United fans don’t want Arnautovic in Serie A, but he didn’t save Mihajlovic on the Bologna bench

We last wrote about thirty-three-year-old Austrian Mark Arnautovic in connection with Manchester United’s interest. However, this transfer was ultimately scrapped, mainly due to the disapproval of the Red Devils’ fans. For them, Arnautovic’s arrival did not make sense from a footballing point of view, and the Bologna striker’s controversial reputation was also an issue. Given his current performances, the question is whether United supporters are ultimately sorry. The truth is that they simply lack a classic scorer in their line-up.

On the other hand, Bologna may be really happy that Arnautovic stayed at their club. With a score of 5:8 after five rounds, he remains the only goal scorer and became the first player in Bologna’s history to score all of the team’s first five goals of the season.

Five goals at the same time makes him the provisional king of Serie A scorers. He is followed by Vlahovic, Koopmeiners and Kvaratskhelia with four goals each. Arnautovic scored consecutively against Lazio (1::2), Verona (2::2), Salernitana (1::1) and Spezia (2::2).

Logically, he only came up empty in the loss to AC Milan (0.2). Interestingly, he sent his team into the lead four times, but not once did he manage to keep it. Arnautovic undoubtedly has the lion’s share in the fact that Bologna are not currently in the relegation zone.

Still, 16th place with three points for three draws in five rounds is not enough given Bologna’s ambitions. Thus, its management reacted by dismissing coach Siniša Mihajlović, who became the first coach to be dismissed in this season’s Serie A. The decisive factor in this regard was probably the team’s failure to beat the paper weaker opponents, i.e. Salernitana and Spezia.

Mihajlovic was in Bologna for three and a half years. With Bologna he was once 10th, twice 12th and once 13th. However, personal problems also interfered with his work, as he was diagnosed with leukaemia shortly after joining the bench.

According to the Italian media, Claudio Ranieri and Thiago Motta were the biggest favourites to replace him. And it is the latter who will take charge after Bologna’s match against Fiorentina this weekend. The former is then reportedly ready to take up the coaching post at newcomer Monza if Giovanni Stroppa does not keep his position.

Thiago Motta is not yet a very experienced coach. The former Barcelona and Inter Milan midfielder has coached 50 games. He only managed 10 at Genoa and the remaining 40 at Spezia, where he managed to keep the team in the top competition.

He will therefore add more matches as coach of Bologna. Motta certainly hopes that Arnautovic will continue with his current performances. By the way, the two met as teammates in the Inter Milan jersey in the glorious 2009/10 season. Motta has signed a two-year contract with Bologna.

Source: Transfermarkt, Informazione, Livesport, Twitter