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Sarri's winning so why are Juventus fans whistling?

  /  autty

A Juventus goal is usually followed by widespread celebration at the Allianz Stadium. But these are strange times in Turin.

After opening the scoring in last Sunday's 2-0 win over Brescia, Paulo Dybala was more concerned with making a point than revelling in his fantastic free-kick.

After performing his usual 'Gladiator mask' celebration, the Argentine imitated a whistle with his right hand and then waved his finger in the direction of the fans.

The message was clear: enough with the whistling.

The Bianconeri are top of Serie A, perfectly placed to reach the final of the Coppa Italia and heavy favourites to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of an injury-hit Lyon.

So, why are their players being jeered by their own supporters?

The simple answer is that Juve are not playing well. But the situation is a little more complex than that.

After all, this is the club that has long lived by the Gianpiero Boniperti mantra, "Winning is not important: it's the only thing that counts."

However, it's clear that no longer rings true in Turin, at least not for everyone.

Much like Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich 12 months before him, Juve president Andrea Agnelli hired Maurizio Sarri last summer because he no longer wanted to just win – he wanted to win in style.

At Napoli, Sarri had put together one of the most aesthetically pleasing sides in Europe, and on a relatively small budget. It made him the darling of football's purists, and also one of the most sought-after coaches in the game.

Chelsea fans never quite took to Sarri's brand of possession football – 'F*ck Sarriball' was a chant heard regularly at Stamford Bridge last season – but the Neapolitan secured a return to the Champions League via a third-placed Premier League finish before then masterminding a 4-1 rout of Arsenal in the Europa League final.

By that stage, Agnelli had seen enough to convince him that Sarri was the man to succeed the far more pragmatic Massimiliano Allegri as Juve's coach.

It was never going to be an easy transition, though. 'Sarriball' asks a lot of players; it takes time to implement. The possession-orientated strategy requires a high defensive line, 90-minute pressing and rapid movement of the ball; teething problems were inevitable.

However, the reason why there is so much tension in Turin is the feeling that seven months into this new ambitious project, Juve's players are still struggling to understand 'Sarrismo', let alone implement it.

Hardly surprising, then, that the same journalists who were so confident that Pep Guardiola was on his way to Juve last summer were beside themselves with excitement when it was announced last week that Manchester City had been banned from the next two Champions Leagues.

"City are out! What will you do, Pep?" the Gazzetta dello Sport giddily asked last Friday.

It was also reported that Agnelli is now unconvinced by Juve's performances and while Goal has learned that Guardiola intends to stay at the Etihad beyond the summer, Sarri is undoubtedly a man under mounting pressure.

Indeed, he admitted himself after Juve's fortuitous Coppa Italia draw at AC Milan last week that his players' progress had "stalled". However, one could easily argue that the Bianconeri machine has actually been going backwards for the past two months.

After an encouraging and unbeaten start to the season in all competitions, Juve have lost four times – twice to Lazio – since December 7.

Again, that would have been acceptable – particularly given the Old Lady, in theory, remains on course for a treble – if the fans were being treated to evidence of improvement; positive signs of 'Sarriball'.

Instead, Juve's play has been predictable and painfully slow. This is a team still searching for its identity, so it's hardly surprising that so many players have appeared unsure of themselves, and indeed their roles.

As radio host and Juve fan Linus told Tuttosport earlier this week, "The whistles are unpleasant but the average Juventus fan is disoriented, struggling to relate to this team when there is no stable backbone, where the players battle but take to the field in ever-changing roles.

"Maybe we are demanding fans, but this is not the real Juve except on some occasions. We are used to having fun, as well as winning: civil dissent must be accepted."

Even Linus, though, could understand Dybala's point – since backed up by centre-half Leonardo Bonucci – that this is a time for Juve fans to back the players, rather than berate them.

Only this week, former club president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli described Miralem Pjanic to Radio Sportiva as "soft as mozzarella", which will have done little for the Bosnian’s self-belief.

Still, the playmaker perhaps personifies Juve's struggles under Sarri this season.

He initially thrived in the 'Jorginho role' but he has now utterly lost his way, and his confidence, just like Juve in general, with the team relying on Cristiano Ronaldo's clinical finishing to win games.

This is undeniably a team that specialises in individual moments of excellence rather than shows of collective strength.

And this is arguably the most concerning issue for Juventus. While the players look confused and undercooked, the growing suspicion in Turin is that the Old Lady's primary problem is mental.

As Guido Vaciago wrote in Tuttosport on Tuesday, "Those who think it's only a tactical or physical problem have understood nothing of what Juventus have been for the past eight years."

The keys to Juve's remarkable run of eight consecutive Scudetti were unity and a spirit of self-sacrifice. There was a huge amount of talent in the teams of Antonio Conte and Allegri but it was their togetherness that drove them. Sarri's side do not yet possess that sense of solidity.

The return of Giorgio Chiellini will undoubtedly help in that regard. It is one thing having the club captain as a cheerleader on the sidelines; it is quite another to have him calling the shots in the backline.

While there's not much of a disparity in the numbers, it is nonetheless telling Juve have scored fewer goals and conceded more than their two Scudetto rivals, Lazio and Inter.

Certainly, Chiellini's return is good news for Matthijs de Ligt, who has struggled to settle since his summer arrival from Ajax. However, the whole squad should benefit from having their inspirational skipper back alongside them.

Chiellini can only do so much, though. The onus remains on Sarri as coach to unite the squad, the club and indeed the fans behind him going into what everyone connected to the club agrees is a decisive month for the team.

Ahead of the Champions League first-leg clash with Lyon, and a monumental Serie A showdown with Inter, Sarri has reportedly decided to give up on his 4-3-1-2 formation – primarily due to his lack of a functioning playmaker – and will revert to his preferred 4-3-3, with the free-scoring Ronaldo being joined in attack by Juan Cuadrado and Dybala.

It is believed that the players are on board but winning over the fans could obviously prove more difficult. Getting the supporters onside has been a struggle from the start for Sarri. Many greeted his appointment with scepticism; some with open hostility.

Sarri, after all, had shown them the finger from the Napoli team bus before a game against Juventus in April 2018, so when the 61-year-old magnanimously paid tribute to his former team after a 2-1 loss at the San Paolo earlier this month, Juve's keyboard warriors went apoplectic online.

Essentially, memories are long in Turin, while patience is increasingly short supply. And evidently, winning is no longer the only thing that counts at Juventus. Positive results can’t make up for a negative atmosphere, as Ernesto Valverde learned at Barcelona.

In short, it's Sarri – rather than Dybala – who needs to turn those jeers into cheers as soon as possible.

Related: JuventusSarri