Juventus 2023-24 Season Ratings: The Manager

This time last year, Juventus had qualified for the Champions League only to see it taken away by a still-controversial points deduction. It was a hard pill to swallow given the team had produced more than its on-field performances had warranted.

As the 2023-24 season came to an end, the team’s table standing was pretty much the same, but with a Coppa Italia in tow. There are a lot of reasons for this year’s third-place finish and cup win, including the Brazilian wall at the back (Bremer mostly), breakout performances from players like Andrea Cambiaso, and a few last-minute winners from the likes of Federico Gatti (Monza–Juventus, 1–2) and Daniele Rugani (Juventus-Frosinone, 3-2).

Controversial as it may seem — mostly to folks in the comment section here and on X — there is another person who deserves credit for the season’s outcomes and that was the man on the bench.

Max Allegri. Vote: 6.5

Yes, the season’s epilogue will remain a black mark on his time at Juventus, but it’s also true that both securing a return to the Champions League and a strong performance in the Coppa Italia were the stated goals at the beginning of the season.

With few signings to excite fans in anticipation of the new season, expectations were high for the full return of Federico Chiesa who had spent much of the previous season injured following his ACL tear in January 2022.

The prospect of a two-man frontline featuring Chiesa and Vlahovic had real promise as Allegri opted to pick up where he left off tactically from the previous season committing to a defensive-minded 3–5–2 (or 3–5–1–1) system. Theoretically, this set-up would help both get the most out of players like Bremer (it did) and Manuel Locatelli (it didn’t) and provide a defensive solidity to let this dynamic duo loose.

The first results seemingly proved Max right as both Dusan and Fede got off the mark quickly and notched two goals apiece in the first three games. The otherwise tactical rigidity showed little give as the starting XI continually featured the same rotation of players.

With no cups to play, squad depth felt appropriate, especially in the early stages of the season as things seemed to click. The regular partnership of Danilo, Bremer, and Gatti at the back offered a sense of security while the prospect of seeing Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli combine in the center of the park to elevate the quality of play permeated a sense of confidence. Unfortunately, fans would never get to see that on-field partnership as both Pogba and Fagioli were out of contention thanks to their respective bans early in the season.

Enter Max the Tinkerman. Filling the holes in a midfield that lacked creativity proved to be a challenge. In an attempt to force a sense of unpredictability, Max regularly rotated the midfield five with Cambiaso, Weston McKennie, and Timothy Weah, in particular, taking up arguably unnatural positions for them — Mac on the wing, Andrea a mezzazla, and so on.

Staying true to form, the performances on the field were not attractive but they were effective. Except for one loss away to Sassuolo on Matchday 5 (final score 4–2), thanks to a series of defensive lapses from Wojciech Szczęsny and Gatti, the team went on a surprising run of form (and results) that saw them keep favorites Inter in-sight early into the new year.

With his typical dry Livornese humor, Allegri likened chasing Inter to cops chasing robbers. As you might imagine, his choice of words caused a bit of a media uproar, especially for Nerazzuri sympathizers though many Juventus fans found it an apt comparison.

In the run-up to the February clash against Inzaghi’s men, the team was arguably playing its best football with a few high-scoring results against the likes of Salernitana (6–1) and Frosinone (4-0) in the Coppa Italia and back-to-back 3-0 wins again Sassuolo and Lecce in the league. It was both attractive, offensive, and defensively sound. It also provided the right environment for Kenan Yildiz to get into the rotation and prove his undeniable talents.

Then, as has been amply written about (by myself included), the bottom dropped out. Following a hard-fought 1-1 tie against Empoli, the loss against Inter resulted in a vertical drop in form and results that would define the rest of the season culminating in the now-famous Coppa Italia fallout.

Though he regularly defended the team’s performances, it’s hard to provide that same air cover to Allegri for what played out from February to May. Granted, the mercato provided little inspiration with two underwhelming signings of Carlos Alcaraz (loan) and Tiago Djaló, the latter of which would only see his debut come thanks to Paolo Montero on the last game of the season versus Monza.

Stubborn in his insistence on the 3–5–2, Allegri seeming refused to unleash the team’s frontline potential of Yildiz-Dusan-Chiesa and taking a more proactive approach on the field — especially against smaller sides. Even more dynamic players like Samuel Iling-Junior were relegated to the bench.

Outside of tactics and ideas, Max also fell short on inspiration, unable to rediscover a sense of urgency from the team. Despite his insistence that the team was doing the most it could, there was rarely a sign of fight in them after the loss to Inter. The feeling from the outside was that Allegri had seemingly forgotten the rest of Giampiero Boniperti’s famous line and just stopped at “winning is not important.”

As we round out our series of year-end performance reviews, the vote of 7 for Max is admittedly more a complete reflection of his time a Juventus. The numbers don’t lie — five Scudetti. five Coppe Italie. two Supercoppe. And two Champions League finals to boot. Twelve trophies which make him one of the winningest coaches in Juventus history. And yes, he was also responsible for some of the most regressive football in the modern era.

There is an Italian saying, adapted from a bible verse, that says: “Date a Cesare quel che è di Cesare.”

Translated as “Give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar,” it is used a colloquialism to mean that everyone should get what they deserve or that credit should be given where it is due.

Corto muso or not, we must give to Max that which belongs to Max. Our gratitude for having defended the black and white the only way he knew how.