Up until this season, Thiago Motta’s managerial career had been a good deal less remarkable than his playing career. A gifted and aggressive midfielder in his time, who graced the pitch in Barcelona, Paris, and Milan, the Brazilian-born 41-year-old won 30 caps for Italy, reached a European Championship final, claimed two Champions League winner’s medals and a total of eight league titles in three different countries. Compare that to being fired after two months as head coach at Genoa and lasting a single season with Spezia, and life in the dugout was not proving quite as successful. But in 20 months with Bologna, all that has changed.
Despite the incredible job he has done with the Serie A club, who now sit in the top four and are guaranteed a place in the Champions League next season, Motta is unlikely to reach his two-year anniversary at a club all the same. Not because they want rid of him, though. Instead, this time it’ll be because overtures have been made his way by much bigger clubs, seeing his potential, his leadership, and his tactical acumen as being a good fit for themselves.
In the summer, Thiago Motta’s contract at Bologna ends; they’ve attempted to renew but with Juventus circling, Barcelona previously linked, and even Manchester United mentioned as a possible destination, it seems he’ll be departing the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara for a grander, more historic…And possibly bigger-spending club.
Zoom out beyond this season and it’s not hard to see why. Motta had never had a season as coach where he wasn’t fighting relegation up until last term; guiding Bologna to a ninth-placed finish was as notable for them as for himself, though. It was their best campaign since 2012, over a decade previous, and only just shy of their best finishes at all in the modern era – seventh in 1997 and 2002. Prior to that, you have to go back to the 60s and 70s for anything better.
Fourth spot for this season, then, would prove near-historic. And he’s done it by giving the home fans magnificent outing after magnificent outing: only the two Milan clubs have won at Bologna this term, over six months apart. They have been relentless on home soil, including a run of ten clean sheets in 13 matches at one stage.
Needless to say, they are among the finest in the league with several defensive metrics: joint-second in goals conceded per 90, third for clean sheets, fourth-best for xG against, joint-first for tackles per game.
And yet there’s plenty more to them than just a resolute group who are tough to break down – it’s not entirely a team in their manager’s own mould as a player, after all. Motta has spoken before about his wish to see flexible systems with players who rotate positions, offering up five, six, or even seven players to attacking phases of play. His base system might be a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1 – he’s used both a single and a double-pivot in midfield this term – but similarities of play remain regardless of systemic changes. His centre-forward is a catch-all: creative, an outlet, good link play and good finisher. Joshua Zirkzee has fitted the bill well this season, mustering 15 goals and assists in Serie A. Riccardo Orsolini and Alexis Saelemaekers have been productive alongside him or from wider and deeper flank areas, both as schemers and direct runners.
Motta hasn’t made it a terribly complicated system, but instead has set up his team to allow his players to flourish in their own ways, doing what they are good at.
They are not necessarily like a dominant Inter Milan or Juventus at their best, high volumes of territory advantage and constantly in the opposition penalty box – Bologna rank only ninth in Serie A for touches in that zone. They’re also 19th for corners, seven for goals, 12th for accurate long balls and 12th for possession won in the final third.
But they’re also behind only Napoli for average possession per game. They’ve created just a handful of big chances fewer than Juventus. Only Inter and AC Milan have scored more goals on the counter-attack than them this season.
This is a triumph of the collective, a togetherness and a cohesion which has seen them be better than other teams, more consistent than them and, ultimately, place higher than them. That is Motta’s true recipe for success this term and the truer reflection of Motta’s ethos as a player – and that is also what will almost certainly land him a far higher-profile job this summer.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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