Despite indications to the contrary, I am pretty confident we have come to the point where Ciro Ferrara is dispensed with following yet another abject performance tonight.
Ferrara's appointment, greeted with almost universal acclaim by Juventus supporters, always left me with serious doubts. The doubts stem from a scepticism connected with the appointment of an ex-player - no matter how successful - with little or no previous managerial experience at major league level, to a club like Juventus.
As we head towards the mid-season break, it can only be a matter of days before we learn of his departure.
It is now impossible to imagine that he has the strength of character, the necessary motivational ability or even the tactical and strategic nous, to revive players that look and perform with an obvious sense of being in a deep slough of despond as we contemplate the prospect of the remaining fixtures in 2010.
He clearly isn't up to the job. Now is the ideal time to lance the boil that is in danger of becoming an abscess before further damage is wrought. The players are clearly at a very low ebb with regards to self confidence and collective motivation as the necessary changes needed to revive the club cannot be implemented, simply because Ciro doesn't have to skill to do it.
For an obvious reason, the Internazionale result has to be seen as an aberration, if only because there is no need for the coach to motivate the players in a fixture that always brings out the best from those wearing the black and white.
I feel sorry that Ciro has had to learn the lesson in such an uncompromising manner, so publicly over the last few weeks.
I will wish him well for the future but for the time being we need a replacement who is capable of offering the tifosi a far better prospect of returning to a winning mindset by utilizing his squad far more effectively in terms of commitment, tactical and strategic cohesion and dedication to the cause.
For a change, I find a post on here both passionately rooted and intelligently composed. Good work, Mr Luftwaffles...
I can understand why it is hard for many of us to forget what Ciro have this club, as a player, but the time has come when we must be judging him SOLELY as a manager. Not as a Rookie Manager, nor a former Champion of our defence. Just as a Manager. On results. On performances. On acquisitions. On tactics.
I was very happy with our summer signings. Obviously, above all else, excited by Diego and Melo. Cannavaro and Grosso, were clearly stop-gap measures. but the brazilians, BOTH had just come off stellar seasons with Bremen and Fiorentina respectively. Melo should not need time to adjust to the style of football in Serie A. He was an ever present under Prandelli...And Diego, at Bremen, was more often than not, phenomenal...Both players have become a shadows of their former selves. And some of the blame for that, MUST, be placed on Ciro's desk.
Hindsight is an annoying process. I doubt there is one juventino who would now continue to support Ciro's appointment in the SUmmer. Yes, he did a fine job in the last two or three games, but i think much of the very sudden improvement in form came from the dark weight of Ranieri's boring, anemic management style being lifted from the shoulders of our players. COuld have been anyone. Nedved, or DP...just let them play, WITHOUT Ranieri.
But why keep looking back, its pointless. We must now look to the NOW and the near future.
Ciro has made us far worse, and far more easy to beat, than we were under Ranieri, with a more talented bunch of players. ( i think talent wise, Melo + Diego, the true versions of those players, adds more to a team, potentially, than is lost through Nedved's departure).
We are a shambles. An embarrassment. And we must surely be at a stage of crisis now, when the board room the owners, say ENOUGH. THIS CANNOT CONTiNUE...
After the horrorshow against Munchen, i think, at worst, we were expecting a hard fought slender victory over Bari. not a 3-1 defeat.
And as to the idiots using Almiron's performance as vindication of their ANTI Loan stance, they are more interested in themselves, than this club. Clearly. Too many ultra large egos in our ranks on these forums...too many I TOLD YOU SO goons. waving their own flag, not the black and white bandiera.
John Elkann, must now make the decision. Even if it involves telling Blanc...
'Ciro must go...if you are adamant that he will stay until the end of the season, then you can go also...'
The bottom line here, is that we have a squad, far more capable than what it has been showing for most of this season, especially the last few games. Blame the players, fine. But we can't sell all the players. Other than the players, its Ciro, who MUST be replaced.
I loved him as a player, but he is the worst Juventus manager i have seen in 20 years of supporting the club. Its reasonable to say 'he needs time'...but that time cannot be at Juve. It must be elsewhere. We are a winning team, historically, not a club where inexperienced managers who have had a few months to at least show a hint of talent, and have shown NOTHING, but an unwitting determination to destroy our club.