Gianluigi Buffon admits Juventus has been on a downward spiral for some time now, but he expected Max Allegri to help arrest the slump.
Juve has made a terrible start to this season which has shocked many fans and observers.
Fans had hoped that the return of Allegri would get the team back to form, considering his record during his first stint at the club.
However, he has found the task much harder than expected, and Buffon says he too assumed Allegri will bring the club back to the top.
The former Juve goalie adds that the Bianconeri have quality individual players, but they have to form a team.
Buffon tells Sky Sports, as quoted by Calciomercato: “If I expected this season? The downward trend I think was evident, but it is also true that the arrival of a coach like Allegri could suggest that he could find the right team to find Juventus in recent years.
“If I have to take Juve players individually, they are among the top two / three of the league: they are not inferior to Milan, Inter or Napoli. Then we have to understand if together they can form a group and be a team.”
Juve FC Says
Buffon was in this squad last season and knew things were going downhill at the club, so he can give a good assessment of the situation we are in now.
I agree with him that we have some of the best players in Serie A, and that is one reason it is frustrating to see the club struggle this way.
Allegri is a seasoned manager and has one of the best managerial CVs in Europe, but he has clearly struggled to build a team around the players at his disposal.
So far, it appears Andrea Pirlo did a better job when he was at the helm last season, and the club was probably wrong to sack him.
But it is good for them to see the problem wasn’t the manager in that campaign.