Genoa and Chievo have made the first coaching changes of this season’s Serie A, with Davide Ballardini and Lorenzo d’Anna respectively being dismissed.
Genoa made the decision despite the club performing relatively well and sitting 11th in the Serie A table. But, president Enrico Preziosi acted two days after a 3-1 loss at home to Parma, citing simply that Ballardini — who he had hired for a third time — is a terrible coach.
“I consider him to be a terrible coach, as in his career he was fired 13 times in 14 seasons,” Preziosi told the Corriere della Sera. “Only at Sambenedettese in Serie C did he manage to see out the season.”
Even more bizarre, is that Preziosi has turned to Ivan Juric, who he hired, fired and re-hired in the 2016-17 season, before dismissing him again two months into the last campaign and replacing him with Ballardini as the club sat in the relegation zone.
Ballrdini eventually led them to a 12th place finish. This season, Genoa have Serie A’s top goal scorer in Krzysztof Piatek — and Preziosi credits the Poland striker for the impressive start rather than Ballardini.
“I am not interested in the points we have so far, because we need more,” Preziosi added. “We’ve got Krzysztof Piatek, the Serie A top scorer, four strikers and 25 players in total, so it’s the bare minimum to do well.
“We have already conceded 13 goals in seven games and on Sunday we lost 3-1 at home to Parma, a team that I consider to be inferior to Genoa.
“Ballardini is a wonderful person, but he doesn’t know how to put his players on the pitch, he can’t do anything. Juric is a positive coach and it was my mistake to confirm Ballardini at the end of the last season.”
‼️✍️ Ufficiale: Gian Piero #Ventura è il nuovo allenatore dell’@ACChievoVerona!
Accordo biennale, insieme a mister Ventura anche il vice Salvatore Sullo e il preparatore atletico Alessandro Innocenti.
Da tutto il mondo gialloblù, un caloroso #BenvenutoMister! 💛💙 pic.twitter.com/AnIkihB8Fq— A.C. ChievoVerona (@ACChievoVerona) October 10, 2018
Chievo’s situation is much more straightforward as the club are without a win so far and, having been deducted three points for falsifying player sale accounts, are rooted to the bottom on -1 points. Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at AC Milan, the club’s sixth loss in eight matches, saw D’Anna dismissed.
Former Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura has been hired as a replacement.
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