Juve ponder new coach, again

Posted Thursday, April 28, 2011 by Supersport.com

Juventus Turin appear to be considering a fourth change of coach in two years as the Serie A giants are about to close yet another dismal season.

Under Luigi Delneri, the Bianconeri were soon cut off from the race for the scudetto, and eliminated from the Europa League and Italian Cup.

As the coach struggles to secure a berth in a continental competition with four games left, speculation about his firing abound in the local media.

Roberto Mancini, at Manchester City after a good stint with Inter Milan, is said to have had contacts Juve, who could also consider their former midfielder Antonio Conte, currently steering Siena to promotion into the top flight.

There seem to be fewer chances for Marcello Lippi's return in Turin, and Luciano Spalletti appears set to stay at Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Juve currently lie seventh, three points from an Europa League bearth, and with slim chances to secure the last of four Champions League berths, given a seven-point gap from fourth-place Lazio, who host them next weekend.

Delneri's failure stretches a bad run that Juve began in 2006, when two top managers were found guilty in a corruption scandal, the club was stripped of two Serie A titles and relegated to the Serie B.

The Bianconeri promptly regained the top flight in 2007, but their former midfielder Didier Deschamps left the bench before the season started, with Claudio Ranieri arriving.

The former Chelsea boss was sacked before the end of his second season and replaced by ex-Juve star defender Ciro Ferrara, who late in the 2009-10 season gave way to Alberto Zaccheroni, with Delneri following ahead of the current season.

Delneri's hopes to stay on took a bad blow last weekend in the form of an embarrassing 2-2 home draw with lowly Catania, who rallied from two goals down with a last-gasp free kick.

International goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said this week that "the real sadness is that the coaches are the ones who always pay.

"First (Ciro) Ferrara, then Ranieri. Now I hear talks of a substitute for Delneri and I feel sorry because, in a game like the one against Catania, he is certainly not the one to blame," Buffon said.

Some die-hard Juve fans last weekend chanted against Mancini, a fierce enemy in his four seasons at Inter, while others wonder if any coach would ever manage to solve problems that seem to stem from debatable purchases.

With the exception of strikers Alessandro Matri and Fabio Quagliarella, who is out after knee surgery, Juve's recent arrivals have been rather disappointing.

Brazilian Felipe Melo and Alberto Aquilani were supposed to bring order to a midfield that remains shaky and unable to support a defence that conceded 42 goals - about as many as relegation threatened Sampdoria and Brescia.

Even harder is to explain how striker Amauri spent a whole year without scoring at Juve, but has already notched two braces since moving on loan to minnow Parma in January.