“You can’t always dine on lobster and caviar. Every now and again you have to be satisfied with a ham sandwich.”
No, those weren’t the words once uttered or written by Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato or Marcus Aurelius, but Massimiliano Allegri. As we know, the Juventus manager isn’t a romanticist or an idealist, but a master pragmatist and such a philosophy is denoted in the above quote – which he definitely has graffitied on his bedroom wall.
Allegri hasn’t changed since he took his first major managerial position in 2010 with AC Milan. His cautious but practical approach helped him earn the ‘serial winner’ tag as he claimed 13 pieces of major silverware, including six Scudetti, between 2010 and 2019 with Milan and, of course, Juventus.
But football evolves rapidly, folks. And after the Italian oversaw a 2-1 home defeat to Sassuolo in Serie A on Wednesday night to leave Juventus 13 points off the league leaders, Gazzetta dello Sport’s analysis was damning.
Allegri “didn’t notice that football has changed,” wrote Italy’s leading sports newspaper (via Football Italia) in the aftermath of the defeat.
Juventus are built for the big occasion but will continue to get unstuck in Serie A
With Allegri quickly restoring the grinta that laid the foundations for their tyrannical reign over calcio in the 2010s, Juventus had emerged as a side built for the big occasion.
In one-off games, Juventus are content with blocking space in a 4-4-2 mid/low block and waiting for their attacking moments in transition. We’ve seen this approach bring success in the victories over Chelsea and AS Roma, while the Bianconeri should’ve held onto their lead against Serie A leaders AC Milan in an eventual 1-1 draw that ignited their nine-game unbeaten run.
However, while Allegri’s block is stout enough to keep even the most potent opponents at bay, Juventus have a serious scoring problem. As Albert Einstein put it after Wednesday’s defeat: “We should start to score more goals. Otherwise, it will be difficult to win.”
The current issue with Allegri’s system is that he is over-reliant on counter-attacks and individual brilliance to create chances and score. It’s a modern iteration of ‘Il Gioco all’Italiana’ (‘The Italian Game’). There are serious sustainability concerns and those came to light against Sassuolo. Having earned four slender 1-0 victories on the bounce in which Juve’s xG (expected goals) tally barely reached 1.0 in each, Wednesday’s result was one they were due – even if they didn’t deserve to lose.
Sassuolo snatch three points at the death in Turin! 😳
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 27, 2021
Juventus commit too many players forward when hunting for a winner and it costs them dearly! 😬 pic.twitter.com/A5kG3CZVT1
While Juventus can successfully block space for lengthy periods due to their indefatigable mental resilience, they’re often bereft of any control. Their intensity levels fluctuate throughout, meaning spells of pressing – as they were against Sassuolo – are often ephemeral and teams can retain possession against them for prolonged periods, thus sustaining pressure. That’s something this Juventus side can’t do because they simply don’t press enough, but it’s imperative in creating chances and breaking down teams, especially against those that sit deep themselves.
Sustaining attacks is even more important when you don’t boast any systematic methods of chance creation, which Juventus don’t.
Fortunately, Allegri does have a pair of superstars in attack that can produce the moments in the final third. However, when Federico Chiesa and Paulo Dybala have off nights, Juventus are susceptible to producing turgid and toothless attacking performances.
The highly influential coach Marcelo Bielsa has always distrusted teams predicated on individuality to bring about success. “I don’t like either ones that live only on the inspiration of their individual soloists, because when God doesn’t turn them on, they are left totally at the mercy of their opponents,” he said (via Jonathan Wilson’s brilliant ‘Inverting The Pyramid).
While Chiesa and Dybala were by no means poor against the Neroverdi, they were certainly inhibited by playing in a confused attacking system that seemingly doesn’t facilitate artistry within it. It’s all so static and monotone at the moment, and their flaws going forward were laid bare after Weston McKennie equalised with 15 minutes remaining. As Allegri flung on as much dynamic talent as he could, Juventus’ structure became even less coherent and they failed to create a noteworthy chance before they were stung on the counter-attack.
Such toothlessness also manifested for much of the Derby d’Italia. With Inter Milan happy to cede territory over going 1-0 up, Juventus were short of ideas and it wasn’t until Dybala and Chiesa were introduced midway through the second half that the players had any belief they could get back into the contest.
The trends are worrying.
Forget about the Scudetto
Sustainability concerns are real and Gazzetta’s assessment was pretty fair. While it’s still incredibly early on in his return to management, it appears that Allegri has been left behind tactically somewhat.
It’s not 2015 anymore, Max. It’s time to adapt.
Even if an alteration to more progressive ideals does occur, the regaining of the Scudetto appears incredibly unlikely. But that’s okay. Juventus simply aren’t as good as Napoli, AC Milan or Inter Milan. The top four should be their goal, and the Bianconeri have enough attacking talent to see them over the line in most games to thrust them towards that target.
However, you can expect to see more infuriating games like Wednesday night throughout the season should Allegri’s traditional and cautious principles perpetuate. Football’s evolved in such a short space of time, and Juventus can ill-afford to fall drastically behind Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern Munich.
Although, ironically, these are all teams Juventus could overcome in a one-off bout thanks to Allegri and his restoration of an identifiable Old Lady. But we knew that already, the Chelsea victory proved it.
The manager’s pragmatism is fine for the big night but unsustainable over a 38-game league season. Max Allegri must evolve soon because there’s only so much of this soulless possession play Juventini can tolerate, especially if they endure more nights like Wednesday.