Two years there (2008-2010), he was successful with Inter Milan under President Massimo Moratti.
Guiding Rome, Mourinho proved that he was still worthy of being nicknamed The Special One. This is because not a few people began to doubt the greatness of coaching Mourinho, along with his failure at Tottenham Hotspur. At the same time, we also wait for the eccentric comments of Mou’s psywar. Yet, in the first two matches of the Serie A season, Mourinho’s capital club managed to win (3-1 over Fiorentina, 4-0 versus Salernitana).
Massimiliano Allegri
Taking a break from coaching for two years, Massimiliano Allegri “went down from the mountain” back to the club that had kicked him out, Juventus. That time, Allegri has just led Juventus to five consecutive Scudetto wins, but failed again in the Champions League. Hence, Allegri gave way to Maurizio Sarri, who had just returned from England after being sacked by Chelsea.
Sarri did manage to defend the Serie A title, but he was already out of favor with fans and club officials. Juventus management then gambled on replacing Sarri with a former player, Andrea Pirlo, who had no coaching experience. As a result, the Bianconeri finished fourth in the 2020-21 league season.
Allegri’s job this time is quite difficult. He needs to clean up the homework left by Pirlo. This second period of coaching Juventus may not be as easy as the first period. Seen in the first two matches of Serie A this season, his team experienced difficulties by only picking up one point (2-2 versus Udinese, and losing 0-1 to promoted team Empoli). Moreover, they lost superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who returned to Manchester United. Whereas the last three seasons CR7 became the club’s source of most goals.
The season is still long. It is Allegri’s job to prove his capacity as the most successful coach in Serie A today who has collected six Scudetto (1 with AC Milan, and 5 with Juventus).
Simone Inzaghi
Perhaps many regretted the departure of Antonio Conte after successfully presenting the Serie A title to Inter Milan last season. Perhaps many are also pessimistic about the quality of his successor, Simone Inzaghi. Whereas so far Inzaghi, he is one of the potential young coaches who brought Lazio stable at the top. Yes, Italy has no shortage of great coaches in Europe.
Inzaghi has indeed won the Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup. But he needs prestigious titles like Serie A and the Champions League to prove his prowess as a team manager. And that can only be done by coaching a big club.
It is a burden to build a club that is actually the defending champion. But for the time being, Inzaghi managed to silence doubters by bringing the Nerazurri to a clean sweep of the first two Serie A matches this season (4-0 over Genoa, 3-1 over Hellas Verona).
Maurizio Sarri
Indeed Lazio President, Claudio Lotito still wants to keep Simone Inzaghi as coach. But at the last second, Inzaghi chose a new challenge by accepting an offer from Inter. Lotito also appointed a seasoned coach, Maurizio Sarri as the new architect.
Sarri’s name is certainly no stranger to Serie A. He raised his name when gushing Napoli, which he brought back into a team that was feared in Italy like the Diego Maradonna era. But for three seasons there (2015-2018), he did not present a title to Il Partenopei.
Sarri only received a prestigious title when he moved to England after being signed by Chelsea in the 2018-19 season, by immediately embracing the UEFA Europa League trophy in his inaugural year. But it was only one season of Sarri’s adventure at the club from the City of London to finish in third place in the Premier League. The man returns home by accepting Juventus’ offer.
Inheriting Massimiliano Allegri’s winning squad, Sarri still managed to defend the 2019-20 Scudetto title, although with a non-dominant appearance and conceded a lot. But that was not enough to satisfy the Juventus management who was so obsessed with the Champions League trophy. Being knocked out in the last 16 of Europe’s top competition, Sarri was sacked. Moreover, from the start, the Old Lady fans did not like Sarri and had rejected his appointment as coach.
We’ll see at the end of the season, which coach has proven himself to be the best in Serie A.
