Lille recently whooped Genoa 3-0 a couple weeks ago. Possession was shared 50-50, but the Lille attack proved far more effective having 12 shots to 3. You might think Genoa would want to hit back and put a heavy score line on Lille, but coach Gasperini has other plans.

“We cannot take to the field thinking of revenge. Our goal is to get three points. In a knock-out round it would be different, but in a group it’s all about obtaining points.” said Gasperini.

Clearly with his eyes on the prize, Gasperini knows 3 points is vital to Genoa’s Europa League hopes at this time no matter how many goals come with them. Genoa are currently 3rd in their group on 3 points behind Valencia on 5 points and Lille on 7 points and still have to face Valencia again.

Lille are currently 15th in Frances Ligue 1 and have suffered from some patchy form. Genoa have had a couple of good results in the league after a terrible month and will be looking to continue to build back to their early season form.

I hope Slavia Prague pull their finger out and get a result against Valencia. A Slavia Prague win along with a Genoa victory would put Genoa in a great position to get out of the group.

Genoa’s season started so well and then fell apart for a bit, but i think the Fiorentina and Palermo results might be a sign the club is back on track.

Hernan Crespo said he was happy with the point against Palermo saying “We wanted a result of this nature. Keeping a clean sheet at a difficult ground like this is a very positive aspect even if our mentality has always been that of being offensive.”

Francesco Modesto mimicked Crespo’s comments adding “We did not concede a goal, therefore it’s a good result.”

Perhaps this is a sign that the team has been focusing on defence, which I think is a good thing. Defence has always been a crucial part of the Italian game and I think if they can that sorted they can still push for a top 4 spot this year because we all know Genoa can turn it on in attack.

Genoa take on last placed Siena this weekend. Genoa are currently 7th in the league, but are only 4 points off second. If they can start a winning streak against Siena they could find themselves in the top 4 in no time.

I’ll finish with some of Genoa’s league stats.
- Genoa have gained 7 out of a possible 18 points on the road
- Genoa have conceded 20 goals so far this season, more than any other club
- Genoa have kept just 2 clean sheets this season, only Atalanta and Roma have kept less
- Genoa haven’t lost a game when they’ve conceded no more than 1 goal (4-1-0 record)

I think clearly Genoa’s two main goals at the moment should be keeping clean sheets and getting better results away.

Ohh… and for alex w, Inter Sucks…

As a Milan fan, I was upset when Inter trounced us and felt a similar grief at the scoreline on the weekend.

Genoa have struggled in their last few games. Injuries, inexperience and a tough draw have all worked against the grifoni.

I hope the scoreline motivates the players to put a bit extra in next weekend.

Anyway, I don’t feel like talking about it any more, so thats all I’ll write about the Inter match.

Now Genoa face Inter, a match that could provide a lot of confidence for the run in to the winter break.

After going three games without a win, including the heart breaking loss to Valencia, Genoa might have been excused for going off the rails a bit. However, they put in a good performance against Bologna despite their history of travel troubles and now have some confidence again ahead of the match with Inter.

Inter have dropped points in their last two away games (1-0 v Samp and 1-1 with Rubin Kazan(Who??)), so their is call for optimism. Ignoring their “away” game against Milan, Inter are averaging 1 goal a game in their away games (although the sample size is admittedly small atm).

Genoa manager Gian Piero Gasperini criticised the clubs transfer policies this week claim the club had a “mid-term” approach, where as he believed the club could have built a squad to challenge for Serie A this season.

Hopefully the outburst doesn’t affect the players and Genoa can get the job done this weekend.

On a side note, who was surprised to hear of another Juve player getting done for drugs? It was a Juve drug scandal that led to the wire taps that revealed the Calciopoli scandal. I guess once a drug cheat, always a drug cheat as far as the old lady is concerned.

Genoa’s home form has been fantastic and the draw with Juventus (totally deserved btw, Juve should feel lucky to get a point ;p) shows that they can compete with anyone at home. Away however, is a different story.

Udinese are coming off a win against Milan and will be buzzing with confidence and keen to prove themselves against another of the clubs tipped to challenge for the Champions League this season.

My prediction: Genoa 3-2 Udinese

So it was the first disappointment of the season, an away loss to Chievo.

I picked a 3-1 scoreline, but I thought Genoa would be the 3, not the 1. In some ways the loss is a good thing. It takes some of the hype and pressure off the team who can now focus on their realistic targets and not get carried away.

However, the loss comes just before a horror stretch that includes hosting Juve and Inter and in between those two games we travel to Udinese, Valencia and Bologna. Not exactly the kind of month of football you want to start off with a loss to a mid/lower table team.

The up side is, we start with Juve, which might sound bad, but Genoa play them at home and Genoa have been brilliant on their own turf. Juve have a few top players out injured still, including Diego, and they have a big clash with Bayern Munich next Wednesday which they really need to win to distract them.

Last year Genoa beat Juve 3-2 in the corresponding fixture, Raffaele Palladino scoring in the final minutes to take all 3 points. I’m hoping for similar fireworks, but it might be a cagey game, I predict 1-1.

“Yesterday I was at San Siro and it looked to me as if they were missing the type of well-worked football that we have,” grinned the patron after the Nerazzurri’s 0-0 draw with Barcelona.

“We may not be individual world class phenomenons, but we are an excellent team.”

An excellent team they certainly are. The main goal for the club will obviously be to make the top 4 in Serie A, but I hope they put in a good effort in the Europa League. Genoa have a great chance in Serie A since Roma are no hope, Milan have a book full of issues and Fiorentina might struggle to deal with the loss of Felipe Melo.

Genoa missed out on fourth on head to head with Fiorentina last season and the Grifoni certainly appear to have improved much more than its top 4 rivals at this stage of the season. However, Genoa do appear to me to be Italy’s best shot at European glory this season, so hopefully they make a run at the Europa League too.

Also, on a personal note, I predicted a two goal win over Slavia. Last year MAD, of the Inter offside blog, gave me some shit about some predictions I made that didn’t pan out. So I’d like to take the opportunity to point out that once in a blue moon, when the planets align and George Bush completes a sentence with out a grammar mistake, I do get a prediction or two right.

Next Genoa travel to Chievo who have one win and two losses so far this season. Last weekend Genoa belted Napoli and Chievo were impressive against Bologna.

I think Genoa will win comfortably. They have a big squad and all the players seem to be able to slip in and out of the squad without effecting team harmony or results, so hangover from the win over Slavia shouldn’t be an issue and they are playing so well lately they must be brimming with confidence.

This fixture ended 1-0 last year and I probably shouldn’t make another prediction this season and retire with a 100% record, but I think Genoa could put quite a few past Chievo, I’ll say 3-1.

The first match-day of the Champions League didn’t produce much to cheer about. Fiorentina lost thanks to a red card, Juve threw away a lead at home (which leads me to question whether they are actually Italian), Inter were about as entertaining as an American sitcom in their draw against Barca and Milan’s semi-retired players beat Marseilles in the mud to be the only Italian team to have won in Europe so far.

So Genoa need to restore some pride to the peninsula as well as prove their European credentials are as good as their domestic ones with a win over Slavia Prague in the revamped UEFA Cup, now called the Europa League.

Crespo suggested that “We must forget the victory over Napoli, the fact we’re leading the Serie A table, forget all of it, because Europe is completely different. The atmosphere is very special. You have a different structure of qualification, there are long journeys, time spent before games in new places with other customs. These are all experiences that help a player to grow.”

Slavia missed out on Champions League qualification, losing on away goals to the mighty, 9 times consecutive Moldovian Champions and counting, Sheriff Tiraspol, who were knocked out by Olympiakos in the next round. A few years back Slavia had financial troubles and had to rebuild their squad around youth and a lot of their key players are still very young. Hopefully the more experienced players like my favourite, Hernan Crespo, can control the game for Genoa.

Slavia currently sit 5th in the Czech league with 12 points from 7 rounds (3-3-1) and are coming off a draw against mid table Slovan Liberec. Slavia have 10 goals for and 6 against, so they aren’t extremely prolific.

I’m going to say Genoa will win by 2 goals, fingers crossed…

Anyway, while I was running temperatures around 40 degress, Genoa started well against Roma. A see-sawing 3-2 win courtesy of goals from Criscito, Zapater and Biava.

Crisito’s goal was great instinct, Zapater had a bend it like Beckham moment and Biava had a poach it like Inzaghi moment to seal the win.

Of the two goals conceded, the first was poor defending, but you expect moments like that at the start of the season. The second goal was super unlucky and Amelia had no idea as Totti drove the ball through a bunch of players.

Biava should have been sent off on 75 minutes, but perhaps the football God’s decided to even out the luck a bit after Totti’s goal.

Next Genoa travelled to Atalanta and picked up a 1-0 win thanks to Emiliano Moretti’s header. Genoa were perhaps lucky to take the full 3 points from Atalanta, but it’s a tough road trip for any side and Genoa won’t mind how they got the points.

So after two weeks Genoa are top of the pile along with Juve, Lazio and city rivals Sampdoria.

So win Serie A returns, Genoa take on Napoli before matches against Slavia Prague, Chievo, Juventus and Udinese

First, I love Italian football. It has been an important part, if not the focal part, of my life since I was a teenager. My family is not a football family, so they often think I’m a bit crazy. My specific love of Italian football often makes me critical of the game in other countries.

Second, I’m a Milan fan. I’m sure this will upset a few Genoa fans, but don’t worry, I’m often more critical of Milan than I am of other clubs and I intend to be as objective as possible when writing for the Genoa Offside. However, when Milan and Genoa play each other you will have to forgive me if I am a bit one sided.

Third, I hate corruption (which makes supporting Milan a torment at times) and that hatred makes me critical of FIFA, UEFA and the FIGC at times. I have a particular distaste for Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, so you’ll probably get to read a post or two where I rant about them sometime in the future.

Fourth, I am hoping that commenter’s can keep discussions fairly civil. Insults are fine as long as they are not racist or discriminatory in any manner. Attack each other’s ideas and the Genoa Offside should be a fun place to discuss the world of Genoa CFC.

Lastly, I am hoping readers will help contribute, so links will be greatly appreciated (especially if anyone knows of good blogs that focus around Genoa or Serie A in general), as well as anything else of interest.

I have my own blog (Pat’s Football Page) which is about the world of football generally (with a focus on Italian football) if readers are interested in my non-Genoa related thoughts.

I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.