Even if the winter break it’s a thing of the past, when we meet around the party table it’s normal to take stock of the situation. Arriving at your best at the end of the year is increasingly important and Spalletti’s Juventus is there succeeded great. The ranking finally smiles on the Bianconeri, even if the four points from the top of the standings are due to the fact that Napoli, Inter and Milan have a game to recover but theoptimism that you can breathe at Continassa is justified. After the heavy thud against Maradona, the Tuscan coach managed to score three important victories between the Champions League and the championship, convincingly beating two rivals for Europe that count as Bologna and Rome. At this point, dream about it championship number 37 it seems legitimate but let’s try to understand at what point the Spallotti revolution is and if Juventus can really be considered one of the title contenders of Italian champion.
A revolution on tiptoe
Considering the many missteps committed during the unfortunate Tudor management, Luciano Spalletti’s Juventus seems a whole different team. The Bianconeri are back focused, cynical enough and increasingly effective even in direct clashes with their rivals for the Champions League. It won’t be the team with sparkling football that fans dream of but there are steps forward compared to the start of this season more than obvious. How did the technician from Certaldo do it? Proceeding calmly and patiently, without bombastic declarations and putting into practice the lessons learned in the many years spent on the bench. Instead of completely overturning the game system from day one, he preferred keep the 3-4-2-1 seen with Tudor and gradually insert some of its workhorses. Apart from moving the evanescent Koopmeiners into the defensive line, a choice which raised many eyebrows and which proved to be extremely aptthe changes made by Spalletti are as cautious as they are incredibly effective.
The hand of the Florentine coach can be seen in the way his Juventus is capable of get out of high pressing in an agile manner and how the side players have learned to change position without stepping on each other’s toes. Instead of being locked into their respective roles, full-backs Cambiaso and McKennie are capable of take advantage of the spaces conceded by the opponents and become finishers or goal-men. Both the Texan and the Azzurri have seemed much more versatile since Spalletti’s arrival, alternating marking with insertions into the area or, in Cambiaso’s case, moving to the center sure that his marker would not follow him. When they can find space between the lines, both can be also decisive in the areaperhaps opening up spaces for incursions into the Conceiçao area, which has benefited a lot from these new dynamics. They seem like details but in modern football the differences between the big teams are so small that they can make the difference. Juve not only scores more but play betteris more fluid, more confident in its means: the results of the last few weeks speak clearly.
The calendar can help
After so many disappointments, these victories seem to have reported the enthusiasm among the Juventus fans, who are already starting to dream big. The management and the environment at Continassa instead invite us to remain on our feet well planted on the ground: it doesn’t take much to throw everything away. In a roller-coaster season like that of the Vecchia Signora, not all victories are the same: if the three points collected against Bologna had brought a smile, beating a team in form like Gasperini’s Roma is a whole other story. Just take a look at the calendar to realize how crucial the next few weeks are for the Bianconeri’s season. The away games to Pisa and Sassuolo and the match at the Stadium against Lecce are all opportunities not to be missed to put pressure on their rivals for a Champions League place.
As Inter has already verified, facing Pisa at the Arena Garibaldi is not a walk in the park while Sassuolo, despite the home defeat against Torino, always remains a team not to be underestimatedespecially at the Mapei Stadium. Fortunately, the Bianconeri’s moment could hardly be better: despite Vlahovic’s injury, the steps forward in every department are enormous. Bremer’s return from the first minute has solved the problems in defensereuniting a department that, in his absence, had shown worrying amnesia. The “ghost” Openda has finally shown what it is capable of, offering precious shores to fellow members of the department. Zhegrova’s recovery proceeds with ups and downs, given that the assist for McKennie was counterbalanced by the ball given to Roma which caused the 2-1 goal. The rest? Yildiz and Conceiçao are irrepressibleLocatelli and Thuram provide balance and substance in the midfield. With a team like this on the ball, winning and convincing is obligatory.
“The kids want to make history”
From what we seem to understand from Luciano Spalletti’s statements after the clear victory against Roma, the morale within the locker room is quite high. When asked if his Juventus can really surprise, the coach from Certaldo doesn’t hide behind a finger: “The boys are attentive, eager and determined to carve out a piece of history with Juventus. They work to make people talk about themselves too and that’s the best quality I can receive from them. We certainly need to grow and maintain humility, but we are on the right track”. The fact that the players’ mentality and attitude is finally the right one makes the former national team coach smile: “The team trains well, is made up of friends eager to determine for themselves and also to carve out a bit of personal glory. Here we have everything to express ourselvesthe pitch, the headquarters, the changing rooms and we also try to become a good team”.
Not everything is perfect, obviously: the Tuscan coach doesn’t want to hear about a team that is closes in defence when opponents put pressure on her. “Our defenders need to participate more, what fun is there just taking the ball away from the opponent? They forced us to do the defensive phase, but in modern football It doesn’t pay to wait let the referee blow the whistle. Then I feel bad when my team is behind”. The situation is much calmer up front and in the midfield, where the potential is enormous and there is no shortage of talent. “There are certainly steps forward to be made, but every time we got the ball there was the possibility of scoring a third goal. I think the team did very well in the second half, while in the first we struggled a little more but we knew we had to play against one of the strongest teams in the championship”.
Immediate renewal? It depends on the market
To ruin this black and white idyll However, precisely at the key moment of the Old Lady’s season, the thorniest question could emerge, that relating to future of the Tuscan coach. According to some colleagues familiar with Madama’s dynamics, the tensions relating to Spalletti’s contract could soon make the situation much less peaceful. The bond between the coach and the Turin club is the result of a very unique agreementmore linked to the honorability of the parties than to solid legal foundations. Spalletti did not negotiate on the price, knowing how much the signings of Thiago Motta and Tudor weighed on the company’s coffers while the renewal option considered by many as certain would be just a verbal agreement. Spalletti has bet on his ability to get Juventus back into the running before the end of the season and then snatch a important contract from every point of view.
If the Bianconeri were to take full spoils against Pisa, Lecce, Sassuolo, Cremonese and Cagliari, the club would have every interest in repelling possible attacks from other great Italian or European players and anticipate the times of the renewal of the contract. Given how several important benches could become free in June, the risk of an unmissable offer is always present. The coach seems to have the team on his side, the president John Elkann and the management respect him, which suggests an early choice for ensure stability in the medium term and continue the path that could bring Juventus back among the greats in Europe. More clarifications could come from the repair market: almost all of the Bianconeri’s targets, from Hojbjerg to Frattesi, from Norton Cuffy to Palestra, have very important quotes and Juve has made it clear that there is little money to spend.
In these days Spalletti will have a meeting with the club to understand how to reconcile the needs of strengthening the squad with the sustainability of the budget: if any rpay it latethe renewal would certainly be closer.
