Dominance of a league can be admired and respected because a club has repeatedly achieved success but the lack of a rival to halt their triumphant run can make the competition boring to follow.
Witnessing a team maintain such hegemony can be more intolerable if that squad is not exciting to watch.
Juventus have won every Serie A title since 2011/12 but they are not the most pleasing to watch for most neutrals. Their 3-0 victory away to Fiorentina last Saturday evening was their 13th from 14 Serie A matches in 2018/19 and it was another effortless performance from La Vecchia Signora.
Do you think that the Bianconeri actually care if they provide a spectacle or not? Not the slightest.
Club legend Giampiero Boniperti said at the inauguration of the Juventus Stadium, “Winning isn’t important at Juventus, it’s the only thing that counts.”
The current La Vecchia Signora side epitomises that to an extent but more than anything they do what is enough to win matches and they would prefer to focus on defending than attacking.
Italian teams are historically known for their pragmatic approach and emphasis on defending but most sides from the Italian peninsula predominantly focus on gaining maximum rewards with minimal effort. Like the slogan on the t-shirt worn by the obese man on the front cover of Fatboy Slim’s 1998 album ‘You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’, “I’m #1 so why try harder?” Juve don’t have to try harder in Serie A because their domestic dominance is secure for now.
Perhaps it is a mentality that non-Italians or people who don’t follow Italian football don’t understand or want to accept. Italian tacticians often treat football matches like a game of chess and Bianconeri coach Massimiliano Allegri can wait for the opposition to make their moves.
How about the remainder of Serie A though? Are they doing enough to force Juventus out of their conservative shell?
Supporters of rival clubs often criticise Juve on social media for getting preferential treatment of referees and it is easy for Italians to highlight controversial moments in great detail. Not enough Italian teams have been able to pose a serious threat to Juventus’ hegemony of Italian football in this decade but very few are atoning for a lack of domestic success with good runs in Europe either.
Finances or lack of them don’t help either but different tactics could be implemented by other coaches. Although Maurizio Sarri did not coach Napoli to a Serie A title, his Partenopei team were a title rival for Juventus without resorting to defensive tactics or playing dour football. They were winning games with great attacking flair and swagger but they crumbled under the pressure and lacked the squad depth that La Vecchia Signora had.
Juventus do possess great attacking weapons like Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, and Douglas Costa just to name a few and Allegri can coach proactive teams like he did at Cagliari from 2008 to 2010 but they won’t exert extra energy when it is unnecessary.
Italian teams and Juventus, in particular, should not be singled out though.
How many teams in world football now or even in the past won by playing spectacular football? Not many. Pep Guardiola might have done it at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and he is doing it now at Manchester City but would anyone say the same about many other teams that dominate their domestic leagues? Probably not.
It would be preferable for Italian teams to utilise their attacking talents to the best of their abilities instead of trying to win matches and trophies in the most lackadaisical manner possible but Juventus are not going to play champagne football just for the sake of keeping the neutrals happy.
Unless the rest of Italy builds stronger squads or break the Bianconeri hegemony by playing with style, the Turin-based giants are going to remain dour to watch for quite some time.
Alternatively, if you want to follow Serie A and you want to be entertained, just don’t watch Juventus.
