Enter The Don

By: Neil | March 12th, 2009

The appointment of Roberto Donadoni as Napoli manager isn’t surprising. President Aurelio De Laurentiis had publicly said the next manager of Napoli would be a relatively high profile person. There were rumours about Roberto Mancini floating around, but in the end De Laurentiis decided that the ex Nazionale boss was the best candidate. Many Napoli fans wanted a young up and coming manager like Ferrara or Conte, but it wasn’t too long ago that Donadoni himself was a young and promising manager. The big advantage Donadoni had over everyone else was managing at Euro 2008. There’s no higher pressure job than managing Italy – except maybe England or Brazil – and Donadoni’s mixed experiences with the Azzurri should serve him well in the Napoli hot seat.

A look at Donadoni’s managing career shows a quick climb up the ladder. He started off at Lecco in 2001-02, then moved to Livorno (Serie B) in 2002-03 and Genoa (also Serie B) in 2003. At Genoa the club was fighting relegation and Donadoni was replaced by Luigi De Canio. Midway through 2005 he returned to Livorno and led the club to a surprising 9th place finish. The next season he had the team in 6th spot when he resigned due to criticism from Livorno chairman Aldo Spinelli. You have to admire Donadoni for taking a stand like that. It’s well known that Spinelli is one of those insane and whimsical Italian club Presidents, but Don showed he’s not going to get pushed around.

I was shocked when Don was appointed manager of Italy. For me the obvious candidate in the summer of 2006 was Fabio Cappello, and as far as I know he wouldn’t have turned down the job. In any case many people, including myself, thought Donadoni was a great young manager but simply not experienced enough to manage the Nazionale. From his days as a player there was no doubt he could handle pressure situations, but the criticism was that he didn’t have enough experience as a manager to develop the golden touch that Lippi had. I think it was a criticism that was ultimately justified.

Don got off to a rocky start by tying Lithuania 1-1 at home and losing to France 3-1. The press was all over Donadoni, and it seemed like he was overwhelmed with the task of keeping the winning formula that had been a staple under Lippi. At one point Scotland and France were so far ahead I wondered if Italy would even qualify. Even when Italy emerged as group winners I still wasn’t convinced that Don was the right man for the Azzurri. In their last qualifying game in Glasgow which they had to win, Italy was unconvincing in defeating Scotland 2-1. The Scots had Italy chasing shadows for parts of the game, and it wasn’t the sort of performance you would expect from Italy in a must-win situation.

For the actual tournament I’ve heard arguments that Italy was just as good as Spain at Euro 2008 because they held Spain to a 0-0 draw and were only eliminated on penalties. But if you look at Italy’s first two games they were clearly unprepared both tactically and mentally. In the first game they fielded a 4-3-3 and got ripped apart by the Netherlands. Daniele De Rossi was inexplicably left on the bench that game, and Italy’s three man midfield featuring Gattuso, Pirlo, and Ambrosini was poor. AC Milan had an off year the previous season and individually none of the Milan midfielders had great seasons, so it didn’t make any sense to go with an all Milan midfield. After the game there were rumours that the players made Donadoni change the team in specific ways, i.e. changing to a 4-3-1-2 and bringing in De Rossi and Camoranesi. Either way it was almost too late: Italy had to beat Romania to give them any kind of safety net before the France game. Against Romania Italy wasn’t mentally focussed and fell behind 1-0, and they eventually needed a Buffon PK save to stay in the tournament. After the Romania game it was clear Donadoni was not the right person for the job. The rest of the tournament Italy played better, but I think that was the players responding to the urgency of the situation rather than anything Donadoni did.

This is Donadoni’s first job since Italy and it could be a great opportunity to relaunch his managing career. Even though he wasn’t successful at Euro 2008, I think he eventually learned from his mistakes and he’s a better manager for it. Plus, managing in Serie A is much different than a national team. You get more day to day interaction with the players and there’s much more time to correct mistakes and iron out rough patches. That’s why experience is vital for managing a national team: you have little room for error and every match, especially in major tournaments, is like a cup final.

Donadoni’s main goal for the new few months is for the players to get the best out of themselves. I think this is a smart approach. Reja’s desire for team unity might have alienated some of the players, especially younger ones. To get a team functioning at its highest level you need each member to feel productive and imporant, even if they’ve got a small role. This is one aspect that Reja may have ignored. He came from the old school of management where it was up to the player to adapt to the manager’s plans. I think Donadoni is a little more modern, and will try to create the conditions necessary for the individual player to reach his best.

Tactically, Donadoni is looking at various formations in practice. He’s tried out 4-3-1-2 and 4-4-2 and there’s also been mention of a trident attack with Lavezzi, Denis/Zalayeta, and Russotto/Datolo. I’m really looking forward to the Reggina game just to see what changes he makes with the starting lineup. It looks like his defence will be the same as the Lazio game with Santacroce, Cannavaro, Contini, and Aronica lined up at the back.

One final note: there are rumours linking Hamsik with a 35m euro move to Juventus. With uncertain economic times ahead, I would take that money while it’s there. Datolo looks like he’s the same type of player as Hamsik, and that kind of cash is good for long term stability.