After the last few very eventful days in Marseille, marked by the rout inflicted by PSG at the Parc des Princes (4-0) in Ligue 1, the resignation of Marcelino and the hesitations about the departure of Pablo Longoria, Olympique de Marseille is quickly counting react internally to get back on its feet and bandage the many raw and open wounds. In this sense, Marseille management has decided to change course and choose Italian coach Gennaro Gattuso, as we revealed to you exclusively this morning. A little character to put out the fire and save the furniture. If his tactics and management have already been widely analyzed in this paper, few people know that Gennaro Gattuso, as a former great international player and legend of AC Milan, has always been praised internally by the players he he directed on his early career.
“I like watching Gattuso’s Valencia. He is a coach who changed the mentality of his players even with a weaker team.. So no, this quote does not come from a former player or teammate of Gennaro Gattuso but it nonetheless remains strong in symbolism. Since these words were taken from a live stream on the Twitch channel of… Spanish coach Luis Enrique, at the time when the current PSG coach was leading the Spanish selection. Enough to promise us a tempting duel next March 31 at the Vélodrome for the second Classic of the season in Ligue 1 this season. But beyond the colleagues, it is even more judicious to focus on the former players who had the chance, sometimes relative for some, to be managed by Gennaro Gattuso. Despite sometimes limited tactics and subpar results, a consistency returns to his two most significant experiences (Milan and Naples): his players almost all praise him.
A re-knitted locker room in Naples
When Gennaro Gattuso arrived in Naples in December 2019, the context could hardly have been worse. The locker room was collapsing – the word is weak, while the group was in conflict with predecessor Carlo Ancelotti, sacked mid-season, and Neapolitan president Aurelio De Laurentiis. The captain at the time, Kalidou Koulibaly was full of praise for the total and rapid transformation of the team thanks to Gattuso: “Gattuso gave us a lot of self-confidence. We had lost our self-esteem, he gave it back to us. Tactically, he gave us a little more, he taught us to suffer. In the first months of this championship, we did not want to suffer because we were in difficulty. Now we can do it. We are on the right track, we need continuity. Everyone is in the project and it’s very important”, the Senegalese international then declared. Same story for Lorenzo Insigne, a true legend of the club and the city who had real weight in the Neapolitan streets: “He completely changed Napoli. We know that we didn’t do our best at the start of the season, but since the arrival of the coach we are on the right track and so we are preparing to start from scratch next season with him. Beyond the system, the coach immediately made me feel important, trusted me, and we all try to help both in attack and defense..
Arriving from LOSC in the summer of 2020, the current star of Napoli, Victor Osimhen has always highlighted the impact that the former Italian midfielder had in his development but especially the role he played in the negotiations to convince him to join the Partenopei: “I owe a lot to Gennaro Gattuso because he worked on my motivation and on improving my self-esteem. I was convinced to agree to come to Naples when I spoke to Gattuso and the president. They give me a lot of advice. It’s incredible to receive this affection, for you player, motivation is fundamental. He is like a father to me, I received great demonstrations of affection from all the Naples supporters”he said again last year, during the flamboyant epic of Luciano Spalletti’s men.
Used to banging his fist on the table without being resentful, Gattuso was also noted for having excluded players from training, when he judged that they were not working enough. This was the case for Hirving Lozano who nevertheless knew how to use these episodes with respect and without clashing with Rino: “I have to learn as much as possible from him. Now I know how to manage my relationship with him, what I experienced last year opened my eyes. He’s a good guy, but when he gets angry, he turns into an ogre.”. Forgiveness was less easy for the Brazilian midfielder Allan or the Slovak midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, who fell into depression because of the treatment suffered by Gattuso: “Unlike Gattuso, Spalletti believes in me, he has confidence, before it wasn’t like that, and now I try to grow thanks to that”
Unfailing support for Milan
Before his time at Naples, Gennaro Gattuso had already tasted the Italian elite as a coach by sitting on the bench of his beloved AC Milan, after training managing the Primavera. Here too the context was not idyllic since the Rossoneri were going through a major economic and especially sporting crisis. During his first season he rubbed shoulders with great players, starting with Leonardo Bonucci who had just left Juventus: Leonardo Bonucci: “We finally managed to create a group and it’s thanks to the coach. It took us a little time to get to know each other. Gattuso was fundamental on this. He gave us self-esteem and certainty. Defeat is something he doesn’t want to hear about. On the field, he is the first to do the exercises. It’s impressive, the desire and passion that he transmits, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in another coach.”, he underlined, insisting on a Gattuso effect after the departure of Vincenzo Montella. The same goes for Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain who had a hard time adapting to the San Siro air after fantastic spells at Juventus and Napoli. Yet Gattuso never let go of his player: “Gattuso has always supported me and above all been honest. I came to Milan because I was convinced by the project here and I want to continue like that”. While he had just left Brazil to join Italy and AC Milan, Lucas Paqueta always praised the importance of Gattuso in his integration: “Working with Gattuso was a wonderful experience. He gave me a lot of support and helped me adapt to Serie A. What he did in the dressing room, on the training ground, the way he talks to you and motivates you is indescribable . Football in Italy is very tactical and is played more without the ball but, with Gattuso’s help, I adapted quickly and understood what he expected of me on the pitch..
Gattuso’s most beautiful love story in Milan was clearly with Turkish international Hakan Çalhanoğlu who continues to praise him in the press whenever we talk to him about his former coach: “Gattuso is sincere and ambitious, but not the kind of aggressive or angry person people expect. What he has is passion. He’s a great motivator, he’s supported me even in the most difficult times and he’s one of the coaches I get on best with. We are still in regular contact. I loved that Gattuso considered all his players equal, he made no distinctions. He knows how to treat players and talk to them face to face. As for his motivational skills, some of the speeches he gave before matches gave me goosebumps., had analyzed at length the now Nerazzurri midfielder. A true leader of the defense at the time when Gattuso led the Milanese Diavolo, Swiss international Ricardo Rodriguez fought until Rino’s departure to ensure that he was maintained. Even when the results did not follow, the players supported Gattuso and perceived the qualities and contribution in the locker room since his arrival: “When you lose two games in a row, it’s normal that the coach is blamed. That said, these criticisms weigh on us because we are all behind the coach. The team follows him with the greatest confidence. The group will give their all for him”.
