When Igor Tudor made the 10-hour drive from his home in Split, Croatia, to one of the Italian cities that he knows the best in Turin, things at Juventus were in complete disarray. In the middle of an international break, the Juve front office decided to part ways with Thiago Motta and hire Tudor, who had nine games to try and get his new (and former) team into the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season.
Through the first three of those games, Juventus have gotten seven out of a possible nine points and currently sit in fourth place — exactly the kind of position where we all hope the Bianconeri will stay over the next six weeks.
There are very noticeable differences between how Tudor has this team playing compared to the man who he took over for at the Allianz Stadium. It’s not just the formation change or how he’s using some of Juve’s most important players.
Things aren’t necessarily humming on all cylinders and there’s still plenty that Tudor can get this team to improve on (if that’s even possible within a six-week span), but considering how Juventus went into the international break with back-to-back losses to Atalanta and Fiorentina, it’s been a much-needed step in a positive direction.
But how good of a job has Tudor done with a squad that was looking pretty checked out in those two losses that put the nail in the coffin for Motta at Juventus?
The sample size is still rather small considering it’s only been three games. And, as long as Juventus take care of business the next two weeks against Parma and Monza, the big test will come with the back-to-back fixtures against Bologna and then Lazio. For now, though, the next one up is Parma and Tudor’s sole focus is to get three points against another relegation-threatened side like he did last weekend in the win over Lecce.
