Juventus is just point back from Milan;having played one match less than the Leader Milan in ITALAIAN A.A man with a hair transplant is restoring the image of Juventus.It needed it. Following the humiliation of Calciopoli, Juve has been timid and kowtowing, finishing limply in seventh place the last two seasons.
"Let me repeat this: I am very proud to have been around before being given this great opportunity," he told Sky Sports. "Coming back to Juventus is indeed a great opportunity, but let me also state that I have earned this opportunity on the field."
The 42-year-old isn't talking about his playing career, when he won five scudetti and a Champions League with the Old Lady, but his coaching credentials. He's brought two clubs up from Serie B – Bari in 2009 and Siena last season – but left in each case to interview for the open Juventus gig.
In 2009, Juventus instead opted for Ciro Ferrara, a former teammate of Conte. It was the wrong choice. Juventus had four coaches in three seasons prior to this year, whereas the club enjoyed boasting it hadn't fired a coach in 40 years prior to dismissing Claudio Ranieri in 2009 when he failed to win seven games in a row.
Conte didn't hold a grudge. Back when he earned a move to Juve as a 21-year-old, he described himself as a "player-fan."
Given Ferrara's failures and bold claims by Conte that he would persist with a 4-2-4 formation, expectations were muffled, despite the opening of Italy's first club-owned stadium, Juventus Stadium.
"I have an technical and tactical archive of articles and interviews and every so often I look back at what was said before the season began," Conte said this week. "In August we were a disaster, we hadn't signed any top players and the coach was considered the Taliban of tactics."
Now Juventus sits one point back from AC Milan with a game in hand, the only unbeaten club left in Serie A.
All throughout the first half of the season, Conte and his players refused to say "the S word" but, with a win on Saturday possibly opening up a 10-point gap on third placed Udinese, Juve club personnel has begun admitting that a scudetto is a real possibility.
What's changed in six months?
Aside from bravado, Conte isn't nearly as tactically naïve as his mooted 4-2-4 suggests.
"In actuality it's a 4-4-2," he admitted to Sky Sports. But, he noted, they wouldn't be talking about an apparent 'innovation' if he hadn't put it like that.
Since then he's shifted twice more – first to a 4-3-3 to optimize the three impressive central midfielders on the roster and mitigate the lack of quality wingers, and then to a 3-5-2 to nullify the left back problem, where he had tried six different players.
"We are fortunate enough to have players in the team that may permit us to change and use something different. The general idea on how we should play remains essentially the same, though," he told Sky Sports.
"What is a team? It is one thing above all: an assembly of players who, under all circumstances, positive or negative, moves like a single unit."
Team cohesion has Juventus in its first title charge since the Calciopoli-induced relegation of 2005. Three players have three assists, not including Andrea Pirlo's team-leading six. Central midfielder Claudio Marchisio is second on the team with six goals. Industrious winger Simone Pepe has five. Andrea Barzagli, who cost 300,000 euros, is the only player to feature in every league game.
"I see hungry faces, even those who have a long list of honors. Last year there was never such desire," Barzagli told La Repubblica. "This year we are all much more aggressive." The 30-year-old defender recently earned an Italian national team recall after a three-year absence.
Though the team has excelled with bargains and refurbished components (Pirlo arrived for free this summer and now leads the league in passes per game), that's not to indicate it doesn't want an elite attacker. Juve openly pursued several striking options in the summer and January transfer windows.
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| Zac Lee Rigg restoring Juventus to what may be the best club of Italy |
"Let me repeat this: I am very proud to have been around before being given this great opportunity," he told Sky Sports. "Coming back to Juventus is indeed a great opportunity, but let me also state that I have earned this opportunity on the field."
The 42-year-old isn't talking about his playing career, when he won five scudetti and a Champions League with the Old Lady, but his coaching credentials. He's brought two clubs up from Serie B – Bari in 2009 and Siena last season – but left in each case to interview for the open Juventus gig.
In 2009, Juventus instead opted for Ciro Ferrara, a former teammate of Conte. It was the wrong choice. Juventus had four coaches in three seasons prior to this year, whereas the club enjoyed boasting it hadn't fired a coach in 40 years prior to dismissing Claudio Ranieri in 2009 when he failed to win seven games in a row.
Conte didn't hold a grudge. Back when he earned a move to Juve as a 21-year-old, he described himself as a "player-fan."
Given Ferrara's failures and bold claims by Conte that he would persist with a 4-2-4 formation, expectations were muffled, despite the opening of Italy's first club-owned stadium, Juventus Stadium.
"I have an technical and tactical archive of articles and interviews and every so often I look back at what was said before the season began," Conte said this week. "In August we were a disaster, we hadn't signed any top players and the coach was considered the Taliban of tactics."
Now Juventus sits one point back from AC Milan with a game in hand, the only unbeaten club left in Serie A.
All throughout the first half of the season, Conte and his players refused to say "the S word" but, with a win on Saturday possibly opening up a 10-point gap on third placed Udinese, Juve club personnel has begun admitting that a scudetto is a real possibility.
What's changed in six months?
Aside from bravado, Conte isn't nearly as tactically naïve as his mooted 4-2-4 suggests.
"In actuality it's a 4-4-2," he admitted to Sky Sports. But, he noted, they wouldn't be talking about an apparent 'innovation' if he hadn't put it like that.
Since then he's shifted twice more – first to a 4-3-3 to optimize the three impressive central midfielders on the roster and mitigate the lack of quality wingers, and then to a 3-5-2 to nullify the left back problem, where he had tried six different players.
"We are fortunate enough to have players in the team that may permit us to change and use something different. The general idea on how we should play remains essentially the same, though," he told Sky Sports.
"What is a team? It is one thing above all: an assembly of players who, under all circumstances, positive or negative, moves like a single unit."
Team cohesion has Juventus in its first title charge since the Calciopoli-induced relegation of 2005. Three players have three assists, not including Andrea Pirlo's team-leading six. Central midfielder Claudio Marchisio is second on the team with six goals. Industrious winger Simone Pepe has five. Andrea Barzagli, who cost 300,000 euros, is the only player to feature in every league game.
"I see hungry faces, even those who have a long list of honors. Last year there was never such desire," Barzagli told La Repubblica. "This year we are all much more aggressive." The 30-year-old defender recently earned an Italian national team recall after a three-year absence.
Though the team has excelled with bargains and refurbished components (Pirlo arrived for free this summer and now leads the league in passes per game), that's not to indicate it doesn't want an elite attacker. Juve openly pursued several striking options in the summer and January transfer windows.
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