Top 5 managers across Europe this season
Football is an easy game. 11 players play on each side and try to score more goals than the other. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Not really when you think about the modern game, as the teams today play in such varied formations, imply such different tactics and try to dictate the game be it by possession or by sitting deep and counter-attacking.
Even though there are analysts, experts and backroom support staff present at each and every club, it is the manager who presides and details the final plan of action. After the players of course, the manager is the single most important person for a football club.
They take part in everything, from transfer businesses, to pre-season, to press conferences, to the half-time team talks in a tense final or a season deciding encounter. The way they set their teams up decides the outcome of the game.
Here are 5 managers who have made a huge impact this season:
#1. Maurizio Sarri – Napoli
Napoli sit second in the Serie A table and have ensured a place in next season’s Champions League. Gonzalo Higuain leads their goal scoring charts with 33 goals and sits joint second with former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in the Golden Shoe rankings across Europe.
Marek Hamsik sits second on the assists chart of Serie A with 11 to his name. The man behind the resurgence of this historical club is none other than Maurizio Sarri. Under Sarri, Napoli have become a real contender for the Scudetto. His tactical nuances and changes in formation, like shifting to a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-3-3, with an additional man in midfield, has improved the defensive structure of the team and has made it more balanced.
When Rafa Benitez left for Real Madrid at the end of last term, a lot of speculation had mounted as to who could take over at Stadio San Paolo. When Sarri was finally chosen a lot of eyebrows were raised. And who could blame them considering he was a full-time banker till 2000 and had only one season of top flight experience, having coached in the lower leagues prior to that.
The greatest player of Naples, Maradona himself was quoted saying, “I respect Sarri, but he’s not the right coach for a winning Napoli.” But come the end of the season and he has been a revelation. El Pibe De Oro later apologized for his initial doubt. Sarri has reignited the flair reminiscent of the days of the man quoted above and could well end Juventus’s monopoly at the top next season.