ANALYSIS: Which Italian manager will be the most successful in the Premier League next season?
FRANCESCO GUIDOLIN (Swansea) – He’s proved being a very smart manager. At the beginning of his career he based his philosophy on counter-attacks only, whilst today he teaches his players how to keep the ball possession. He also proved his detractors wrong last season, helping Swansea to survive in the Premier League.
CLAUDIO RANIERI (Leicester City) – We know everything about him now. His tactical work has been remarkable as well as the Foxes’ counter attacks in the 2015-16 campaign. He surprised everyone last season and each one of his players had the best season of their entire career. Ranieri’s management of the dressing room was amazing too. The Champions League will be his next challenge.
WALTER MAZZARRI (Watford) – He has always had positive seasons (Acireale, Pistoiese, Livorno, Reggina, Samprodia, Napoli) apart from his two-year spell at Inter, where, however, he was not the one to be blamed for the team’s bad results. He went to study English football after being sacked by the nerazzurri and he will definitely change his style, adapting it to British football. He usually adopts a 3-5-2 system, which is not very popular among Premier League clubs, but, yet again, he could decide to deploy a four-men defence formation.
ANTONIO CONTE (Chelsea) – He will have the best team compared to his compatriots. Conte is really self-confident, that’s why he’s not going to alter his ideas too much. His biggest quality is being capable of reading his players’ mind and I believe he is not going to fail at Stamford Bridge.
Italian managers are usually very successful abroad because they have a deep tactical knowledge. It is hard to predict and that’s quite a tight call too, but I think that the most successful Italian manager in the Premier League next season will be Francesco Guidolin.
Renzo Ulivieri, translated by Lorenzo Bettoni @lorebetto
