New Sampdoria boss Dejan Stankovic will make his debut against Bologna tomorrow and Stephen Kasiewicz explains what to expect from the former Serie A star.
The ex-Inter and Lazio midfielder spoke of reputation, honour and pride in a rousing opening interview that a high-profile politician could have delivered.
In a stirring monologue, the Serbian vowed to change the mentality and approach of a club which has nosedived to last place in the Classifica like an aircraft without a pilot.
The 44-year-old, who was also linked with the Doria job before the appointment of Marco Giampaolo in January, is a proven winner but takes charge of a team so beleaguered that they looked beaten before kick-off in most matches this season.
The former Lazio and Inter midfielder lost only 10 of 130 games in charge at Red Star Belgrade and delivered three successive Serbian Super Leagues from late 2019 until August this year.
The Italian top flight will prove exponentially more demanding, with Sampdoria’s lamentable season statistics clearly indicating a club in crisis. A zero occupies the win column with a meagre two draws, six defeats and just four goals – a league low – in eight mostly forgettable games.
While continued chatter about a Qatari takeover offers the faint hope of a cash boost to transform the playing squad, Stanković’s immediate mission is to lift a team sapped of all confidence and coherence.
He might have to multitask as a combination of a drill sergeant, sports psychologist, and therapist to prise the best out of a side so discombobulated that they seem to have forgotten the basics of the game. For the Blucerchiati’s loyal and passionate tifosi the campaign has been like enduring a nightmarish series of jump scares from slasher films with no one surviving at the end.
Steely-eyed Stanković has promised to instigate a revival as he continues Sampdoria’s Serbian connection. He is no stranger to a club home to many of his compatriots.
He namechecked the great Vujadin Boškov, who coached Samp to their only Scudetto in season 1990-1991 and the Champions League final, former midfielder Vladimir Jugović and ex-Doria tactician Siniša Mihajlović when detailing his knowledge of the Marassi based team.
Assistant Nenad Sakić, who played for six years at Doria and was also Mihajlović’s right-hand man, will provide a wealth of information as Stanković attempts to drag Samp away from the relegation zone.
The only way is up for a group featuring several internationals, although you wouldn’t know it from their woeful early-term displays.
Shoring up a defence which has been ripped wide open with alarming ease on a weekly basis and injecting some desperately needed urgency and vitality into a soporific midfield are the two main priorities. On-loan Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks is surely due an appearance in the near future after arriving in Genoa injured. In playmaker Abdelhamid Sabiri, Samp possess an exceptional talent capable of winning matches on his own. Making sure the Moroccan international plays closer to the understandably frustrated Francesco Caputo up front should be at least one strategy to unlock Serie A defences.
Caputo, Manolo Gabbiadini, and the great Fabio Quagliarella have all been capped by Italy and, with a modicum of improved service, can fire Doria away from the bottom three.
Giampaolo looked like a man bereft of ideas as he watched from the stands impassively as newly promoted Monza embarrassed the Blucerchiati in front of an exasperated Marassi last week. The three-goal thumping signalled the end for a coach out of touch with his players and incapable of finding an effective system to prevent a slide to the foot of the standings.
Stanković, who won six Serie A titles and the Champions League as a player, is not a coach that will accept second best. He is not someone you would pick an argument with either.
An animated training ground motivator, he made it clear that two days was sufficient preparation time for tomorrow’s critical trip to fellow strugglers Bologna.
There is no time to waste for a man who reached the very top of the Italian game but starts his coaching career in Serie A with a club at rock bottom.
@SKasiewicz
Disaster, what else.
Who in his right mind would hire him as a coach is beyond me.