Juventus find themselves seven points behind a Champions League spot and Elio Salerno analyses what Massimiliano Allegri is getting wrong in his second spell in Turin.
Juventus suffered their heaviest defeat in 17 years on Tuesday night when conceding four without reply at the hands of Chelsea. The fallout from that embarrassing performance in London has been one of extreme frustration and profound disappointment. The Bianconeri lost their first home against Atalanta in 32 years four days later, slipping seven points behind a Champions League spot.
Much of the blame and questioning has been aimed at coach Max Allegri and the management working above him. The quality within the squad has deteriorated over the last five years and has been discussed on countless occasions, it is a conversation that has been exhausted.
The club have lost direction and that is clear not only from the work completed on the transfer market but also in their decisions around coaching staff. Players were signed or sold, coaches appointed and sacked, all of it seemingly done with no consideration or plan in mind.
It’s almost criminal that as of yet there appears to be no strategy in place to rectify mistakes. Everything is being dealt with sporadically. Perception from the outside is that those in control don’t know where to start, they’ve allowed the problems to run too deep. There were even more issues this week as Andrea Agnelli has been put under investigation with other current and former directors, including Pavel Nedved and Fabio Paratici, for false accounting.
After the defeat against Atalanta, Allegri revealed that Agnelli had spoken to the team in the morning in what he described to be ‘a wonderful speech.’
Agnelli has worked wonders over the last decade, his influence has been a major factor in Juve’s success. He has never hidden his ambition, from the new stadium to the logo change and the major push in global marketing. Agnelli has been a flagbearer behind the idea of creating a European super league, he has done all of this with The Old Lady at forefront of his mind.
Agnelli’s bold way of thinking has not been limited to business matters. He did what many thought would be impossible and brought Cristiano Ronaldo to Serie A, he hired Max Allegri after club legend Antonio Conte walked out on him.
Then in the hope of continuing his dreams of building a modern club, he appointed Maurizio Sarri with the intention of matching Juve’s trendy new look off the pitch with an expansive playing style on it. After the Sarri experiment failed, replacing him with a novice in Andrea Pirlo left everyone scratching their head.
Allegri: ‘Once Juventus are realistic, pressure will drop off’
Attempting to transition the Turin giants away from playing pragmatic football was absolutely the right call, the days of a safety-first mindset do not bring success in the modern game. We can question if the president hired the right tacticians to introduce this change, but Agnelli himself never gave it a chance. Did he truly believe in it? Neither coach was given the players to make it work. Moving to a high pressing, free-flowing brand of football was going to take time. It was going to be problematic and failure is part of the process.
After two seasons and the near catastrophe of missing out on the Champions League, Agnelli panicked, hit reset and resorted to type. Juventini were well aware of why Mister Allegri was re-called and Max confirmed that with his words in Friday’s pre-game press conference. “President Agnelli asked me to return to Juventus and go back to being sustainable and obtaining results. We will put all our efforts into making this happen, the team needs to work and it takes time and patience”.
Allegri also commented on the mid-week defeat stating that “Juve must not lose 4-0” but preceded that comment by stating that “the match we had to win was in Turin”. It is that mentality that has to change, Allegri never went to Stamford Bridge with a thought of winning, he went for damage control and deservedly failed miserably.
The concern with Allegri is that this isn’t a one-off or a recent issue, it stretches back to the end of his first spell in charge and he is replicating it again now, but this time around his ideas makes less sense. The continued use of a flat 4-4-2 doesn’t suit the players deployed in it.
Persisting with Adrien Rabiot off the left and stifling his best player in Federico Chiesa by often using him in a front two. Refusing to drop Alex Sandro despite the Brazilian playing dreadfully for the best part of three years and allowing his central midfield pairing to be overrun on a weekly basis because they are overloaded by the opposition. Manuel Locatelli is bar far Juve’s best midfield player but he is being hung out to dry by Allegri’s approach. Logically it doesn’t fit, a 4-3-3 (or variation of it) looks the obvious choice. Allegri used it against Atalanta, but the result didn’t change.
The Juve boss relies on his senior players, but this squad is not stacked with the same experience as those he had in his previous tenure. Younger players have been invested in but instead of embracing what is available, he prefers to restrict and put the responsibility on the older heads rather than allow the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Chiesa and Locatelli to be the protagonists. They are more than ready and certainly capable. It is this safety and risk-averse thinking that Agnelli is more comfortable with, it is why he was willing to put his faith in Allegri again, it is why they work well together.
Calcio has changed significantly in recent years, Serie A has improved with a new breed of coaches and players launching a type of football that has never been typically associated with the Italian league. If Allegri fails to follow the trend, things could worsen instead of seeing the expected improvement. The imbalance in the squad cannot be fixed in the next year, so it is up to the coach to maximise his available strengths. Last week against Lazio there were bright moments in possession but they are a rarity and it remains to be seen if this can be replicated consistently, not just for 90 minutes but on a weekly basis.
Juventus face their biggest challenge since the late 2000’s and Max Allegri – despite his prior success at the club – is in danger of being defined by the work he is currently producing. Football now more than ever relies on a cohesive XI working together. Individuals are not enough to carry you through and Allegri needs to distance himself from relying on moments to bring success.
I only have 3 reasons as to why I am still wearing 3 diapers. I can reveal my secrets.
They NEED good signings in January and they need to change their mentality. If the players really dont believe in Alegri, I guess he needs to go. RIght now, the team just cant score goals. That is a real problem.
Buying Ronaldo ruined everything, and Juventus lost Bepe Morata. That was a tragedy. Look what he does in Inter now. Selling Spinazzola and renting out Demiral was crazy. Keeping de Ligt is crazy. Mattia de Sciglio must be the future in Juve, but the management in Juventus is the real problem. Arrivabene and The Balkan Blondie is not the right leaders. US and Swedish players are not the answer either.
I agree Bianconero. Arrivabene was useless at Ferrari, and his background was in cars! As for Nedved, the less said about him the better. I am beginning to think the best thing the Agnelli’s could do for the club is sell it.
Get Gasperini and sell Rabiot, Ramsey and a few more. Buy faster players. And play 442 with McKennie and Locatelli in midfield. Chiesa and another brilliant wide player.
Dybala and Vlahovic in attack.
Juve cant afford to fire Allegri, he makes 9 million net a year. They still pay Pirlo too. Buckle up and enjoy the show, Mr Burns is here to stay.
Credit when due, good analysis Football Italia. Saw some fight in the Atalanta game which gives me hope but despite new players Allegri needs to change his system.
Juve, cancer in Italian football