Serie A should be a livelier place for the return of bullish Sinisa Mihajlovic to one of its benches, although the man he replaced last week in charge of Sampdoria, Delio Rossi, is no shrinking violet either.
Rossi, it may be remembered, once lost the Fiorentina job because he attempted to punch his own player Adem Ljajic, after substituting him towards the end of a difficult season.
As so often in Serie A’s impulsive managerial merry-go-round, a full circle has turned. Two years ago, Rossi was taking over from the departed Mihajlovic at Fiorentina.
As it happens, Mihajlovic has a history with Ljajic, too: He dropped him from the Serbia national squad after Ljajic had shown reluctance to sing the national anthem.
Mihajlovic has always been a heart-on-sleeve patriot, although that quality was not enough to push his country into the 2014 World Cup finals, which is partly why he left that post.
“For Samp, he is exactly the right appointment,” said Roberto Mancini, a figurehead player from the talented Sampdoria where Mihajlovic thrived in midfield.
It was Mancini who put Mihajlovic on the path to management, making him his deputy coach at Inter Milan.
There, he would gain further endorsements as a motivator, and instructor. “A warrior,” remembers Zlatan Ibrahimovic, “who talks to you straight. And no one ever taught me more about taking free-kicks.”
At Sampdoria, the young striker Manolo Gabbiadini, among others, should benefit from that aspect of Mihajlovic’s expertise, and on the evidence of his opening game, against Lazio on Sunday, he will stoke up Sampdoria’s determination to climb out of the relegation zone.
He praised their “passion”, although Serbian midfielder, Nenad Krsticic, red-carded just after half-time, let that quality spill into excessive zeal. Even with 10 men, Sampdoria took the lead, denied three points only by a Lazio equaliser in injury time.
The next assignment? Away at Inter Milan, second in a series of re-encounters with former-employers for Mihajlovic. His immediate task is to lift Sampdoria, 18th in the table, above Bologna, the team he coached in 2008/09. After Inter, Sampdoria meet Catania, whom Mihajlovic rescued from the threat of the drop in 2009/10. He was at Fiorentina the following season, then took the Serbia post. His managerial history is made up of short stints.
To all of them, Mihajlovic, 44, brought galvanising qualities, but he will only find out how good a manager he can be with a longer stay somewhere. Sampdoria must show patience to give him that. Mihajlovic is their seventh coach in the last three-and-half years.
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