Plaudits tend to mean more when they arrive from your opponents, even if they are being used to make a point. And by showering Sampdoria coach Marco Giampaolo with praise, Milan’s chinless chief executive Marco Fassone was also highlighting the shortcomings of the Abruzzese’s predecessor at Marassi, Vincenzo Montella.
“Giampaolo was fantastic,” he fumed. “He designed a game-plan that tied us in knots and stopped us from playing. We couldn’t get out our own half for 60 or 70 minutes. We have to congratulate them.” This was different to the defeat Milan suffered to Lazio. Less acceptable. Because for a self-proclaimed “numbers guy” like Fassone, the wealth gap in this case was so great it shouldn’t have even been a contest.
“Samp aren’t on our level,” he grumbled. “They make a third of what we do and their wage bill is a third of ours.” The trouble for Fassone is that, notwithstanding the economic stratification of the modern game, football isn’t played on a balance sheet. It’s not as simplistic as that. Without dwelling too much on Milan’s problems and just how high the stakes are for the club this season, Fassone’s ire is understandable when put into the context of what exactly this game symbolised.
It pitted a club that had sold an entire team over the summer (Samp) with one that had gone out and bought a shiny new one (Milan). Fassone probably felt justified in expecting a better result than the deserved 2-0 defeat Milan got dealt in Genoa on Sunday. But Samp turned out to be greater than the sum of their parts, and Milan so much less.
A lot of that, as Fassone rightly concluded, was down to Giampaolo who said afterwards: “It’s maybe the best day since I’ve been here.” Better than becoming the first Samp coach to do the double over Genoa in the derby since Eraldo Monzeglio in 1960? Better than the time masterminded the defeats of both Milanesi at San Siro? Frankly it’s hard to choose. Few people would have expected Samp to start this season in the manner they have done. Particularly after losing €104m worth of players in the transfer window.
Next big things Milan Skriniar and Patrik Schick moved onto Inter and Roma after just one year at Bogliasco. Bruno Fernandes returned home to Portugal and Luis Muriel, the team’s joint top scorer in all competitions, upped sticks and joined Sevilla. It made the prospect of improving on last season’s 10th place finish a challenge. But as we enter October Samp are still unbeaten and look every bit a contender for a spot in the Europa League. There’s even been talk of emulating what they achieved under Gigi Delneri.
Samp made the top four that year and it would be satisfying from a symmetrical perspective if, as the final qualifier in Serie A’s last season with four Champions League places, they did it again just as the league had another spot restored. But let’s not get too carried away. The aim, as enunciated by the club, is to finish best of the rest outside the mini-league comprised of Italy’s traditional Big Three, the Roman clubs and Napoli.
A leap of 14 points on last year is what’s in order and Samp’s rival for this imaginary title is probably Torino, which is just as well because they were one of only three teams in the league to keep Andrea Belotti quiet home and away last season. Giampaolo is cautious about declaring this Samp team better than last year’s vintage. It’s too soon. He has limited himself so far to saying: “They’re different.”
If you’re wondering how so exactly, it's enough to take a look at the centre-forward position. Record signing Duvan Zapata is, in many respects, the complete opposite of Muriel. It helps that Samp also have now upgraded in the full-back position too with Ivan Strinic and Bartosz Beresynski taking another step in his development.
Giampaolo has great faith in Samp’s scouting, which is headed by Riccardo Pecini. And if Samp’s model has the appearance of a Monaco-lite, it’s really no coincidence. Sandwiched between his spells with the Blucerchiati was an experience with the French champions, who evidently admired how Pecini discovered players like Mauro Icardi and Simone Zaza.
The trend has continued on his return with Schick and Skriniar, unknowns bought for a combined €6m and sold for €72m just a year later. Without Giampaolo’s ability to develop that talent, though, Samp wouldn't have seen the same incredible return on their investment. Think of the money Empoli would have made if Lukasz Skorupski, Leandro Paredes and Piotr Zielinski weren’t all on loan at the Castellani a couple of seasons ago. Their parent clubs all owe Giampaolo a debt of gratitude for adding value to assets later sold on at a profit.
The last two years mark quite the renaissance for Giampaolo. A decade ago, he was a rising star of Italian coaching along with Massimiliano Allegri. The difference is Allegri got the Milan job while Giampaolo didn’t make the same step up. Juventus interviewed him twice, but ultimately overlooked him (and Antonio Conte) in favour of Ciro Ferrara. It looked for years like Giampaolo missed his window. He fell down the leagues and lost appeal.
At Brescia, Giampaolo walked out after the ultras ‘sacked’ his assistant on the basis that he left as a player to go to rivals Atalanta. In 2014, Giampaolo practically started all over again with Cremonese in the third division. Seeing what he can do now, it’s worth highlighting how great an eye Empoli have for coaching. Think of how long Maurizio Sarri lay undiscovered before he got a chance at the Castellani. “He was coming from Sorrento. No one knew him,” Marcello Carli, Empoli’s former sporting director recalled. “We were considered mad to appoint him even in Serie B.”
The same could be said when they replaced Sarri with Giampaolo after he left for Napoli. He was the forgotten man. Thankfully Empoli remembered him and at 50, Giampaolo is a comeback kid. Samp is the ideal environment for him - relaxed and ambitious at the same time. Budding coaches could do worse than go watch his team play. Giampaolo explains his philosophy thus: “Never do away with the playful side because inside every footballer is a kid who just wants to have fun.”
It’s an outlook that allows Giampaolo to make his teams hyper-organised without limiting freedom of expression and curbing enthusiasm. “Football can be divided into three phases,” he says. “With the ball. Without the ball and in transition. Without the ball is more rational. With the ball is tied in with the quality of individuals and ideas you have. Transition is all mental. It’s about having that desire to win the ball back as quickly as possible.”
On Saturday, Samp go to Udinese and whatever they do will probably be drowned out by the noise around Roma’s trip to Milan and Juventus’ game against Atalanta. Currently seventh but with a game in hand, they can fly under the radar, just as their manager has for many years. But it’s great to see Giampaolo hitting the mainstream again and making Samp, a neutral favourite, hip once more.
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