SKF Manager of the month in the top 5 leagues in Europe

#2 Gennaro Gattuso - AC Milan (ITALY)

Gattuso has managed to turn around the fortunes of the legendary side from Milan.

Italy is often criticised for being a one-sided affair in terms of the league every season. In the recent past, Juventus have managed to become the only dominant force in the Serie A winning it in each of the last six seasons - with the certainty of a seventh this season.

Add to that 3 Italian cups in the last 3 seasons and 2 Champions League Final finishes in two of the three seasons preceding the one underway, and you can see why observers are quick to rubbish the claims of Italy being a competitive league. But something interesting is brewing in the red part of San Siro.

Massimiliano Allegri has been firmly in charge of proceedings in the nation's top league in the month of February. Juve played three games in the league this month (against Sassuolo at home and Fiorentina and Torino away) winning all of them, scoring 9 goals (7 coming in Turin against Sassuolo) and conceding none.

Impressive showing from Allegri's side, but the failure to capitalise on a 2-0 lead against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League to eventually give away two away goals has certainly taken the gloss off the performance by Juventus in the month of February and has kept the Italian out of contention for the manager of the month in Italy.

That honour can go to one and one man only, Gennaro Gattuso. Despite not having a lot of competition from other managers in Italy - with the likes of Luciano Spalletti and Eusebio Di Francesco both struggling to get the best out of their team - Gattuso has managed to breathe life into an almost corpse-life football team of AC Milan. The former World Cup Winner is a two-time Champions League Winner while playing with the side and has worked his magic at the club once more.

In the current month, Gattuso has managed his side to victory in 5 of the 6 games they were involved in (including a two-legged Europa league tie against Ludogorets); keeping a clean sheet in all of them. The only draw coming in a hard fought 1-1 draw, away against Udinese, right at the start of the month.

All this, a part of a longer 12 match unbeaten run with 10 victories! Staggering. Therefore the Italian being on number 2 on our list is warranted because of the stiff competition he has faced in Italy from Allegri, but especially because he has managed to keep the momentum going - to follow up on the spike in fortunes of the team as a result of a new manager coming in.

Any debate on Italy's manager of the month for February should cease to exist.