Patrice Evra pin-pointed Arthur Melo as the key to Juventus problems and their Champions League exit to Villarreal. ‘There’s no quality there.’
The Bianconeri had drawn the first leg 1-1 in Spain and had several chances in Turin, including Dusan Vlahovic off the crossbar.
However, they crumbled in the final 15 minutes to two avoidable penalties and a Pau Torres tap-in from a corner.
Champions League | Juventus 0-3 Villarreal (1-4 agg): Old Lady sunk by Yellow Submarine
“I am really disappointed by what Juve showed this evening,” said Evra on Amazon Prime Italia, where he is working as a pundit.
“It feels like Max Allegri is performing miracles with what he’s got, because there is no quality there, especially in midfield.
“In my day, we had Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo. Now there’s Arthur… I don’t think he made a single pass that really changed play today. He doesn’t make the difference.”
Fabio Capello had also criticised Arthur before the match on Sky Sport Italia, noting the former Barcelona midfielder “looks like he’s playing rugby.”
This was a reference to the fact you cannot pass forwards in rugby, only sideways or backwards.
That’s a BIG goal for Villarreal! 💛
Gerard Moreno scores from the penalty spot in Turin, but should Wojciech Szczęsny have done better?#UCL pic.twitter.com/YmgqfxAIWF
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 16, 2022
Juve have been falling apart for years. Hamstrung by the Ronaldo deal and barely improved the squad except recently upfront. Should never have let Kula go to spurs. Only decent creative midfielder in the squad with Chiesa injured. Hopefully juve can challenge for the league now and bolster the squad in the summer.
The midfield has been a nightmare for some time. Arthur and Rabiot are terrible and there’s no backup. Allegri can only work with what he has and what he has are baked beans and they’re asking him for Michelin star entrées. Not going to happen.
Allegri got what he wanted with Dusan and Zakaria so stop with the excuses. This guy has always been clueless and no need to go on about the 5 Scudetti and 2 CL finals. They were battered in those finals to add to their 7/9 collection. Anyone could have won those titles as he leeched off Conte’s foundations. This is 2013 version of Milan and it is no surprise he had no cojones to manage in England or Spain. He would get eaten alive and he knew it. Pep has tiki taka, Klopp the high press and PhD has the slow ball.
Damn right! Who is phd?
First things first & the first thing for Juve is to sack Allegri & bring Zidane stop making Arthur the easy scapegoat what about the other 10 best players what did they do? The problem fo Juventus is on the bench – period
I never understand why Juventus didn’t try to sign Veratti instead of Rabiot
Main question for me, is have Juve gone forward under or Allegri or backwards? I’ll accept that key players are injured and this is a rebuilding phase.
I personally can’t help feeling that had Pirlo been given another season with the purchases of Locatelli,& Vlahovic, he would be doing a better job. Certainly playing better football.
Juve also had lots of injuries last season but it was never an acceptable excuse, so why does Allegri get away with it? The football is woeful – Emery did a Juve on Allegri and we all knew exactly how he was going to play.
There is still some chaff in this team, namely Arthur, Rabiot, Berna and Kean.
There is also some quality Juve youngsters mainly playing in midfield that i think would make a difference. Just nor sure Allegri is the right man for this squad of players. Take locatelli, who’s early season form was excellent is now looking lost in that midfield.