April’s Monthly Juventus Thoughts: Pessimism

The race for the final two Champions League qualification spots is going down to the wire. Only six points separate six teams from third place to eighth place. Juventus have gone from a dark horse title contenders to hovering between fourth and fifth place after an inconsistent run of results the last two months.

Atalanta were relatively comfortable in third place but, after also briefly being considered title contenders, could potentially drop out of the top four if they slip up in one or two games. Bologna and Roma have been the most in-form teams of the top half of the table and are making a late, unexpected push for Champions League football.

Given the instability at Juventus and overall sense of pessimism surrounding the club, my confidence in our ability to secure Champions League football is steadily decreasing.

Lost Momentum

Juventus traveled to Rome to play the in-form AS Roma for Igor Tudor’s second game in charge of the club. The team played its best first half in a while as they dominated the hosts. Nico González saw his header expertly saved by Mile Svilar in goal, who palmed it onto the crossbar. But Svilar could do nothing to prevent the first goal. Manuel Locatelli scored from a phenomenal volley just outside the box to give his team the deserved lead just before halftime.

But as it has happened so often this season, the second half was a completely different story. In fairness, this was mostly due to Claudio Ranieri’s tactical switch at the half — from a three-man to a four-man defense — that got Roma back into the game. They equalized soon after half time after Michele Di Gregorio saved a header from Evan Ndicka from a corner but Eldor Shomurodov slammed home the rebound. Roma continued to have the better of the second half but failed to create many clear cut chances as Juventus defended well. An entertaining match in which both teams had the momentum for parts of the game ended 1-1.

Next up, Juventus welcomed relegation-battling Lecce to the Allianz Stadium. Tudor’s side continued the trend of a fantastic first half as the team raced to the lead thanks to a goal from Teun Koopmeiners in the second minute. The second goal was a one-touch passing masterclass involving Dusan Vlahovic, Khephren Thuram, and Kenan Yildiz, with the latter applying a beautiful finishing touch to score the 2-0.

Unlike in other games, the Bianconeri maintained a high level of play in the second half and controlled the game. Nevertheless, Lecce scored a goal against the run of play in the 87th minute when Federico Baschirotto scored an inch-perfect header from a free kick to make it a nervy ending to the game. Thankfully, Juventus held on for a much-needed 2-1 victory.

Tudor suffered his first defeat as a Juventus coach when the team lost 1-0 away to Parma. Juventus were uninspired and clueless in attack as only two of our 16 shots were on target. Mateo Pellegrino scored a thumping header in first-half stoppage time to give his team a (probably deserved?) victory.

Photo by Luca Amedeo Bizzarri/Getty Images

We ended the month on a high note with a 2-0 home victory over relegated Monza. Once again, we started the game at a relentless pace and scored both goals within 33 minutes of play. González scored with a fantastic long range shot in the 11th minute; it was his first goal since the first game against Monza. Thuram then went on what has now become one of his trademark runs from midfield and passed to Randal Kolo Muani who scored our second goal. It seemed like it was going to be an easy day at the office until Yildiz received a red card for a moment of madness. For no reason whatsoever, he swung his elbow into the face of Alessandro Bianco in stoppage time of the first half and was rightly sent off.

Juventus finished the game with 10 men and had roughly 20% ball possession in the second half as they realized that, given how poor Monza is, it was a perfectly safe strategy to let them have the ball. Unsurprisingly, the visitors did little with it and the second half ended with the same scoreline as the first.

Juventus Women: Champions!

Juventus Women celebrated their sixth league title and first in three years. They started the month by beating their closest rivals, Roma, in the Poule Scudetto. Emma Stølen Godø and Sofia Cantore scored in the first half to give their team a lead that lasted for most of the game. Valentina Giacinti scored a late goal for Roma but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 2-1 loss for her team.

The Bianconere secured the Scudetto with a 2-0 victory against Milan. Our best player, Cristiana Girelli, scored a penalty and a marvelous goal that showed why she’s arguably the best player in the league. She showed a quick burst of pace to gain some room from her defender and then chipped the onrushing Milan goalkeeper Noemi Fedele. A fitting way to win the title!

Photo by Chris Ricco – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images

Juventus heavily rotated the team for the last game of April and were understandably less focused as they lost 3-1 to Fiorentina. Madelen Janogy and Emma Severini (penalty) scored in the first 30 minutes of the game as Fiorentina dominated the first half. The two goalscorers combined in the 81st minute when Severini assisted Janogy for their team’s third goal. Stølen Godø scored a consolation goal for Juventus in stoppage time but it didn’t stop the party mood that Juventus was in after winning the title the week before.

Clipped Wings

It’s clear that the biggest victims of Tudor’s time in charge of Juventus have been the wingers. The likes of Nicolo Savona, Francisco Conceição, Samuel Mbangula, and (to a lesser extent) Timothy Weah have all seen significantly less playing time since Tudor became manager of the team. His 3-4-we’ll see formation has been heavy on central attacking players who can drift wide (Yildiz, Koopmeiners) and wingers who can play as central attacking players (González). But there has been little place for out-and-out wide players like those mentioned earlier.

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That said, this is all irrelevant if Tudor ends up merely being an interim manager as many expect he will be. There is simply so much uncertainty about what type of team we want to be and what style of play we want to be known for that it might be worth it for the aforementioned players to simply ride out the storm until things become clearer in the summer. This is especially important because Savona, Conceição, Mbangula, and Weah have all had pretty good seasons and have made a good case for remaining part of the Juventus “project” (whatever that even means anymore).

Assuming we don’t need to satisfy the capital gains gods by selling Savona and Mbangula, I think the former has a stronger case for staying given that he can be a backup fullback. Curiously, I think Mbangula’s fate is closely tied to that of Conceição’s. If we decide not to purchase the Portuguese winger on a permanent deal, then Mbangula will be the only winger who can essentially only play one position. If that’s the case, I see little incentive for the next coach to play a winger-first formation/system, which means that Mbangula becomes disposable. But if we keep Conceição, it becomes more difficult to bench two out-and-out wingers all the time.

Photo by Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images

But at the end of the day, what the hell do I know?

We have no idea who the coach will be next season, whether our sporting director will still have a job, how many youngsters we’ll have to sell if we don’t qualify for the Champions League, and what times the League Phase matches for the Europa League are in case we play in that competition next season. (5 p.m. CET? 7 p.m. CET? 6:23 p.m. CET? You tell me!) There’s so much uncertainty that it feels relatively pointless to speculate about which players will remain, which players will leave, and what our formation will be.

But hey, I had to write something … right?