It’s the year of revolution for Juventus. Massimiliano Allegri, worthy representative of fine alla fine (Until the end, editor’s note, the identity slogan of the Vecchia Signora) gone, the result remained the main objective, but the manner would also be important with the arrival of Thiago Motta. Coming off a historic season with Bologna where he managed to secure a fifth place in Serie A, the former midfielder who moved to Paris Saint-Germain had to deal with a turbulent summer. Freeing himself from aging or exhausted executives like Alex Sandro, Federico Chiesa, Filip Kostic, Daniele Rugani, Adrien Rabiot and Wojciech Szczęsny, it is a new cycle that the winner of the 2006 Champions League and 2010. Relying on new strong men like Michele Di Gregorio, Pierre Kalulu, Francisco Conceiçao, Nico Gonzalez, Juan Cabal, Khéphren Thuram, Douglas Luiz and Teun Koopmeiners, the 42-year-old coach was able to count on a transfer window of 165 million euros to compose his team.
And the least we can say is that the transplant was quick. Undefeated in the league, Juventus quickly got into the right rhythm in an obvious 4-2-3-1. In the Champions League, things also went well with victories against PSV Eindhoven (3-1) and RB Leipzig (3-2) even if the last match against Stuttgart (1-0 defeat) was more worrying . The term fits well since in recent weeks, Vecchia Signora has been less impressive with only two victories (for six draws) in the last eight Serie A matches. In difficulty offensively at the start of the season with 11 goals scored in the first 8 league matches, Juventus pays for the lack of effective profiles behind striker Dusan Vlahovic (6 goals). The club’s second top scorer in Serie A is a substitute, Timothy Weah (3 goals). In addition, injuries are hampering Juventus quite a bit at the moment.
Injuries and defensive problems
At the start of the season, it was Francisco Conceição who was on the flank and who slowly reached his best level when Nico Gonzalez was injured. Star recruit of the summer, Douglas Luiz is also affected. But the biggest blow is the rupture of Bremer’s cruciate ligaments, which is not expected on the field before April. Having to tinker with Danilo, Federico Gatti and Pierre Kalulu, Thiago Motta would like a winter reinforcement and the name of Milan Skriniar has come up. In the meantime, all the defensive solidity of Vecchia Signora has been shattered, like the last two draws against Inter Milan (4-4) and Parma (2-2). This also has the consequence of relegating Juventus to seven points behind the leader, Napoli. Thiago Motta, however, did not want to overwhelm the Gatti-Danilo duo: “I looked at the collective, not just them. As a collective, we have done well and poorly at times.»
The transalpine press, which was in any case rave about Thiago Motta, is starting to have doubts. “Juve without Bremer no longer defends. Yildiz absent, Danilo plays: Thiago’s strange choices», headline this Thursday Gazzetta dello Sport who questions the management of certain players. Danilo, who was sidelined at the start of the season, became a starter and captain by force of circumstances but he is far from his level. Kenan Yildiz, who was coming off a double against Inter Milan, started on the bench against Parma. Moreover, the Italian coach received a 5 in Tuttosport for the match against Parma: “yet another draw weighs like the -7 on Naples at the end of October. His Juventus made up for a terrifying start to the match, but that could not be enough. And he sacrifices Weah in his best moment…»
Thiago Motta himself conceded that Juventus’ production was not what he wanted and that he hopes for something else: “we want to do a lot and sometimes we don’t manage to do what we want. We have to maintain the balance, play with our idea, against a team that is getting closer and that started again today. We suffered, we went into their half. They made a low block and with our mistakes in the last meters they started again. And at the first mistake, you have to move back 60/70 meters, this gives the team a psychological advantage. We must react immediately, otherwise they escape and head towards our goal. (…) We often made mistakes in the last meters of Parma. Physically and psychologically we give an advantage to the opponents.» Enduring the first protests, Thiago Motta realizes that the Turin project will be more testing than expected.
