In the past few seasons across Europe’s top five leagues, football fans have witnessed football legends become club managers and have successful spells while others had things go south. Mikel Arteta’s everblazing Gunners in England, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen dominating the Bundesliga against the likes of Bayern Munich to the recently sacked Italian legend, Gennaro Gattuso who was in charge of Olympique Marseille.
The Italian Serie A has also seen former footballers become club managers, including Antonio Conte, the Inzaghi brothers (Filippo and Simone), Daniele De Rossi and the one who recently knocked Inter Milan out of the Coppa Italia, former Inter Milan midfielder, now Bologna boss, Thiago Motta.
The 41 year old was appointed Rossoblu manager at the beginning of the 2022-23 season where he finished in 9th place with 54 points in the Serie A after 38 games. He is now in his second season as Bologna boss, sitting 5th on the Serie A log with 45 points after 25 league games. That’s 12 wins, 9 draws and 4 losses during this period with 13 games left to play. Motta’s men boast of a very impressive record while playing at their home stadium, Renato Dall’ara having lost just once against Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan in their first game of the season.
Bologna have scored 37 goals so far in the league, having conceded 23 and kept 10 cleansheets courtesy of Motta’s tactical approach. He mostly prefers playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation while occasionally switching to a 4-1-4-1 formation depending on the opponent and player availability. His relatively young squad are doing well this season and they’re now above Napoli, Lazio and Roma while fighting for a spot in any of the three European competitions but their main focus is on Champions League qualification.
Motta’s style of play sees his side, led by 22 year old Joshua Zirkzee in attack play with a high press and make it hard for opponents who try building up play from the back. The Dutchman, recently signed from Bayern Munich has now hit double figures in goal involvement for the Rossoblu who saw striker Marko Arnautovic leave them for Inter Milan before the 2023-24 season began.
Bologna tend to play with very minimal spaces between the defenders, midfielders and attackers making their ball progression very swift and their transition too quick for opposing teams to catch up. Thiago Motta has built his team around three key men in attack:
- Lewis Ferguson – 5 goals, 3 assists
- Joshua Zirkzee – 9 goals, 3 assists
- Riccardo Orsolini – 9 goals, 1 assist
Stats collected from the Sofascore app.
This trio has caused nightmares for defenders in Serie A this season with Zirkzee frequently dropping deep to help in pressing and possession while holding up play and creating chances for the rest in attack. Bologna’s impressive form this season has had Thiago Motta being linked with moves to ‘bigger’ clubs as expected for any manager doing well in a club, with all due respect, not so big.
They say the best coaches are those who improve the ‘raw materials’ they are required to work with and that’s something Motta can boast of. He’s recently converted Riccardo Calafiori, a left-back to a very solid left centerback alongside Sam Beukema where the duo have been impressive to watch at the heart of Bologna’s backline. However, one thing Motta needs to work on in order to qualify as an elite manager is his away record and form.
Bologna have played 12 away games in the league this season and during this period, Motta’s men have won twice, drawn seven times and lost three times. If Motta works on this, he’ll definitely hit more headlines hence attracting interest from bigger clubs across Europe. Watch out for Thiago Motta’s Rossoblu because they are coming for you!!
It’s really amazing seeing these coaches I used to watch as players now excelling as coaches. There are mixed results in their coaching careers (Lampard, Pirlo, Gerrard, Gary Neville, Scholes) to mention a few, but at least we see their contribution in other areas of football. I mean Sturridge is now a pundit too! Otherwise, great piece.
Shows us that they loved the beautiful game more than just playing on the pitch.
What I find interesting about Motta’s tactics and play style is his most controversial take of playing in a 2-7-2 style. Which basically on paper and on the pitch is splitting the pitch in 3 segments of play down the flanks and through the middle. He’s destined for greatness when he gets his boys honed in on the tactics and win more away games
His players have mastered building up play from behind and have great positional awareness when in possession. He’s definitely destined for greatness.