Atalanta freezes the Olimpico
On this bestial Sunday for the big players, Atalanta instead confirms that they are in command not by chance. The Goddess freezes the enthusiasm of the 60,000 at the Olimpico, beating Roma for the first time at home. The Giallorossi, without Dybala due to a muscle disorder in the warm-up, are surprised by a right-footed shot from Scalvini. The Giallorossi close to a draw at least three times, but it is not the day. So much so that Mourinho himself, in the grip of convulsions, gets expelled. On the other side of the Tiber, on the other hand, Lazio is going smoothly. The Cremonese is too tender a breadstick for the bites of Immobile, Pedro and Milinkovic. It ends with a poker that redeems Sarri’s team now in cohabitation in fourth place with Milan.
The infinite crisis of Juventus
And now we enter the circle of the damned. Here we find Max Allegri’s Juventus (which would later also belong to Elkann, Agnelli and Arrivabene) beaten and offended on the pitch by the newly promoted Monza, winning for the first time (1-0) since he was in Serie A. And Inter Milan. by Simone Inzaghi badly scrambled by a splendid Udinese (3-1) despite the Nerazzurri having immediately taken the lead thanks to the only good thing about Inter, a free-kick at the Barella intersection that should have made the Milanese team fly. Instead, as in the past, Inzaghi’s team has been mercilessly reassembled with jeers and whistles.
Two almost historic collapses. In the case of Juventus, fresh from the surreal draw with Salernitana and the defeat in the Champions League with Benfica, words are lacking to explain such a collapse in football. Against Monza, which came from a change in the course of the coach (Palladino instead of Stroppa), the bianconeri seem to be the ones fighting for salvation. Pale ghosts, heartless and without backbone, annihilated by boys who simply want to win. A heartbreak to see a team, with the history of Juventus, unable to react. Not even pride. And yet the expulsion of Di Maria, which took place at 40 ‘for a foolish elbow to Rizzo, does not justify the Juventus debacle. Just as the long list of absentees due to injuries is no justification. A company that closed with a deficit of 250 million, after a pharaonic acquisition campaign, cannot invoke extenuating circumstances of this type. Instead, you need to have that famous humility of admitting mistakes, understanding where you went wrong to make up for it in the race. But is not so. Even in the fall, there is that typical presumption of the Juventus Real House. Allegri, who earns $ 8 million a year, chuckles saying he is amused by the rumors of his exemption. He will have fun but the others much less. And Arrivabene himself, the CEO who preaches wisdom (“humility, clarity, determination”), remains inconclusive in the end.
Cheerful in the balance. Society: exempting him would be madness
A decision must also be made on Allegri. It is difficult to go on with a coach so disliked by his fans. Society defends it, and it fits. He says, again with Arrivabene, that “it would be crazy to change it because the winning cycles of a company are built over time”. But football is a company different from the others, linked to a thousand factors that cannot always be calculated. There is also another factor that affects: the idea that you always have to be the best. In sport it takes time, patience, sensitivity, even some lucky coincidence. Milan, for example, between pandemics and various crises, was able to work with a certain degree of tranquility. By making his young players grow, or by focusing on other players, not too expensive, but with qualities to bring out. The opposite of Juventus forced to always win in Europe, despite the increasingly low profile of Italian football.
Whistles and criticisms also for Inter. Inzaghi under accusation
Even Inter, with the third defeat out of seven (Lazio, Milan, Udinese) is on the corner. Simone inzaghi, all too humble and self-critical, can no longer understand what is happening in his team. That seemed out of the dark after the stunted success against Turin and the unmemorable one against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League. However, Inter in Udine has plunged back into the usual vices. Custom designed for Lukaku, without his giant stammering. Little play, little strength, little character. How Juventus takes slaps without reacting. The environment, increasingly disappointed by Inzaghi’s choices, invokes the good times of Conte di Mourinho. But the past has passed. And the future is not in sight. Inzaghi’s changes (especially the two contemporaries of Bastoni and Mkhitaryan because they were admonished) are dictated by anxiety and lack of lucidity. These are bad signs. Everyone goes on his behalf. Even the company, with a fluctuating purchasing campaign, has generated anger and confusion.