Cesc Fabregas has engineered a pragmatic tactical shift at Como, guiding the club to a crucial 2-0 victory over Genoa and strengthening their bid for Champions League qualification. According to analysis from the Italian press, Fabregas deliberately ceded possession and adopted a lower defensive block at Marassi, a marked departure from his usual possession-dominant philosophy. The win halted a concerning run of form that had seen Como take just one point from three league games and suffer Coppa Italia elimination.
The strategic adjustment appears a direct response to a 2-0 defeat to Sassuolo a fortnight earlier, where Como’s high possession and a high defensive line were exploited on the counter-attack. Against Genoa, Fabregas’s team recorded an average defensive line height of just 29.4 metres, compared to Sassuolo’s 41.2, and maintained a much lower team centre of gravity. This more conservative approach, described as a willingness to "change skin" for the result, limited Genoa’s dangerous opportunities despite their greater share of the ball.
The result underscored Fabregas’s evolving managerial acumen in only his third season as a head coach and his second in Serie A. The former midfielder has frequently dismissed the perceived conflict between result-oriented and aesthetically pleasing football as sterile. His Como side, however, continues to marry defensive solidity with attacking threat. Goalkeeper Butez kept a clean sheet, Como’s 16th in the league this season—a tally matched only by Arsenal, Inter, and Paris Saint-Germain across Europe’s top five leagues.
In attack, striker Douvikas scored his 12th league goal of the campaign in the win, placing him joint-second in the Serie A scoring charts alongside teammate Nico Paz. Only the Inter duo of Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram have combined for more goals this season. Como also boasts creative depth, with three players—Rodriguez, Paz, and Caqueret—each providing at least five assists, a feat only matched by league leaders Inter.
The victory positions Como favourably in the race for a top-four finish as the season enters its final stages. Their upcoming fixture against Napoli presents a significant challenge, but the subsequent run-in against Verona, Parma, and Cremonese appears more manageable. Fabregas’s tactical flexibility, born from recent setbacks, has provided a timely foundation for the club’s Champions League aspirations.
