Spalletti, the players are not ‘good enough for Juventus’: Carnevali must step in immediately
After Juventus’ 3-0 defeat to Lazio, a disarming post-match scene in the Juventus camp. For Carnevali, it is time for tough decisions.
Juventus as we've never seen them before. Not on the pitch, unfortunately for Juventus fans. Recent years have brought other defeats like Sunday's loss to Lazio. The defeats to Atalanta and Fiorentina, for example, cost Thiago Motta his job. What happened inside the Allianz Stadium late on Sunday evening, though, was something else: a player on loan who has been in Turin for just three months (Guglielmo Vicario) went first to the press conference at such a delicate moment. Captain (Gleison Bremer) openly blamed some of his team-mates, something recent Juventus captains (from Del Piero to Buffon, then Chiellini and Locatelli) would never have dreamed of doing in public. Manager (Luciano Spalletti) rebuked Bremer, then said he was no longer sure the squad were following him.
That isn't the Juventus way. At least, not the way of the 'real Juventus', who always presented a united front on and off the pitch, in victory and defeat. In the dressing room in Reggio Emilia during the 2015-16 season, after a defeat that left Juventus 12th in the table, Buffon's words showed responsibility rooted in the club's identity. They sparked the remarkable comeback that led to the Serie A title.
Carnevali must prove he is Juventus material
Juventus' display yesterday laid their problems bare: on and off the pitch, everyone did their own thing, lacked ideas and put themselves before the team. That may be nothing new for many of these Juventus players, and perhaps for the manager too, given the crises the Old Lady have endured in recent months and years. For the current Juventus management, though, this is their first test of this kind.
For Giovanni Carnevali in particular, but also for Frederic Massara, this is the first serious crisis since they joined Juventus. Carnevali already faces an important test: some players, and perhaps the manager too, are showing they are not 'Juventus material'. Is Carnevali 'Juventus material'? Today he has his first chance to prove it. He must redefine how the players and the team communicate with the outside world and, above all, make a definitive decision on the manager. Carnevali inherited a manager he did not choose, one with a newly signed two-year contract extension. The season is still long, but it is already slipping away: can Juventus afford to carry on with a manager the squad may no longer be following? Carnevali must find solutions and make decisions urgently, before it is too late and a second consecutive failure to qualify for the Champions League becomes reality, with disastrous sporting and financial consequences.
Carnevali has two options. There is no point beating about the bush: change the manager or defend him to the hilt, even if the dressing room may, as Spalletti suggests, be rowing in another direction.
