16 September 2022
Monza secured their first ever promotion to Serie A in May with success in the play-off final against Pisa, fulfilling the dream of club owner Silvio Berlusconi to guide his side into the top flight.
Last weekend against fellow promoted side Lecce, the team from Lombardy collected its first ever Serie A point.
But one point on the back of the league's leakiest defence, 14 goals against, and least potent attack, only three goals scored alongside Sampdoria, has resulted in the end of the tenure of the coach that guided the promotion push last season, Giovanni Stroppa.
It took us 122 years to reach Serie A, it can't take us just 12 months to return to Serie B. Adriano Galliani, Monza CEO
FAST TRACK
The man that has replaced Stroppa has a black and white past. Raffaele Palladino was on the Juventus books from 2004 to 2008 and after initially bursting on the scene with the Primavera, he was loaned out to gain first-team experience. His only two seasons with the First Team were in Serie B in 2006/07 and the following campaign in 2007/08.
After bringing to an end an injury-stricken career in 2019, Palladino was taken on by Monza, the club he was with when he called it a day, as part of the youth coaching staff.
Promotion to Under 19 coach last season, and an impressive season in the Primavera 2 championship, made him a prime candidate for another step up, to the First Team, when Stroppa's position was deemed untenable. Palladino admitted on his unveiling earlier this week that there had been one coach that has influenced him most, dating back to his teenage years at Juventus Primavera.
Gasperini was my maestro. I managed to reach the national team as a player because of him. He taught me football. I had other excellent coaches, so I've tried to take something positive from every one of them. Raffaele Palladino, Monza Coach
REBUILDING PROGRAMME
As expected, Monza were busy in the transfer market, with the club bringing in 16 players over the summer, many of whom with rich Serie A experience, although injury has limited the influence these players could have had on the team.
Alessio Cragno from Cagliari, Armando Izzo from Torino, veteran Andrea Ranocchia from Inter and former Sassuolo defender Marlon from Shakhtar Donetsk were brought in to strengthen the backline. In attack they added Gianluca Caprari and Andrea Petagna. In midfield, Stefano Sensi arrived via Inter on loan, likewise Mattia Pessina from Atalanta.
These were not the only players that made their way to the club north of Milan to add their talent to the centre of the park. Two more came from the Bianconeri.
BIANCONERI ON LOAN
Nicolò Rovella started the season in the black and white stripes after completing his move from Genoa and appeared in each of the opening three Serie A fixtures. With the chance of gaining first-team football over the entire season, Rovella was loaned to Monza at the closure of the transfer market, where he teamed up with another Juventus loanee Filippo Ranocchia, who last season gained experience in Serie B with Vicenza before penning a contract extension with the Bianconeri in the summer.
Worth noting is that the UPower stadium is close to being a sell-out with only a handful of the 15 thousand tickets still available for the Bianconeri's visit on Sunday afternoon - as if the arrival of Juventus finally confirms Monza's place among the elite of Italian football.
