I have to disagree with you both. Like Roma finishing 6th last year needed to consolidate its place first in the Europa League bracket? That's loser talk.
This club fared well its first year back. Slap on a Champions League play, where I thought Juve fared better last year than it had done under Capello, and a second place finish with a struggle at the end... too soon?
No way. If this team targeted third place, first, fifth. Wouldn't have mattered much. Sure, we wouldn't have picked up deadwood like Cannavaro and Grosso. But you're presuming the administrative management of Blanc and Secco were capable of doing something better than these results with a different target in mind.
I say that's ridiculous. Secco's and Blanc's incompetency would not have magically disappeared if Juve targeted consolidating a top 3 spot this season.
If anything, I'd say the right move was shooting for the stars and the scudetto this season. Even if you are right, and that the team would have fared better with lesser ambitions this year, anything that exposes Secco and Blanc as the clowns that they truly are is a good thing: the sooner the better. And good riddance to those cancers.
You're right. They did finish rather well considering it was their first year back.
But you could still see the cracks in the foundation, and the all too familiar situation of Juventus winning in spite of themselves.
And people want to rip on Ranieri, but, well, he truly did more with less at his disposal, now didn't he?
I am in no way saying that I still wanted him to be the coach here, but far too many people were placing the blame at this guy's feet, and this team is now appreciably worse than it was a year ago, with a squad that, on paper, is more talented than any team that Ranieri had in his nearly 2 year reign at the helm.
maybe, just maybe, it is a matter of he did a much better job repairing the cracks in the foundation for the last 2 years to the point where they could even THINK about contending for a title? A team that was, and is getting old very fast.
And Greg, you state "the sooner the better that they get rid of Secco and Blanc", and I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but if that happens, what direction does this team take? More band aids for the bullet wounds? More of the same of shelling out big bucks for players who have proven themselves for one year (a la melo), or do they go in a whole different direction and concentrate on building from within, from the academies, and from international scouting?
So, I guess the question I ahve for you, Greg, is, are YOU as a fan, willing to see the team take one step back in order to take two steps forward, even if that takes a couple of years?