As we wrap up our season in review articles, it is my (dubious) honor to finish things off by talking about the men that were entrusted to lead this team in the 2024-25 season. And for the first time since I started writing for this website, we will hand out grades for two managers, Thiago Motta and Igor Tudor.
Considering the high level of investment the team made and the level of expectations for Juventus this season, it’s hard to make the case this season was anything but a failure. Considering that Motta did not finish the year and Tudor is far from Juve’s preference to lead the club going forward, there is an argument to be made this was one of the worse managed seasons in recent memory.
Let’s bid adieu to this frustrating season by talking more in detail about what exactly happened in the bench for the Bianconeri.
Thiago Motta — 4
Thiago Motta was a bad coach this season.
We can talk about the many things that did not go his way during his 10-month stint at Juventus. Losing Gleison Bremer to injury early in the season would be a tough hurdle for any team. Trying to adapt so many new incoming players while managing in three competitions with a number of injuries cost him time and opportunities to imprint his system in the squad.
Many key players underperformed badly — and not all of it was Motta’s fault. Andrea Cambiasso hurting his ankle after being one of the best players on the team late in the first half wasn’t on Motta. Nor was Dusan Vlahovic missing easy chances every single game.
Then again, there were a lot of things that went wrong this season that were very much on Motta, and ultimately those were the ones that ended up cutting his stint short.
First and foremost, he never really managed to get the team to play the style he preferred. He was stubborn to a fault by trying to make his system stick, never deviating from his 4-2-3-1 setup even when injuries or performance signaled a necessity to change his formation.
This inflexibility and what essentially was a lack of a Plan B led to having no continuity in lineup choices. Even if injuries played some part of it, Motta needlessly tinkered with his starting lineups all season long. For a team that was struggling to gel or to build an identity, the constant different lineups only worsened an already bad situation.
The baffling choice of not sticking with Khephren Thuram and Manuel Locatelli as the starting double pivot when they had been leaps and bounds the best pairing for that setup was the decision that attracted the most attention. But there were plenty other examples to choose for this issue, too: Kenan Yildiz becoming significantly less effective on the wing, Teun Koopmeiners being consistently played out of position, the unpredictability of substitution patterns. They were all problems that Motta never managed to crack.
Part of those problems was the complete inability to hold leads late in games, which led to Juventus leading the league in dropped points from winning positions and a ridiculous 16 draws in Serie A play, more than any other team in Italy’s top flight.
There’s also the off-the-field drama.
Danilo had been the captain of this team and one of the few remaining leaders of championship-winning teams. Despite losing a step, he was still a decent depth piece to have if only for locker room purposes in a team that was going through a high level of turnover. Nicolo Fagioli had been a jewel of the Next Gen system, a lifelong Juventus fan and a guy that the previous regime stuck by throughout a gambling scandal. They were both frozen out of the team due to issues with Motta and exited the club on bad terms in deals that killed their value.
FC Internazionale v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images
The Danilo situation was particularly damaging as it cost the team depth at a position that had already been depleted by injuries and forced them to go all in on shortsighted deals like Lloyd Kelly and Renato Veiga. Fagioli went on to thrive at Fiorentina and helped the team snatch a European spot for next season and will almost undoubtedly be a thorn in Juve’s side for years to come.
But those were not the only problems for Motta in terms of managing the locker room.
Throughout the year — and as the season turned worse and worse — rumors consistently swirled regarding unhappiness in the locker room. It’s always tough to really discern what is true from what is just newspaper fodder, and Juventus playing badly will always be easy bait to get some “locker room” unrest stories out there. But when you get so many reports, consistently saying the same thing, there is usually some truth to it.
In the end, actions spoke louder than words. When Motta was truly coaching for his job, the team put forth their worst stretch of the season, blowing a lead in the Champions League to get bounced as they tried to qualify for the round of 16, losing against Empoli’s B team in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals and getting annihilated by Atalanta and Fiorentina in back-to-back weeks before the last International break of the season in March. A string of results that poor was enough for the Juventus board to take action and fire their dream signing less than a year after hiring him.
Things didn’t completely turned around under Tudor — more on him in a second — but the minute Motta was out the door it was clear that the effort level was at a completely different place than before. This was certainly not a coincidence.
When it was all said and done, Motta finished his stint with Juventus with the third-worst winning percentage in the history of the club. Considering how hyped his arrival from Bologna was, the level of investment the team made in players that were — at least on paper — taylor made for his way of playing and the disappointing results, you could argue that the Motta signing was one of the most disastrous coaching stints in recent Juventus history.
Igor Tudor — 6
With no trophies left to realistically play for and their status in the top four dangerously close to being gone, the Juventus board turned to Tudor — a former player and assistant coach at the club — to salvage their European future.
Considering the state of the club when he took over and the limited amount of time he had to turn the ship around, it shouldn’t be surprising that a lot of the things that ailed the club continued on under Tudor.
Football, Italian Serie A: SS Lazio vs Juventus FC Photo by Elianton/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
A maddening inability to hold leads or to consistently produce offensive chances remained issues under the Croatian coach. Injuries also hurt Tudor’s chances to improve things as compared to Motta as he never had a fully healthy Koopmeiners or Douglas Luiz to try and turn the two flop signings’ season around.
His different approach in formation and style led to slightly better performances from the squad and a more solid defense, as they only allowed more than one goal once during his nine-game tenure to close the season. Then again, it wasn’t like Juventus wasn’t still drawing games they should have won or losing against inferior opposition either. Their defeat against Parma and draws from winning positions against AS Roma, Lazio and Bologna are all examples of these issues remaining.
In the end, Tudor did the job he was brought in to do — avoid a catastrophe and bring back calmness in a season that was spiraling fast. That’s why I’m giving him a passing grade.
Would I be thrilled if he were to remain for a full season? Well, let’s just remember how close Juventus was to blowing it — again — in the season finale against a Venezia team that ended up getting relegated and let’s hope the new Juventus brass manages to find a better option in the coming month.