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Serie A coaches gang up on the kids of today
The coaches of the three biggest Serie A clubs recently indulged in what has always been one of the favourite pastimes of the older and wiser — picking fault with today’s youngsters.
Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho kicked things off when he criticised 19-year-old forward Mario Balotelli’s approach in training and suggested that footballers of his age were more interested in Ferraris and Bentleys than getting on with the job.
“It’s probably a generational problem,” Mourinho said. “At the moment it’s very difficult to find a player who’s 19 or 20 and thinks like a man.”
Reporters asked Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara what he thought, but if they hoped to stir up another Mourinho-versus-the-rest-of-Italy row, they were disappointed.
“I agree. It’s a problem of values,” Ferrara said. “Things have changed a lot and the purely sporting side often drops down to a secondary level.
“A young player becomes a star after just a few matches in Serie A. Million-euro contracts arrive and thoughts immediately go to the national team. It’s difficult for them to keep their feet on the ground.”
Do Juventus or Milan have the next Guardiola?
There is nothing new about putting expensively assembled football teams into the hands of former players with glorious on-field pasts and little coaching experience. But I think it’s fair to say that Pep Guardiola’s remarkable success in his maiden season in the Barcelona dugout contributed to AC Milan and Juventus recently appointing novice managers Leonardo and Ciro Ferrara.
Juve’s Italy defender Nicola Legrottaglie said he sees Ferrara as “the Italian response to Guardiola”. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani, meanwhile, preferred to compare Leonardo to the precedent they set with Fabio Capello, who like the Brazilian was a club director before his 1991-96 stint in charge that produced four Serie A titles and a Champions League.
Leonardo’s apparent weakness is that he is absolutely new to coaching. Guardiola had been successful with Barcelona B before he got the first-team job at the Camp Nou. Ferrara can count on his experience at the helm of Juve’s youth team and at Marcello Lippi’s side in the Italy coaching staff, as well as the two matches he won in Serie A to clinch automatic Champions League qualification after Claudio Ranieri was sacked.
Ferrara’s challenge may be how to stamp his authority in the locker room. He now finds himself in charge of the team’s so-called senators, such as Alessandro Del Piero, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet, after playing alongside them before retiring in 2005. This could complicate matters if he wants to drop one of his old team mates. But if he is seen to favour them it could create rifts.
It might be easier for Leonardo to be the tough guy when necessary as, although he is younger than Ferrara, his playing days are further behind him.
Lippi, however, is confident Ferrara has what it takes to overcome these hurdles: “He has the charisma, personality, intelligence, wisdom and charm to establish a relationship with top level professionals and construct something important with them.”
Ferrara and Leonardo are both young and have little experience of coaching at the highest level. Ferrara might have the advantage as he has played with these players in the team. Del Piero will surely be the mainstay of the team. Ferrara’s success would be how he builds the team around Diego. Diego would be the lynchpin of Juve’s midfield nest season. If Geatano D’Agostino comes to Juve it would be similar to the Kaka-Pirlo partnership at AC Milan. THe loss of Kaka means that Ronaldinho would have to come to the fore. Leonardo needs to make Ronnie and Kaka click in midfield. That would be the game-plan. A a quality defensive midfielder to that midfield; Sissoko in the case of Juve and Gattuso for Milan and you have got a midfield trio of Iniesta,Xavi and Toure-mainstay’s of Barca’s sensational treble-winning season
For once, I agree with Mourinho. The amount of money some of these kids make is ridiculous but it would be cynical to ask them not to behave as any other teenager would in their position. The heart of the problem lies elsewhere. Football has become a money-spinning industry with the same double standards that apply in other spheres of life: the rich get richer and the poor can’t even afford to watch their teams in action anymore. It is no longer a fan’s game in the top leagues, given the ticket prices and the cost of fan merchandise. Last time round I was at Old Trafford five years ago, it was packed with “I am so posh and you are not” glory fans who were there to take photos of each other, the bulk of them left with 10 minutes remaining and United 3-1 up against Everton, they didn’t bother to stay as the visitors scored to set up a dramatic finale and their fans easily outsang the home crowd. I suspect it’s even worse these days.