Let’s re-read the words spoken by the Juventus coach on the day of the presentation and compare them with what happened this season
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Thursday 20 June 2019, Maurizio Sarri’s first day at Juventus. Uniform of order, smile drawn and, in the room, a platoon of reporters ready to take note of the words of the new technician to pass them on to posterity. Now that more than a year has passed and Maurizio Sarri has put the Scudetto on the bulletin board, waiting to try in August with the Champions League, it may be useful to re-read the words spoken that morning, to understand what has happened and what has not happened.
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“We have a long path ahead. The structures must be the starting point, then the atmosphere inside the stadiums must change. In England you turn around and the bench is surrounded by children.”
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He had warned, Sarri. Juve made in his image and likeness would not be seen in a few days, in a few months and, perhaps, not even in a year. The feeling, even after the Scudetto, is that it really takes a little more time to see Juventus at 100% Sarriana, even if a long way has been done. As for the climate, however, it was not what was desired, but because of no one. Coronavirus has transformed stadiums into uninhabited temples, not just for children. But nobody, a year ago, could not even imagine it.
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“I am happy for the excitement I see in A because there is a nice movement of coaches. Conte, Giampaolo, who I consider one of the most interesting young people finally on a big bench, Fonseca, Ancelotti, a boy whom I respect as much as De Zerbi” .
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With the exception of Conte, who has worked well with Inter anyway, and for De Zerbi, who with the power of ideas is shaping a Sassuolo capable of competing – perhaps as early as next season – for some noble goal, above all others colleagues Sarri was a bad prophet. Giampaolo was discharged from Milan in October, Ancelotti from Napoli in December. Fonseca is still at Roma, but his season has been quite troubled.
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“I expect to get up in the morning and study how to win the games. Because it is not due. Juventus in Italy has an obligation to put the burden of the favorite on their shoulders, then if we enter into a Champions League speech it is clear that the Juventus has the obligation to start with the aim of winning, but with the awareness that at European level there are teams that have the same strength “.
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In the league, Juventus were favorites and remained favorite, although never before have there been teams that have put it in difficulty and made the championship uncertain. Up to a certain point the former Conte’s Inter, until the lockdown the Lazio of Inzaghi. On the field, we still have the witches in the eyes who showed her Gasp’s Atalanta. In the end, it seemed that Juve, the Scudetto, competed to lose it rather than win. In the Champions League, the discussion remains open and, with the new formula, anything is possible.
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“4-3-3? You don’t start with the module. You have to understand which players are suitable, get to know them, talk to each other and build the module around the most qualitative players.”
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No sooner said than done. Sarri started with 4-3-3, the form abandoned with Douglas Costa’s injury. Good answers have come from 4-3-1-2. The coach took turns alongside Higuain and Dybala in Ronaldo and as midfielder he alternated between Ramsey and Bernardeschi. From January onwards, he returned permanently to 4-3-3. It must be said that it was more Sarri who adapted to the players than the players to him. And from here also moments of tension were born. An example above all: the public no, in front of the team, of Ronaldo playing in a central position.
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“Cristiano Ronaldo? I trained the player who scored the most goals in Serie A, I would like to have two. It would be a huge satisfaction.”
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Goal still achievable but very difficult, even if Lazio Lazio Ciro Immobile is in front with 34 goals. CR7 chases with 31 and two games remain to try to overcome it. Before Ronaldo, only two other Juve players had reached 30 league goals: John Hansen (in 1951/52) and Felice Borel (32 in 1933/34). The goal, at this point not easy to reach, is the record of Gonzalo Higuain, who four years ago reached 36 goals with Sarri on the bench.
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“I arrive with skepticism as everywhere I have been. I arrive in Empoli from C and they are all skeptics, I arrive in Naples from Empoli and they are all skeptics, I arrive at Chelsea from Naples and they are all skeptics, I arrive at Juventus from Chelsea and this could trigger less skepticism but there is my story. I know only one way to remove skepticism: to win and convince. To go on the field, to make a result and to have fun, I honestly don’t see any other way “.
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The label is still there, stuck on the forehead. It was not enough to win the championship to snatch it away, perhaps it will be necessary to win the Champions League. A good portion of the fans and part of the critics are not convinced that Sarri is the right technician in the right place. Maurizio managed to win, of course, but not to bring everyone on his cart. And his Juventus did not always amuse. There are those who regret Allegri, who won, but just as often did not amuse, and therefore was questioned. It is a story that repeats itself.
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“As far as winning is concerned, I can say little, because I have won little, or at least in lower categories”.
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It is a sore point. A thorn that always irritates Sarri. And that made him burst on the eve of the Italian Cup final against Napoli, a month or so ago: “I run the co … when they say I have won nothing. I did eight promotions and all on the field, I did not jump a category except in the transition from C1 to B, where I still reached the playoffs. And on the field I gained access to the Champions League. It is a path that may seem simple, but it is very difficult. Here I made a few games wrong and there is, but it was from the 1950s that a manager in Juventus’ first year did not have my average points, even if nobody remembers “. The scudetto won it, but lost the Italian Super Cup (against Lazio) and the Italian Cup (against Napoli). He has the Champions League left. And that annoying thorn will be permanently removed.
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“We will have to start from the talented: Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala, Douglas Costa, who is a potential top player that hasn’t exploded continuously. We need to start with these highly talented players and see what to build around them.”
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He did it. And it did it well. For CR7 the numbers and the “weight” in the team speak. Dybala a year ago was at the door with the suitcases and it became fundamental. Douglas Costa was decisive, not only as a starter, but also as a lethal weapon to be used in the current game. Sarri had the merit of taking the talents and putting them at the center of the project, to then build “his” Juve around them. Just like he promised last summer.
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“I love Higuain, you know, it will depend on him. For technical qualities he can play with anyone, I don’t see it a huge problem. I said it depends on Gonzalo because my feeling is that Gonzalo has lived badly after Juventus. If he has a strong reaction, he is the right age to have another two or three years of great level “.
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Sarri has done everything to recover his pupil. He fielded him as a starter at the beginning, gave him a way to feel alive and useful. And it was useful, in particular by scoring four very important goals in the first leg, against Napoli, Inter and Atalanta (2). To stop Pipita was not so much internal competition as the fear of Covid (after flying quickly and fury to Argentina, he didn’t want to return).
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“I like Bernardeschi, he has a quality typical of great players: coordination. I like him very much, he lacks a bit of continuity because I see him playing great games and others in which he can do something more. In my opinion, it is the moment of his career in which he must be specialized and start playing continuously in one role “.
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Bern, imprisoned in these years precisely by tactical misunderstandings, seems to have specialized, as the technician asked. Who, after having made him play midfielder for months, moved him to the right wing, conforming to the idea of the blue coach Mancini. Team characteristics and balances: which to favor? Sarri, with Bernardeschi, tried to reconcile both needs and he made it his best to avoid being a man throughout his career in constant search for a tactical position.
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“The suit? I’ll talk to the company. I would prefer not to go on the bench with the social uniform. The important thing is that at this age they don’t send me naked.”
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In the end, neither overalls, nor social uniforms. But a brilliant compromise. The company has designed a specific look for Sarri: blue trousers, t-shirts of the same color open on the neck and sneakers on the feet.
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“My way of doing football is different, but I have to measure myself and understand how much my football can be productive with Juve. It’s a philosophy matter. I would like to see Pjanic touch 150 balls per game, but we have to see if he can put in a position to do it. I don’t know what sarrism is. I read on Treccani that it is a football philosophy and not only. I am this, over the years I have changed the way I see football and life, but I hope to be remained the same in the concepts “.
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It will not be pure sarrism, what has been seen at Juve, but Sarri’s brand can be seen above all in the defensive line, high and with principles typical of his game. Well with Cuadrado, definitely set as a full back, with him with dribbling tasks (he is the player who touches the most balls). And if Pjanic with 150 touches never came, he got very close: 142 on 6 January against Cagliari. Above 100 he went other times, especially in the first part of the season: 129 against Spal, 125 against Brescia, 113 against Parma, 104 against Sassuolo. One hundred exact touches against Inter (in the first leg) and Genoa (in the return).
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“I know that if they applaud me at San Paolo it will be a manifestation of love, if they whistle me it will still be a manifestation of love. I will leave the stadium loving the people of Naples as before, in one way or another.”
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It was not a good return, that of Sarri in Naples. First of all because Juve lost (2-1). And then because, when reading the formations, when his name was read the whole stadium joined the whistles. In the morning, before the game, a vulgar banner was also displayed: “Sarri, hunchback bastard, you said a lot about Juve but then you dropped your pants!”. Isolated gesture, though. After the defeat, Sarri admitted: “I feel the right turn of c …, but if I really have to lose, better it happens here.”
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July 26, 2020 (change July 27, 2020 | 00:31)
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