Sunday April 19, 2009
Blog: Juve gone wrong
When did it become acceptable for Juventus to be outplayed? Susy Campanale feels the Old Lady has lost her self-respect
In the last few weeks and particularly on Saturday evening, Juventus proved they have no place challenging for the Scudetto. The trouble is they knew that already and have no shame in admitting to it. Jose Mourinho is right, seeing the Bianconeri celebrating a scraped 1-1 draw that leaves them ‘only’ 10 points adrift of Inter is humiliating for all those fans in Turin who had every right to expect more from their club.
I stood up for Claudio Ranieri, but his attitude in the last month has been sorely disappointing. Injury crisis or not, the Coach of Juventus should never have to say Genoa play better football as if this is the norm. When did this total lack of ambition become acceptable?
Calciopoli sent them into Serie B, not their performances on the field, so there is no reason to believe this team deserves anything less than a title challenge or, if not the results, then at least some entertaining and quality football for its supporters. Instead Juve play in a boring game with zero creativity and focusing almost entirely on set plays. Fabio Capello’s side was dull, but at least they were efficient.
To make matters worse, they repeatedly concede classic counter-attacks and get players sent off for an idiotic loss of self-control that is unforgivable at this level. Mauro Camoranesi and Tiago Mendes both behaved as if they wanted to be red carded, giving it an extra kick just for good measure. This is not what Juventus fans should accept for their club. Lose if you must, but don’t play like a team battling against relegation or scraping every point for the ‘bonus’ of qualifying for Europe.
It only does the club’s image harm to celebrate second place and consider this level of performance satisfactory. It’s still a grand Old Lady to be respected and cherished, not treated like a senile OAP who should be content to go a day without wetting the bed.
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