Curious record in Serie A
Two months after taking office at Genoa CFC, Alexander Blessin set an unusual record: the German coach remained undefeated with the Rossoblu in his first seven competitive games – but also without a win. The 48-year-old has thus been chosen as the draw-starting king in the history of Serie A clubs. Also curious: “Il Grifone” scored and conceded only two goals under the new coach.
Blessin dethrones Giancarlo Cadè, who, in his third spell as coach of Hellas Verona in 1972, drew in each of his first six competitive games. For comparison: in the Bundesliga clubs, Jörg Berger and Martin Schmidt lead the ranking, whose first five games at their respective stations at 1. FC Köln in 1991 and at VfL Wolfsburg in 2017 ended in a draw.
Blessin at the top: Eight Serie A coaches started with four or more draws
Blessin’s series has not yet decisively advanced Genoa CFC in the Serie A relegation battle. With 19 points from 29 games, the Rossoblu are second to bottom and six points behind a non-relegation zone. The club from the Ligurian capital has been waiting for their second win of the season since matchday 3.
“We don’t win our games and we weren’t super happy with every draw because we could or should have won, but of course the draws against Inter Milan or Atalanta Bergamo are worth a lot,” said Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors in an interview with transfer market. “We’re very, very close and it’s uncomfortable to play against us.”
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Head of Sport Spors “extremely satisfied” with Blessin’s work at Genoa CFC
Spors took office last December after a new owner, US investor group 777 Partners, took over Genoa three months earlier. Despite the series of draws, Spors is “extremely satisfied” with Blessin’s work: “First of all, because he managed to implement a style of play here that we wanted and that is also important for the medium and long-term development of our club . This is a great achievement of his, which he managed to do in such a short time. And secondly, we managed to rebuild the team together so that a group is really going in the same direction.”
Genoa CFC paid almost 20 million euros for nine new players in January, only Juventus Turin and Fiorentina spent more. The focus was on young players with potential: Nadiem Amiri, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, was the oldest newcomer at 25. In return, a handful of veterans left the club. Thanks to a “fairly active January”, the new style of play and “also thanks to Alex’s personality”, “a group really goes in the direction that we set. That’s very important and also means that it’s no longer so easy to play against us,” Spores said.
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Genoa’s sports director is optimistic about the remaining nine games in the end of the season. “We’re still within striking distance. We still have the teams ahead of us as direct opponents in the next few weeks. If we win our home game against Torino on Friday, we’ll really be up for it again. That’s why we still have great faith that we have a chance of making it,” Spors believes in his team staying up, even if he’s planning on two tracks. “But of course it’s my job right now to work in the background on what happens if we don’t make it. That’s just part of it.”
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