Molinaro: ‘No thanks to Juve!’

“How in earth did I get a call-up for Italy?”

Christian Molinaro bitterly criticised Juventus for holding back his progress after receiving his Italy call-up under Cesare Prandelli.
The former Bianconeri full-back is now one of the key figures in Stuttgart and is among the new faces for the August 10 friendly against the Ivory Coast. “This call is a wonderful surprise. Did I expect it? I only ever focused on working hard,” he told Sky Italia television. “I always said that the only way to earn an international cap was to do well on the field. “I was not given the opportunity to do that in Italy. I am happy that I went to Germany, as I rediscovered my form here.”

Molinaro was forced to leave Turin in January after he was dropped by Ciro Ferrara and demanded first team football elsewhere. “I’ll be honest here, I never protest at the decisions of a Coach. Even last season, when after two years as a first-team player I ended up on the bench. It is right for a tactician to make his own choices. “The last two months of 2009 were not great. The time had come for a new experience. Germany was crucial for me to prove what I had done in my years at Juventus was not entirely worthless.”

Woooooooooooow. Here’s my response.

The Juventus Offside bitterly criticised Molinaro for being an ungrateful little bitch, in wake of Cesare Prandelli officially losing his mind and calling up the very one-dimensional left-back. The former Bianconeri full-back is now one of the key figures in Stuttgart and is among the new faces for the August 10 friendly against the Ivory Coast. The Juventus Offside commented- “This call-up is absolutely absurd. Did we expect it? Certainly not. One might as well hand Sissoko the Ballon d’Or. We’ve always said that Cristian Molinaro is a pretty awful left-back. Defensively, he is relatively assured but contributes less than Gianluigi Buffon to attack. We’re glad that Stuttgart took him on loan, and even happier that they signed him in full.”

Molinaro was forced to leave Turin in January after he was dropped by Ciro Ferrara and demanded first team football elsewhere. “When we signed Grosso, it was clear that Molinaro was no longer first choice, indeed, Ciro Ferrara fielded De Ceglie ahead of CR28. In his first season at Juventus, he was a disaster. In his second, he improved, but it all regressed when benched. He was an absolute catastrophe in a few of games he actually played, like when he lost his man in stoppage time against Bologna, who scored to make it 1-1. Molinaro didn’t deserve all the playing time he got, and at age 27 can no longer be considered a “young” player. Ranieri foolishly gave him 80 games to prove himself, he failed, and now we cannot understand why he is annoyed.”

More ridiculous, the fact that Molinaro got called up? Or that he’s bitching about Juve’s role in all this?

In other news, Giovinco’s agent has said he has no beef with Juve and that “he will play a lot at Parma, and then return to Juventus.”

Waiting for his chance to get off the bench…

One of the worst-kept secrets of recent weeks has been that Giovinco would be going to Parma. Marotta has confirmed Gio would be leaving, Andrea D’Amico (Gio’s agent) said Gio likes Parma. And Parma’s director has now said that the deal is done. Giovinco moves to Parma on a semi-complicated formula that benefits all involved: €500,000 for a one-year loan, and Parma has the right to sign him on co-ownership at a currently undisclosed price. So Parma get a guarantee that Giovinco won’t up and leave next summer with them receiving nothing, and Juventus and Giovinco get a little more assurance of playing time.

“Giovinco is now a Parma player and we are very happy,” general manager Pietro Leonardi told Sky Sport Italia. “It is a loan with the right to buy up half his contract. There will be no need to negotiate with Juventus next summer, as the buy-out price has already been decided.” He will be presented to the fans at the Stadio Tardini this evening ahead of a friendly match with Racing Santander, read a statement on the club website. [Which is currently down, probably from Parma fans checking if it's true] The ‘Atomic Ant’ had also been heavily linked with Bari, who publicly courted the trequartista.

“Our Coach Pasquale Marino is enthusiastic about this player, but never wanted to say so publicly,” [Ahem Ventura] continued Leonardi. “We wanted to work in the shadows while possible, as he really will improve our squad a great deal. I’ve known him for some time and I’m sure he’ll do some remarkable things here. Both Alessandro Diamanti and Hatem Ben Arfa are good players, but considering the characteristics of the side, Giovinco was the absolute best we could want. I think that with Giovinco we can say our transfer market is effectively closed.”

It’s a very good deal. I understand a lot are disappointed Giovinco isn’t staying, but Marotta was right a few weeks ago. Basically, he said that Gio’s development has been derailed for the last two seasons thanks to Ranieri, Secco, Blanc, and Ferrara. There’s nothing Marotta can do to erase the past, so the best thing to do is for Gio to leave and get a season of 30+ games under his belt. Can we guarantee that? Probably not, even if Gio is better than most of our wingers, should he fall into poor form or whatever, we’d have to bench him. He needs somewhere he can be in the XI with a virtual guarantee. And Parma looks like a good place, it has assembled an impressive frontline with Bojinov (who Gio knew back in Serie B), Crespo, and young-gun Paloschi. Parma has given Paloschi and our Davide Lanzafame plenty of opportunities to impress at the Ennio Tardini stadium, so Gio should have every chance in the world, especially considering the fans, coaches, and directors enthusiasm.

In bocca al lupo, Gio…torni presto!!

Just as in the last few years, I figured I’d do one giant Pagelle for the entire season before the new season gets too hectic, as I did in 2007-2008, and 2008-2009. I’ve tried to remain objective of course- I’m no fan of Zebina or Melo, but I’m trying to rate them based on their performances, not their fighting with the fans. Besides, they ended up playing terribly anyways. In general, I follow similar numbering systems to the pagelle in Italy:

These judges gave better ratings than I did

4- Dreadful. Consistently producing horror shows and generally completely incompetent.
4.5- Poor.
5- Subpar. Never impressing, and while not terrible, never playing well either.
5.5- Mediocre. Not something a player should be pleased with.
6- Decent.
6.5- Solid. Putting in consistently good shifts, though not exemplary.
7- Excellent. Playing well typically, and capable of brilliance.
7.5- Outstanding. Consistently winning MOTM awards.
8- Phenomenal.
9- Legendary.

Injuries don’t directly factor, as that has weighed enough on their performances as is. So without further ado, the Juventus Pagelle for season 2009-2010.

From Ciro Ferrara’s interview with the Gazzetta from 6 weeks ago…

At the beginning, you were often compared to Guardiola, but it doesn’t seem that the comparison holds. The Catalan [Guardiola] didn’t coach his old teammates.
At the end, to have to coach some friends was a problem. I always chose with the head, not with the heart, but I wasn’t always understood.

Before accepting Laporta’s offer [President of Barcelona], Guardiola made the precondition of selling Ronaldinho and Deco because they had “conditioned” the locker room, they had too much influence. Were you tempted to do the same with Del Piero?
It’s unthinkable for Del Piero to be sold. Ronaldinho played for Barcelona for 5 years, Ale represents far longer at Juventus. There’s a relationship, there is a great history. But he always wants to play, and at times it becomes a problem. It could be the same next year.

Del Piero was asked to respond.

“I believe that that interview was done at a particularly emotional moment,” Del Piero said. “I am not saying that to justify Ferrara’s comments, but I believe it was like that. Certainly none of us at Juventus feel like donkeys.” When asked if he did want to play all the time, Del Piero said: “The problem is if a player doesn’t want to play.

“A player must do everything – obviously only on the pitch – to be a started. But I never asked anyone to start regularly. I only asked to be looked at without prejudice and that I be treated equal with the others. It’s my way of thinking and of seeing the situation. If a player deserves to play, whether he be 18 or 36, he should play, because the best players should be on the pitch. The fundamental thing is that the team wins. I have always behaved correctly in the dressing room. For my part, there has always been maximum openness and the utmost desire to do well.”

Tiebreak?

Alberto Zaccheroni, speaking to Il Giornale:

How did it end this way?
The turning point was Siena, 3-0 after a few minutes, then Grygera lost Maccarone and the team collapsed, then we went to London and there was the disaster against Fulham. In a team, you need quality, legs, and if there weren’t, and lastly, a calm head, and after Siena that didn’t exist anymore. We were there without Iaquinta, Amauri, Buffon, Chiellini, Sissoko, Marchisio, and maybe I forgot someone, whereas Fulham had few absences. In general, the first half was solid, and then the second we disappeared. Thankfully, we at least had Del Piero.

Why Del Piero?
“He doesn’t have the strength he used to, but he was the only who consistently put the ball in the net. I used him sparingly, I substituted him, I put him on the bench, he always followed my instructions. He doesn’t have 90minutes left, but he remains one of the best. And with him, I never had any misunderstandings, not even that time of the Marchisio substitution that I didn’t do. They wrote that he was like Totti, that he decided himself the coaching decisions. But even in this situation, we had the same ideas.”

Delneri’s brief thoughts on Del Piero’s role in the team- (Aka, not a mascot like Materazzi)

“Del Piero is a champion. He is a player, not a director. He has his age, but his technical qualities aren’t up for debate. He will be dealt with like all the others. He will play if he is in form.”

I know some people here think Del Piero has too much influence in the locker room, but I think he has the right amount. In a time when our management and coaching has been relatively inexperienced and/or gutless, we needed a leader. However, Del Piero is a very humble guy. I don’t believe for one second that he was demanding to play…only that he wanted to play whenever possible, and yes, there’s a big difference. Perhaps it was simply Ferrara’s inexperience that perceived him to think Alex was pressuring him.

Will he be starting every game this year? No. But he represents something fundamental at Juventus, and even at age 35, he has the desire AND talent to play.

In the last few weeks, Ferrara and Zaccheroni have opened up about their short-lived tenures at Juventus now that neither are officially hired by the club. They both have spoken about Diego’s future, whether Del Piero is a problem, etc. Fascinatingly, they come to very, very different conclusions. Before reading the interviews, I would have expected Zaccheroni to be very bitter, and Ferrara a bit less so. Zaccheroni turns out to not be bitter at all, and Ferrara seems moreso, understandably. Both agree on one thing- between the injuries, incompetent management, and poor mercato, the bad season was neither fault. Both interviews after the jump.

Ciro Ferrara, speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport:

The situation at Juve had precedence over mine, in the fear of disrupting the environment, I wasn’t able to speak freely. It was better to be silent.

The numbers say that after your sacking, Juventus didn’t improve.

Zac admitted the same thing, who in my regards, was correct. I’m not fixated on statistics, the situation is different month by month. But there exists one certain fact: it wasn’t all my fault.

Who do you send this message to? To the club? The fans? To the players who after your sacking spoke a bit too much?

I have no malice in regard to Juventus or its fans/people, because 16 great years cannot be forgotten because of 6 months. Last week I rescinded my contract, because I want to return to work as a coach, not because I wanted to leave Torino. Having said this, in the days after my sacking I read statements that hurt me. Players are made that way, but phrases like “now, we’re training well” or “Zac finally makes us work on tactics” as if I hadn’t spent hours on the pitch explaining formations and plans…let’s say that my successor was more prepared. The players who got a worse average number of points with him are really donkeys.”

Let’s return to your management. What faults do you recognize?

In general, I don’t want alibis, I feel responsible for the failure. The good start and subsequent rain of praises in some way made the tension dip. At first I was very demanding and things went smoothly. Then I softened a little. Unconsciously, I must have thought that the difficulty was behind me. You can see the inexperience of which I am accused there.

At the beginning, you were often compared to Guardiola, but it doesn’t seem that the comparison holds. The Catalan [Guardiola] didn’t coach his old teammates.

At the end, to have to coach some friends was a problem. I always chose with the head, not with the heart, but I wasn’t always understood.

Before accepting Laporta’s offer [President of Barcelona], Guardiola made the precondition of selling Ronaldinho and Deco because they had “conditioned” the locker room, they had too much influence. Were you tempted to do the same with Del Piero?

It’s unthinkable for Del Piero to be sold. Ronaldinho played for Barcelona for 5 years, Ale represents far longer at Juventus. There’s a relationship, there is a great history. But he always wants to play, and at times it becomes a problem. It could be the same next year.

Felipe Melo, a Juventus quality player, or no?

“He has the quality, but he needs to learn to make himself liked by his teammates. He is anything but a bad guy, but he trained with a lot of arrogance and made many angry, and if someone disrespects others on the field, you notice.”

Will Diego be kept, or offloaded?

“Absolutely kept. He is a good player, and he trains hard and very conscientious. He needs two strikers, who move forward deep because his strength is the pass; unfortunately the tendency of those I had was to come to him. This is why he wasn’t explosive.”

But on the mercato, you didn’t have a voice?

“The call from Juventus [to coach] came all of a sudden. Cannavaro and Diego were already signed, but I had no problems with them. I got along well with them. Grosso I wanted, and I say this because it offended me to read that Lippi had built this team, as if I was merely holding the seat warm for him to come a year later”

Lippi should have returned as a Director General?

A more plausible hypothesis. But he wouldn’t have made the squad selection.

It is always said that among the management, it was missing a concrete “man of the pitch.” A fair criticism?

“The complex period of after-calciopoli wasn’t all wasted, immediately back in Serie A, then the Champion’s League, and 2nd place. It went badly this season, and many of us have paid the consequences. The authority of a football man is missed during moments of crisis, when the management is talking to the squad in a sharp tone, and the players you could read in their faces, them thinking, “Who the hell are you to tell me what I must do?”

Zaccheroni, speaking to Il Giornale:

If he remained at Juventus, Alberto Zaccheroni would have been the only coach in Serie A who had won a Scudetto. Him and Mourinho, now both are gone.

“He is someone who always needs to have an enemy, but then he gets offensive and that’s not something I appreciate. Tactically, he’s not very good. I sent a few coaches to study him at Riscone, during a training camp of Inter. Every night they called me and said,” Mister, we went, but we’re not learning anything here. Now that he realised Inter would’ve won even without him, he has chosen to leave. President Massimo Moratti had always told me his dream Coach was Fabio Capello.” But at Madrid, Mourinho will do well. No one knows like him how to motivate the players.

He left calcio, but you…

I wouldn’t have kept myself on, without 4th place. However, everything was all done, they asked me to renew my contract, I said I didn’t have time, too much work, 14 games in 42 games and more than half the players injured or carrying injuries while playing.

How did it end this way?

The turning point was Siena, 3-0 after a few minutes, then Grygera lost Maccarone and the team collapsed, then we went to London and there was the disaster against Fulham. In a team, you need quality, legs, and if there weren’t, and lastly, a calm head, and after Siena that didn’t exist anymore. We were there without Iaquinta, Amauri, Buffon, Chiellini, Sissoko, Marchisio, and maybe I forgot someone, whereas Fulham had few absences. In general, the first half was solid, and then the second we disappeared. Thankfully, we at least had Del Piero.

Why Del Piero?

“He doesn’t have the strength he used to, but he was the only who consistently put the ball in the net. I used him sparingly, I substituted him, I put him on the bench, he always followed my instructions. He doesn’t have 90minutes left, but he remains one of the best. And with him, I never had any misunderstandings, not even that time of the Marchisio substitution that I didn’t do. They wrote that he was like Totti, that he decided himself the coaching decisions. But even in this situation, we had the same ideas.”

And with the others?

“I was welcomed and wished well by all, they knew in what conditions I was working. Blanc is underestimated, even if he had put a team together of great quality. Felipe Melo was exceptional, during training one on one, no one wanted to mark him, he has an atomic physical strength. Sissoko went through everything, he lived a tragedy, it ended up that he had to take to care of 6 of his wife’s younger siblings, psychologically he was destroyed. Buffon suggested me as coach of the Nazionale, Diego is a world-class player who wasn’t able to adapt to Serie A. He will leave Juventus. When Del Neri arrived at Porto he said: “Diego? A great talent, but he will not play with me.”

So everyone with the coach…

Except for one. He came to me and said, “Mister, I am here but don’t count on me.”

And now?

“Juventus is building a great team. Also because Giraudo, even if he’s living in London, continues to run the assets of the Agnellis. (notably Umbero, father of Andrea) Juventus will be the primary antagonist to Inter.

WHERE THEY AGREE:
-Injuries predetermined the season
-Diego is a great player

WHERE THEY DISAGREE:
-Felipe Melo in training: Ferrara says he disrespected his teammates and was arrogant, Zaccheroni says he was a model professional and worked hard
-Diego’s Problems, and Future: Ferrara indicates the team wasn’t built properly with him, which I am in full agreement with. Zaccheroni says he didn’t adapt properly to Serie A. Ferrara says Diego must stay, Zaccheroni doesn’t opine on it, merely stating that he will be sold.
-Del Piero’s role in the team: Ferrara says he did occasionally cause problems by his desire to play, Zaccheroni said he was a perfect professional and never challenges his coaching role

So there’s a lot of questions these two bring up, one thing to consider is their history. Zaccheroni is an experienced coach, and thus perhaps never had issues with Felipe Melo or Del Piero in terms of authority, which might explain why Ferrara did. Overall, I understand Ferrara’s anger, I think it is curious, in an interview last summer he said he never really wanted to be a coach, but now it looks like he’s certain to continue. I also think Zaccheroni conducted his interview with class, despite questionable player selections, I think Zac is a decent coach and could do very well with a mid-table/EL team.

And lastly……WHO was that player who refused to work with Zac? People on VecchiaSignora.com generally have agreed that it was Camoranesi. I figure we can rule out Del Piero, Felipe Melo, Buffon, Sissoko, and Diego, who he spoke well of. People generally agree it’s unlikely to be Cannavaro and Trezeguet, given their demeanor and playing time under Zac. (Although it could be Canna, given that he knew Juve wouldn’t sign him longer, and he was preferred by Lippi/Ferrara.) That leaves a few others, and some have nominated players who didn’t play much under Zac. Not sure that could be it though, given that I assume the player mentioned it to start with, so I don’t think it’d be someone who didn’t play much under Zac.

Plenty to discuss in the two interviews. Thoughts?

Over the past few weeks, the end-of-season reviews have been coming in, and most have labeled Diego as a major flop, Goal.com named him as the #1 transfer flop, and also in their Worst XI of the season. Juventini and non-Juventini alike have blamed him for our poor season, but they could not have been farther from the truth.

If You Haven’t Noticed, Our Team Kinda Sucks: First, institutionally, Juventus have incredible problems. The team was not built correctly to use a trequartista, during much of the season we have been playing with rubbish fullbacks, two defensive midfielders, and two static prima puntas. That doesn’t work. The team wasn’t properly built for the 4-3-1-2. Second of all, Diego is coming in from a foreign league to a badly struggling club. Difficult to make a real impact.

Diego Has Been Plenty Effective:

We just don’t notice how solid Diego has been because our team sucks so bad. Naturally, despite Juve’s failings this year, Diego was expected to waltz in and score Kaka-style goals. Unrealistic, but the Roma game set up high expectations. I have no doubt given a better lineup, Diego will be more prolific in scoring goals.

Diego has been labeled as a major failure in recent weeks, but it wasn’t really until yesterday that I realized how great he has been. While looking through the video of all Juventus goals from this season, I noticed how omnipresent Diego has been. I went through the videos and counted up how many goals Diego assisted, scored, or was involved in and calculated it against the total. Turns out he’s directly influenced 45% of Juve’s goals from this season. Not bad for someone coming in from a different league, particularly when you consider that Diego hasn’t played every game, whether due to injury (see last fall) or being rested. Counting the games he missed, it probably boosts it to somewhere around 55% or so, another words, he directly caused a goal more than every other game. Look at the second video, how often his set piece, cross, or accurate pass opened the game up and led to a goal.

He’s been barreled down a bit.

Nnahoj gave another great reason why Diego doesn’t deserve to be labeled a flop, in simpler statistics-

Sneijder
24 games, 4 goals, 6 assists

Diego
33 games, 5 goals, 7 assists (Coppa Italia goals v. Inter and Napoli as well)

While watching Juve games this season I always used to think that Diego was probably the most fouled player in the league. According to ESPN Soccernet, he was fouled 103 times in Serie A this season. Sneijder was fouled 38 times, by the way.

Has Diego played better than Sneidjer? Probably not. But given the simple numbers, it seems pretty clear that both have been protagonists for their club, and Inter’s success means Sneidjer is the “transfer of the season” and Juve’s miserable season has meant that Diego is the “Flop of Serie A.” Maybe it has something to do with Inter’s defense being rock solid (Lucio, Samuel, Chivu, Maicon, etc.) and Juve’s being piss-poor, conceding more than Atalanta?

So why is Diego considered such a flop? Simple- He’s not scoring as much as he did in the Bundesliga, Juve’s season has been piss poor, and the Roma game got everyone’s expectations very high. However……the numbers don’t support it, and I feel bad that Diego has taken so much criticism. Despite being jeered and criticized, Diego has never reacted badly to the tifosi and has played his heart out for the team this year. He doesn’t deserve the criticism, he deserves a reinforced squad and the support of the fans.

First thing I noted from this video was how often Diego was involved in the goals. Flop? I think not. He might not have lit Serie A on fire…but he produced.