A counter-attacking win at Marassi
Genoa beat Juventus 2-0 at Marassi, and the goals came in the first half from the kind of moves the team had been working towards. According to [1], both Kingsley Ehizibue and Tommaso Baldanzi scored on counter-attacks, while Juventus looked sluggish and were again without several key players. The visitors’ injury list was long, and the same report notes that Luciano Spalletti’s side were missing names such as Kenan Yildiz, Khéphren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli and Kamil Grabara.
Baldanzi’s goal stands out. He had struggled for regular playing time, and [2] reports that he scored Genoa’s second after being moved to the opposite flank. That is a small tactical change with a visible payoff. The match also carried a personal edge for De Rossi, who was facing Spalletti, his former coach at Roma, and spoke warmly of him before kick-off. Beating a mentor on the touchline is a fine story, but the practical point is that Genoa defended in a compact shape and attacked quickly into the space Juventus left behind.
Team news and De Rossi’s rotation
The line-up shows how settled the shape was. [3] listed Genoa as Bijlow; Marcandalli, Østigård, Vásquez; Ehizibue, Frendrup, Amorim, Ellertsson; Baldanzi, Vitinha; Osmajić. That is a back three with wing-backs, two creative players behind Milutin Osmajić, and Morten Frendrup back in midfield after being listed as a doubt in the [4].
On the absence side, Lorenzo Venturino is out after patellar tendon surgery. The same preview reports that Elias Havel and Cody Drameh are also unavailable. There was one piece of good news: Samuel Wiafe has shaken off a muscular issue and is available, according to [1].
De Rossi said he made five or six changes against Juventus and will make more for the match against Lecce, as [2] reports. That suggests a squad rotation plan rather than a fixed first eleven, so Wiafe and others may be involved soon.
Home form and the recent run
The Juventus result extends a good home run. Genoa have won three consecutive matches at Marassi, against Fiorentina, Venezia and Juventus, which [2] also notes. The site’s records show the sequence: 2-1 over Fiorentina on 10 October, 1-0 over Venezia on 25 October and 2-0 over Juventus on 28 October. The only match in between was a 2-0 defeat away at Roma on 17 October.
That contrast is important. Genoa’s earlier away result in the records was a 2-1 loss at Parma on 20 September, and the Roma defeat followed the same pattern. The side has taken points at home and not yet away from home in this recent sample.
The margins have also been tight. Two of the three home wins came by a single goal or by a single goal in the second half of the game, and the Juventus win was the most comfortable of the run. Scoring first, as Genoa did here through Ehizibue and Baldanzi before the break, has been the pattern to repeat. The trip to Lecce asks whether that works on the road as well.
What it means
Genoa are 13th in Serie A with 10 points from 9 games, a record of three wins, one draw and five defeats. They have scored 8 and conceded 13, a goal difference of -5. The table is tight enough that one or two results can change the picture, but Genoa still need to turn home form into a wider run.
The form line reads W, W, L, W, L across the last five, and the two most recent results are clean sheets at Marassi. Defensively that is encouraging after a campaign in which 13 goals have been conceded in nine matches. Attacking output is modest at 8 goals, which makes the contributions of Baldanzi and Ehizibue against Juventus more notable.
The next fixture is Lecce against Genoa on 1 November, and it asks a different question. Genoa have to show they can win away from Marassi with a rotated team, since De Rossi has said he will make more changes. The site’s forecast for that match locks 24 hours before kick-off, so there is no published prediction yet. For now, the evidence points to a team with confidence at home and a test of depth and away form still to come.
Sources
- Football Italia: Serie A | Genoa 2-0 Juventus: Sluggish Old Lady collapse at Marassi football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: De Rossi joy at beating mentor Spalletti: ‘Genoa showed heart and spirit’ football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: Serie A official line-ups: Genoa vs. Juventus football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: Serie A: Genoa vs. Juventus – Probable line-ups and where to watch on TV football-italia.net ↩
