Football Wyscout Performance Analysis

Patrick Vieira’s Genoa: Pressing High in a Low-Block League

1 May 2025

3 min Read

By L'Ultimo Uomo

@lUltimoUomo

In this article, L’Ultimo Uomo looks at the tactical and personnel changes that turned Genoa’s season around.

🇮🇹 Leggilo in Italiano

On 20 November 2024, Genoa were just two points off the bottom of the table. They had won only two matches, against Monza and Parma, and looked set for a tough season.

The club then decided to dismiss Alberto Gilardino, who in just a few months had gone from being the revelation of the league to a coach without a job, and to place their trust in Patrick Vieira — a European football legend from the 1990s and 2000s, whose previous managerial stints had yet to clearly define his value.

The rest, as they say, is history: despite losing away to Como on the most recent gameweek of the season, Genoa secured survival with four matches to spare, and for the past few weeks Vieira has even been able to afford the luxury of starting some of the best youngsters from the club’s academy.

Serie A table as of 2nd May - Wyscout Season Report

To turn the situation around so drastically, Vieira relied on a tactic that’s becoming increasingly common in a traditionally conservative league like Serie A: strengthening the defence by pushing the pressing line up to the edge of the opponent’s penalty area, rather than sitting deep and trying to defend in the final quarter of the pitch.

It’s a strategy that has already brought unexpected success to Bologna over the past two seasons, and this year it’s also producing great results for Como and, indeed, for Genoa — a team that under Vieira has become far more intense and aggressive.

It’s no coincidence that Como and Genoa rank fifth and sixth respectively in PPDA, the metric that measures the number of passes allowed per defensive action — a key indicator of the quality and intensity of a team’s pressing.

Serie A PPDA ranking as of 2nd May - Wyscout Season Report

Vieira alternates between a 4-2-3-1 and a 3-4-2-1 formation, but the height and intensity of the pressing remain unchanged.

A physically strong midfielder like Morten Thorsby is used in the attacking midfield role and, along with the centre-forward (usually Andrea Pinamonti, or occasionally Vitinha), forms the first line of pressing.

Behind them, one of the most dynamic and intelligent midfielders in the league, Morten Frendrup, pushes up to the attacking third to mark the opposition’s deep-lying playmaker.

Frendrup's Recoveries - Wyscout Player Report

But there have also been some unexpected standouts. Topping the pressing statistics, for example, is Patrizio Masini, who in his debut Serie A season has become a regular starter in central midfield under Vieira.

Masini's physical attributes are a key reason for his ability to press - Hudl Physical Data

Another surprise is Fabio Miretti, previously known at Juventus as a refined, possession-oriented mezzala, who is now thriving at Genoa in a very different role that we hadn’t seen before. Miretti, too, has been deployed in an advanced midfield role by Vieira, who has not only benefited from his strong contribution to the pressing phase, but has also been rewarded with a productive season in attack: three goals and three assists.

Miretti's Recoveries in the Final Third - Wyscout Player Report

In football, things change quickly, and it’s entirely possible that in a few months we’ll be talking about Vieira the way we’re talking about Gilardino today. For now, however, the French coach has shown he understands how to tap into a trend that is steadily transforming Serie A — a league historically among the most reluctant to take risks by pushing the defensive line as high as the attacking third.

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