After an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at Serie A promoted AC Monza, coach Massimiliano Allegri was caught in the crossfire of criticism at record champions Juventus Turin. Monza, the club of ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, celebrated the first Serie A win in the club’s history against the famous club of all places.
The gazettes were harsh with the Juve coach and speculate with Thomas Tuchel as the successor to the old lady. “Lonely and confused: Allegri leads a discouraged team that is in a deep identity crisis,” commented the “Gazzetta dello Sport”. “Allegri must explain when the death throes of a team without a soul, without personality and without quality in the league and in the Champions League will come to an end,” said Corriere dello Sport.
“The most controversial coach in the world is staring at the ruins of a team losing to bottom of the table,” wrote the daily La Repubblica.
Italian media are speculating about an imminent change of coach at Juve. Allegri’s possible successor is the now unemployed ex-Chelsea team manager Tuchel (formerly FSV Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund).
But Juve’s managing director Maurizio Arrivabene initially supported Allegri. “We have problems, but you can’t solve them by leaving the coach alone. It would be crazy to change coaches now,” said Arrivabene.
The Monza win against Juve came after Berlusconi fired Monza coach Giovanni Stroppa and replaced him with 38-year-old youth coach Raffaele Palladino. “The therapy worked,” said Berlusconi.