Italian Serie A 2021/2022

[pupivn]

watch out Atalanta, they have the most points up to this time of season under Gasperini, usually they have slow start in first half and strong second half.
aside from injuries, Milan and Napoli have to care about AFCON, it hits them until late Jan, don't know how they can deal with it.

 

[ADRossi]

Atalanta are in great form and only three points behind us. They're a bigger threat than Napoli at this point.

 

[thatdude]

Atalanta are in great form and only three points behind us. They're a bigger threat than Napoli at this point.

I still question whether they have enough mentally to pull it off. Also they dropped down into a
EL, which is great for us. They play a day later and have a better chance at going far in that competition.

 

[Choppin Onions]

Regardless of where they end up, you have to give it up for Gasp and the sporting director in Bergamo. Percassi isn’t opposed to investing smartly into the squad either.

I thought they’d start to fade when Papu Gomez got banished and Ilicic started getting injured and showing his age a bit more and then Romero left for Spurs and Gosens has been injured almost since the beginning of the season.

But here we are, almost at the winter break and they’re 3 points off the top and just continuing doing their thing.

 

[Bluenine]

Regardless of where they end up, you have to give it up for Gasp and the sporting director in Bergamo. Percassi isn’t opposed to investing smartly into the squad either.

Giovanni Sartori, he is the man behind Atalanta's amazing transfers. Though its not clear how much of the credit goes to Percassi, who is heavily involved too.

Maybe one day when Marotta retires/leaves, we should go after Sartori. Director of football/technical is clearly a crucial role these days.

 

[Il Drago]

Tbh i believe Atalanta's rise has more to do with Gasperini than with the sporting director. Sure their scouting department is great but Gasperini is the one who makes their players look great in his system. Many of them have failed outside Atalanta.

 

[andrei]

Giovanni Sartori, he is the man behind Atalanta's amazing transfers. Though its not clear how much of the credit goes to Percassi, who is heavily involved too.

Maybe one day when Marotta retires/leaves, we should go after Sartori. Director of football/technical is clearly a crucial role these days.

When you say Sartori, I remembered the name and I googled it. We were linked to him in our dark days of banter era. He was director at Chievo. Somehow this man kept Chievo in Serie A for years, even if that was a tiny team with the smallest budget year after year.
No surprise he is doing great again.
Another name would be Sampdoria's director Osti. He found so many good players for peanuts.

Technical director or whatever the name is not a crucial role, it is the most important role.

 

[PHM1605]

Giovanni Sartori, he is the man behind Atalanta's amazing transfers. Though its not clear how much of the credit goes to Percassi, who is heavily involved too.

Maybe one day when Marotta retires/leaves, we should go after Sartori. Director of football/technical is clearly a crucial role these days.

I bet Sartori would get crucified, same as his colleague and successor Gasperini here, as soon as we have a CL meltdown or 0-3, 0-4 humiliation. Atalanta is a perfect environment for those two because they aren't asked to win trophies. They have a real long-term project, requiring low cost, good gameplay and that's it.

We have an entirely different project here at Inter. We can't keep stars at Atalanta's ridiculous level of budget. He might be another Monchi, is (was) considered a genius in talent scouting/ selling but miserable when extending the scope (small -> big team).

I honestly don't know who could be at Marotta's level i.e. bargain spending but still win trophies. Reason why he is undoubtedly the best in the world.

 

[.h.]

to be 100% honest, I wouldnt give TOO much credit to Mraotta

Dont get me wrong. I think he's brilliant. But its hardly like finding Vidal/Kolarov/etc relies heavily on good scounting and finding unknowns. He's done a good job (I assume) negotiataing to get these deals, but I'd guess its an overall team effort.

He's a world class director, for sure though, but I think another guy could hvae done a lot of that as well. He probably really stands out in terms of the management of the team and staff, and the negotitaing side I'd guess

 

[andrei]

I always imagined building and leading a football team need a trio. The coach, the scouter and the technical director.
The coach will decide how the team play and what type of player he needs to make that system better or more resilient. The scouter finds the players and with the others 2, they decide what players will be bought.
The director is responsable for negotiations and management of the team. Basically how do you make a better team without overspending, how could you keep that team competitive without going into debt and so on.
Usually when someone is appointed director he choose a coach and a scouter to work with. Marotta is a boss at this things.

The classical exemple is Juventus. Marotta brought Paratici as scouter and Conte and later Allegri as a coach. They built a strong team who played 2 CL finals without financial problems. The moment Marotta left, Juventus went downward.

 

[PHM1605]

^More example: Marotta built Sampdoria to a Champions League team (4th spot 09-10). The season after (10-11) they were relegated immediately after he left to Juventus.

This guy is a real beast. His effects could not be clearer.

 

[Bluenine]

to be 100% honest, I wouldnt give TOO much credit to Mraotta

Dont get me wrong. I think he's brilliant. But its hardly like finding Vidal/Kolarov/etc relies heavily on good scounting and finding unknowns. He's done a good job (I assume) negotiataing to get these deals, but I'd guess its an overall team effort.

He's a world class director, for sure though, but I think another guy could hvae done a lot of that as well. He probably really stands out in terms of the management of the team and staff, and the negotitaing side I'd guess

Marotta is not a scout. You cannot judge him on whether he discovered unheard of talents. Like you said, he is a world class director. Marotta runs the (sporting side of the) club. What he is amazing at is building successful teams. He was brilliant at Sampdoria, then at Juventus and now at Inter. At every club, Marotta got most of the big decisions right that helped achieve this success.

Lets take Inter for eg. Marotta got Conte, and then got him the players he needed to win, sometimes against Conte's wishes. And when Conte left, with a shoestring budget Marotta got Inzaghi and players like Dzeko & Calhanoglu. He didn't discover them. He is just brilliant at putting the right pieces together. I rated Marotta long before he came to Inter, and I will happily admit that Marotta at Inter has exceeded my already very high expectations of him. This club is run so well since he came in, our sporting decisions make sense and we have got almost all our big decisions right. Even this season, I thought the hiring of Inzaghi, Calhanoglu and Correa were all mistakes, but so far Marotta is making me eat humble pie.

Marotta is one of the best football executives in the world, if not the best. He has his faults (penny pinching, etc) but overall he succeeds where ever he goes and his absence is felt in a big way whenever he leaves - both these facts put together kinda prove how big an impact he has on his clubs. Sampdoria went from a CL club during his time to relegation after he left. Juve went from their worst period in their history before Marotta to their greatest Scudetto winning run during Marotta to shambles after he left. And we all know Inter before and since Marotta.

The fucker is a legit legend. Just go to his thread at Juve forum if you ever doubt that. I don't think you can give him too much credit.

 

[.h.]

Im not saying he isnt a legend, just that pulling Kolarov and people out the bag isnt really *that* impressive - those arent his key points. His team managemenet skills and direction is what we deserve to be proud of him for

 

[SiamoNoi]

Wasn't Kolarov request from Conte?Same with Vidal.

 

[.h.]

Irrespective of where the request comes from, its also about the execution

 

[Harpsabu]

Wasn't Kolarov request from Conte?Same with Vidal.

I believe they both came after we had to start cutting costs. Rumour has it we were very close to kumbulla and tonali. Vidal sounds like a request, kolarov I imagine was depth when we couldn't afford kumbulla.

 

[Corrode]

Kolarov was Conte's request for his left footed back at that time.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1299138568594640898

 

[Harpsabu]

Kolarov was Conte's request for his left footed back at that time.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1299138568594640898

Look at that date. I believe that was after the meeting with zhang when we found out the budget was 0.

 

[IM21]

now we know the prosecutor is blind

https://twitter.com/x/status/1470721435379322883

 

[Bluenine]

I know most people here poured a lot of hate at the signings of Vidal, Kolarov and Darmian (at least Darmain proved people wrong on the pitch). But I look at this a bit differently. Marotta signing these 3 players on pretty much a free was (indirectly) a key factor in Inter winning the scudetto. Conte was ready to quit when Zhang said there is no money to spend last year. Marotta used these free signings to convince Conte that if he stays Inter will have the depth to fight for the Scudetto. Yes, these 3 were largely peace offerings for Conte. But it worked. Their low transfer costs made them palatable to Zhang. The players themselves (at least Vidal and Kolarov) may not have worked out the way Conte would have liked, but Marotta's plan worked for Inter.

This is one of the reasons why Marotta gets so much respect from me, whatever the circumstances, he makes it work.