Ferarra's Last Stand At Juventus?

Is this the end for Ciro Ferrara? The Juventus coach will be under tremendous pressure from the Juve tifosi as his side slumped to a 3-1 defeat at the San Nicola against Bari. This coupled with the humiliating Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich means that the best Juve can hope for this season is the Coppa Italia and Europa League; effectively their season is already over in December. But who is to blame?

Cast your mind back six months or so, La Vecchia Signora were basking in the remnants of the successful transfer campaign, Diego, a world class trequartista and Felipe Melo, the star of Fiorentina’s season both arrived in Turin to a club that has finally recovered from the Calciopoli scandal.

The €45 million spent on the aforementioned was complimented by the addition of Fabio Grosso from Lyon.

But this early season optimism and expectation has evaporated, it seemed lost during the week but now it is completely forgotten. The defeat against Bari has left the Bianconeri six points behind leaders Inter, this doesn’t sound too bad, but it is the performance that must make you wonder about the longevity of this team and in particular its young, inexperienced coach.

Ciro Ferrara looked devoid of ideas as he tried to fashion a victory for his side, the initial team selection again called into question his judgement. Molinaro can try as much as he likes but he is not of the quality Juventus require and are used to, he makes far too many mistakes, coupled with his poor defensive attributes leaves him as a liability, one that the Galletti gratefully exploited.

Sebastian Giovinco needs to leave the club if he is to ever fulfil the potential he quite obviously has. Brought on only when Camoranesi was injured shows a complete lack of faith in the young forward. Amauri doesn’t seem to have that goal scoring prowess he did last season and at Palermo. He seems a shadow of the player he once was and surely cannot even think about pulling the Azzurri shirt given his recent run of form.

The two Brazilian summer signings started brightly but in the last two months both have fallen into relative obscurity. Diego needs to step up to the plate to show the Juventus faithful and the rest of Italy he is the player we all thought he would be.

However, it is all well and good looking the underperforming players. The coach must also come under scrutiny. Ciro Ferrara has not lived up to any expectations we had at that seasons start, he continues with the 4-3-1-2 formation, that does not work, and even in matches where this is apparent, he does nothing to amend the situation.

When comparing the differing fortunes of AC Milan and Juventus, a colleague of mine stated, “Leonardo has learned and developed as a coach, Ferrara has not.” Simple, he is not the coach we thought he would become. I wouldn’t advocate for his departure yet, I think every coach needs time, but given the current predicament Juventus are in, how long will the hierarchy give Signor Ferrara?