There is something about Sampdoria's instantly recognisable blue-ringed shirt that evokes memories of Serie A's zenith; memories of when the likes of Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini were gracing the turf of the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. But, alas, since their only scudetto victory back in 1991, Sampdoria's decline has echoed that of Italian football more generally. Never since that decade have they been a serious powerhouse capable of challenging at home and abroad.
Siniša Mihajlović is working wonders with Sampdoria
After a disappointing few years, Siniša Mihajlović is rebuilding his reputation at Sampdoria.
Valerio Pennicino
More often than not, they've been scrapping to survive relegation from the second tier rather than to book their place back in European competition. Indeed, since they lifted the Serie A trophy, they've been relegated to Serie B and bounced back twice. The glimpses of glory they showed back in 2010 were cut tantalisingly short with the departures of star players like Giampaolo Pazzini and Antonio Cassano, and a season later they dropped down a division.
But now, it seems the glory days could be on their way back to the Marassi, and it's all the work of another man who was in his peak in the 1990s: Siniša Mihajlović. The man who made over a century of appearances in midfield for Samp was invited back as coach late last year, after Delio Rossi was fired with the club struggling to keep their heads above the relegation places. The blucerchiati have been reaping the rewards of that bold decision ever since.
Mihajlović steered the club safely clear of the bottom three, and sparked an instantaneous improvement in form. Perhaps most importantly in the eyes of Samp supporters, he also masterminded victory over fierce rivals Genoa at the Luigi Ferraris. The turnaround impressed new club president Massimo Ferrero, who persuaded Mihajlović to stay for another season. So far, it has been another excellent gamble. Their goalless draw at home to Roma on the weekend ensured they maintained their unbeaten record, with the only other side yet to lose being league leaders and reigning champions Juventus.
Mihajlović's achievement is all the more impressive considering the relatively limited resources he has at his disposal. The club aren't one of the biggest spenders in the league by any means, and over the summer the money they earned by selling talented young German defender Shkodran Mustafi to Valencia went on deepening -- rather than improving -- the squad. Though they do have standout talents like young Spaniard Pedro Obiang and his young midfield counterpart Roberto Soriano, they're pretty much a team without star players.
But perhaps that’s precisely how Mihajlović has managed to achieve such impressive things with Samp. They’re far from the best set of individuals in the league, but their industrious, combative style of play has turned them into one of the best teams. Their impressive draw against Roma embodied all that has been good about Samp since Mihajlović took over, with their intense pressing and precise positioning managing to keep one of the league’s most fierce attacks quiet.
It’s Samp’s level of self-sacrifice and defensive organisation that has been the most impressive aspect of their game, but clearly they’ve managed to find the net often enough too. Unsurprisingly, Mihajlović has emphasised rapid counter-attacks, and urges his team to get the ball forward as soon as they win it back. It’s not always pretty, and it leads to them giving the ball away more often than more patient sides, but so far its success has been undeniable.
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Given the fastidious level of training involved, perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised. One report from a training session earlier this year tells of how the reserves were called upon to replicate Roma’s 4-3-3 formation, and for almost an hour the first team practiced winning it back and instantly triggering a counter attack. There’s no doubting that Mihajlović is an fastidious, excellent tactician.
However, it’s not just on the field that the Serb has been impressing -- his press conferences have continuously provided entertainment since he moved to Sampdoria. In his introductory press conference, he borrowed heavily from speeches by John F. Kennedy, describing him as “a man whose ideas and words continue to make us dream.” He said he’d ask his players “not what Sampdoria can do for them, but what they can do for Sampdoria.”
A few months later, ahead of a game against Atalanta, he began quoting Dante's epic poem Divine Comedy, urging his players to "push past the Pillars of Hercules." He added that when he arrived at the club, "we were in hell, now we are in purgatory and I want to reach paradise." However, he saved his best literary reference for Samp's trip to Verona, when, in true Shakespearean style, he threatened to "knock Juliet down from the balcony."
His recent success in Serie A -- both in the dugout and in press conferences -- has been a far cry from the past disasters of a man whose coaching career not long ago looked at risk of turning into a punchline. Solid if unspectacular spells at Bologna and Catania were followed up with a disappointing tenure in charge of Fiorentina, which lasted just over a year. He was sacked in November 2011 with the club down in 13th place, and they'd go on to only just survive relegation under Delio Rossi.
Things went from bad to worse when he took charge of the Serbian national team in April 2012, and failed miserably to guide the team to the recent World Cup in Brazil. During his time in charge of Serbia, he made numerous objectionable decisions, with one of the most prominent being the omission of one of the country’s most talented young players, Adem Ljajić -- a player of Muslim faith -- for objecting to singing the Serbian national anthem for “personal reasons.”
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Your home for all of SB Nation's coverage of Italy’s top flight Such developments didn’t help put an end to the old stereotype of Mihajlović as a violent, antagonistic Serbian nationalist, which stems partly from his relationship with Serbian war criminal Arkan. But, in an article in the Guardian last year, Jonathan Wilson detailed Mihajlović complicated history as a child of a Serb father and Croat mother, and featured an interview with childhood friend of Siniša Lazić, who rejected suggestions that he was a nationalist, instead describing him as a “patriot.” As euphemistic as that may sound, it’s clear from Wilson’s article that nothing is as simple as it seems.
Siniša's past obviously didn't deter Sampdoria from hiring Mihajlović, and recent results are proving them right. The blucerchiati's problem will now be trying to hold onto their coach in the face of interest from a few of Serie A's giants. He has described recent rumours linking him with a move to his former club Inter Milan as "pleasing," and it's hard to envisage him turning them down should an approach be made. There's no doubt he has the swagger of a coach cut out for the top level, and he's increasingly demonstrating the acumen too.
But, for now, he insists that all of his attention is on continuing his good work at Samp. That’s just as well, as president Ferrero seems to have no intention of letting him go in a hurry. “The coach is like a beautiful woman, desired by everyone, but at the moment he’s mine and I’ll hold on to him,” he recently beamed. After such a start to the season, who can blame him?
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