{"id":1386,"date":"2025-05-22T02:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T02:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2025-05-22T02:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T02:03:10","slug":"sergios-grab-bag-for-all-the-fourth-place-marbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/?p=1386","title":{"rendered":"Sergio\u2019s Grab Bag: For all the (fourth place) marbles"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Photo by sportinfoto\/DeFodi Images\/DeFodi via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We talk about the merciful end of the season and of Dusan Vlahovic\u2019s time at Juventus, plus the new kit sponsorship and general takes on the new Juventus shirt.<\/p>\n

They have somehow done it. <\/p>\n

Despite bottling leads big and small against contenders, also rans and relegation battlers. Despite playing perhaps 180 minutes of joyful football combined in a whole season. Despite changing their manager with less than three months left in the season, historical defeats in a weekly basis and a year in which the main highlight was that the club had a really nice looking third kit, Juventus only need to win their last game in Serie A to make the 2024-25 campaign not a complete disaster.<\/p>\n

Yes, securing fourth place is far below what the expectations were for this team when the season started, but considering how much of a disaster certain stints of this year were, this feels like saving something out of the smoldering remains of what started as a very promising new era for the club.<\/p>\n

The Bianconeri<\/em> drew against Lazio two weekends ago, notching yet another blown lead in their umpteenth chance to put some distance between themselves and the smorgasbord of mid Serie A clubs vying for the chance to get slaughtered in the Champions League next season. Follow that up with a pedestrian victory against mid-table Udinese and, all things considered, that game might unfortunately be the highlight and best result of this team in the entirety of the month of May.<\/p>\n

Really, really dire weeks we had around here, folks.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s cook.<\/p>\n

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The Art of the Deal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Remember how Juventus parted ways with their previous title shirt sponsor, Jeep, before the end of last season? At the time, it was just seen as a given that the club would strike a deal \u2014 or perhaps already had one in place \u2014 with another company to take over main sponsorship of the team. <\/p>\n

With today\u2019s football being so driven by economics and Serie A\u2019s unfortunate placing in the money league rankings, Italian clubs have to do whatever they can to try and bridge the gap against the big money teams in Europe. Add to it, the massive financial investments Juventus made during the summer and very few clubs \u2014 if any \u2014 can afford to do away with any source of revenue. Every dollar counts in this game.<\/p>\n

So, after the season started and Juventus remained without a front-of-shirt sponsor, the question became more and more pressing. Who\u2019s stepping up? What\u2019s the masterful gambit that the commercial area of the club has under their sleeve? The agreement with global nonprofit organization Save the Children was commendable in the social service department, but did little to bring in the all mighty revenue that a club with Juve\u2019s high ambitions probably needed. <\/p>\n

Rumors came and went, deals fell through and as the season was about to be over we finally got the much anticipated reveal:<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Juventus (@juventus)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Yes! It\u2019s Jeep again! And the Detroit Tourism Board, Visit Detroit, for some reason, too! <\/p>\n

Not only did they fail to secure a sponsorship deal with another, more profitable brand, but the renewed deal with Jeep is reportedly worth less than the one they had before the deal expired a year ago. In essence, they just waived a year of revenue away for no real reason and signed a worse deal with the same company.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really care about Jeep per se. I\u2019m indifferent toward whatever brand they decide to shill, and despite the Visit Detroit logo sticking out like a sore thumb, I don\u2019t mind it all that much either. What I do mind is that this is just another example of what a poorly mismanaged organization Juventus currently is. <\/p>\n

If something characterized Juventus last decade \u2014 outside of all the winning \u2014 was the consistent competency of the team. They would never panic, they were savvy in every single move they made both on and off the field. Professional people were in charge and the results spoke for themselves. When you look at the decisions this club has made since the pandemic, you can argue that almost every single one has been the wrong one. Including even \u201csilly\u201d things like which brand gets to stamp their logo in the club\u2019s kits.<\/p>\n

You want to know the real kicker? Jeep and Juventus are literally owned by the same holding group. How are you so bad at negotiations that you can\u2019t pull off a good deal for your club when you are negotiating literally with yourself?<\/p>\n

Au Revoir, Dusan.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Well, at least he left us with another flash.<\/p>\n

Recent reports from Fabrizio Romano and others have all but confirmed what we all already knew about the future of Dusan Vlahovic: his time as a Juventus player is near an end. And, for my money, Vlahovic has been one of the bigger busts I have ever seen wearing this kit. <\/p>\n

You could argue that other players have produced worse results \u2014 no doubt about it. But for a guy that was acquired for so much money and was given so many chances \u2014 three-and-a-half seasons worth! \u2014 it\u2019s hard for me to think of someone in recent history that fell so short of expectations in such a consistent way. <\/p>\n

(Federico Bernardeschi, perhaps? They did pay significantly less for him, though. I\u2019m not counting guys that got hurt because injuries happen and that sucks, but that\u2019s a different type of disappointment. There\u2019s a neat summer break article, worst Juve signings of the last decade. Expect it after Juve gets bounced from the Club World Cup by Wydad AC!)<\/em><\/p>\n

Vlahovic never had a 20-plus goal season as a Juventus player. Think about that. I\u2019m not talking just domestically. In all competitions, Vlahovic never managed to crack that number during his Juve stint. Juventus paid over \u20ac70 million for Vlahovic, gave him a contract that made him the highest paid player in the league and the guy never significantly outplayed Alvaro Morata, the poster child of inconsistent strikers if there ever was one.<\/p>\n

The only category he consistently led was big chances missed \u2014 of which he was good for at least once a game. He got marked out of games by every single mediocre halfway physical center back in the league. There\u2019s no other striker that I can remember that had such a mediocre first touch to be starting for Juventus, the number of misplaced easy passes that were lost at his feet was staggering … and yet …<\/p>\n

He was so good at the things he excelled at \u2014 namely, shooting \u2014 that with that alone he did enough to keep believing that the next step was just behind the corner. Some other team is going to buy into the Vlahovic mirage and think to themselves that this was just a bad situation \u2014 not untrue! \u2014 and that he can still become a top-tier striker. <\/p>\n

I bid that team, whoever it might be, the best luck in the world and be prepared to get very frustrated. <\/p>\n

Parting Shot of the Week<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In their victory against Udinese, Juventus went back to their marketing stunt<\/s> tradition of playing with next year\u2019s home kit in the last game of the season. So we had a chance to check out the new uniforms in which Juventus will disappoint in next season.<\/p>\n

What a treat! <\/p>\n

So, for the parting shot this week, let\u2019s do a quick kit review, shall we?<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Juventus (@juventus)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Off the top, let\u2019s just call a spade and spade and admit that there\u2019s only so much you can do for home kits. We have to have black and white stripes and sure, you can add details here and there and make them thinner or thicker or zebra patterned, but at some point you run out of ideas and I completely get it. <\/p>\n

Fans are also fickle, so if you go too far \u2014 say, the half-white, half-black kit of the Ronaldo years \u2014 people will say you are disrespecting tradition. But if you do too little \u2014 like this year! \u2014 you will get criticized for being boring. It\u2019s a no-win proposition and I do not envy the people whose job it is to give a hot, fresh, new take of black and white stripes every year. <\/p>\n

(You can make the case for essentially all teams for this, by the way. How much creative leeway do you have, for instance, when you have to do <\/em>Real Madrid<\/em>\u2019s home kit? They literally just change the neck and the color of the trims every year and that\u2019s it! That\u2019s an easy gig if there ever was one.)<\/em><\/p>\n

My take is that I liked them better than I thought I would once I saw them in person. The changing stripe pattern and the pink highlights gave me serious Piemonte FC vibes in the initial pictures, but they look decent in action. My one request is that hopefully they use the black shorts instead of the white ones so it has more contrast like they did in the above pictures instead of the white on white. But this is a perfectly passable kit. <\/p>\n

Now, for the real bummer: <\/p>\n

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A post shared by Juventus (@juventus)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Whoa, buddy, is that an ugly pre-match top. I get pastels are trendy and whatever, but that looks really out of place on the pitch. It looks like a sweater your significant other thinks looks real cute for summer. It looks like what a overpriced ice cream parlor in the yuppie part of town puts their employees in. It looks like the matching shirts the most obnoxious couple you know wear on a Sunday brunch while they passive aggressively fight throughout the evening. <\/p>\n

I guess once you give so many constraints to the creative team for the home kit that creativity has to go somewhere. Consider me not a fan.<\/p>\n

See you next week.<\/p>\n