Andrea Pirlo - Juventus manager

[Hansi Fick]

Didn’t they play two up front with Ronaldo and Morata in the league under Pirlo? Not sure why can’t they play the same but with Dybala & Ronaldo up front instead.

True, I forgot that Morata was already playing vs Roma. Not sure about the second sentence, Ronaldo surely would not want to, or be asked to, play Morata's role, and Dybala can't.

Yesterday win in Kyiv was vital and buys him precious time already: he must just pass the CL group stage for now and stay in contention in Serie A until the winter break. As for experimenting with tactics, as long as he reverts to an ordinary 4-4-2 without tinkering too much with the players’ selection, he will be fine. Real tests will come later.

If you say it "buys him precious time already", does that imply that you envisage a situation, as early as in this calendar year, where not-good-enough results could put his position under meaningful pressure?
I ask because I have no sense or idea of just how much advance goodwill the club and the surrounding public is awarding to Pirlo in this job, or of how the atmosphere is and how fast it could change.
So far I seem to sense some kind of relaxed, confident, benevolent anticipation from Juve fans, and the willingness to take a long view about this, would that be a wrong description? Obviously it's just from reading online, I know nothing about the public atmosphere in Italy let alone opinions within the club.

 

[Peyroteo]

It's a great thing that he's experimenting different formations, this Juve squad is very versatile and last year's idea of always playing Sarri's 4-3-3 clearly didn't work out.

He can't do this throughout the entire season though so it will be interesting to see what he ends up going with once he has Ronaldo, Dybala, Alex Sandro, De Ligt, etc. ready to play.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

True, I forgot that Morata was already playing vs Roma. Not sure about the second sentence, Ronaldo surely would not want to, or be asked to, play Morata's role, and Dybala can't.

Not sure why Ronaldo wouldn’t want to. He’s 35 years old and playing in the role will allow Ronaldo to have less defensive work and focus more on attacking & scoring goals.

 

[Bepi]

If you say it "buys him precious time already", does that imply that you envisage a situation, as early as in this calendar year, where not-good-enough results could put his position under meaningful pressure?
I ask because I have no sense or idea of just how much advance goodwill the club and the surrounding public is awarding to Pirlo in this job, or of how the atmosphere is and how fast it could change.
So far I seem to sense some kind of relaxed, confident, benevolent anticipation from Juve fans, and the willingness to take a long view about this, would that be a wrong description? Obviously it's just from reading online, I know nothing about the public atmosphere in Italy let alone opinions within the club.

He is an absolute rookie as a manager and therefore an unknown quantity, but the consensus is Juve still need to pass the CL group stage and get a top 4 spot in Serie A to play CL next season, so his margin of error is relatively small. Yesterday’s away win vs the 3rd force in the group pretty seals the pass to the knockout stage already, barring unforeseeable disasters like mutinies or covid’s drain, so he can carry on with his learning in a relaxed way. In the unfortunate case, though, which is always a possibility with rookies in top positions, emergency plans or caretaker consideration would mean very experienced managers the likes of Lippi or Capello.

 

[Nani Nana]

Pirlo will definitely be Juve's Zidane. Club icon, wonderful football IQ, can only succeed as a manager.

Also helps to have one of the most astute transfer strategies around, constantly finding value in a saturated market. Balanced squad, ambitious leaders on and off the pitch.

 

[Bepi]

Pirlo will definitely be Juve's Zidane. Club icon, wonderful football IQ, can only succeed as a manager.

Also helps to have one of the most astute transfer strategies around, constantly finding value in a saturated market. Balanced squad, ambitious leaders on and off the pitch.

Fairytale then? You know, it only means we win the CL....... fairytale, yes.

 

[wrepdrep]

Pirlo will definitely be Juve's Zidane. Club icon, wonderful football IQ, can only succeed as a manager.

Also helps to have one of the most astute transfer strategies around, constantly finding value in a saturated market. Balanced squad, ambitious leaders on and off the pitch.

That is no longer the case.

They've turned into the Milan of old, that collects a bunch of random "freebies" on exorbitant salaries and pays a fortune to Raiola yearly.

 

[AltiUn]

Pirlo will definitely be Juve's Zidane. Club icon, wonderful football IQ, can only succeed as a manager.

Also helps to have one of the most astute transfer strategies around, constantly finding value in a saturated market. Balanced squad, ambitious leaders on and off the pitch.

Erm ... that's an interesting take on their current transfer strategy.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

They are so bad under Pirlo. I watched them against Verona and they couldn't pass at all and couldn't handle high press at all, to think the one who's coaching them is one of the world class deep playmaker. They only started playing higher intensity when they were 1-0 down. Morata's hold up play also poor and Dybala had a mere.

 

[Lay]

Playing Barcelona will be a shit fest.

 

[spontaneus1]

Erm ... that's an interesting take on their current transfer strategy.

Some posters really go out of their way to make it clear how unqualified to talk about topics in their post.

As for Pirlo I doubt he will last the year. Way in over his head. Expecting him to meet expectations is like asking a specky virgin to seduce a supermodel. It's not going to work.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Arthur & Rabiot looked good against Verona, the rest were shambolic. Kulusevski did change the game a bit when he came on.

 

[Peyroteo]

Not a good start at all but I think he'll prove a lot of people wrong by the end of the season. It's still early on and they have had lots of players out, Dybala and Ronaldo being back will win them loads of points even if Pirlo doesn't get the best out of the team

 

[Snow]

Not a good start at all but I think he'll prove a lot of people wrong by the end of the season. It's still early on and they have had lots of players out, Dybala and Ronaldo being back will win them loads of points even if Pirlo doesn't get the best out of the team

What is there to prove wrong?

 

[Peyroteo]

What is there to prove wrong?

Most people seem to think he'll fail and that he shouldn't have got the job due to his lack of experience.

 

[André Dominguez]

This thread will soon be renamed to «Andrea Pirlo sack watch»

 

[giorno]

This thread will soon be renamed to «Andrea Pirlo sack watch»

Nah, we'll wait for him to make a deep CL run before going into a sack watch

 

[Snow]

Most people seem to think he'll fail and that he shouldn't have got the job due to his lack of experience.

He will fail. Winning the Serie A isn't succeeding.

 

[balaks]

He will fail. Winning the Serie A isn't succeeding.

 

[el3mel]

It's just a bizarre appointment all around really, but he'll have to get his time before proper judgement.

 

[Snow]

You laugh but they just fired a manager for doing only that.

 

[rojo81]

You laugh but they just fired a manager for doing only that.

Sarri was fired because juve played awful and there were internal issues. Pjanic just said in an interview that sarri didn't trust the players.

 

[Bobcat]

Well, every manager has to start somewhere. Maybe he will turn out good.

Its worth remembering though that Serie A is a lot more competitive now than it has been in a while. Inter and Napoli are good teams and even AC Milan are not complete shit any longer

 

[Oluwaplumpie]

They just don't play well under him and that's a problem going by the fact that they sacked Sarri for the same thing. I watched them against Verona and quite honestly, I was worried. They don't look an organised team. Not optimistic he'll improve and that he'll last the season.

Let's see what happens when Ronaldo is back.

 

[rojo81]

A lot of overreaction here IMO. Pirlo has literally just coached 5 games in his entire life and for all of them he had several key players injured. He has drawn games juve should have won but he hasn't lost a game yet. He also had a very very short pre season. I don't know if he will turn out good but it is very early to judge him.

 

[André Dominguez]

A lot of overreaction here IMO. Pirlo has literally just coached 5 games in his entire life and for all of them he had several key players injured. He has drawn games juve should have won but he hasn't lost a game yet. He also had a very very short pre season. I don't know if he will turn out good but it is very early to judge him.

One of the draws was against Crotone, who their only point is against Juve. I think it raises a red flag a little bit.

 

[giorno]

One of the draws was against Crotone, who their only point is against Juve. I think it raises a red flag a little bit.

Not that bad when put into context. First game after international break, two kids in the starting lineup, 4 new players, 3rd game of a season in which they had a two weeks pre-season...and if Chiesa doesn't get himself sent off stupidly they win anyways

 

[Snow]

Sarri was fired because juve played awful and there were internal issues. Pjanic just said in an interview that sarri didn't trust the players.

He got fired immediately after they got knocked out of the CL. He got fired for not winning more than the league. Every manager wins the league with Juve, it's par for the course.

 

[rojo81]

He got fired immediately after they got knocked out of the CL. He got fired for not winning more than the league. Every manager wins the league with Juve, it's par for the course.

So you think every manager will be fired on its first year until they find someone that wins the CL on the first try?

 

[Peyroteo]

He got fired immediately after they got knocked out of the CL. He got fired for not winning more than the league. Every manager wins the league with Juve, it's par for the course.

Pirlo will not get fired if he wins the league this year, competition is tougher than in any of the previous years they won it. Don't think Sarri would have been fired if he had got past Lyon in the Champions League either

 

[Snow]

So you think every manager will be fired on its first year until they find someone that wins the CL on the first try?

Didn't say that. If he somehow doesn't win the league he'll be fired. If Juventus don't do much better in the CL I think that the only reason he'd stay in the job would be cronyism. Basically already is as that's how he got the job in the first place.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Obviously I’m watching United so got no idea about Juve vs Barcelona but based on the first half stats as I expected they are dull again in creating chances.

 

[Bojan11]

Change the title to sack watch.

 

[Idxomer]

Shame his managerial career hasn't started very well.

 

[MrEleson]

Utterly clueless today with absolutely no game plan whatsoever. The players lacked direction on the pitch and looked lost. He's also far too dogmatic in his approach by always trying to fit round pegs in square holes. I'd be surprised if he manages to turn it around.

 

[Hansi Fick]

Atrocious performance tonight. He talks about high intensity, counter pressing and winning the ball up high, and then THAT second half performance? And at home against a Barca team that was struggling badly, too.

 

[Bojan11]

3-0 loss at home. Their first in the league, but surely this is the year where Italy will have new champions.

 

[Red Royal]

They need Pogba...

 

[mariachi-19]

De Ligt is just a bit shit aint he?

Chris Smalling is making him look like a pub level defender.

 

[tentan]

Like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid they'll have a low start to the season and end up winning the league.