let people blame him.. but shit happends and DP saved us so many times before.. I blame DN for not letting Martinez come in earlier and for taking Krasic out!
"EVERYONE TO BLAME"
"Everyone to blame," yelped the front-page of Tuttosport in the wake of Juventus's defeat to Udinese at the weekend, but this time around they were happy for one man to take the rap all on his own. "Arbitropoli" (Referee-gate) boomed the banner headline on the same newspaper's website following last night's loss to Palermo. The paper itself went with "Taken for a ride".
Less than two weeks earlier Emidio Morganti had been named referee of the year at the Oscar del Calcio, the annual awards ceremony organised by the Italian Footballers' Association. How quickly times change. "If referees can't see they should not be doing this job," railed the Juventus manager Gigi Del Neri at full-time. "Morganti is in no state to referee."
Del Neri went on to say that his team wanted "respect" and remind officials that the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal, "if it ever existed, is now finished". Juventus's players were immediately put into a press silence, but a Facebook post appeared later in the evening from what appeared to be Felipe Melo's account describing the official as a "bandit".
Their anger related first and foremost to a missed penalty decision by Morganti during the first half. After the ball was headed on by Andrea Barzagli inside the area it clearly struck the outstretched arm of Cesare Bovo. Even the Palermo manager Delio Rossi acknowledged the mistake, though he also asserted that the free-kick which led to the incident should never have been given and pointed out that Juventus's goal had come from the corner that followed.
It would have been naïve to expect too much sympathy from Rossi given some of the decisions that have gone against his own team in recent weeks. "We didn't go into a press silence over the penalty we weren't given for Thiago Motta's handball at Inter," he noted. "We need to stop this; if Juve complain it resonates but if Palermo do it nobody pays any attention."
But whilst there may be some truth to his words, the Palermo manager failed to note that his team are also far less likely to attract front-page headlines every time they lose. If Juventus had a grievance then it is also true that Del Neri needed a scapegoat after a third straight loss in all competitions. The quality of their opponents – Roma, Udinese and Palermo – in those fixtures must be noted but then so must the worrying fact that they have not beaten anyone away from home since a trip to Catania on 5 December.
For the first time since he took over as manager of the club in the summer, there is a sense that the tide may be beginning to turn against Del Neri. Twenty-three games in, his team is eighth – on precisely the same number of points (35) they had at the corresponding point last season. Already out of the Coppa Italia and Europa League, the only realistic target left this season is a top four finish and after falling to eighth that too is beginning to look like a tough ask.
The manager can point to the injury sustained by Fabio Quagliarella as a turning point. When the striker ruptured his cruciate ligament in the defeat to Parma last month Juventus lost their most effective forward – with nine goals he was the only member of the squad even close to double figures – and their lack of depth was exposed. Suddenly the Bianconeri were relying on Amauri, a striker who has scored less times over the last 24 months than Giorgio Chiellini, and 36-year-old Alessandro Del Piero.
Luca Toni arrived from Genoa and promptly injured himself, and it was not until the last day of the transfer window that a further reinforcement arrived up front. Alessandro Matri will eventually cost the club €18m but opened his account by wasting a pair of good chances before exiting shortly after an hour with cramp.
It would be unreasonable to judge the player too harshly on a single performance, and Matri's performances over the last two years at Cagliari have suggested that he is ready for this stage, but level-headed assessment has long been hard to find in Turin. Claudio Ranieri was hounded out in 2009 with the club third in the table with two games left in the season. Two seasons on the club can scarcely dream of finding itself in such a comfortable position.
There has been naivety on the part of both fans and directors about the ease with which a return to the top of Italian football could be achieved. After storming back up from Serie B in the wake of their Calciopoli punishment the club made it into the Champions League places at the first attempt. But that success was the product of both momentum and the fact that they had retained a core group of players from their glory years. In that first season back in Serie A, Del Piero finished as the league's top scorer, with his team-mate David Trezeguet in second place.
Two years on, Trezeguet is gone and Del Piero, whilst remaining an important player, is no longer able to play at such a level every week. Others, such as Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi, have retired or moved on. In goal Gigi Buffon is only just back from a lengthy injury. These are not simple players to replace, even with the club boasting – as Gazzetta dello Sport highlighted a few weeks ago – the highest net spend in the league over the past four years (€129.8m, before the signing of Matri).
Del Neri, along with the director of sport Beppe Marotta, who arrived along with the manager from Sampdoria in the summer, have been responsible for significant outgoings too on players such as Quagliarella, Jorge Martinez and Milos Krasic. They have sought to stress throughout the process that theirs is a long-term project, but that is about as likely to fly in Turin as a pig in a volcanic ash cloud. After so many years in the wilderness, patience is in short supply.
Indeed, for all that Del Neri railed at the referee last night he may have been quietly grateful for the scapegoat. After all, better that one person takes the blame than everybody does. Especially when that somebody isn't you.
Buy on AliExpress.com
