Juventus Club Focus: Has Allegri’s time come to an end?

Date: 4th November 2015 at 8:43pm
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Oscar La-Gambina questions whether the Bianconeri hierarchy must consider the exit door for an underperforming Massimiliano Allegri

Juventus Torino Marchisio Baselli

If there was one word to describe Juventus 2015/16 Serie A season so far, it would be ‘rollercoaster’; that also sufficiently defines these Club Focus features since August.

Demonstrated perfectly in the seven days since we talked of the Bianconeri’s attacking prowess last week, they suffered yet another shock 1-0 defeat to surprise Serie A package Sassuolo, before claiming a huge 2-1 victory over bitter rivals Torino in the Derby della Mole and then finally obtaining a point in the Champions League against Borussia Monchengladbach, which they have Gianluigi Buffon to thank after he made a series of outstanding saves to keep the match at 1-1.

It is difficult to tell whether one game, one tactical decision or a single player will kick-start the season for good, just look at these articles over the past 11 weeks to prove it.

However, with Paul Pogba grabbing yet another goal and Juan Cuadrado’s first and possibly most vital of the season in the 93rd minute against the Granata, there may still be reason to be optimistic for Bianconeri fans.Juventus Derby della Mole Pogba

However, talk of positivity has arisen once before, so it is probably best to avoid this during a discussion of a team stuck on a rollercoaster.

How about a bold question instead; Should coach Massimiliano Allegri be sacked?

Following the Derby win it might seem an inappropriate thing to ask, but it was a thought that surely crept into many a mind after the demoralising Sassuolo loss.

Allegri’s history with clubs supports the view that he should perhaps be relieved of his duties. At AC Milan, he won the league title in his first season and a Supercoppa Italiana in his second. Following this, he was unable to secure another Scudetto, finishing in second and third place simultaneously. massimiliano allegri juventus

He was then fired in January 2014.

During his time at Sassuolo, he helped them gain promotion to Serie B for the first time in their history and then left, while he finished an impressive ninth in Serie A with Cagliari before being surprisingly sacked, despite keeping the side up the following campaign.

With success comes disappointment soon afterwards for the 48-year-old it seems, and so it would be no strange event if he was to depart La Vecchia Signora.

Plus, whatever his CV looks like, their current position of 12th is simply not good enough for the reigning Italian champions. Fourth or fifth could maybe just be accepted for the moment as it would mean European football, but mid-table is a poor place for a club as big as Juventus to be in.

Perhaps the only thing that is currently keeping him in the job, is their recent success in the lucrative Champions League.

The tournament is for only the best of Europe’s top clubs and it can be the difference between keeping a job and getting the sack for a coach, but the league still has to be prioritised.

Considering their domestic form, the possibility of European football is currently a long way off, and should this continue, Allegri could soon be facing the exit door.

 

3 responses to “Juventus Club Focus: Has Allegri’s time come to an end?”

  1. juveman says:

    At this point the only thing keeping him around and not making every single juventino hate him was the fact that he was doing well in europe.Now even that seems to have gone to helll and i sincerely doubt we will end up going through the group unless we all of a sudden get off this roller-coaster and start performing consistently. However I think juve management being a little more forward thinking than other italian clubs i don’t see him leaving before summer barring a complete catastrophe.

  2. benito says:

    don’t forget Allegri couldn’t win in his second season due to Conte’s all-conquering Juve, while in the third one his Milan was castrated big time but he beat Barca in the CL with a less-than-impressive side.

    true, he started tampering with his side but overall he did an excellent job with Milan (look at Inzaghi’s and Seedorf’s tenure later on) and so with Juve, where he took the step further Conte was unable to.

    this year is the fault of Marotta, who let go of the best secunda punta and brought three prima puntas. we lost the brain behind our attacks (pirlo), the cement in our midfield (Vidal) and the genious of Tévez, who was immense even if he didn’t score.

    the deputies? Pereyra was a waste of money at this level and so was Zaza, while Khedira can not be relied on and Hernanes was a panic-buy at the last second.

    there’s a new team to build and transition years tend to bring ups-and-downs. sacking Allegri would be the cherry on this shitcake the management brought together.

  3. chris says:

    I was very impressed with the way Alegri taught Juve to be calm and smart in Europe. For that alone he deserves a bit of time. It was always going to be very hard to replace Pirlo (greatest passer I have seen) and Tevez and Vidal are also world class on their day. So he deserves a chance. But what worries me is that he is wasting the talents of some young players- why is Coman at Bayern Munich, and why has Rugani never played a single minute? Not even a few sub appearances? How bad can he be!