Calcio Debate: Are Juve Fans Turning Against Ranieri & Secco?
Claudio Ranieri’s decision to substitute Alessandro Del Piero with Vincenzo Iaquinta against Sampdoria yesterday backfired terribly. Carlo Garganese believes that the Bianconeri supporters are starting to have serious doubts about the Coach, as well as sporting director Alessio Secco…
Juventus may be third in Serie A and still well on course to achieve their seasonal objective of qualifying for the Champions League, however one has the feeling that the Old Lady’s passionate supporters are not too confident that their club is in the right hands.
Following the post-Calciopoli promotion from Serie B, this season was always going to be complicated for Italy’s most successful club, and many will argue that if they were to finish the campaign in the position they currently occupy this would be a superb achievement.
Nevertheless it is self-explanatory due to their prestigious name and their glorious history that Juventus belong at the very top of Italian and European football.
With Claudio Ranieri as Coach and Alessio Secco as sporting director, do the Juve supporters trust that these two figures will, along with President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, managing director Jean-Claude Blanc and other key hierarchical figures, place them back on their almighty throne?
The answer to this question is certainly clouded with uncertainty.
Ranieri was never going to be the most popular of choices when he took over the reigns from Didier Deschamps at the beginning of the season.
However the Tinkerman seemed to be winning over many fans as Juve surprised the critics and even suggested for a while that they may be able to challenge Inter for the Scudetto.
As the Bianconeri have drifted out of the picture recently it seems that the doubts over Ranieri’s ability have resurfaced again, and this was taken to new heights yesterday by his inexplicable decision to substitute Alessandro Del Piero with Vincenzo Iaquinta at half-time of yesterday’s goalless draw with Sampdoria.
Admittedly Del Piero did not have one of his better games for Juve, particularly given his stunning form of late, however the Golden Boy was the key link man between the midfield and attack as the Old Lady completely dominated the first half in Turin without scoring.
After Del Piero’s exit Juve were simply dreadful and did not create a single chance of note for the entire second period. For a team much maligned for a lack of creativity in midfield, particularly given Mauro Camoranesi’s injury-absence, it baffles me as to the reasoning behind Ranieri’s thinking yesterday. Indeed I am certain that Juventus would have won the game if Del Piero had stayed on the pitch.
It is this kind of 'tinkering’ and irrational thinking that has clouded Ranieri throughout his career. While at Chelsea the tactician was consistently poked fun at by the English media for some of his illogical tactical decisions. Indeed Chelsea blew their best-ever chance of winning the Champions League in 2004 because of Ranieri.
The Blues were playing Monaco in the semi-final first leg in Monte Carlo and looked strong favourites to make the final, with the scores level at 1-1 and the French side down to 10 men after the 52nd minute sending-off of Andreas Zikos.
Ranieri then curiously opted to completely unbalance his side by bringing on Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink for Mario Melchiot, and Robert Huth for Scott Parker. The ten men of Monaco then regained the initiative and scored twice late-on to win 3-1, and they would eventually book their place in the final, where they would lose to Jose Mourinho’s Porto.
It is bizarre decisions such as these that help explain why Ranieri has never won a league or European title throughout his entire coaching career. Yesterday’s substitution of Del Piero certainly suggests that this trend will continue here in Turin if the Tinkerman continues past the end of the current season.
And so on to the much-maligned Alessio Secco.
Secco was appointed as Juventus’ Head of Sporting Activities at the beginning of the 2006/07 season – essentially replacing Luciano Moggi, who of course left the club after the Calciopoli crisis.
It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to work out that Secco’s work in the transfer market ever since his promotion to this position has been nothing short of disastrous.
Perhaps the signs were ominous as soon as Juventus announced the signature of Newcastle Utd’s Jean-Alain Boumsong for a fee of close to €5m in August 2006.
Anyone who follows English football will remember the quite hysterical, disaster-ridden centre-back partnership that the Frenchman shared with Titus Malachi Bramble. The duo were dubbed the 'Chuckle Brothers’, after the slapstick, error-prone British comedy duo.
Last summer’s transfer policy was even worse, as Secco pushed for the club to splash out a combined €22m on midfield pair Tiago Mendes and Sergio Almiron from Lyon and Empoli respectively. Both players have been huge flops, and are certain to leave the club either this month or in June.
Secco’s other signings from last summer have also failed to shine. The injury-prone Jorge Andrade was awful in the opening weeks of the season before he broke his kneecap, while Zdenek Grygera and Hasan Salihamidzic have hardly set the world on fire.
As I have stated in the past, the only new players who have impressed this term, Antonio Nocerino and Vincenzo Iaquinta, actually weren’t Secco’s signings. They were in fact former transfer guru Luciano Moggi’s players.
So it is agreed that Juventus’ transfer campaign was a complete disaster.
Fast forward to January 2008 and it seems that Secco and the Juventus hierarchy are still making the same mistakes. First of all they agreed to release Domenico Criscito on-loan to Genoa until the end of the season, leaving Juve dreadfully short of central defenders.
With Giorgio Chiellini ruled out for up to six weeks, Andrade sidelined for months, Zebina also injured, and Boumsong set to move to Lyon, Juve have just Nicola Legrottaglie as a natural centre back option.
What is even worse is that Secco seems ready to sanction a €13-15m move for Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko.
For those of you who don’t know, Sissoko translated means “can’t pass, can’t tackle, can’t shoot and can’t control a ball.”
I am a firm believer in giving people second chances, and I honestly hope that Secco can turn things around because from all accounts he is said to be a very nice person, just like Ranieri is.
However there is no time for sentiment in this business and serious question marks remain whether these two figures are the right men to take Juventus back to the top of Italian and European football.
What are your views on this topic? Are Juve Fans Turning Against Ranieri & Secco? What do non-Juve supporters think of the duo? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think.
Buy on AliExpress.com
