I completely agree with Ahmed, and that really was my point from the the other long post above. The real problem here is when we start talking about what the goals for Ranieri were before the season. Let's get real. Regardless of the position in the table (unless you are first by a mile), the most important thing about a coach is that A) the team plays well B) the players are happy (its called managing for a reason) and C) that he develops talent.
A) The teams is not playing well. This is not something we as fans are used to. I don't care about names or about table positions. One thing is for sure, as Juventus we are expected to be competitive and be able to challenge teams like Inter, and AC Milan, our rivals. If we truly did not have a good team and could not even make it to the position in the table we are in now, the team would still be expected to play hard, and win against main rivals, which is what the Milanese teams are. If we cannot challenge these (and yes AC is a good team, just don't prioritize the league or the cup -- hence doing above expectations in the CL), we cannot consider ourselves playing well. Ranieri took players who were renowned in the past: Almiron, Tiago, Molinaro, Grygera, Criscito and Palladino and made them regress in their abilities. This is exactly the opposite of what is expected of him. He even had trouble motivating Nedved in the beginning of the season. I know this is a point that will challenged, but let me just say, that all of these people were hailed as good, and certainly good-enough to help significantly to the rebuilding Juve, they have not. Now, one -- maybe two or three of these I am willing to buy, but all six failing to deliver?!? That is just lack of develpment by the coach. Molinaro and Almiron (who was supposed to be our more-skilled Emerson) were cornerstones of their respective teams last year. Leaders on the field, and unanimously respected in the league. Such massive steps back as they have made are hard to atribute to them only. Grygera is a solid defender, why not in Juve? Criscito loaned out already?!? Even Nocerino is not developing quite as rapidly as his playing time should indicate.
Come on guys, this is an issue of the TEAM development, not personal failures. We have performed poorly as a team. And to those pointing out how great some other players were, I have this to say: Buffon, DP, Nedved, Camoranesi, and Trezeguet are supposed be great. That's why they have the roles on the team they have. They are expected, and hired for their clutch abilities. If one of them plays poorly, the others should pick up the slack sufficiently that the team as a whole does not suffer significantly. We all knew Chiellini was great, so no surprise there, and I don't even consider him in the next list: Zanetti is playing well above expectations, but people do not approach him on the street thinking he's Mascherano, or Pirlo or someone of this status. He is a great solution for now, but is not indispensable. We are lucky he stepped it up like that. Same goes for Lergottaglie. And to lesser extent Iaquinta, and Salihamidzic. Look, they are good, but have performed above expectations, and its not due to the coach. Besides MAYBE Iaquinta, would anyone be upset if any of these was replaced by someone like Mascherano (Zanetti), Milito (Legrottaglie), Van der Vaart (Salihamidzic -- I know not a replacement but you know what I mean), or Diego/Huntelaar (in Iaquinta's case) respectivelly? No. Because they have surprised us, and Ranieri. Which means he had nothing to do with it. So don't talk about him doing above expectations. He underperformed as a coach, mismanaged games, and players. The reason we are as high in the table as we are is due to personal heroics by a different player each game. Heroics by players who are supposed to be heroes irregardless of the coach. This is upsetting to me. We should be higher in the table if he did anything close to the job for which he was hired -- make us play well as a team -- manage the team.
Again, we have yet to play well as a team!
B) Ask Tiago and Almiron how happy they are...
The team morale might be good, but that is due to leaders like Buffon and DP (who actually had to hit a player this year to get a point across, OK?). I have a feeling that a further slump in team form would bring morale down quicker than you think. The players are not happy with the Juve situaion as a whole. Almost all are worried about even making the field, or the starting line-up. This is not because the Tinkerman is polishing the line-up. It is because...well injuries to key players, but in great part because nobody knows whether Ranieri actually has a clue. All defenders are scared of making a mistake because they know they won't play the next game. The midfielders are scared because they saw what happened to Tiago and Almiron once they fell out of favor. For a coach who does not have an "iron fist" reputation, Ranieri is not keeping the team happy, and it shows on their game. Defense does not radiate confidence in the rest of the team, and what is worse of the morale, the problems in defense further put presssure on Buffon. What happens if he has a bad game? Will even the little confidence offense has in defense (which is important for their confidence to take a chance and try to create) be replaced by fear of possibility of failure?
C) I mostly already addressed it, but he is no Wenger, no Ramos, no Capello, no Hiidink, no Mourinho, no Ferguson, no Erickson, no Hitzfeld, no Scolari, no Lippi....and that's all I can think of right now. I know some of these guys can be argued against as talent developers, but they have never made the quality of the whole team take a step back in relation to the overall talent level like Ranieri is doing with this team. Remember when Nedved would take over games on his own? Or Iaquinta doing the same in Udinese? Did you watch some of these players prior to the Ranieri "impact?" Few seemed to have actually taken steps forward or at least to the level they are accustomed to.
Some of the things I write about are probably subjective, but they do contain at least some truth in them. Ranieri era scares me. Deshamps did more with less pieces and less coaching experience. Erickson did wonders with Lazio or about equal talent quality as today's Juve, and did it in about equal quality among other teams in the league. Lazio! Wenger and how he shaped Arsenal into a force? Enough said. Capello might not be very popular with his stubbornness and systems he chooses, but he sure delivered everywhere he coached don't you think? That's why he got two of the highest-pressure jobs in football in the world in a row (Real Madrid, then England NT). Talk about scrutiny and expectations. You want to talk about exceeding goals as a coach, Hiidink has yet to fail a team that appoints him as a coach, and had to meet some pretty ridiculous expectations. Would anyone have thought that South Korea had quality players? How far did he carry them? Are any of those players playing in top teams around Europe, or considered top 3 in the world material? No.
I fear Ranieri's impact on the team in the future too. I am quite frustrated by this team's mediocrity, and like I said before, hope and pray he is a transitional coach, because he has yet to prove to me (or really anyone I suppose) that he can get more out of this team, and make them take a step to the next level. And ladies and gentleman this next level is coming next year. Like it or not, if Ranieri causes Juve to pull a Lazio, and we don't make it out of the CL group stage, and don't even qualify for UEFA...that will be a very, very bad sign.
Last thing I want to say: think of what happened to Bayern when they did not qualify for CL last year. They retooled, hired a proven coach for the transitional period, now signed a pre-contract with a young, repsected, innovative coach whose teams performed ONLY above expectations (OK limited sample but you get the point), and revamped the team. Do you have the confidence that if Ranieri continues coaching with the same mixed level of managerial success next season, and we miss out on CL, that we as an organization will do the same? Will they even fire him?
The Claudio Ranieri situation bothers me, because he just might be confortable-enough of an option as a coach, not to fire him, and Juve will fall into mediocrity. I am not throwing him under the bus, because his appointment choice made sense at the time. We were a troubled team and he was a safe choice. Fine. But HE needs to do better as a coach, and he sure as hell should not say things like "I don't need Van der Vaart" or "Huntelaar is not how we intend strikers in Italy to be." He has the ability and influence to take Juve backwards.
I do hope I am wrong.
P.S.: Sorry again for the long post, I'll try to do better to keep it short in the future. I got fed up, and didn't feel like studying.
but I agree with most of it
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