Juventus parted ways with Andrea Pirlo after just one season at the helm, bringing in Max Allegri as the new coach, but on paper our season has been worse.
The facts state that the Old Lady picked up eight points less from their 38 Serie A outings this term, whilst finishing fourth in both campaigns, while the Pirlo could also boast having led his side to win both the Supercoppa Italiana and the Coppa Italia, whilst Allegri saw his side defeated by Inter Milan in both finals.
On the whole, you could easily claim that Pirlo enjoyed more success in his one season in charge, and I can’t help but believe that our younger and more inexperienced coach also had much more issues to contend with throughout the campaign also.
During the 2020-21 season we had to deal with playing without a pre-season thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, whilst also having almost continuous personnel issues due to to positive outbreaks amongst the playing squads, matches having to be postponed last minute due to excessive positives in their squads, and with key player Paulo Dybala missing almost the entire season for a number of reasons.
This season hasn’t been without bumps in the road, with Federico Chiesa being a huge absentee for over half of our season, while Cristiano Ronaldo requesting to leave just as the season was due to begin left us with little time to source a suitable replacement, and the arrivals of both Dusan Vlahovic and Denis Zakaria did boost our form.
Watching our side closely during both campaigns, there has been a lack of balance throughout the team during both campaigns, and I may be a little distracted by the negative nature of Max Allegri’s playing style, but I can’t help but feel that we were better last season.
Many times we failed to win under Pirlo despite being the clear protagonist on the field, and was excited to watch us perform. This term we may have seemed more consistent, but as our points tally shows, and the fact that we lost twice more in the league than we did last year, tells you that we were not.
Did we pull the cord too quickly in letting go of Pirlo?
Patrick
I would agree with the sentiment, Pirlo took a lot of blame for the results which if we are honest were 2 or 3 years in the making. The two previous titles were partly down to a lack of opposition. But the Milan clubs have pulled together.
We never looked solid under Pirlo which for 3-4 months around Christmas we have again under Allegri, but we don’t make chances.
How would Pirlo have done with a fit Dybala and Vlahovic?
In reality I think we shouldn’t have made Pirlo manager when we did, he should have managed the U23 and aimed for the first team in a couple of seasons.
Pirlo was prematurely released. 10 months with no preparation time is not a fair shake. I believe Juve would have been scudetto winners had he been allowed to grow
In hindsight it was a mistake to hire him unless we were willing to give him at least 2-3 years. I believe we would have progressed much better this season under him vs Allegri. It costs us Dybaba, Kulu and others. I fear that this team will continue to struggle for a top 4 next year as well. Allegri has shown that regardless of who we bring in they ultimately regress due to a playing style that discourages offense and attach. Even our CB’s have regressed this season.
100%
I agree in major points with MancJuveFan and JP. Pirlo should have stayed in the U-23 team and grow into a Pep/Mou style coach. He had issues with with the team due to covid, but so did other teams. So wouldn’t blame him too much. Pirlo will be a great coach, and not only because he managed to win a trophy in his first year, but also because he’s a very intelligent person. Did Pirlo have a better squad than Max – absolutely. CR7 vs Kean, or later Vlahovic that came midway and had to adapt to a completely new team. Dybala and especially Chiesa injuries were a big blow. And we saw Gigi Buffon go, who was yhe true heart of the team in the dressing room. CR7 departure a few days before the start of the season was a demotivating factor, that we payed with loosing points against teams like Empoli and Udinese.
In general, I think it wouldn’t be a huge difference, but I’d say Max is better for Juve (as of today). He knows the team inside out. He was more respected and stringent than Pirlo.
But, the main problem was the change of generation, and change of management. Paratici shiwed he’s worthless without Marotta. I had huge respect for Nedved, but his personal rifts against Max made me change my mind. All will be good, as I think Arrivabene and his team is more balanced. It’s a shame that we gave prInter our best team member (Marotta), but we are Juve and we win at the end of the day!
i remember we won in camp nou with pirlo , imagine it was allegry we would never pass the ball past midfield, am not saying Pirlo was perfect, but i can say Allegry is obsolete, his style of football kills the passion, so its not about wining or losing anymore , its more like i gave up on watching the games
Yes one more session would have been fair. I was critical but at the end of the day results and trophies were there, and if it wasn’t for atalanta’s collapse we wouldn’t have been fourth pretty likely. giving allegri a GUARANTEE of coach without top 4 or a trophy is disgusting double standards compared to how they treated him
You all saw vlahovic close to tears of frustration on the bench? Doesn’t look like allegri’s respected by a lot of players or fans for nuking his confidence. Who can blame them? by being half way up the pitch for 60 minutes then defending with demotalised defenders who’s identity is also not there. Partly his fault for not stamping himself on the team, but why bother when you’re publicly guaranteed the job? Dinosaur tactics, but we are stuck. We don’t win much at the end of the day paying like that, and definitely lost games we could and should have won. Nedved is right no matter his personal views and agnelli is wrong to guarantee allegri his job even if he didn’t get top4 or trophies… why didn’t Pirlo get that kind of leeway, especially as Serie a had been much worse this season and he won more last season? At least Pirlo was unpredictable to the opposition too, and it was better waiting for a goal to win than dragging a collapse from not trying to win. Either way some will be happy some not be we all want to either wether the storm or enjoy the torture and embarrassment. If it doesn’t change soon will be even more in the background of Football. People come and go, Juve remains.
Juve need an excelent physique trainner and play game with more pressing.
Definitely YES
Allegri has been dealing with injuries as well, while Dybala managed to end the season healthy his injury problems were still consistent. The midfield suffered with injuries to
Paratici seemed to be focused more on acquiring players for free than building a team, and here we are now.
Allegri was brought back to start a project, for a couple seasons we won’t see trophies and that’s reality. Sucks for us Juventinos, it’s good for Series A. Knowing who’s going to win the league after the third week is boring
When Allegri had a solid midfield you saw what type of manager he is, and that’s why with the changes happening I believe the right choice was made.
There’s not a single Nonna in the world that can make tomato sauce with rotten tomatoes.
Allegri himself would say “yes, they might be mistaken”. Fortunately for him, no one ask him this question.
Allegri has no balls. He lacks the killer instinct and doesn’t know how to step on an opponent when he has the momentum. Pirlo is the exact opposite. Pirlo’s Juve was fun to watch, usually played a fast and creative offense, and was very effective when the players were in sync. He showed the ability to make tactical adjustments by winning his rematches against Inter, Barca, and Roma. They weren’t the most consistent team, but makes sense considering the lack of preseason and all the disruptions due to Covid… De Ligt, CR7, Cuads, and Chiellini were all out for long stretches, plus Dybala was out for most of the year. Kulu, Chiesa, Danilo, and even Ramsey developed well under Pirlo. Berna regained his confidence. Sacking Pirlo was a huge mistake, and a massive step backwards for the club. It would only be poetic justice if Pirlo goes to Spezia and ends up coaching against Juve.
Pirlo should next term accept any serie A outfit where he can possibly make loan offer to any unconsidered players; proving to Juve just how worthy he is. Plus it will be exciting to watch where Juve faces him.
It was not a mistake, Juventus is a big team that looks for the best Italian managers and Italian players. Pirlo season was not good enough because before he arrived we won the league with Sarri and the team squad was almost the same. Allegri came to fix all that mess, he is a manager that is a winner and by far he has accomplished more than Pirlo, this was not his best season but with the right players he knows how to win. The real problem behind are the players, there is not enough quality in the squad. We had players like Miralem Pjanić, Dani Alves, Evra, Khedira, Buffon, Mandzukic, Matuidi, Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo that were really good players in its moment, they knew the value of being a winner. The true is that Juventus directors were not able to find players with the same mindset. Allegri results will improve as long as he has a better team.