Juventus took a gamble this summer when they hired Italian football legend Andrea Pirlo as their manager despite his lack of experience. And by lack of experience, I mean that he had literally zero coaching experience. Juve took the mother of all gambles, firing Maurizio Sarri in spite of his Scudetto triumph, as the club wanted a more dynamic attacking style of play and more success in the Champions League with Cristiano Ronaldo in the side.
Unfortunately, the Bianconeri have taken a step backward in performance this season, even as they have taken a step forward when it comes to their youth movement, signing a future Serie A superstar in Federico Chiesa.
Currently, Juve are third in the table and well out of the Scudetto race. Meanwhile, they were just as poor in the Champions League, having been knocked out of the Round of 16 by a significantly smaller club again.
All of this has led to speculation that Pirlo could be out the door. He has survived, for now, after rectifying a 2-2 draw with Torino in the Derby della Mole by defeating Napoli 2-1 in a must-win match. And Juve followed that up with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Genoa.
Would firing Andrea Pirlo be a harsh decision on Juve’s part?
Somewhat comically, Momblano has still put the chances of Pirlo remaining Juve’s manager at 29.9 percent. Very Max Eberl of him, no?
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Marco Rose-related wisecrack aside, that’s a startlingly low number purported by Momblano. He thinks that there is a less than one-third chance Pirlo sticks around, which either means he gets the sense Juve have little faith in him or that he believes the team will finish the season with another poor run of form in spite of recent results.
Giving up on Pirlo after just one season is a tough decision, because at almost every other club in Italy, it would be harsh. Juventus knew going into this season that they were taking a gamble and focusing on the future with new signings and an inexperienced manager. Firing him after a poor, but not catastrophic, season would be a strong statement from Juve.
And what would that statement be? That the team must win the title every season? Anyone looking at this squad before the campaign knew that Juve were not going to be real Champions League title contenders, nor was it necessarily inconceivable for the likes of Inter and Milan to push them either.
Pirlo came into Turin in a tough situation. He didn’t have the tools of experience, nor the players around him to truly succeed in a Serie A that was destined to heat up further in terms of competitiveness.
29.9 percent? That has to be a joke, right? (The decimal gives away the punch line, I’m sure.) But even as low as that number seems, Pirlo’s seat is not safe. Juve are an ambitious club, and they have shown their ambition repeatedly, whether it was signing Cristiano Ronaldo and Matthijs de Ligt in consecutive summers or acquiring Chiesa, Weston McKennie, Alvaro Morata, and Arthur Melo during a pandemic summer transfer window.
So firing Pirlo would not be out of the ordinary in a season in which he has made some quizzical tactical decisions. Yet at the same time, Juve have rarely lost or drawn with Paulo Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup, but that has been a rarity due to Dybala’s injuries.
Pirlo seems more likely to stay than not because of these mitigating factors and Juve’s eyes on the road ahead, but the win-now, “Ronaldo Factor” and Andrea Agnelli’s ambition prevent the regista from being fully secure in the manager’s post in Turin.