Let's be honest here...what did CR ever WIN!??
It amaze's me that some people wona still hang on to him... + we have Clueless board... and average players
Blog: Blame game
Following Juve’s recent performances, the fickle finger of blame is being pointed everywhere. Dave Taylor believes the buck should stop at the top
With Juve fans blaming Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi blaming his teammates and everyone blaming Coach Claudio Ranieri, obviously something is wrong with La Vecchia Signora.
However, despite their recent stutter, Ranieri still claims the Scudetto race is far from over. Yet perhaps that is one of the reasons Juve are faltering, as, like many in the Juve hierarchy, he is not prepared to face the harsh truth that the team have no real defence.
Lets face it, how many of the current crop would live with the likes of Antonio Cabrini, Antonello Cuccureddu, Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea – stars from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Scudetti winning sides? Later in the 1990’s, as they lifted the European Cup, Juve possessed real defenders like Paolo Montero, Moreno Torricelli, Gianluca Pessotto and Ciro Ferrara. It wasn’t too long ago that Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta ruled the roost.
Simply put Zdenek Grygera, Olof Mellberg and Cristian Molinaro are not on the same planet. Those great teams from the past were all built from the back. I mean, could you see Cabrini & Co allowing Chievo to score three past them? This is the mighty Juventus, the winners of a record 27 Scudetti and fans are sick and tired of getting the run around from so-called lesser teams.
However, although Ranieri is the Coach, it appears that the majority of the blame should lie with Alessio Secco. The Sporting Director will have to get it right this summer and concentrate on bringing in top defenders if they want to pull back Inter. Since the new Juventus rose from the ashes only one of his buys, Momo Sissoko, has shown any real quality.
Regarding today’s defence, perhaps Giorgio Chiellini could play with those wonderful heroes of yesterday – but only as a substitute coming on from the bench.
Juve can’t, and won’t, win anything while Ranieri continues as Coach. If he can’t, or won’t, stand up to Secco he needs to leave. Juve also need to rid themselves of Mellberg, Dario Knezevic, Jorge Andrade, Molinaro and Grygera.
Why buy midfielders and forwards when they already have players like Sebastian Giovinco, Paolo De Ceglie, Cristiano Zanetti and Camoranesi – who still has at least one good season left in him – and a top strike force. Okay, maybe a defensive midfielder, but not a Diego or David Silva at this point.
As much as I like Antonio Cassano, is he what the club needs right now? No, he isn’t. That is as plain as the lack of credibility in Ranieri’s words, sound-bytes spoken while his team sits nine points behind Inter.