Juventus: Why Andrea Pirlo’s job is not 100 percent safe
Juventus boss Andrea Pirlo seemed pale and exhausted while shaking hands with the players of the counterpart. He had just experienced the sour taste of defeat, against a team considered the relegation-dwellers this season.
It was a historic day at the office for the Serie A newbies as Benevento not only did add a golden chapter to their blossoming history book but also might just have spoiled the party for the 10th successive Scudetto aspirants, Juventus.
But on the bright side, the grand Allianz Stadium was empty, thanks to the restrictions inflicted by the ongoing global pandemic. Otherwise, Pirlo would have been booed off the pitch.
The league defeat in itself came at the wrong time for the Bianconeri because — first of all, it has not been long since the Old Lady suffered the UEFA Champions League elimination via a first knock-out stage defeat for the second consecutive year; and furthermore, Juventus will not be playing their next game until April 3 due to the international break, meaning the home defeat to Benevento have left camp with some repentant feelings.
In the meantime, Juventus vice president Pavel Nedved came up with some interesting comments about Andrea Pirlo’s future in Turin, admitting that Pirlo would be “100 per cent” in charge of the club’s managerial role beyond the conclusion of what has been a true bittersweet campaign for the Bianconeri.
What are Pavel Nedved’s remarks on Andrea Pirlo?
Speaking to DAZN (as confirmed by Football Italia), Nedved openly discussed what the future looks like for Il Maestro, assuring that it is a long-term project that the club has initiated with Pirlo at the throne, and hinting that the recent bumps on the road would not be enough to put Pirlo’s future at Juventus in any real danger.
He said:
"“Pirlo is and will be the Juventus coach, that’s 100 per cent sure.“We have begun a new project with him, knowing we would face difficulties. We wanted to do something more, but we could not manage to do so.“We are calm, Pirlo has everything to become a great coach.”"
Why do these comments hold little significance?
To make a proper sense of why the latest comments from the Juve vice president, Pavel Nedved, hold very little significance when it comes to deciding what would be the outcome of Andrea Pirlo’s future at Juventus, we must push the flashback button in our mind and go back to early August in 2020.
Juventus just got kicked out of the Champions League, owing to an away goal lead Lyon had in their favour. Club authorities were quick to put things into perspective as to how the UCL elimination couldn’t hamper the future of Maurizio Sarri in Turin.
Nedved commented:
"“It’s difficult to call it a day of judgment, as coaches, players and directors are judged over the course of a season.”"
Juve’s director of football, Fabio Paratici, however, claimed that one poor result would not be a big factor behind setting Sarri’s future in jeopardy, saying:
"“Sarri just repeated what I said three or four times before, which is that judgment for a coach, directors and players, are never based on one single game. They are based on the whole season, the good and the bad.”"
It was known that one bad result could never be the reason behind one manager getting the sack. But if the faith of the season’s most valued prize depends on that one result, any manager in the world should be ready for an unfortunate destiny.
Harsh reality soon devoured Sarri, with Andrea Pirlo becoming the new sailor of Juve’s ship.
And with almost eight months gone since that jaw-dropping appointment, Andrea Pirlo is finding himself right in the middle of a turmoil then Juve-boss Maurizio Sarri once discovered himself in.
Though, Il Maestro lacks a crucial advantage as the 9th successive Scudetto was already attained by Sarri’s troops by the time they faced UCL disqualification. With the unexpected loss to Benevento, Pirlo might have blown that little hope as well.
Next. Where did Juve's squad planning go wrong?. dark
Juventus have a pretty hectic fixture-list waiting for them along the way, with high-octane games against Torino, Napoli, Atalanta, Fiorentina, and two Milan sides yet to be played before the Bianconeri bid farewell to a bewildering 2020-21 campaign.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter what Paratici or Nedved say on the gaffer’s future now — Pirlo’s fate is to be decided following the conclusion and the outcome of the campaign.