Davide Ballardini was the saviour again for Genoa as the well travelled coach returned to the club for a third spell to save them from relegation once more.
The season started with Ivan Juric at the helm - himself spending a second stint in charge having been sacked once already. He made a disastrous start to the campaign with just one win from the opening 12 matches. A 2-0 defeat to bitter rivals Sampdoria in early November was the final straw for the Croatian who was dismissed yet again.
Ballardini returned to the Marassi with the club in the relegation zone and looking in real trouble. It took him just two games to lift the Grifone out of the bottom three and they never returned. Genoa picked up points against most of the teams around them but they also caused some shocks. Their best sequence probably came in early February when two stoppage-time goals from Diego Laxalt secured consecutive away wins over Lazio and Chievo before another shock win at home to Inter followed. Goran Pandev scored against both his former clubs in that period and enjoyed something of a renaissance season in attack. The veteran produced some virtuoso performances which helped ease the burden of losing top scorer Giovanni Simeone in the summer.
Perhaps the Grifone's greatest success was how defensively organised they became under Ballardini. Mattia Perin returned from injury to remind everyone why he is a potential successor to Gigi Buffon as Italy's number one goalkeeper. He kept 12 clean sheets with a virtually brand new defence in front of him. Nicolás Spolli, Luca Rossettini and Ervin Zukanović all arrived in the summer but were quickly drilled into a solid unit by Ballardini.
Having twice been unceremoniously sacked by the club, Ballardini was given a new contract this time. He will hope for even further faith from the board in the transfer market.
