While Allegri has steered AC Milan to the top of Serie A following a gritty 2-1 success over Antonio Conte’s Napoli on Sunday, Igor Tudor has seen Juve stutter along and slip to fourth place.
Saturday produced a third stalemate on the spin for Tudor’s troops, while AS Roma also leapfrogged Juventus courtesy of their weekend’s 2-0 triumph over Verona.
The Bianconeri are in familiar territory, stumbling along to drop out of the Serie A top three places. Last season Project Motta was in full swing with impressive performances and convincing victories being drummed up early on in the campaign, before head coach Thiago Motta decided that not losing was more important than winning for Juve.
With Tudor registering back-to-back league draws, which followed their remarkable comeback to snatch a precious Champions League point against Borussia Dortmund, things appear to need a shake-up.
Juventus missed out on top spot
Juventus would have been table-toppers had they managed to snatch maximum points on home soil against Ivan Juric’s Atalanta on Saturday.
It was very much a game of two halves, with the hosts put to the sword before half-time after going hell for leather in the opening quarter-of-an-hour inside the sold out Allianz Stadium.
It goes without saying that every season Juventus are expected to be in with a shout of scoping the Scudetto, with a minimum requirement by any manager to achieve a top four finish to secure Champions League soccer the following season.
Juve have looked disjointed in recent times, and before Tudor took the reins in March were shaky in defence. The fact that the Bianconeri continue to wobble at the back, having only kept clean sheets in their first two games against lowly Parma and Genoa, speaks volumes.
Even the usually reliable shotstopper Michele Di Gregorio seems to be lacking composure. He was responsible for two of Dortmund’s goals in the Champions League thriller, but Tudor is sticking with his No.1 rather than give Mattia Perrin a chance between the sticks.
Tudor is stubborn about selection
Tudor is an obstinate character, who prefers to single out favorite squad members and play them until they get injured or suspended. Occasionally he will admit he made a mistake and make a U-turn, but that is a rarity from the former Juventus center-back.
With the keeper short on confidence, a backline that could be improved, a midfield that rarely links well and leaves gaps because of Tudor’s tactics on top of having three strikers vying for the one starting berth leaves the Bianconeri in a mess.
Tudor has maintained his three defenders and one target man tactical approach since March, rather than setting his formation up to deal with the danger of opponents. This could be his downfall in months to come.
The summer transfers were restricted by Juve’s claims of being cash-strapped, missing out on bringing in some potential big names on loan.
Yet they made what appears like two panic deadline day signings with Lois Openda and Edon Zhegrova, neither having enjoyed a fruitful 2024/25 season.
Openda, an unorthodox attacker who tore up the German Bundlesliga in his debut season with RB Leipzig, could turn into being an incredible loanee this term once he scores for Juve.
Three chasing one spot is tricky
He came close against Atalanta, and was surprisingly given a starting berth over summer signing Jonathan David and unsettled forward Dusan Vlahovic.
David is a goal poacher and has a knack for setting up scoring chances, while Vlahovic has finished top scorer at Juventus every season since he joined the Turin titans in January 2022.
David and Openda have been briefly paired together, to no avail, with Vlahovic better utilized as a second half substitute because he tends to be man-marked out of matches when he starts.
Tudor also has to consider his fourth centre forward, Arkadiusz Milik, who will be biting at the bit to be back in action following a series of injuries last season. The veteran urgently needs minutes to be considered for international duty with Poland, especially as the FIFA World Cup finals are next year.
Both Milik and Vlahovic were on the transfer list during the summer, but they failed to land even a loan deal although Serbia star Vlahovic turned down approaches from Allegri.
Italian media claim that Vlahovic, Turkish talent Kenan Yildiz and Teun Koopmeiners will be sold this winter although all being moved on seems highly unlikely.
Yildiz did offer himself to Barcelona during the summer, and has been so outstanding this term that the Catalan giants have joined a set of Premier League clubs keen to sign the 20-year-old emerging superstar.
One-off Koopmeiners display
Koopmeiners, omitted from the final Netherlands squad during the last international break, produced his finest performance in a Juve jersey against his former team Atalanta.
Maybe he had something to prove, or finally he has found his feet and can replicate his form at Atalanta that included lifting the 2023/24 Europa League trophy.
There were glum looking faces on the Juve bench last weekend, but many of those unleashed finished the match against Atalanta with a big smile as they were clearly relieved to be given a chance to shine.
Tudor will require his troops to show their usual fight but be more ruthless when they tackle Milan inside the cauldron of the Allianz Stadium. They need a lethal marksman, but not a player who starts knowing full well that he will be hauled off.
Keeping the squad happy is a major task for Tudor, with the Champions League a perfect opportunity to rotate. He is frequently headstrong and stubborn about his selections, meaning that the same old faces are pushed out. Yet he makes excuses about tired legs, which is only down to his inflexibility about his starting line-up.
The Bianconeri tackle Villarreal in Spain on Wednesday, who are third to Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga after seven games. An own goal by goalkeeper Luiz Junior cost them all three Champions League points at Tottenham Hotspur.
Villarreal beat Juve in Champions League
Villarreal’s European home record of just one defeat in nine games seems a worry for Juve, until discovering that most were Europa League ties.
They have actually won just two of their past dozen Champions League on their own patch, which included a 1-1 draw with Juventus three although they won the last 16 clash 4-1 on aggregate three years ago.
A first defeat this season could be on the horizon for Tudor, and if they lose then succumb to Milan at the weekend then the Bianconeri boss will be under the microscope.
It could be a tough week for Tudor, not quite a make-or-break five days, with Allegri aiming to have the last laugh on Sunday evening.
Milan are on the ascendency in red-hot form, not distracted by European soccer and the travels, so they will be fresh and ready to extend their Serie A lead over Juve.
A rare smile from Tudor can be expected if he can magically conjure up back-to-back victories, otherwise it be will the usual dour attitude and a handful of excuses in the post-match press conferences.