Too big to fail: Juventus' change of guard

With 30 Serie A titles and 9 European titles to its name, Juventus is a powerhouse of European football. It is a club with a rich legacy, and has played host to some of the finest names in Football; Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon, to name a few.  The club has shown remarkable grit and determination in bouncing back from the devastating match fixing scandal that hit Italian Football in 2006, and has returned to the position of dominance that it had grown accustomed to in the Serie A.

The Old Lady won the 2013/14 season in particularly menacing form, notching up a record 102 points, losing only 2 games en route. One man who has been credited with this amazing feat is Antonio Conte, their outgoing manager of 3 years. A master tactician and a former Juventus midfielder, he led Juventus to titles in all the seasons under his watch. He is largely credited with giving the Juventus midfield a definite shape and a lot of venom and intent, making it the driving force of the team. Gifted with remarkable technical acumen and awareness, he was able to instil in the players a searing desire to succeed. Taking over in 2011, Conte was able to quickly realize the issues with the current squad, a weak left back for instance, and reorganize to its strengths, coming up with a 3-5-2 that paid rich dividends with time; in 2013-14 the back 3 had let in all of 20 goals all season, and their midfield, consisting of Pogba, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio and Asamoah lent a fluidity to their play that was a treat to watch. He was also able to restore Carlos Tevez to the prime of his abilities after a rather lacklustre stint with Manchester City, who in tandem with Fernando Llorente fired in 80 goals last season.

It therefore came as quite a surprise when Antonio Conte announced his intention to leave Juventus, a day after the squad came together for pre-season training. His successor Massimiliano Allegri has rather enormous boots to fill. Allegri’s coaching resume is quite impressive, and has a reputation of getting the most out of limited resources, as evidenced by his success with Cagliari. He backed this up with turning around AC Milan’s fortunes, guiding them to their first Serie A title since 2004, in 2011. He has found himself in sticky situations aplenty, and has shown dexterity in guiding his teams out of such situations , as exemplified by a 3rd place finish in 2012-13, after having languished at 16th place at one point in the campaign. His stint at Juventus has begun on a patchy note, losing his first match in charge and drawing the next. But he has shown his ability to learn quickly, switching from a leaky 4 man defense in the first game, to the tried and tested 3 man backline in the second, which resulted in an improved performance.

It is always difficult taking control of a successful organization as Juventus. Expectations are high, and, Allegri needs to hit the ground running; there is no room for error. David Moyes learnt it the hard way at Manchester United. His detractors are already drawing parallels to Inter Milan’s slump following Jose Mourinho’s exit. Allegri’s poor outings in the Champions League further stoke the voices of dissent, particularly after his illustrious predecessor’s exploits on that stage. The stakes are high, and Massimiliano Allegri has his work cut out; sustain and improve Juventus’ upward curve, and live up to Antonio Conte’s legend.