1. Sir Alex Ferguson. A few years ago I did a post on my blog with a top 10 managers of all time and I had Capello above Ferguson, though both were behind Jock Stein and Brian Clough. Since this list is just for this decade I think Fergie is the clear winner. He has lead United to 6 EPL titles this decade as well as an FA Cup and a CL title. There has been other minor trophies and in total 14 trophies have been added to the United trophy cabinet this decade. It’s not just the trophies, his transfers, both buys and sales, seem to work more often than not, his player management, while sometimes seeming overly aggressive, has produced some greats this decade.

2. Jose Mourinho. His time at Porto is enough to have him in the list, his time at Chelsea is enough to have him in the list, at the start of the decade you would have said anyone who can win something at Inter deserved to be on the list and the amount of journalists he has kept in a job alone warrants his inclusion. Tactically he is innovative, he has a head-kicking management style like Sir Alex and has an eye for great youngsters. He might need to polish up on how to get along with owners, but hey, don’t we all.

3. Carlo Ancelotti. Carlo certainly didn’t end his Milan career in a fitting manner, but for at least half of this decade he fine tuned Milan into one of the powerhouses of European football. In a five year stretch he took the club to two CL titles, a runners-up, a semi and a quarter-final, one of the greatest streaks in the CL era. He retrained Andrea Pirlo and matched him with Gennaro Gattuso in the depths of midfield, a combination that would eventually help Marcello Lippi win the World Cup for Italy. There’s plenty one can say to detract from Ancelotti’s record, but there are few who’s record this decade speaks as loud. Still so young, Ancelotti has a few decades left to add to that record too.

4. Arsene Wenger. I hate this guy. I think his beautiful but cheap policy he currently runs is proven failure, but early in the decade he had a recipe for success that was, for one season at least, unbeatable. His Arsenal side, which mixed brutal defence with a beautifully balanced and exciting attack, won the FA Cup 3 seasons in a row and at the same time won consecutive EPL titles, one of them he won undefeated. Wenger’s had to settle for second best plenty too and if he didn’t have to compete with Fergie he might have plenty more.

5. Fabio Capello. This guy led Roma to a Scudetto in 2001 which probably almost warrants him being manager of the decade almost. He also won a few Scudetti at Juve, but one was revoked. He then went and saved Real Madrid who had imploded after Galactico’s v.1 and seemed like an unsolvable basket case of problems. He has now made England look good after dear old Sven and Stevie McClaren established quarter-final mediocrity, though it is yet to be seen if he can make it count at a big tournament.

6. Frank Riijkard. I know plenty will probably question Frank being so high. His reputation was torn to shreds after the Ronaldinho-Eto’o feud caused the team to implode, but at one time it was Riijkard’s Barca that was saving the beautiful game. He has inspired plenty to try and play beautiful football and still find a way to win and deserves his spot. Hopefully his genius wasn’t a flash in the pan.

7. Marcello Lippi. Won some stuff with Juve that was nice, but winning the World Cup with Italy in 2006 was fantastic. Lippi took over an Azzurri that was stuttering at major comps after losing to France in 2000 Euro final and that Italy were bored with. He made Italy love the Azzurri again, yet the rest of the World still weren’t impressed and not too many people rated them 6 months out from the World Cup. Once the World Cup started Calciopoli hit and many thought the team might explode, but Lippi held them together and came up with a formula that got the job done.

8. Luiz Felipe Scolari. Won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and did some good stuff at Portugal before taking up the poisoned chalice at Chelsea. His trophy cabinet is a bit bare this decade, but hey, a World Cup doesn’t need too many companions.

9. Pep Gaurdiola. Ok, so he was only a manager for one season during the decade we’re counting, but what a season. A treble in his first season, unbelievable. He was willing to put big ego’s in their place, showed faith in the youth and valued the workhorses or middle class that was so undervalued at Madrid during the galactico’s. At the same time he was able to be successful while maintain the culture the club loves so dearly; the 4-3-3, the passing, the tricks… beautiful football. Might end up facing similar troubles to Riijkard if he can’t keep the squad fresh, but he’ll go down in history even if he never wins another thing as manager.

10. Gian Piero Gasperini. Genoa’s own. There are plenty that have more trophies than him, plenty that work at bigger clubs, but Gasperini has helped develop a once proud club with limited funds. He deserves credit for his loyalty as he probably could have jumped ship to a better paying and easier job awhile ago and his loyalty will continued to be tested if he keeps getting teams to perform. The remarkable thing about Gasperini’s time at Genoa is that every season half his team is sold and new players brought in and he manages to rebuild the squad and get them to gel. They also play beautiful football, its one thing to get a Barca with Ronaldinho, Eto’o and co. at their peak to play attractive football, it is something else to get Genoa playing beautiful football while players fly in and out the door every transfer window.

So… next I want to do a 10 Best Genoa players of all time, but my history of Genoa is admittedly weak so I’ll have to hit the books and I hope you guys have plenty of suggestions. Obviously most of them will have to come from the title winning sides.

1. Gianluigi Buffon

2. Paolo Maldini

3. Andrea Pirlo

4. Cristiano Ronaldo

5. Alessandro Nesta

6. Ronaldo

7. David Beckham

8. Thierry Henry

9. Kaka

10. Lionel Messi

11. Gennaro Gattuso

12. Patrick Vieira

13. Claude Makelele

14. Rio Ferdinand

15. Fabio Cannavaro

16. Ronaldinho

17. Samuel Eto’o

18. Iker Casillas

19. Paul Scholes

20. Didier Drogba

So I guess I should give a bit of a justification…

To start, I realise that theres a bit of a bias towards Italy and Milan, but theres only been two World Cups this decade and Italy won one of them so I think Italian players deserve to dominate the top 20 along with Brazilians. Also, Milan have appeared in more Champions League finals than any other team this decade and some of their squad was essential to Italy’s World Cup victory so I think its appropriate to have them also dominate the top 20.

So obviously being a World Cup or Champions League winner was important in my top 20, no surprises there I guess since I’m an Italian football fan and we pride results.

The players who made my list who haven’t won either of those competitions this decade are Patrick Vieira, Didier Drogba and David Beckham. So justifications for these guys…

Vieira: Hard DM have played an important role in football this decade. There prominence might be waning, but guys like Vieira, Gattuso and Keane have been some of the most influential footballers of this decade. As far as results go, this decade Vieira has the heart of an Arsenal team that won the EPL unbeaten along with 7 other major League and Cup titles (8 if you count the one he won at Juve that was later stripped during the Calciopoli scandal trials) and even more minor titles like a couple of Italian Super Cup winners medals.

Didier Drogba: Despite Roman Abramovic’s billions, Chelsea couldn’t win a thing till Drogba and Mourinho matched up. When he arrived at Chelsea he was a striker with a reasonable scoring record in France’s Ligue 1 that had never won a trophy; with Mourinho’s tutelage he became one of the best striker’s in the world. Strong and powerful, Drogba can score in the air or off his feet, he has great positioning and passion. Yes he acts like a spoilt brat and his ego is over inflated, but in the middle part of this decade there wasn’t a single striker better than him.

David Beckham: Cards on the table time, I hated Beckham for most of his career, hell, most of this decade. Most boys grow up with a picture of their sports heroes as gladiators; men in their physical peak with skill and hard-nose determination; men that take no shit and certainly don’t cry. They were masculinity personified.

Well at least they used too and then along came David Beckham. He had the skill and the physical peak part down to a tee, but the character was different. He invented a new type of sexuality, the metrosexual, he was openly proud of his ‘gay’ fan base because he was in touch with ‘his feminine’ side. It was the last half of 2007 that I came to appreciate Beckham fully. He announced his move to LA Galaxy, what seemed a ridiculous decision at the time to me and an admission that he had lost his ability to play at the top level. Madrid manager Capello quickly announced that Beckham wouldn’t play under him again, but Beckham kept at it, ever the professional, and won back his starting spot and helped Madrid win their first title since Galatico’s v.1 imploded. Since then he has constantly proved his doubters wrong. Steve McClaren tried to push him out of the England squad, but Beckham kept proving himself on the pitch and won back his position. He now looks set to play in his fourth World Cup.

It continues a mini revival that has seen Genoa go on a 3-1-0 streak after going 1-1-6 in their previous eight. The four game streak also ended a 70 year drought for the Grifoni.

For the first time in my lifetime (well, most peoples lifetimes) Genoa has three players in the Azzurri. It’s partly thanks to Daniele De Rossi’s injury, so maybe Inter should be credited with an assist, (I got that from goal.com, but alessio says that all three were original call ups and he is more reliable than goal ) but I think its well deserved and is great for the club.

The chosen ones are Raffaele Palladino, Salvatore Bocchetti and Domenico Criscito. So all Genoa fans should be celebrating today. Success breeds success and the more recognition Genoa players get, the more the club gets.

But back to the matches. Genoa took a 2-0 lead in the first hour thanks to Palacio and Crespo and it looked like Genoa might return the favour by posting a big win against Lille. However, some astute substitutions saw Lille draw level by the 85th minute. Genoa showed plenty of heart though and scored a late winner. Valencia and Slavia drew in the other game of the group, so Genoa have a good chance of progressing if they get a positive result out of their last match against Valencia.

It was a similar story against Siena. Genoa got out to a big lead, 3-0, then let the opposition back in, 3-2, before finishing it off with a late goal, 4-2. It leaves Genoa tied for sixth and just 2 points behind third place Milan. Inter are flying at the top, but it is very close after that. Genoa have a great chance of challenging for a top 4 position if they can keep up their recent form after the international break. At the same time, if they don’t, they could drop into mid table mediocrity quickly too.

Anyway, it has been a great couple weeks for Genoa after a difficult period and the club deserve to enjoy the moment.

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.