tactical errors lead Genoa to give away victory

By: j | February 15th, 2009

In a heart-breaking match, Genoa gave up three unanswered goals in the final half hour to play to a 3-3 draw against Fiorentina. The single point was incredibly costly as combined with Atalanta’s defeat of Roma, the Rossoblu missed a perfect chance to regain fourth place with a morsel of breathing room.

The match wasn’t “simply” a draw but instead a continuation of an alarming set of consequences. For the first twenty-two weeks of the campaign Genoa has been near flawless in its approach to match preparation and void of coaching flaws. However the last two weeks that claim has been stricken down with two very glaring errors. In the Roma match the club spent much of the week convincing themselves how a Champions League situation is likely beyond their reach and as expected they fulfilled their prophecy with a fear ridden performance. Against Fiorentina, they committed the cardinal sin of allowing a club to get back into a match when it could have easily been killed off with intelligent tactical play. To develop a good attacking unit is one thing but championships are won on being able to defend and a side that can’t successfully defend a three goal lead with thirty minutes remaining has to reconsider a number of their tactical decisions and preparation approaches.

With regards to the match, Genoa took the lead as Thiago Motta played a perfect one-two with Diego Milito and upon receiving the ball back, slotted it in from close range. However Genoa was a man down at the half hour mark when Giuseppe Biava received his second yellow for for fouling Fiorentina’s brilliant supporting striker Stevan Jovetić, formerly of FK Partizan. Through the work of Giandomenico Mesto took the two goal margin as he sped down the right wing and provided Raffaele Palladino the point-blank opportunity which he made no mistake with.

At the restart Omar Milanetto was called upon for Raffaele Palladino with a vision towards strengthening defending but the move had little impact as Stevan Jovetić, Alberto Gilardino and Adrian Mutu were creating havoc with general movement and distribution. It was either missed completely or dealt with horrible but distribution and movement by Genoa took a turn for the worse and they quickly playing into the oppositions very open hand. Fortune continued to turn Genoa’s way four minutes before the hour when Alessandro Gamberini brought Domenico Criscito down in the area and a penalty awarded. Diego Milito stepped up and converted from the spot giving Genoa the 3-0 lead.

From this stage forward the match turned into a nightmare for Gian Piero Gasperini. Holding off another tactical substitution for the time being Fiorentina clawed a goal back when Alberto Gilardino drew a penalty after being brought down by Salvatore Bocchetti and Adrian Mutu converted from the spot. Stevan Jovetić nearly drew a goal back within a minute as the nineteen year-old was unchallenged by Genoa’s defenders. In the final series of substitutions, albeit questionable ones Sokratis Papastrathopoulos and Anthony Vanden Borre came in for Giandomenico Mesto and Marco Rossi respectively to try and protect the lead but unfortunately they did not understand the vast difference between “locking a match down” or simply trying to hold on. Genoa tried to hold on but without the midfield able to control the ball, effectively they were driving the ball down to Fiorentina and trying to hold them back. That plan didn’t work and with ten minutes remaining the Tricolorii capped Adrian Mutu struck a free-kick off the cross bar and it was now only a one goal match. Still there were ten minutes remaining and if Genoa had been able to assert some control of the ball in the Viola half, the match would have ended without further incident. However that disappeared and a careful look at the eleven on the pitch at the time can see a glaring decision to “hold on” and as is so often the case, that doesn’t work very well. Finally in the matches last strike, Adrian Mutu collected the ball at the edge of the penalty area and sent the ball inside the far post to bring the match to a shocking 3-3 draw.