Keep an Eye on Paolo Vanoli's Torino
Unbeaten after four games, the Italian manager's debut season in Serie A is off to a promising start.
The Serie A Coach of the Month award for August was won by a first-year manager of a club in Turin and it wasn’t Juventus’ Thiago Motta. Paolo Vanoli received the honor after his first month of top-flight coaching outside of Russia, guiding Torino to an unbeaten start after four matches.
Results against Milan and Atalanta, a balanced squad and a system that blends solidity with swift attacking play give the Granata plenty of optimism. They’re of course a long way from the Grande Torino of old, but after achieving Serie A stability over the last decade, this could be the season for a new step forward.
A 2-2 draw at Milan, thrilling 2-1 home victory against Atalanta, gritty 1-0 away win to Venezia and scoreless draw at home versus Lecce have Torino fifth on eight points after four games.
The Granata are one of nine sides with at least six points after matchday four, highlighted by surprise table-toppers Udinese as the first and only so far to reach 10. It’s way too early to get too confident about these overperformers, but can Vanoli’s men sustain this strong form and return to the European places?
After a yo-yoing start to the century, Torino finished seventh in both 2013-14 and 2018-19 which granted them Europa League qualifiers spots due to financial sanctions on the sixth-placed team in each of those campaigns.
The 2018-19 success was followed by two years of circling the drain before Ivan Juric stabilized them by placing 10th, 10th and ninth in 2021-22, 22-23 and 23-24, respectively. Vanoli, meanwhile, won the Russian cup with Spartak Moscow and steered Venezia back to the top flight via the playoffs this past season.
Vanoli is tasked with improving upon the comfortable-yet-middling results that have defined the last three years, providing reasons for hope in the early stages. His 3-5-2 shape is similar to that of Juric, but Vanoli prefers patient build up and a high line in possession. His press is varied and will change in intensity and frequency based on the opponent.
Most often building out of the back, the Granata are perfectly happy to cycle possession through their defenders before the first progressive pass initiates quick combinations between advanced players. Vanoli isn’t stubborn, though, mixing in a direct approach when necessary and keeping his side very organized in their defensive shape.
There are plenty of returning starters from 2023-24, but followers of Serie A will point to the key departures when asked about Torino’s recent mercato. The highly coveted center back Alessandro Buongiorno joined Antonio Conte’s Napoli and rapid right wing back Raoul Bellanova left for Bergamo.
The most notable incoming was Scottish forward Che Adams, who furthered the ongoing Scotland-Serie A connection, but didn't fill a pair of starter-sized holes in the back line.
Enter Saul Coco. The Equatorial Guinea international was brought in from Las Palmas after playing a key role in their 2022-23 promotion and producing a good season in LaLiga last term. Coco is the central defender in Vanoli’s back three, flanked by Adam Masina to the left and Mergim Vojvoda to the right.
Coco doesn’t have the same presence and ball-winning ability as Buongiorno, but he’s constantly throwing his body on the line, leads the team in blocks and clearances and headed in the late winner from a corner at Venezia for his first Serie A goal.
Masina controls the air, ranking among the league’s top five in aerial duels won, while Vojvoda is the most technically sound of the trio and often pushes into midfield to serve as an additional pivot.
This back three complements each other well, conceding just three times in four league games, but their 6.8 non-penalty expected goals allowed indicate that this defensive form won’t sustain. Mistakes while playing out from the back have led to many of their opponent’s big chances, as the squad is still settling into Vanoli’s high-possession approach.
These errors should become scarcer as the players continue to absorb the manager’s ideas, but Torino have arguably Serie A’s best shot-stopper in Vanja Milinkovic-Savic as the safety valve.
Milinkovic-Savic is an imposing figure and backs up his image with impressive reflexes for his 6’8” frame. The Serbian saved a late penalty to preserve the win against Atalanta and stopped Rafael Leao one-on-one in the Milan game.
He kept a clean sheet in half of his 36 league outings last year and, while there are changes in defense, expect Milinkovic-Savic to continue preventing goals at a high clip. Distribution isn’t his strength, but he’s shown composure thus far as a key piece of the team’s build up.
The Granata’s midfield is well-suited to execute Vanoli’s high-possession 3-5-2. The trio of Ivan Ilic, Samuele Ricci and Karol Linetty rotate fluidly, work hard defensively and are one of the more established midfield units in the division over the past two seasons.
Ricci caught everyone’s attention with his performances for Italy during the recent international window and is poised to break out further in 2024-25. Playing as a box-to-box mezzala on the right side of the midfield, the 23-year-old is both a smooth operator and gritty dueler.
Also a precise passer and scrappy ballcarrier, Ricci does a bit of everything in his role for Torino. He’s yet to contribute many goals, but his shooting confidence seems to be growing and no one should be surprised if he scores more than his career-high two this campaign.
Ilic is the most potent attacking threat of the midfielders, bringing flair and creativity evidenced by his sublime equalizer against Atalanta; he began the move with an incisive run and finished it off by chipping the keeper.
Only four players in Serie A have more goal creating actions than Ilic over the first four matchdays. He constantly finds space between the lines and breaks them with his passes, often ending up in winger positions in the final third.
Linetty is the base of the midfield, now in his fifth season with the club, and fills the water-carrier role dutifully with his intelligent passing and persistent recovery runs.
On the flanks, Valentin Lazaro is the one guaranteed starter for Vanoli thus far. A right-footed wing back who has played mostly on the left, the Austrian’s side is typically the focal point going forward as he’s the only player on the team with more than 20 progressive receptions in four matches.
Lazaro links up well with teammates in tight spaces out wide, assisting Toro’s second goal at Milan. A cheeky combination down the left with Ilic was finished off by Lazaro beating his man one-on-one in the box and lofting a simple cross for Duvan Zapata to head home.
He provides enough attacking spark without being one of the elite wide creators in the league, but Vanoli must find consistency on the opposite flank to prevent his side from becoming too predictable.
There isn’t an obvious replacement for Bellanova in the team and that’s Torino’s glaring weakness at this stage. The manager has tried three alternatives in the trio of matches since losing the player.
First, Adrien Tameze came in at right center back with Vojvoda shifting wide, then Eredivisie loanees Borna Sosa (Ajax) and Marcus Pederson (Feyenoord) made their full debuts with none of the three solutions seeming to stick.
The most logical long-term fix to the revolving door on the right side would have been Dutch center back Perr Schuurs slotting in on the right of the back three with the reliable Vojvoda making right wing back his home. However, Schuurs had an additional surgery in August due to complications from his ACL tear last October and seems to be out indefinitely.
Despite this setback, continuity seems to be forming between Vanoli’s new strike partnership. Zapata is now 33 years old and well removed from his destructive peak at Atalanta, but a decent return of 12 goals in his first year at Torino was a bounce back after an injury-riddled 2022-23.
The unmarked header at Milan remains his lone goal through four games, but Zapata has looked a threat in each match with four big chances missed. He doesn’t appear to have declined much at all this season, retaining terrific hold-up ability, some brilliant moments of link up play, and frequently creating space for others through dummies when dropping deep or backing down his defender.
The Colombian’s goals will start to flow, thanks in a big way to a new partner up front in Che Adams. Antonio Sanabria got the nod on matchday one, but he and Zapata too often want to occupy the same spaces on the pitch and the Paraguayan has played 28 minutes since.
Adams looks sharp playing off of Zapata, possessing good pace and showing a hunger to shoot for his new club. The Scot’s positioning and spatial awareness as a second striker give Torino a new dynamic in attack compared to last year.
He was involved in both goals versus Atalanta, providing a first-time through ball to assist Ilic’s chip and knocking in a Zapata rebound to open his Serie A account with the eventual winner.
Aside from Sanabria, depth up front will be provided by Nikola Vlasic who has returned to training after being sidelined since June. The Croatian contributed to five goals in 2023-24 and has scored eight for the club since arriving in 2022. An attacking midfielder by trade, he can fill in up front or in Ilic’s role if needed.
Midfield depth overall is fairly limited, so the availability of the starting trio is paramount this season. And aside from those already mentioned in defense, end-of-window signings Sebastian Walukiewicz, a young central defender who has experience in the top flight, and Guillermo Maripal, a veteran Chilean international who joined from Monaco, could crack the starting 11.
On paper, some might argue that the squad hasn’t improved much and there’s no way they retain fifth place at the end of the campaign. The latter is likely true, but that doesn’t mean the top seven is out of reach.
Another argument can be made that the change in the technical area, coupled with a squad well-constructed for the new boss’ style, is enough to sustain their early form and make a push to qualify for Europe on their own merit for the first time in over two decades.