Juventus Hire Luciano Spalletti In Latest Managerial Reboot

So here we go, another Juventus revolution in the making.

It feels like we’ve been here before. Juventus 1.0 for the tenth time in the last half-decade.

A reboot, a rebirth, year zero, whatever you want to call it. We’ve been here before.

Luciano Spalletti, yes the very same Luciano Spalletti who inked a tattoo of Napoli on his forearm in the wake of bringing a first title back to the Bay of Naples for the first time since Diego Maradona, has been sworn in as Juve’s new ray of hope.

Igor Tudor fell on his sword in the wake of the disastrous 1-0 away loss to Lazio on Sunday evening. By all accounts Tudor had lost not just many within the dressing room, but the confidence of the board in the aftermath of behaviour those upstairs felt was ‘unworthy’ of the ‘Juve style’.

Tudor had vented against everyone in recent weeks: from Como’s Cesc Fabregas to Lega Serie A over the fixture schedule to referees. You can rage against the machine if you’re winning games. But if you aren’t, then the end is inevitable.

It’s reported Tudor also lost the Italian core of the Juve squad in the aftermath of the Lazio game, accusing Manuel Locatelli, Federico Gatti and Andrea Cambiaso of not showing enough leadership.

Either way, the Croat departed the stage exit left, and now Spalletti is in.

Things are about to get very interesting.

Spalletti has, of course, spent a significant portion of his career duking it out with Juve, yet now here he is in Turin, the newest member of the club he endured so many battles against.

But can the 2023 Scudetto winner revitalise The Old Lady?

Spalletti has signed an eight-month contract, with the mandate being Champions League qualification. Meeting the target will trigger an automatic renewal of his deal, and despite initial shortcomings, the current Juve squad are more than good enough to meet the primary objective.

Former Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino was among the frontrunners for the job, but Palladino, a former Juve player in the late 2000s, was seen as more of a gamble in line with Thiago Motta and Tudor and following successive failures, the club went for the safer option.

Spalletti knows this will be the final big job of his career, a 30-year veteran who finally landed a league title in Italy with Napoli after many believing he should’ve won at least one with Roma during his first spell.

One of the first things the Tuscan-native will alter is Juve’s formation. Tudor’s insistence on a 3-4-2-1 system didn’t service the players at his disposal, and his stubborn refusal to change it was viewed as one of his biggest downfalls.

Spalletti will instantly switch to a four-man backline, a sensible approach especially in light of Gleison Bremer’s injury.

Midfield and attack is where things get interesting. The man who broke the mould by reinventing Francesco Totti as a false nine, years before Pep Guardiola did it with Lionel Messi at Barcelona, will have to figure out the best way to utilise Teun Koopmeiners.

Koopmeiners has become the $70 million elephant at the heart of the Juve squad. The Dutchman, through one reason or another, hasn’t come close to matching the kind of form he demonstrated at Atalanta.

Both Motta and Tudor were aligned in their failure to get the best out of him. The former used him in a string of wrong positions, while the latter utilised him in a more natural position, but we only saw glimpses of what he can do.

Spalletti will now need to work out how best to use Koopmeiners, whether in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.

Attack is another area Spalletti will need to fix. Juve went from scoring goals galore at the beginning of the season to barely mustering a shot on target. Tudor’s last four games ended goalless, a run not seen since March 1991.

Jonathan David, Dusan Vlahovic and Lois Openda all looked bereft of confidence in the finals games under Tudor, as his instructions and tactical straitjacket confused them.

Caretaker coach Massimo Brambilla installed a 3-4-1-2 formation for the win over Udinese in midweek, and Vlahovic and Openda looking much better playing in a partnership than alone.

Spalletti will have plenty to ponder heading into the game against Cremonese on Saturday, but he has little doubt that the squad at his disposal is more than good enough to finish in the top four.

Asked about his tattoo, inked after securing Napoli’s third Scudetto, as well as his promise never to manager another Serie A side after leaving Napoli, Spalletti was unrepentant.

“Tattoo? It doesn’t change anything, I’ll always have so many friends in Naples. It’s a city that will always stay in my heart, regardless of professional choices. The statements about not coaching other Italian clubs? They referred only to the season following the Scudetto,” he remarked.

Fans in Naples may feel somewhat differently, however.

And with Juve due to head south in early December, an ever-heated rivalry was just given an extra dabble of spice.