Article 95 — Sarri Gets The Sack, Pirlo Promoted
Drama and Juventus don’t exactly go hand-in-hand, well as far as I have been following Serie A and as far as my memory serves me right. The only time there was real drama was when they were implicated in the Calciopoli scandal. Before that, there were the accusations from at that time, former Roma manager Zdenek Zeman on the usage of excessive pharmaceuticals on their players.
The decision to sack Maurizio Sarri despite winning their 9th consecutive Scudetti after elimination from the Champions League wasn’t at all surprising due to the rumours circulating. But it can’t be denied that it was very harsh on Sarri. He has a heartwarming story of leaving his job as a banker and moving up the ranks from amateur to professional. He has never won anything in his managerial career until he won the Europa League with Chelsea last season. He left at the end of last season to come back to Italy which is when he joined Juventus. Now again after winning a trophy, he is out of a job.
At the end of last season, Massimiliano Allegri left Juventus ending a successful spell of 5 years that brought 5 Scudetti, 4 Coppa Italia and 2 Supercoppa Italiana. He brought Juventus to 2 Champions League finals as well but winning the Champions League proved elusive.
With the appointment of Maurizio Sarri, it seemed to indicate a change in focus of the club. It indicated that they would want to play a more modern proactive, possession-based, high-intensity game. Juventus has always been known to be a club that wins at all costs, playing well and entertaining to win is not a pre-requisite. The change in direction was not a match made in heaven and Sarri would need time to implement his ideas and strategy on the game.
He needed players that were suited to the short-passing possession game and players that are swift. He didn’t quite get that and as a result, there were problems in the team as they looked far from settled or cohesive in their play. Despite that, they still did produce close to what Sarri expects of them in some matches and won the Scudetto with their typical mental resilience and individual quality.
But that is not what Juventus really wants to win. They have been winning it for 9 consecutive seasons now, it isn’t a challenge anymore. You do not take your triumphs lightly but still it is no longer a challenge to just win the Scudetto. They want to underline their dominance by winning it all like their bitter rivals, Inter did in 2010 or at least win the Champions League more regularly the way AC Milan did in the 90s.
Antonio Conte who started this era of domestic dominance couldn’t do it, neither could Allegri and now Sarri has failed too. For Juventus’ Serie A rivals, I felt that with Sarri’s appointment, it was the best chance in a long time to dethrone them but none of the teams could take their chance. The evidence is there in Juventus’ statistics during the season. If only Inter or Lazio didn’t have a blackout, long loss of form or displayed mental vulnerability.
At his appointment, I felt maybe Sarri could lose Serie A this season and end the season trophyless but would Juventus have the patience to stick by him and give him time to build his team? He didn’t exactly have a team that was ready with players to play his style of football from the start and would need time to get there.
Here he won one Scudetto which is better than being trophyless and he got the sack. It’s ruthless and harsh but not at all unexpected from Juventus. After all, winning at all costs is what matter to them. Winning the Champions League is their Holy Grail and another manager has failed to even get close.
Now Juventus has sacked Sarri and you would have thought that they would hire an experienced, established manager to replace him. Their director of sport, Fabio Paratici has come out to say that the decision to sack Sarri was already made before the elimination at the hands of Lyon. He spoke about a lack of connection and spark between the manager and the players as the reason behind it. After their Champions League exit, Juventus’ CEO Andrea Agnelli spoke about playing in a more European style and building a younger team as they have one of the oldest squads.
There were a few names bandied about, former player and legend, Zinedine Zidane is one, out of work, former Tottenham Hotspur manager, Mauricio Pochettino being the other. Last season, there were strong rumours of Pep Guardiola being approached for the role. You would think Juventus might take a bit more time to take a measured decision that made rational and practical sense. Instead, they stunned everyone by quickly upgrading another former player and legend, Andrea Pirlo from the U23 team to the senior team manager.
Pirlo was just appointed as manager of the U23 team on the 30th July 2020, just 8 days before being promoted. He has no prior experience as a manager and this is a huge risk Juventus are taking. The quick-firing of Sarri and subsequent appointment of Pirlo to replace him are decisions you don’t normally associate with Juventus. They have always made careful, cool decisions. The decisions made have always been with the stability of the club in mind without letting emotions get the better of you. Therefore, this decision does come as a major surprise and shock for followers of Italian football.
I believe even Juventus fans are unsure of how to interpret this decision and how to welcome it. From the outside, it is clear to see that winning the Champions League has become an obsession to them. I guess being regularly taunted by your rivals just adds fuel to that fire to prove them wrong.
Andrea Pirlo is a player that is one of my favourites in his position, it was just unfortunate that he displayed his best form for both of my rivals. As a player, his quality is undoubted but what you were and what you have achieved as a player counts for nothing as a manager. Like Sarri, he has the advantage of the senators at the club, players that were former team-mates for club and country, Giorgio Chiellini, Gianluigi Buffon and Leonardo Bonucci. Then he has the wonder that is called Cristiano Ronaldo too who is also no stranger to winning trophies. The presence of these players, as well as other 30 plus-year-olds in the dressing room with the winning experience, will help him immensely.
But again winning the Champions League is what they want. The CEO spoke about lowering the average age in the team, would they be making transfers to reflect that? They have already signed two young players in Dejan Kulusevski and Arthur Melo. They have Mathijs De Light from last season. Would more follow or would they still stick to the tried and tested ready-made 30 somethings? With young players, they are not always ready to perform at a high level, there will be moments of inconsistency in their play, can they tolerate that? The Juventus DNA doesn’t tolerate that but if they want to take the next step forward and get in line with modern football, they got to learn to bite the bullet and tolerate it.
Can the rest of Serie A take advantage of what could be a transitional season or two to dethrone Juventus and ensure a new order in the league? Or at least make the league more competitive. I really hope they can. Really, really hope so because Italian football badly needs it.
