At the end of last season, Napoli named former Empoli coach Maurizio Sarri as the successor of Rafa Benitez.
The appointment was a surprise as Sarri does not have a huge profile and has just one season of Serie A expeirence under his belt. Near to 2015-16 season, while Sarri will face the biggest challenge of his coaching career, another aged coach is ready to make his debut in Serie A.
Survival is the goal for Carpi in their first ever season in the Serie A. Founded in 1909, representing a tiny town of about 70,000 people in Northeast Italy and playing in a stadium with a capacity of only 4,000 fans will force them to play at the nearby Braglia Stadium in Modena, as Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) requires stadiums with capacity of at least 16,000 spectators for clubs situated in towns with less than 100,000 people – AC Carpi arrive in the Italian top tier as worthy champions of a Serie B league that has seen the Emiliani dominating it.
So, in the first season in which Calcio lost one of its most prominent teams – Parma, who folded – Serie A will scrutinise another small-town club coming from Emilia, the same region of Parma and of the other miracle club, Sassuolo.
To face the next level, Carpi, a club with a minor budget of only €3 million, opted not to stay loyal to the core group of players who gained promotion. Being among the relegation favourites, Carpi brought in some experienced new signings such as goalkeeper Zelijko Brkic, defender Nicolas Spolli, midfielders Andrea Lazzari and Raphael Martinho. But the transfer window is still open and the main goal for the newcomers will be to retain the service of forward Jerry Mbakogu and find someone to complement him up front.
The name of former 2006 world champion Alberto Gilardino quickly surfaced. But the main pressure, as ever happens in Italy, will be on the shoulders of manager Fabrizio Castori. He will face a new challenge. In fact, he may be a 61-year-old head coach but his résumé commands respect.
He started coaching back in the 1987-88 season and won as many as seven championships, although he did it mostly in the lower tiers of Italian football. He is a self-made coach, another man who built his legacy in the shadow of Arrigo Sacchi’s revolution in the ’80s, building his coaching career starting in the Italy’s dusty football fields.
Many players flourished working under him. That is why we can easily compare him to Sarri, the other old-man prodigy that earned a chance with Serie A giants Napoli after the miracle he built at Empoli. By the way, the age and the hot-blooded nature remain the only qualities in common between the coaches.
In fact, while Sarri is well known for his attractive, attacking style, Castori achieved an unforeseen promotion to Serie A playing a more conservative brand of football. Carpi was rarely spectacular last season, although they were highly effective covering the spaces, pressing high and being relentless on counter-attacks.
Castori likes direct football.
“You can like or dislike it, but this is my philosophy,” he once said.
“Italian football culture wasn’t built around ball retantion…our tradition is different.”
It means the coach wants his team looking to the deep areas as soon as possible. Speed is the name of the game for Carpi. They do it through the high amount of work Castori put in and the empathy he builds with his players. His work ethic is strong and demands a lot from his players. Footballers not accustomed to this philosophy are let go.
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Even if is obvious that the distance in terms of quality between the Serie B and the Serie A is considerable, some apparently weak teams stayed in the top flight after the last couple of seasons. In fact, as Sassuolo and Empoli showed, survival is far from mission impossible for small teams.
So, there will be some hard times for sure, and the survival mission is going to be difficult. But, in the end, do not easily bet against Castori and his side achieving the seemingly impossible.
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