Juventus are nicknamed ‘The Old Lady’ and at the moment they are living up to their nickname. The club are currently crawling along, the players are forgetting who their teammates are and the fans are in pain due to the team’s performances.
Drop
Juve have had a nightmare few months and currently find themselves in sixth place of the Serie A table four points off the last Champions League spot.
Their aim is now to clinch that lucrative Champions League spot, whereas a few short months ago they were talking about challenging Inter for the Scudetto. It’s safe to say that Jose Mourinho and co. are not shaking in their boots.
Inexperienced
Last week Juventus decided to sack head coach Ciro Ferrara. Ferrara is many things, a Juventus legend and stalwart, a crowd favourite and a winner. However as a head coach he had little to no experience as a head coach.
The Juventus board made the decision with their hearts rather than their heads. His status as a Juventus favourite persuaded them to give Ferrara the job without any experience. He was seen as just a stop-gap appointment toward the end of last season after he replaced Claudio Ranieri. The board decided he did a good enough job to be appointed on a full-time basis.
Signings
The summer signings of Brazilian international midfielders Felipe Melo and Diego were expected to inspire the club to challenge for the Scudetto this season. Diego has had a mixed time in Turin so far. He has suffered through injury and loss of form.
He is a class player who is capable of creating chances and scoring goals. He has shown in flashes his quality but he hasn’t been able to find consistent form since his switch from Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.
Felipe Melo on the other hand has proved a complete and utter flop in Turin. In fact in 2009 he was voted Serie A ‘Flop of the Year’. The 26 year-old defensive midfielder impressed while at Fiorentina and the Viola’s fans were sorry to see him leave. The Juventus fans will be wondering why their counterparts in Florence were so disappointed to lose the midfielder.
Ferrara has been criticised for spending big money on Melo, but the Juve coach could only judge the players ability on what he saw him produce for the Viola. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was interested in signing Melo but decided he wasn’t worth the £18million asking price. I guess Arsene was right.
Replacement
Ciro Ferrara’s temporarily replacement is former AC Milan boss Alberto Zaccheroni. Zaccheroni has a contract until the summer and he’s stated that his aim is to get Juventus into the Champions League. Juventus should have far loftier ambitions than just to finish in the top four.
Zaccheroni has been out of the game for three years and his last job was with Juventus bitter city rivals Torino. His appointment has been an unpopular choice amongst the Juventus faithful and his first game in charge of Juve was a poor 1-1 home draw against Lazio.
Juventus struggled to create chances and took the lead through a controversial penalty. However Lazio scored a deserved equaliser with just twelve minutes remaining. The side lacked any inspiration and they again relied too much on veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero. Zaccheroni will have to find a way of motivating his new side and find inspiration from somewhere.
Desperate
Juventus will be desperate to find a top quality boss this summer. They have been heavily linked with underachieving Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez in recent weeks. However I don’t think Benitez could do any better at Juve than he has at Liverpool.
Surely next season Juventus will be aiming to challenge for the Scudetto. Benitez may have won La Liga in his native Spain with Valencia, but has failed to bring the Premier League title to Anfield with Liverpool.
Juventus need to make the right decision this summer. The future of the club depends on this decision. The club needs to get back to where they belong and that’s at the top of the European game. That will only happen if they appoint a top European boss.
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
