Maurizio Sarri won’t find it easy to make Juventus likable

There’s no doubt that Maurizio Sarri is an immensely talented coach. But can even he manage to make Juventus likable?

The appointment of Maurizio Sarri at Juventus indicated that the club is finally striving to play an attractive brand of soccer. Saturday’s 0-1 victory over Parma suggested that we may have to wait some time until that noble aim is realized.

Perhaps more importantly, though, Sarri’s arrival also implies that Juve are concerned with making the club more likable. And that could prove a great deal harder to achieve.

If pressed to describe Juventus’ style of play in recent years, people couldn’t be blamed for choosing the word “successful.” That describes the result of a process rather than the process itself, of course. Pressed further, the most likely answer would be “functional.”

Even going back to the days of Marcello Lippi, Juventus have never been associated with a particularly recognizable brand of soccer, let alone an attractive one in the way that Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool and Dortmund sides or Pep Guardiola’s teams at Barcelona and then Manchester City have been.

During Juve’s recent run of domestic success, Antonio Conte infamously won the 2012 Serie A championship without even having a recognized striker in his side much of the time. Indeed, in both of Conte’s first two title-winning seasons, Juventus’ top league scorers managed a paltry 10 goals apiece.

And while Conte’s replacement, Max Allegri, is a considerably more charming and sanguine individual, he’s also a pragmatist at heart.

During that period, the club have of course fielded some extravagantly gifted forward players such as Carlos Tevez, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain, as well as exquisite midfielders including Andrea Pirlo and Miralem Pjanic.

Such talents will always produce some wonderful moments, but Juventus have struggled to be entertaining on a consistent or coherent basis.

That, of course, is in stark contrast to Sarri’s freewheeling Napoli team, who were frequently a joy to behold. And this capacity to delight and beguile, as much as Sarri’s perceived ability to continue Juve’s long run of titles, seems to be behind his appointment.

There’s little doubt that Juventus view the club as much as a brand as a soccer team. For example, the club created uproar at the start of 2017 by replacing its traditional badge with a new modern logo.

And while a desire to secure the holy grail of another Champions League title was clearly a huge factor in the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, that deal also seemed designed to raise the club’s profile among casual sports fans, something that it succeeded in doing.

It isn’t just on the pitch that Juventus have had problems with their image, however.

Off the pitch, their 1990s success was clouded by accusations of doping, and then in 2006 the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal broke. It resulted in Juventus being demoted to Serie B and the club’s general manager Luciano Moggi receiving a life ban from the sport. Others involved were given jail sentences.

More recently, when the news broke in October 2018 that Las Vegas police were investigating rape allegations made against Ronaldo, Juventus attracted strong criticism for the way in which the club responded.

Further controversy followed later in the season when, after Juve’s Moise Kean had been subjected to racist abuse by opposition fans during a game against Cagliari, the Juventus vice-captain Leonardo Bonucci made comments that appeared to suggest that Kean was partly to blame for his ordeal.

Making Juve likable on or off the pitch isn’t going to be a straightforward task for anyone, then, let alone Sarri, who’s currently so ill that he was unable to take his place on the Juventus bench today.

We’re told that Sarri’s recovery from pneumonia should be complete by the end of the forthcoming international break, although given that the club were briefing journalists less than a week ago that he’d be well enough to attend today’s match, that should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt.

Despite Sarri’s absence, though, the victory over Parma still offered some potentially important insights.

The decisive goal, which was scored after 20 minutes, was scrappy, coming from a mis-hit shot that followed a half-cleared corner. That strike was far more Allegri than Sarri, and much the same could be said for the game as a whole.

But the beautiful, intricate Juventus interplay 10 minutes later that created a fine chance for Ronaldo was a glimpse of what Juve’s board and fans — not to mention neutrals — hope that Sarri will bring to the club.

Saturday also gave us the first answers to some questions that have been asked all summer. How would Sarri cope with the egos in the Juve locker room? On this evidence, by not selecting any of the new guys.

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As with Real Madrid last weekend, despite Juventus spending lavishly over the summer none of those new recruits started the match, although Adrien Rabiot did come off the bench.

And who would be Sarri’s No. 9? The guy who was his No. 9 at both Napoli and Chelsea. Gonzalo Higuain’s presence in the starting XI today was one big surprise. The fact that Paulo Dybala wasn’t even brought on as a substitute was another.

Much was as expected, though. Juve lined up in the widely-predicted 4-3-3, with Miralem Pjanic as the midfield metronome. And while far from great, the resulting performance was at least much better than the one from Juventus in last season’s opening game, when they’d struggled to beat a woeful Chievo side that would go on to be relegated.

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There’s little doubt that the Juventus we see this season will be less pragmatic and functional than the one we’ve witnessed in recent years. But it remains to be seen whether Sarri can finally make this club likable.