ADDRESSING those gathered at the Juventus Christmas dinner earlier this week, club President Andrea Agnelli looked directly at the team’s coach and said “Maurizio, you have taken on a tough and difficult challenge, but together, we know we can win.” Smiling but looking slightly uncomfortable at being in the spotlight, Maurizio Sarri nodded and got up to offer a typically honest response.
“Clearly, this is an important challenge for me, one that immediately became difficult when I accepted because I arrived at a team and a club that has won a lot,” he said. “Carving out an important page of history in a club that’s so rich in history is difficult for anyone. We want to continue winning in Italy where we feel it’s almost an obligation to win the Scudetto, but also to be competitive in Europe. It won’t be easy but I’m glad to be here.”
His words were carefully chosen, aware of what has happened in the past but keen to be the author of his own meticulously planned future. Sarri’s style of football is ultra modern but it stands in stark contrast to the man himself, an old school, tracksuit wearing manager who couldn’t hide that same smile when he studied his Europa League winner’s medal after guiding Chelsea to victory last term.
Part of me hopes we remember this image of Sarri when we think of his time in England. When he looks at that medal he sees decades worth of work and I don’t blame him for being pleased with the outcome. pic.twitter.com/prWNAY94VL
— Christmas Heneage (@KHeneage) June 16, 2019
Almost six months have passed since he joined the Bianconeri, chosen as the man to take the Old Lady forwards after she had stagnated somewhat under his predecessor Max Allegri. The latter was at the helm for five years, winning the Serie A title in each of those campaigns while adding four Coppa Italia triumphs and two Champions League Final appearances along the way.
Yet despite that incredible level of sustained success, the path to improving the team was viewed in very simple terms. By delivering the same brand of free-flowing football that had been his hallmark at Empoli, Napoli and Chelsea, Sarri could make Juventus more enjoyable to watch for both her own supporters and neutral viewers, moving away from the win-at-all-costs mentality and usher in a bright new era for the Turin giants.
That was certainly in-keeping with moves that had been made off the field in recent years; dropping the traditional badge for the current corporate-style “J” logo and swapping the black-and-white striped shirts for a half-and-half look being just two examples of the club’s desire to become a complete modern brand. If we view the overly cautious playing style as the last vestige of the old Juve, then eradicating it has proven to be a difficult task. Very few changes were made to the squad in the summer, meaning Sarri was not given a fresh palette with which to paint, instead asked to mix vibrant new colours from the same pots that Allegri had been using.
It should be no surprise then that, for the most part, the performances have not yet given us the sparkling, high octane brand of football that Sarri’s Napoli routinely provided – remember the weekly examples of intricate passing moves that went viral on social media from that team? Sure, there have been one or two from the Bianconeri, but it is clear that “Sarrismo” has yet to be fully realised in Turin. That should be no surprise, given that it took almost two years before we saw those sweeping tiki-taka moves from Napoli and it wasn’t until the final months of his Chelsea tenure that the players were fully capable of executing his vision.
A deep squad brimming with high calibre talents is fully capable of doing the same, from Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala to Douglas Costa, Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot. They have already shown – albeit only in brief spurts – the ability to play the way Sarri wants them to, and there is no doubt the players are enjoying the challenge too. “We’ve had a good journey up until now, we can’t be negative,” Miralem Pjanić said at a press conference this week when asked his view of the situation. “We need to find balance. It’s not easy to always be brilliant but we trust Sarri, we are a united team. The results were good, but the boss wants more: we still have a lot more potential to express ourselves.”
Indeed, it is with no small amount of irony that while this season has seen the team struggle to adopt Sarri’s footballing ideals, he has certainly fulfilled the club maxim that “winning is not important, it’s the only thing that matters.”
Five victories and one draw away to Atletico Madrid not only saw Juve top their Champions League group, it also saw them secure qualification to the latter stages with two matches to spare for the first time in 11 seasons. In Serie A, they have won 11 of their opening 15 games, drawing three and losing just once to sit two points behind Antonio Conte’s Inter, not bad for a side that is widely viewed as having underperformed.
Perhaps that is the biggest takeaway of all, because the Nerazzurri have enjoyed a record-setting start to 2019/20, recording more points at this stage of the season than they ever have before. Yes, Inter have gone out of the Champions League and are free to concentrate solely on Serie A, but to have been that dominant and yet only hold a two-point advantage over the team who have won the competition in each of the last eight campaigns should be cause for concern, particularly as Juve have no European commitments for the next three months anyway.
February is a long time away. Long enough to recover two points, perhaps even time to see “Sarrismo” become the new normal at Juventus. Then Maurizio Sarri will truly have something to smile about, and probably another winner’s medal to look at…
