Before the Bolzano guest appearance: Inzaghi has matured as a coach

Filippo Inzaghi has won 4 titles in his coaching career so far: Viareggio winner with the Milan Juniors (2014), third division champion and cup winner with Venezia (2017) and the Serie B title with Benevento (2020). This is nothing compared to his success as a player, but the trophies in the lower leagues illustrate Inzaghi's attitude to his job. After the unsuccessful Milan intermezzo (2014/15), the 2006 world champion was ready to work his way up from the bottom. That worked, even if his second Serie A engagement with Bologna failed miserably. But Inzaghi has long been more than just someone who lives by his glorious name.

Inzaghi signed a three-year contract with Reggina in the summer. During this period he was supposed to lead the Calabrese back to Serie A, where they were last 14 years ago. As of now, the project seems to be working. Together with Frosinone and Genoa, the traditional club has established itself at the top. And that despite the fact that Reggina was not one of the promotion candidates and is one of the league's surprise teams.

Giovanni Fabbian, the newcomer from Serie B One player in particular has been on everyone's lips since the start of the championship: Giovanni Fabbian. The Venetian, born in 2003, is in his first professional season, but is already a promoted player in the league. The central midfielder has scored 7 goals so far. The first of these came in the first leg against FC Südtirol. A week ago he single-handedly checkmated Ternana with a brace. But who is this 20-year-old?

Reggina's shooting star Giovanni Fabbian. © Getty Images Europe / Gabriele Maltinti

Inzaghi relies on a 4-3-3 formation in Reggio Calabria. Fabbian occupies the half-right eight position, including a lot of freedom in the forward play. The young professional, who trained at Padova and Inter, is the prototype of a modern midfielder. Fabbian is a very vertical player. This means that he runs forward a lot and enters the penalty area in most attacks. He's not a great ball distributor or even a playmaker. Reggina has Hernani and the Slovenian six-man Zan Majer, who is suspended in Bolzano, in the starting line-up. Fabbian, on the other hand, should and is allowed to let off steam offensively.

The number 14 is a real stroke of luck for Inzaghi because he didn't have the player on his radar. “I didn’t know him, but his agent offered him to me and said he was a perfect fit for my style of play,” Inzaghi said in an interview this fall. Fabbian is no longer an insider tip. It took a huge effort to keep him in Calabria during the winter. Fabbian will be in Serie A by summer at the latest, there is no doubt about that. Whether at his parent club Inter or elsewhere remains to be seen.

Inzaghi's pure white vest against the FCS Inzaghi also wants to go to Serie A. Preferably with Reggina, where he feels extremely comfortable (“Here I can do exactly what I want”). He wouldn't have ended up in Calabria in the summer if a competitor hadn't broken his word. Before signing for Reggio Calabria, Inzaghi had already reached an agreement with Cagliari. But because at some point the Sardinians simply stopped reporting (“They seemed to have been swallowed up by the earth”), he went to Reggina. As in Venice and Benevento, Inzaghi relies on an aggressive 4-3-3, in which the wingers move wide and the full-backs stand high. In contrast to FCS coach Pierpaolo Bisoli, Inzaghi adapts his orientation less to the opponent. The focus is on your own processes. So the white and reds know what to expect.

But be careful: FC Südtirol is something like Pippo Inzaghi's favorite opponent. As a coach he played against FCS 4 times and won 4 times. 3 times with Venezia, once with Reggina. And with a goal difference of 12:0. In August the FCS suffered a 0-4 defeat in Reggio Calabria. It was Leandro Greco's last game as interim coach and the only game of the season in which the FCS conceded more than 2 goals.

The signs in Bolzano are now completely different. Inzaghi also knows that he cannot buy anything from the clean slate of the past. It will be all the more exciting to see how the Serie B top game (Saturday, 14 p.m.) between second-placed Reggina and fifth-placed FC Südtirol will develop. Because not only do South and North collide here, but also two completely different coaching philosophies.

Serie B Italy	SP	TV	P
1. Parma	34	59:32	70
2. As	34	54:37	67
3. Venice	34	62:39	64
4. Cremonese	34	43:28	60
5. Catanzaro	34	53:42	56
6. Palermo	34	58:48	52
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Before the Bolzano guest appearance: Inzaghi has matured as a coach

As a striker, Filippo Inzaghi was one of the best in the world. Now “Super-Pippo” wants to make the final breakthrough as a coach. In the current season, Inzaghi is showing that he can develop an underrated team. The league's shooting star par excellence helps him with this.

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