In theory, writing a bi-weekly recap of this team is much easier. There are more things to cover and you can talk more about trends developing rather than just about one game which allows for easier storytelling. I enjoy that a lot more.
Then again, sometimes the main topics of discussion for the period of time that encompasses this week’s Grab Bag are either one embarrassing defeat against the bench of Empoli to get bounced from the last realistic chance you had to lift some silverware this year, a historic defeat against a direct top four rival that was just as embarrassing if not more than the aforementioned game and one above-average victory over Hellas Verona, who is bad.
So, a real embarrassment of riches in terms of topics to discuss, huh?
Let’s cook.
RIP Juventus Scudetto Run
For a brief, shining moment, Juventus was all of six points off the lead in Serie A. I swear to God, it happened. More due to the remarkable lack of top-end teams in the Italian top flight this season rather than some unforeseen turn in form by Juventus, but the Bianconeri had managed to sneak their way into the conversation after beating relegation battlers Hellas Verona by a 2-0 scoreline last Monday.
And you could kind of see a path, right?
This team had 11 games left in the schedule, mostly against soft competition and even some of the toughest rivals were — on paper — struggling as well like their opponent this past weekend, Atalanta. Inter Milan, who was leading the table, still had both the Coppa Italia and the Champions League to play for. All the other top teams had been up and down in form recently. Maybe, Juve goes on a little run and makes it interesting? Saves something from the smoldering remains of their season? Beat a reeling Atalanta at home, get to that third spot in the table, maybe a couple results go your way and you can put some real pressure on the title for the stretch run.
Probable? Not at all.
But feasible? Sure, there was a path.
Well, we don’t have to wonder anymore.
Juventus got trounced 4-0 by Atalanta on Sunday at the Allianz Stadium. It was their worst defeat at home since the 1960s to decidedly crash out of any sort of relevance in the Serie A title race as they play out the string and fight for their European future for the last 10 games of the season.
Every single time that the spotlight has been on Juventus this year, the team has crumbled. Be it in the Champions League, Coppa Italia or a brief chance of competing for the league title, they have managed to author some truly awful performances. This is a team that is as unreliable as they come, but they always manage to be their worst possible selves when the lights are the brightest.
Against La Dea, it was a checklist of all the things that have ailed this team during the Thiago Motta era. Bad luck in the form of a questionable ref call? Check. Boneheaded mistakes that lead directly to goals? Sure. Big-money signings playing terrible games? You got it. Inexplicable and/or too late substitution decisions? Of course. Dusan Vlahovic doing something embarrassing while being the highest paid player in the league? Buddy, you are not going to believe this.
Two points worth going into a bit more detail of our checklist.
First of, Vlahovic is done. I have never seen a guy who is more done. He was always good to miss one or two big chances, but it’s getting to a comical point now. Almost every time Vlahovic is on the pitch you can count on him missing at least one golden opportunity. His confidence is gone, his swagger is gone and more and more he looks like a guy who instead of trying to turn things around is just playing out the string until the summer when he is sold.
Secondly, Motta’s substitution strategies are baffling and his complete inability to deviate from his preferred formation is even more so. The 4-2-3-1 has, at no point during this season, looked great. It has been between middling to above average in the best of scenarios, but this has never been a formation that has looked comfortable for the team.
So, why is Motta so adamant about keeping it at all costs then?
The latest laugh-out-loud example of this was in the 75th minute of a game you are already losing 3-0, bringing in Vlahovic in a like-for-like sub for Randal Kolo Muani. Why wouldn’t you at least try to get two strikers on the field? You are chasing THREE (3) goals, would it not be worth it in a Hail Mary-type of move to at least try to field your two strikers together? No? You are going to make a like-for-like move of Kenan Yildiz — playing out of position — for Teun Koopmeiners and play him out of position as well to keep the same formation? Sure.
Coppa Italia: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Empoli’s social media team did not have a graphic made in case they won this tie.
Empoli, a bad team who is currently in the relegation zone, came into the Coppa Italia quarterfinal at the Allianz Stadium playing a starting lineup with mostly reserve players and primavera guys because they decided to prioritize their relegation battle over the Coppa as they assumed beating Juventus was going to be a daunting task regardless of the lineup they fielded.
This was a team that in a very real, tangible way was giving this one away. Juventus proceeded to lose, and the defending champs of the Coppa Italia bowed out in one of their most incredible defeats in recent memory.
Juventus was down in the scoreline for most of the game, needing a tremendous piece of footballing talent from Khephren Thuram — arguably their best signing this season — to tie the game late and take into penalties. And you knew, right? You just knew that wasn’t going to go well for us.
Did you have any confidence in Juve’s No. 9 and top earner in Serie A when he stepped onto the pitch and did his dumb stutter step PK routine? Were you at all shocked that he skied his penalty into the curva behind the goal?
(I will continue to mention the fact that Vlahovic is the highest paid player in the league because we are in March and Vlahovic has less than 10 goals in Serie A and comes off the bench. Isn’t that a bit sad?)
Or that Yildiz, the super talented wunderkind who has completely drowned while wearing the No. 10 kit this season, missed a PK as well to put the final nail in the coffin of Juve’s Coppa Italia defense?
(This is karmic retribution for using what was once an important number with significant relevant history in Juventus lore as a marketing tool to sell more shirts. This is not Yildiz’s fault; this is the footballing gods punishing Juventus for their heresy.)
And it was all deserved!
That’s the biggest shock of all — this wasn’t a fluke or a ref screwing the team over or a remarkable situation at all! A bad Empoli team, fielding mostly substitute players went into Allianz Stadium — a once-imposing pitch to play on — and outplayed Juventus to knock them out of a legitimate, official competition in Italian football. They thoroughly deserved to go through based on the actual, physical evidence we all saw through our very own eyes.
Nearly two weeks have passed and the Empoli social team and myself still can’t quite believe it.
Parting Shot of the Week
There’s 10 games remaining in the 2024-25 season. Juventus will most likely play out the string and I think — hope? — salvage a top four spot in Serie A to guarantee themselves Champions League football next year.
They will also go back to finishing the season with no trophies to their name and a whole heck of a lot more questions than answers regarding their new project led by Cristiano Giuntoli and Thiago Motta.
I don’t have the answers on what to do next. There’s some valid reasons to keep going and hope that this was a transitional year for a talented squad that collectively has underperformed and was plagued by injuries and inconsistency.
There’s also enough evidence to suggest that the team has not improved in any meaningful ways from when the season started, that a lot players thought to be key to the project have either regressed or stagnated, that the team does not do anything at a consistently high level and that at best Juventus will finish the season in the exact same spot as they did last year but with one less Coppa Italia trophy for their troubles.
Last year was a bummer because we saw a second-half collapse that killed any notion that the Max Allegri 2.0 era had lasting legs. This season is a bummer because nothing got better with a significantly more talented team and a huge transfer fee outlay. Either way, Juventus will once again play out the string.
See you next time.