Allegri : End of an era

"You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain"


A popular phrase taken from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, it could also be applied to Massimiliano Allegri, but then again he never really was the hero to begin with, which sounds ludicrous when looking at the success that Juventus have enjoyed with Allegri in charge. However, rewind back to July 2014 and the feeling was anything but positive as far as the arrival of Allegri was concerned. Allegri arrived in Turin under a cloud of doubt (and literally pelted with eggs), previously losing his position as manager of AC Milan midway through the 2013/2014 season, after a dreadful run of results that saw the Rossoneri languishing in 11th place and a massive 30 points behind league leaders Juventus. But the Bianconeri were desperate and in need of a replacement after the sudden departure of Antonio Conte, who no longer wanted to dine at a €100 restaurant with just €10 in his pocket...


"It is an honour for me," said Allegri. "I'm very happy and I know what a big job coaching Juventus is." as for that '€100 restaurant' more commonly known as the UEFA Champions League  "We'll compete for the title all the way. As for Europe, we need to have a great run in the Champions League."


The Massimiliano Allegri era had begun, and what a debut season it would turn out to be. Juventus would once again maintain an iron grip on the Scudetto, only losing on three occasions over 38 league games, but this was nothing new, Antonio Conte had also delivered a Scudetto in each of his three seasons in charge. However, what Conte could not do, was achieve success in the domestic cup, where Conte failed Allegri succeeded with his first attempt, it would be the first of four coppa Italia trophies over five seasons. On the European front, Allegri also took the club on a memorable run to the final, creating memorable night's along the way such as defeating Olympiacos 3-2 on a rain soaked pitch in Turin, as well as eliminating Spanish giants Real Madrid in the semi finals. Of course the final itself was once again a step too far for the old lady, succumbing to the attacking talents of Barcelona in a 3-1 defeat, but still the signs were promising and fans were now the ones left with egg on their face for doubting Allegri's appointment. 

Back in the present day, on the 17th of May the club announced that after five seasons in charge, Allegri's time as Juventus manager had come to an end. so how did we get to this point? And more importantly what went wrong? 


LACK OF DIRECTION :

Despite ending every season lifting yet another Scudetto, look a little closer and the cracks were beginning to show. The main criticism of Allegri has been the style of play that he instructs the players to play, or more accurately the lack of style, as the man himself said recently this year “Beautiful football doesn’t pay off, at the end of the day you’ve got to just kick it away from your goal.” With a squad filled with several attack minded players, to ignore these options and instead opt for a 'safety first approach' should not, and ultimately was not acceptable. On several occasions Allegri would continue with this approach, opting to choose a defensive player such as De Sciglio in place of Cancelo in the starting eleven as an example, failing to find a starting place for Dybala, and alienating Benatia to the extent that the Moroccan defender left the club mid way through the season. The entire duration of the 2018/2019 season has been littered with sluggish performances and rigid football with only two game plans, crossing the ball from wide positions into the opponents penalty area, or simply giving the ball to Ronaldo. When it came to winning games this season the team heavily relied on individual performance's instead of focusing on a structured game plan. No structure, no game plan, and zero identity.


CARDIFF :

A painful subject for Juventus fans, but it could argued that this was the beginning of the end for Allegri. Tactically outclassed and unable to respond to Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid, Juventus crumbled in a poor second half performance to lose a second champions league final under Allegri, and that's not even discussing the rumours of a half time bust up in the Juventus changing room. Afterwards Allegri said “I thought about standing down because it will now be even more difficult [to win the Champions League] but I spoke with the club and then quickly made a decision. It will be a big challenge for us. We must improve.” with hindsight, perhaps he should have stepped down.


2017/2018 SEASON :

"We must improve" those were the words said by Allegri, but did Juventus improve after another champions league final defeat? No, not really. Although winning another Scudetto for the 7th season in a row, it could be argued it was a Scudetto that the old lady was fortunate to win. Not only losing to an exciting Napoli side 1-0 at home, but failing to even record a single shot on target during the 90 minutes. With four games remaining Napoli looked down on Juventus from the top of Serie A, and Juventus era of domestic dominance looked to be coming to an end, but instead it didn't, largely thanks to Napoli falling apart in spectacular fashion. The Champions League campaign wasn't much better either, throwing a 2-0 lead away against Tottenham at home as Allegri watched on from the sidelines, seemingly unable to respond to what was happening on the pitch. There was the 'what if' moment when Juventus almost took Real Madrid to extra time, had it not been for a last minute penalty, but remember Juventus were only in that position to begin with after losing the home leg 3-0.


CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FAILURE :

With the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo the objective was clear, win the Champions League. Somewhere along the line Allegri failed to get the memo, "It's not written anywhere that we're super-favourites for the Champions League. That would be madness." What followed was a group stage performance that resembled Jekyll and Hyde, from the aesthetically pleasing performance against Manchester United at old trafford, to a self inflicted defeat against the same club in the reverse fixture. In the knock out round it was a similar story, the bad, suffering a 2-0 defeat away to Atletico Madrid, and once again Allegri could do little from the sidelines to counter Diego Simeone's second half changes, followed up by the good, a memorable comeback to win 3-0 and progress to the quarter finals. Against Ajax however it was just plain bad, largely outplayed over two legs by a young Ajax side and deservedly knocked out, it would be a disappointing end for a club that stated its intentions to win the competition pre-season. Allegri also didn't do himself any favours by declaring that Ajax were "lucky", as anyone that watched both legs (particularly the second leg in Turin) could see that the Dutch outfit were far from lucky to reach the semi final stage at the expense of Juventus.



Despite this, it must be stated that overall Allegri's time as Juventus manager has been a success, overall Allegri delivered a total of 11 trophies during his reign, continually delivering a Scudetto year after year whilst also improving Juventus on the European front. Reaching two champions league finals is not something to be celebrated, but it is still an achievement none the less, especially when taking into context the position that Juventus were in prior to Allegri's arrival. When looking back, fans should remember the success that Allegri brought to the club, from the euphoric highs such as memorable wins against Barcelona & Real Madrid, and the 3-2 comeback against Inter last season that cannot be forgotten. Yes towards the end Allegri became flawed, and performances for the most part were far from satisfying, but the mans place in Juventus history cannot be denied.


Grazie for the moments mister, but the time for a new era to begin, is now.