The big issue for Juventus is that is only the 9th of October, the season is still a long way off, and a mock of the club motto resounds sinisterly: Until the end? And that question mark twists the anguish of millions fans, frightened by the prospect of drinking the bitter cup for another eight months, World Cup break included. Also because, at this point, the destiny of the year is in unstable equilibrium: the Scudetto requires a challenge that this team, at the moment, does not give the impression of being able to face; to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League requires, at least, two victories, better three: an ambitious goal in the light of Juventus' full blown deficiencies, which cloud hopes and re-propose the disturbing doubt: will it be like this until the end?
No one seems able to give an answer. Massimiliano Allegri tinkers between justifications, extenuating circumstances and good intentions, identifying the problems (at least some of them), not yet the solutions. The management supports him, helps him and corrects him, but how long can they live along with the catastrophic hypothesis of a Champions League group stage exit and a failure to reach the fourth place? There is far, far too much money on the lie. And the fans' mood too. What is worrying about the crisis is, in fact, the discouraging stagnation of three factors: athletic, technical, character. From 15 August to today only imperceptible signs of improvement have hinted at better times, and the optimism brought by a few positive results has been frustrated immediately, and Juventus' troubles have resurfaced.
The first in order of importance is the athletic issue: the team does not have enough fuel to last ninety minutes. Yesterday, as in almost every match played so far, it fizzled out after a promising start. Twenty quite intense minutes, then the fall, inexorable, that slowed down Juventus' game and made the defense laboured. It's a big issue because with this season's schedule there is very little time to repair the fault.
Then there is a technical problem, a kind of virus that has affected and eroded the quality of the team. The number of inaccuracies, bad passes, wrong choices is impressive. Because it affects even players who should be immune to certain "football spelling errors". Yesterday, Alex Sandro allowed Tomori to stay on side in the action of the first goal: it is yet another exacerbating mistake by the recidivist Brazilian, who in the last three seasons has cost precious points for his carelessness. And Vlahovic, who had already lost dangerous balls due to sloppy controls, served the ball for the second goal with a wretched, inaccurate, horizontal pass. Also conspicuous yesterday were the blunders of Kostic, Locatelli, Cuadrado, McKennie, Danilo: too many to cushion the impact.
Of course, the referees are also lacking accuracy. Yesterday Milan's first goal came from a corner kick that should not have been, given the foul, as violent as it was unequivocal, by Theo Hernandez on Cuadrado. Orsato, who was very close, did not see it, thus conditioning the result of the match. An error that adds to that of Banti and Marcenaro in Juventus-Salernitana. At the Continassa there is irritation, but they don't look for alibis, also because the team needs everything but justifications.
Because, and we come to the last problem, it already lacks personality. There are obvious limits in a team that panics at the first difficulty and that yesterday afternoon at San Siro clearly gave up when there were still ten minutes left, trampling on that very 'until the end' that should always and in any case accompany the Bianconeri team, in good times and bad. Juventus lacks leadership, players capable of shaking off the agonistic abulia of people who, for better or worse, weigh on the budget for 160 million gross and offer an inversely proportional meanness. This is the most distressing and at the same time the most encouraging aspect: if Juventus is still Juventus, it can and must find a burst of pride and anger, useful to plug the athletic backlog and find the technical courage. Conversely, this team is no longer Juventus, but only wears its jersey.