End of the Season Review and Player Ratings

A season like no Juve fan has experienced since the Calciopoli days. Before the final ratings for the players is unveiled, I will provide further context to the season that was.

Juventus finishes the season, in all competitions, with 33 wins, 10 draws and 8 losses, 4th place in Serie A (Champions League spot secured, on the final day with the help of Napoli drawing Hellas Verona), Round of 16 exits in the Champions League at the hands of Porto, Coppa Italia winners, Super Coppa Italiana winners.

Coaching:

The season started with a first-year coach, who started his career without his official coaching badges. He was thrust into training an incomplete squad, of which, was expected to win a treble. By appointing Andrea Pirlo, who was a legendary player, I thought it could work. Much of the issues with Maurizio Sarri was his rocky relationship with the players and Pirlo appeared to instantly change that. However, like anyone first starting something completely new, there were many issues with the rookie manager. His insistence on an archaic 4-4-2 formation and his extremely, ‘patient’, we’ll call it, substitutions were two qualms I had. However, I do not solely blame ‘Il Maestro’ for the season. Andrea Agnelli, Pavel Nedved, and Fabio Paratici (the big cheeses of Juve) set this squad up for failure. We do not have a world-class central midfielder, a world-class playmaking midfielder, a competent left-back, or a top-class striker. All things considered, with two trophies, a top 4 finish, and a matching round of 16 losses like Pirlo’s predecessor, Sarri, Andrea Pirlo should not take all the blame on this tumultuous season.

Squad Availability:

For whatever reason, Juventus players love visiting J Medical consistently every year. Paulo Dybala, Serie A Player of the Year was only fit for the last couple of weeks of the season. Aaron Ramsey continued to be a bandaid, not to mention the 72 million Arthur bandaid. Demiral, Bonucci, Chiellini, and De Ligt all took their turns on the sidelines. The team wasn’t really ever at full strength for any stretch of time during the season to gain consistency.

Squad Composition:

Players were being brought in on fixed loan deals without any input from the manager which is always a concern. Arthur was brought in to balance the books and apparently for Sarri, who was canned. Weston McKennie was randomly brought in, Alvaro Morata was brought back as a stop-gap and our crown jewel was getting Federico Chiesa. McKennie showed glimpses of being a proper box-to-box midfielder but a playmaking central midfielder was never addressed nor was a world-class left-back.

Reflection of Season:

At the very start of the season, as always, the expectation was to win the treble. Shortly after a couple of games, the expectations started to shift. This continued right until the last month of the season as expectations went from winning the treble to winning two trophies and securing Champions League qualification. This season will be defined by Juventus getting within reaching distance of the leaders and then ultimately dropping points against the likes of Hellas Verona, Fiorentina, and Benevento. The players and coaches made too many simple mistakes and had too many mental breakdowns. This was the root cause of the disappointment. We continuously shot ourselves in the foot. The first goal against Porto perfectly epitomizes our season. I think most of the squad underperformed barring 3-4 players and there was no real consistency throughout the season. Only a handful of matches can be regarded as Juventus performing well - Juventus v Barcelona (Match Day 6), v Milan (Match Day 15), v Lazio (Match Day 25), v Atalanta (Coppa Italia - second half) and v Bologna (match Day 38). This has to change if Juventus want to become a top club in world football.

Top 5 Highlights of the Season:

1. Coppa Italia Final - Gigi Buffon’s Final Farewell

2. Super Coppa Final - Pirlo’s First Trophy

3. Federico Chiesa against Milan (3-1) - Becoming a Star

4. Weston McKennie goal against Barcelona (3-0) - An American Special

5. Securing Champions League football in the final day of the season

Key Performers: