Saturday Poll: Is finishing in the top four enough for Thiago Motta to keep his job?

No matter how you feel about them as a whole, the Italian press have certainly had a field day with the situation at Juventus ever since the Bianconeri were eliminated by Empoli in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals earlier this week.

A lot of the talk has, understandably, centered around first-year manager Thiago Motta and just how much getting bounced from the Coppa Italia and who said elimination came against. (You know, a 15th-place Empoli squad that rolled out a second-choice starting lineup — at best.) That comes after there was already a lot of heat from the Italian press coming Motta’s direction following the Champions League ouster at the hands of PSV Eindhoven all of one week earlier.

So, within the span of eight days, Juve’s hopes of advancing to the Champions League Round of 16 as well as the Coppa Italia semifinals — where Motta would have met his former club, Bologna — went completely up in smoke with two very poor performances.

It comes as the latest hit to a Juventus squad under Motta that, entering Matchday 27 against Hellas Verona on Monday night, still has more draws (13) than wins (12), somehow could stake claim to an actual title fight because of nobody actually taking control of the Scudetto race as we hit the month of March.

No matter what Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli said following the Coppa Italia loss to Empoli regarding Motta’s job status, story after story continues to come out about how finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League next season might not be enough for the Italo-Brazilian to get a second season in charge at Juventus.

With 11 games left to go in Juventus’ season — and that’s it! — the only true thing left for the 2024-25 campaign is to qualify for the Champions League with a top four finish. (Because, let’s face it, Italian clubs have been pretty crap in Europe this season, so a fifth UCL spot looks incredibly unlikely at this point.)

But that begs the question: If Juventus do finish in the top four (let alone even challenge for the title the rest of the way), is that good enough for Motta to ensure he won’t become the next “former” manager in Turin?

Time to discuss, friends.