How Much Longer Can This Continue?

After winning twice in a week, Juventus were brought back down to earth on Saturday evening as they were beaten 2-0 by AC Milan at San Siro. Indeed, if fans of the Bianconeri had been given hope by victories over Bologna and Maccabi Haifa, then this latest outing delivered a heavy dose of reality.

The home side dominated this game from the outset, with two first-half efforts from Rafael Leao both hitting the post, and another seemingly deflected wide by Dušan Vlahović’s elbow.

There would be more controversy when Milan did eventually take the lead, the referee missing a foul by Theo Hernández on Juan Cuadrado as the Rossoneri won a corner. Fikayo Tomori would net from the resulting set piece and, despite the circumstances, it was impossible to say his side didn’t deserve that lead.

Brahim Diaz would double their advantage with a superb solo run, but with just 54 minutes gone when the Spanish midfielder struck, there was plenty of time left for the Old Lady to mount a comeback.

Yet despite Juve controlling the ball for much of the game – statistics taken from WhoScored.com show they had 60.5% possession – there was absolutely no cutting edge to Max Allegri’s side.

The same website shows that they managed just 10 shots to Milan’s 21, repeatedly going backwards rather than seeking an attacking advantage, as the Coach explained during his post-match interview.

“It is strange, at a certain point we just stop playing and start to back down. After Leao hit the post, we started going backwards. And there are also some passes that are just impossible to get wrong,” Allegri told DAZN.

“We’ve got to be more determined in the challenges and shake off our fear, as otherwise we won’t have the balance to go far this season. If we shake off the fear, we can turn things around.

“When you pass the ball backwards, the other side will push forward and don’t even need to press you that hard. We need to work on that and improve.”

While there is no doubt that he is right, this is a Coach who has been in charge of this team for the past 16 months and he is the one responsible for doing the “work on that” rather than being merely an observer.

It is not good enough to repeatedly highlight the issues that anyone watching these performances can see easily enough for themselves, surely it is Allegri’s job to correct them or find solutions to overcome them?

Instead, Saturday’s clash at San Siro saw the Juve boss tactically outwitted by Stefano Pioli. The Milan Coach tweaked his formation slightly, opting for a three-man midfield rather than his usual two-man unit, immediately flooding an area where the Bianconeri had only deployed Manuel Locatelli and Adrien Rabiot.

It was the kind of shift that Allegri used to make himself, a simple but subtle move that could easily have been nullified, yet he did nothing but watch as Sandro Tonali, Ismaël Bennacer and Tommaso Pobega gave Milan a platform on which they could build their attacks.

Juve repeatedly found no way beyond those superior numbers in the middle of the park, Locatelli finding the match particularly difficult as he was constantly overrun defensively and under relentless pressure whenever the Bianconeri had possession.

It was the latest example of Allegri’s set up putting his players in position to fail, and it was a similar story in attack where the duo of Vlahović and Arkadiusz Milik might’ve had enough individual quality to secure wins over lesser opponents, but obviously offered no way through a well-organised Milan backline.

Without the brilliance of the suspended Ángel Di María and the injured Federico Chiesa, Juve simply have no creativity, and the Coach seemingly has little idea about how to set up his team to help alleviate that.

It continued a trend of woeful displays against top opposition since Allegri returned to Juve last May, with the tweet above highlighting just how inept the Bianconeri have been in the toughest games.

When a team is so devoid of solutions, has no viable tactical plan and so clearly lacks self-belief, the finger must be pointed at the man responsible for instilling those things. When that man repeatedly offers none of the above, and instead simply points out the obvious problems at press conferences, you have to wonder how long he can remain at the helm.

The Milan game didn’t just highlight the struggles Juventus are enduring, it laid bare exactly who is responsible for them. There are more crucial games ahead too, with a must-win Champions League encounter with Maccabi Haifa and the derby against Torino awaiting them this week.

Those are followed by fixtures against Benfica, PSG, Inter and Lazio before club football stops for the World Cup, and if Max Allegri continues to fail in big matches, one wonders just how much longer the Old Lady can stand by her man.