Juventus Season 08-09 Analysis (4 Viewers)

[ZAF3000]

On the night of 22nd of April 2009 Juventus lost the last hope of winning a silverware for the season of 2008-2009. Although the last objective of the season is to finish second in the league is yet to be achieved or lost, I think its about time to start analyzing the season.

We did not make it a secret out main objective this season is to make an assault at the Champion's League but we did want to win the league.

So far:
1- Champion's League: knocked off at the second round.
2- Scudetto race: trying to maintain the second place
3- Coppa Italia: Knocked off at the semi-final.

==============

Last season (07-08) was out first season after the unjust relegation to Serie B. We bought a number of flops (Andrade, Almiron and Tiago) but we did get Iaquinta and later on Sissoko. We off loaded Almiron but kept Tiago (I guess because no-one else really wanted him). While Andrade stayed at his home.

Last season we finished 3rd and were knocked off the Coppa Italia early . Meaning We were only playing the league games.

We had lots of things to improve on IF WE WANTED TO BE COMPETITIVE on 3 fronts.

Now here is what went wrong in my opinion:

FIRST: The Management:
We bought Amauri at a very steep price, never the less he was a good acquisition. We got Melberg and Poulsen and brought back Giovinco, Marchisio and De Cegli. Last season our MAIN problem that the supposedly creative midfielder (Tiago) was simply A HUGE FLOP. While Nedved is getting older and hinted on a retirement we decided to just get back Giovinco. The managment got Poulsen (still puzzled on the reason). Maybe the management do not know that there are more classifications for a football player than Defender, Midfielder and attacker. Maybe they think all midfielders are the same ..etc.
Just before the Pre-season ends we got Manninger which might have been our best acquisition of the season.

SECOND: The Medical Staff:
Whenever a team goes through a repeated injury crisis' in the same season the first finger to be pointed is to the medical staff. The training process and supervision was lacking alot. We lost 75% of out player due to injuries this season. Around 6-7 players played almost all games of the season. So it is just logical that by the end of the season when it really matters they got fried.

THIRD: Claudio Ranieri:
He came to us after promotion, took the team. He insisted on Tiago who was a flop. But hey all coaches have their flop selections even Sir Lippi Almighty. I have defended Ranieri in many cases throughout the season for only one reason, I believed that Sacking a coach in the middle of the season usually brings out the worst of the team rather than the best, especially that the suggested replacement were not that impressive. But through out the season he has made numerous tactical and professional mistakes. I will name a few from the top of my head:
1- The infamous DC/DP sub :melayyanandmessi:
2- Answering players through the media. Very unprofessional. Trezeguet was childish/frustrated after the chelsea game and steamed it up in the media. During the Triade and Lippi years if a similar thing happened the coach and management would call the player and deal with the situation behind closed doors.
3- He has a responsibility in keeping the players injury free. So if we have a multiple injury crisis' he has many questions to answer to.
4- His poor choices of formations and players. The latest example was tonight's match. We were playing at our last hope of silverware he kept many key players on the bench and brought in the players with the worst mentality possible and playing the impotent long balls from the first minutes.
5- I think clashing up with Trezeguet might have been one of his worst acts. Trezeguet is a proven goalscoring machine. Alongside Del Piero they have both scored over 400 goals. He has the ability to finish the dullest chances. AND he has just scored 20 goals in the last season.
6- The tactics lacked solidity by all means.


FOURTH: Players:
I won't discuss or blame any players, because unlike Inter we don't have playboys (e.g. Adraino). But in the same time, many of today's squad are not by any mean Juve material. Molinaro, Grygera, poulsen, Tiago ..etc Those are players who have been playing as a 1st 11 for a good period of this season.
A renovation in players is needed. We need at least:
1 x CB
1 x RB
1 X LB
1 X Offensive midfielder
1 X Left Wing

And if we are to sell any of the players we have we need to get a replacement for that particular player. Forget about selling Trezeguet or Buffon. Veterans know what it takes to win a trophy and we need every single one of them to win or at least attempt on winning next season's trophy. if we are to compete in Europe we need a deeper squad maybe an additional CB and another Central midfielder added to the list above.


These are just few points from the top of my head.. I was just too upset to see us get knocked out of the last trophy and I think its time to discuss this now.

NOTE:
I would like to give special thanks to Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved for this tired-less work and efforts to hold the team up high. Without those two we wouldn't be even in the top 5 of the league.

 

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[RAMI-N]

I believe that changing the management is the key to all other problems...
Change the brain and we'll solve all our problems in a proper way.

 

[Turk_Bianconero]

We need an Oil Baron or some Mafioso from the south to solve our problems.Current owners are worhless,they are simply betraying Juventus.

 

[Dostoevsky]

I agree with many of your points Zaf and my mercato would look like this

RB-Zuniga (higher chances than Motta) 7mln
CB-Cannavaro
LB-Criscito
MC-Asamoah 8mln
AMC-Diego/Cassano 25mln
New Coach
No more 4-4-2

That would be 40mln euros without wages.So eh, we need at least 40mln to make us look better next season.As for wages,

Zuniga-1.5
Cannavaro-2.5
Criscito-1
Asamoah-2
Diego-5
New coach-2

I really hope we can afford all this because mercato can look better, if we have more money available.

Buffon

Zuniga-Chiellini-Cannavaro-Criscito

Sissoko-Marchisio-Asamoah

Diego-Giovinco/Del Piero

Amauri​

Gasparini​

 

[JCK]

We need an Oil Baron or some Mafioso from the south to solve our problems.Current owners are worhless,they are simply betraying Juventus.

By betraying you mean they are not crooks like Moggi was?

 

[Furia Ceca]

True its about time we discussed this.

The first thing id like to talk about is personality, our management is too soft and nice, they should get their act together and be a little like Moggi personality wise.

Secondly, The only way to win something is to sack Ranieri and the whole management, We still didn't get any explanation for all the flops, And who the hell gives a job to a rookie like Secco in the transfer market? Its crazy to let him have his first experience with a big club like Juve who had just been promoted again to Seria A, + Gigli was in the Fiat management a few years ago, What the hell does he know about attitude in football? He doesn't have the personality to run a prestigious club like Juventus, As for the rest I guess ZAF made it all clear.

 

[David01]

By betraying you mean they are not crooks like Moggi was?

good one

 

[Turk_Bianconero]

By betraying you mean they are not crooks like Moggi was?

what i meant is very clear.they have money and power but they choose to support moratti's 'spank the juve entertainment'

all of farsopoli and its outcomes,cobollo giggle and co,ranieris,molinaros,marchionnis,crushing defeats were AVOIDABLE.

 

[ZAF3000]

We have played 4-4-2 with Lippi and Capello and we won trophies. 4-4-2 is not what I am worried about. If you want to play a formation (any formation) you must have the players to support it.

We are Juventus. We are the strongest team in history of italian football. Incompetence is not acceptable. Second place is like last. This philosophy what made us the best in italy.
I think the mentality in the club has changed. This might be one of the worst thing ever. In the league we were looking at Inter as the team to beat. Even the fans, some fans can be as extreme as I'd rather beat inter home and away with a HUGE score and see AC Milan win every thing than to win any trophy.

THIS IS NOT JUVENTUS' MENTALITY. I don't mind losing 10-0 to inter home and away and win the Scudetto at the end (I know that there are some times during the season where we want to just rip inter apart). I hate Inter more than anything in the world but this should not take my focus off winning the big thing.

We fans should not accept coming up as second or third anymore. We want the gold and we want it ASAP. When Ranieri or the management speak about "we know how juventus is there to win everything" I sometime judge their real appreciation to that statement, especially Ranieri's.

====

I agree with The Czar, we need to build a team properly. Getting 3x "not good enough" or "average" players instead of 1x World class is not cutting it.

Why did we buy Poulsen? Why is Tiago still playing for us? Why do we depend on the likes of Molinaro or Grygera?

I have always said it, If we cannot afford getting 3x world class players buy only 1 world class player and get two from our youngsters.
giovinco, marchisio and De Cegli are far better than any of the players we got in the last three seasons if you exclude Amauri and Sissoko. I bet Paro is better than Tiago.
Can you imagine the amount of money paid for the following players? (please if someone has the numbers post them):
Manninger
knezevic
Grygera
Melberg
Molinaro
Andrade
Almiron
Tiago
Poulsen
Sissoko
Ekdal
Salihamidzic
Iaquinta
Amauri

Those are the players we bought in the past two years, since we got promoted. Am I missing any player?

How many of them are worth of playing for Juve in the first place? How many of them were flops?

 

[Lo-Pan]

True its about time we discussed this.

The first thing id like to talk about is personality, our management is too soft and nice, they should get their act together and be a little like Moggi personality wise.

This is a subject which remains shrouded in an annoyingly mysterious haze. I understand why there was a need to show integrity, honesty and decency, beyond the realms of the average man, after the demotion and general trauma of that period. We were proven to be rotten. So we must look clean, vibrant, perfect in our behaviour...Image is important, as a brand. But we as supporters are less interested in the image and intensely interested in the football. If a director isn't a fine fellow, yet he brings in mean management, employs despicable, but extremely capable scouts and physios and youth team coaches, and we are successful, play good football, win silverware...then I am far happier, than to have an honest, decent, gentleman like board and manager, which cannot produce good football.

In this situation. Of Decay. Rather than Progress. Someone in the top levels of management and ownership of the club, needs to wield the axe. He has to take responsibility for the Club, not just it's image, but its heart and soul. Cobolli has the power, but is he capable of required nastiness???Is he prepared to go back on his previous comments regarding supporting Ranieri through to the end of his contract??? A U-turn...nobody would charge him...It would be a duty not a crime, as a juventino.

I don't think he is willing to sack Ranieri. And Ranieri will not quit. In this area, Ranieri loses the small amount of respect he gets for his integrity, because if he truly loved this club, or even respected it as a grand institution of italian and world football, he would leave.

There may well be a man who is willing, determined even, to sack Ranieri, Secco and perhaps just maintain Cobolli as a Mr Nice and Decent mascot for the club. And this man could become the Juventus President, at the end of June, 2009, when Cobolli's contract expires. John Elkan. If he takes control, and installs his brother as a director, we will have two people running the show who love the club like a part of themselves, something they are born into by blood...

 

[Dostoevsky]

We have played 4-4-2 with Lippi and Capello and we won trophies. 4-4-2 is not what I am worried about. If you want to play a formation (any formation) you must have the players to support it.

We are Juventus. We are the strongest team in history of italian football. Incompetence is not acceptable. Second place is like last. This philosophy what made us the best in italy.
I think the mentality in the club has changed. This might be one of the worst thing ever. In the league we were looking at Inter as the team to beat. Even the fans, some fans can be as extreme as I'd rather beat inter home and away with a HUGE score and see AC Milan win every thing than to win any trophy.

THIS IS NOT JUVENTUS' MENTALITY. I don't mind losing 10-0 to inter home and away and win the Scudetto at the end (I know that there are some times during the season where we want to just rip inter apart). I hate Inter more than anything in the world but this should not take my focus off winning the big thing.

We fans should not accept coming up as second or third anymore. We want the gold and we want it ASAP. When Ranieri or the management speak about "we know how juventus is there to win everything" I sometime judge their real appreciation to that statement, especially Ranieri's.

====

I agree with The Czar, we need to build a team properly. Getting 3x "not good enough" or "average" players instead of 1x World class is not cutting it.

Why did we buy Poulsen? Why is Tiago still playing for us? Why do we depend on the likes of Molinaro or Grygera?

I have always said it, If we cannot afford getting 3x world class players buy only 1 world class player and get two from our youngsters.
giovinco, marchisio and De Cegli are far better than any of the players we got in the last three seasons if you exclude Amauri and Sissoko. I bet Paro is better than Tiago.
Can you imagine the amount of money paid for the following players? (please if someone has the numbers post them):
Manninger
knezevic
Grygera
Melberg
Molinaro
Andrade
Almiron
Tiago
Poulsen
Sissoko
Ekdal
Salihamidzic
Iaquinta
Amauri

Those are the players we bought in the past two years, since we got promoted. Am I missing any player?

How many of them are worth of playing for Juve in the first place? How many of them were flops?

Everyone knows the old 4-4-2, it's nothing new and I don't think it can bring us good in the Champions League.So my call would be 4-3-2-1, we'd be much stronger IMO and we wouldn't have to buy someone to replace Marchionni because we'd have Camo who can play there and we'd also have Sissoko/Marchisio/Asamoah/*Poulsen so we'd save some money.

As for those players, it's something like this

Manninger-free
knezevic-700.000 for loan
Grygera-free
Melberg-free
Molinaro-not sure, around 2.5mln maybe
Andrade-11mln
Almiron-8-9mln
Tiago-13mln
Poulsen-8mln
Sissoko-11mln
Ekdal-600.000
Salihamidzic-free
Iaquinta-11mln
Amauri-~13mln + Nocerino & Lanzafame co-ownership

 

[ZAF3000]

thats almost 80 million euros worth of players. When we had 80 million euros to spend in the Lippi days we bought Buffon, Nedved and Thuram. Two of which have played for 9 years at the top level with us winning numerous trophies.

Now if all players were healthy and you wanted to field a starting 11 playing 4-4-2 which players will those be:
Buffon, Zebina, Legro, Chiellini, De Cegli, Camoranesi, Marchisio, Sissoko, Nedved, Del Piero, Trezeguet

Only 1 player made it to the list. It can extend to 2 players if you are playing Amauri instead of Trezeguet. Where did the 80 million euros go? Did we really pay 80 million euros to fix our bench?

 

[Dostoevsky]

thats almost 80 million euros worth of players. When we had 80 million euros to spend in the Lippi days we bought Buffon, Nedved and Thuram. Two of which have played for 9 years at the top level with us winning numerous trophies.

Now if all players were healthy and you wanted to field a starting 11 playing 4-4-2 which players will those be:
Buffon, Zebina, Legro, Chiellini, De Cegli, Camoranesi, Marchisio, Sissoko, Nedved, Del Piero, Trezeguet

Only 1 player made it to the list. It can extend to 2 players if you are playing Amauri instead of Trezeguet. Where did the 80 million euros go? Did we really pay 80 million euros to fix our bench?

Heh, well it does sound strange but it can't really go like that.We had to buy many average/good players so we could build a team that can hold it's ground and so we could later invest it in the world class players.I see the reason of their arival but we didn't count on so many of them to choke here which killed our plans.

 

[Yamen]

If only we could fax this page to Torino

Management just blown away 80 million!! Gosh! That is madness indeed to get such players for that amount of money.

 

[Cronios]

We have failed to challenge for any titles, despite sacrificing the build up of our team,
to add some depth players, who wouldnt help the quality build up of the future competitive Juve and would give us only momentary gains, who never came.

We will also fail to improve from last year, if Milan keeps the second place as it is now.

We have failed the last chances some of retiring champions ever had of winning smth.

And finally, we have betrayed our 5 year plan for NOTHING!!!

It was quite predictable though, for the reasons i have extensively presented, even before the beginning of the season and stopped sharing with you...
One more wasted year, well, as CR and every loser always says, there is always next year...
Expect the next year to repeat what we have seen this year, if we dont find some permanent fixes to our chronic issues...

Did we really pay 80 million euros to fix our bench?

Yes and we gave a priority on this bench and have decided to use Molinaro, Legro/Mellberg, Grygera and Marchionni as starters!!!

It was clear by the end of last year, that we should avoid at any cost of using them as starters, but we did almost nothing to prevent it!!
We have preferred to throw that money on one more CF and DM sub for depth...
Undermining both the build up of a competitive first eleven squad for the future
and the percentage of quality players in our starter eleven for this season!
It was a double crime our board produced and our fans approved!!
And many of the members of this forum still support...

We have sacrificed our future for possible momentary gains and we have gained nothing!! A failure bound to happen...

 

[Dostoevsky]

It's not 80mln because Sissoko and Amauri are great and Iaquinta is decent while I still think that we can count on Poulsen.

 

[Cronios]

Even if we use them in the future, we did not respected our priorities!!
We should fix our starter positions first!!
Playing with Molinaro, Grygera, Kegro and MArchionni as starters, cannot justify the need of having Amauri as DP',Treze's and IAquinta's sub.
Or having Poulsen as Sissoko's, Zanetti's, Marchisio's and Tiago's subs...

 

[Dostoevsky]

I agree about Poulsen but I don't agree when it comes to Amauri because we needed him as much as we need a better defense now.

 

[Elvin]

I believe that changing the management is the key to all other problems...
Change the brain and we'll solve all our problems in a proper way.

Barcelona have Laporta.
Manure have Ferguson.
Chelsea have Abramovich.
Real have their fans.
Liverpool have their fans and Benitez.
We've got no one :wallbang;
Since Agnelli passed away and Moggi and Co GTFO, we're bastards basically. No one with brains or at least balls to run the club like it should be run, like it used to run...

 

[Dostoevsky]

Hey, at least we have each other.