Ranieri looked extremley tense against Genoa.You know,like he's against the wall or something.He is against the wall,and i wouldnt be surprised if he chose to Resign instead of being sacked.My only cocern is that the board might try to keep him on board.
An Article that i found on blogs.guardian.co.uk
Ranieri struggling to satisfy Old Lady's unreasonable desires
Claudio Ranieri may have matched pre-season expectations by guiding Juve to third, but now fans are unhappy the team isn't involved in the title race
Paolo BandiniMarch 10, 2008 2:08 PM
Not for the first time, reports of the Old Lady's demise have proved greatly exaggerated. After picking up just one point from their last three games, Juventus were supposed to be in free-fall - doomed to drop out of the Champions League spots now that fourth-placed Fiorentina had closed to within a point and fifth-placed Milan to within five. Fans and local pundits demanded action, principally in the form of Claudio Ranieri's sacking. Then, of course, Juventus won 2-0 at Genoa.
"Fantastic Juve," crows the triumphant front page of the unashamedly one-eyed Turin daily Tuttosport this morning, after Zdenek Grygera's absurdly vicious drive - it travelled at 127km/h according to Sky Italia - and a David Trezeguet goal secured Juventus all three points. "[Juventus] win at Genoa, are reborn and consolidate their grip on third place," they continue, delighting also in Fiorentina's 1-0 defeat at Siena. Gazzetta's Germano Bovolenta takes a slightly more measured tack. "Bianconeri in crisis? Ranieri's job at risk? A bit of restraint, please."
Restraint is not something Juventus's support is renowned for. This is a club accustomed to success, and although this is their first season back in the top flight, a significant section of the club's fans feel even a third-place finish would be unacceptable. Club president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli set qualification for the Champions League as a realistic target before the season began, yet now the club find themselves in position to achieve just that, there is a growing sense among supporters that the club should have challenged for the title.
Despite the fire-sale of half their squad in the wake of Calciopoli, many consider the core players they retained - Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved among them - to be as good as any in the league. Furthermore, they argue, the club has spent a significant amount to upgrade - £25m on such players as Tiago Mendes, Sergio Almirón and Vincenzo Iaquinta over the summer, £8.2m on Momo Sissoko in January, and several million more on signing bonuses and wages for players obtained for no fee. The combination of players retained and money spent, they feel, should have been enough to take them straight back to the top of Serie A.
As the manager, Ranieri has naturally taken the brunt of the fans' criticisms. He has been slated for continuing to play Tiago despite a string of sub-standard performances, for failing to find a formation that can accommodate Del Piero, Trezeguet and Iaquinta, and for a perceived lack of ambition. Now rumours that Marcello Lippi might be ready to countenance a return to Juve, where he won five Serie A titles and a Champions League across two stints since 1994, have heightened their sense of urgency.
A hypothetical league table published by Gazzetta a few weeks back, which suggested Juventus would be first had all the season's refereeing injustices gone the other way, should have stood Ranieri in good stead - showing that his team have actually played well enough to be in the title race. Instead it has only served to increase the frustration among Juventini that they are not involved.
Concerningly for Ranieri, even some of his players seem to empathise. "The fans don't want to think about where we were a year ago," said Trezeguet, whose strike yesterday moved him equal with Genoa's Marco Borriello, denied a goal by a superb Buffon save, once again atop the Serie A scoring charts on 16 goals. "My ambitions have not changed. Now we are in Serie A, the fans want to win and fast. I am like them. When you play for Juventus you cannot content yourself with anything other than first."
A champion's mentality, perhaps, but not a helpful one in the context. Gigli spoke out in defence of Ranieri before yesterday's game and he deserves similar support from his players. For all the fans may talk of his squad's strength, it is actually very thin outside the starting XI and remains over-reliant on the high-profile old stagers. In midfield Nedved looks a shadow of the player he once was and Camoranesi lacks the energy or temperament to consistently fill the creative void; up front Del Piero and Trezeguet blow hot and cold.
If anyone should be held accountable for these failings it is not Ranieri, but the sporting director Alessio Secco. Appointed in the summer of 2006, Secco is responsible for all the club's transfers. Of Secco's biggest captures, Iaquinta has done well coming off the bench, but Sissoko remains unconvincing, Tiago has been poor and both Almirón and Jean-Alain Boumsong - the former signed for £6.8m last summer and the latter for £3.2m in August 2006 - were so hapless they had to be packed off on loan, to Monaco and Lyon respectively this summer.
The man who used to be responsible for Juventus's transfers - crooked Luciano Moggi - claimed recently that: "If I'd have been in charge with the transfer budget that was made available last summer, Juventus would now be fighting for the Scudetto." For all they might want to wash their hands of him, there are plenty of Bianconeri fans who believe Moggi's words to be true.
Unfortunately for Ranieri, there is little chance of Secco going anywhere this summer, and the manager must on some level be aware that there is a very real prospect he will start next season with a squad little stronger, and in fact a little older, than that which he has now. While they will, for all the talk, ultimately settle for Champions League football this season, the fan reaction will only be fiercer should Juventus fail to genuinely contest the title next year. If Ranieri is not content with the summer signings (and it must be acknowledged he did himself agitate for some of the moves Secco has made thus far), he may want to consider walking before he is pushed.
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i just love the heading
An Article that i found on blogs.guardian.co.uk
Ranieri struggling to satisfy Old Lady's unreasonable desires
Claudio Ranieri may have matched pre-season expectations by guiding Juve to third, but now fans are unhappy the team isn't involved in the title race
Paolo BandiniMarch 10, 2008 2:08 PM
Not for the first time, reports of the Old Lady's demise have proved greatly exaggerated. After picking up just one point from their last three games, Juventus were supposed to be in free-fall - doomed to drop out of the Champions League spots now that fourth-placed Fiorentina had closed to within a point and fifth-placed Milan to within five. Fans and local pundits demanded action, principally in the form of Claudio Ranieri's sacking. Then, of course, Juventus won 2-0 at Genoa.
"Fantastic Juve," crows the triumphant front page of the unashamedly one-eyed Turin daily Tuttosport this morning, after Zdenek Grygera's absurdly vicious drive - it travelled at 127km/h according to Sky Italia - and a David Trezeguet goal secured Juventus all three points. "[Juventus] win at Genoa, are reborn and consolidate their grip on third place," they continue, delighting also in Fiorentina's 1-0 defeat at Siena. Gazzetta's Germano Bovolenta takes a slightly more measured tack. "Bianconeri in crisis? Ranieri's job at risk? A bit of restraint, please."
Restraint is not something Juventus's support is renowned for. This is a club accustomed to success, and although this is their first season back in the top flight, a significant section of the club's fans feel even a third-place finish would be unacceptable. Club president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli set qualification for the Champions League as a realistic target before the season began, yet now the club find themselves in position to achieve just that, there is a growing sense among supporters that the club should have challenged for the title.
Despite the fire-sale of half their squad in the wake of Calciopoli, many consider the core players they retained - Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved among them - to be as good as any in the league. Furthermore, they argue, the club has spent a significant amount to upgrade - £25m on such players as Tiago Mendes, Sergio Almirón and Vincenzo Iaquinta over the summer, £8.2m on Momo Sissoko in January, and several million more on signing bonuses and wages for players obtained for no fee. The combination of players retained and money spent, they feel, should have been enough to take them straight back to the top of Serie A.
As the manager, Ranieri has naturally taken the brunt of the fans' criticisms. He has been slated for continuing to play Tiago despite a string of sub-standard performances, for failing to find a formation that can accommodate Del Piero, Trezeguet and Iaquinta, and for a perceived lack of ambition. Now rumours that Marcello Lippi might be ready to countenance a return to Juve, where he won five Serie A titles and a Champions League across two stints since 1994, have heightened their sense of urgency.
A hypothetical league table published by Gazzetta a few weeks back, which suggested Juventus would be first had all the season's refereeing injustices gone the other way, should have stood Ranieri in good stead - showing that his team have actually played well enough to be in the title race. Instead it has only served to increase the frustration among Juventini that they are not involved.
Concerningly for Ranieri, even some of his players seem to empathise. "The fans don't want to think about where we were a year ago," said Trezeguet, whose strike yesterday moved him equal with Genoa's Marco Borriello, denied a goal by a superb Buffon save, once again atop the Serie A scoring charts on 16 goals. "My ambitions have not changed. Now we are in Serie A, the fans want to win and fast. I am like them. When you play for Juventus you cannot content yourself with anything other than first."
A champion's mentality, perhaps, but not a helpful one in the context. Gigli spoke out in defence of Ranieri before yesterday's game and he deserves similar support from his players. For all the fans may talk of his squad's strength, it is actually very thin outside the starting XI and remains over-reliant on the high-profile old stagers. In midfield Nedved looks a shadow of the player he once was and Camoranesi lacks the energy or temperament to consistently fill the creative void; up front Del Piero and Trezeguet blow hot and cold.
If anyone should be held accountable for these failings it is not Ranieri, but the sporting director Alessio Secco. Appointed in the summer of 2006, Secco is responsible for all the club's transfers. Of Secco's biggest captures, Iaquinta has done well coming off the bench, but Sissoko remains unconvincing, Tiago has been poor and both Almirón and Jean-Alain Boumsong - the former signed for £6.8m last summer and the latter for £3.2m in August 2006 - were so hapless they had to be packed off on loan, to Monaco and Lyon respectively this summer.
The man who used to be responsible for Juventus's transfers - crooked Luciano Moggi - claimed recently that: "If I'd have been in charge with the transfer budget that was made available last summer, Juventus would now be fighting for the Scudetto." For all they might want to wash their hands of him, there are plenty of Bianconeri fans who believe Moggi's words to be true.
Unfortunately for Ranieri, there is little chance of Secco going anywhere this summer, and the manager must on some level be aware that there is a very real prospect he will start next season with a squad little stronger, and in fact a little older, than that which he has now. While they will, for all the talk, ultimately settle for Champions League football this season, the fan reaction will only be fiercer should Juventus fail to genuinely contest the title next year. If Ranieri is not content with the summer signings (and it must be acknowledged he did himself agitate for some of the moves Secco has made thus far), he may want to consider walking before he is pushed.
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i just love the heading
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