The Calcio Comment: Motta's instant impact has Juventus primed for title challenge
He has chosen who to dump and who to keep and made strong, clear-cut decisions that led the Bianconeri to send away players like Federico Chiesa, now in talks with Liverpool and Barcelona. Few other clubs would have given so much power and freedom to a coach, in general, let alone a coach with such a short career, but this is the way they have gone about it.
That work done early in the summer, the cutting of players considered "non-functional" and the possibility of working with profiles deemed adequate, perfect from a tactical and technical point of view, is already bearing fruit.
In the first two league games, Juventus won both times by scoring six goals and conceding zero, thanks to young talents like Samuel Mbangula and Nicolo Savona, bought for the Next Gen and brought up in a competitive environment, something completely different compared to Italian academy level.
Nico Gonzalez and Francisco Conceicao have arrived - though right now it is the young talents that Thiago Motta is moulding from scratch who are making the difference. Young, athletic, hungry, and strong: the new Juventus is a team that is both beautiful to look at and effective, and pragmatic. And it really looks like Motta has been working with these guys for years, from a tactical standpoint and not only that...
He arrived in the summer and within a short time managed to build a structure of the highest level. In Bologna, he did something unforgettable, a job that guaranteed him a call from Juventus, but the start of the Bianconeri's championship was surprising.
The 3-0 victory against Como had passed somewhat quietly, almost underrated, but Verona in the first league game had beaten Napoli with a great performance. On Monday night, there was no history: Juventus dominated, did not leave the opponents even crumbs, and the three points were the direct result of the (impressive) performance.
Mbangula deserves a few more comments: assist, goal, penalty earned, so many classy touches that hint at a pure talent we will hear about for a long time, but another player who seems to have been reborn with Thiago Motta, also thanks to the Bianconeri's way of playing, is Dusan Vlahovic.
The Serbian is revived and no longer the struggling player of last year. The feeling with his teammates has improved markedly, a clear sign that the coach is working hard on this aspect. Against Verona he scored the first goal with a beautiful left footer after a delightful stop, the second came from a penalty kick that he struck perfectly. He looks like another player compared to the dull and "lonely" one of last year: all credit to Motta.
The Juventus coach has yet to include new signings in the lineup, from Douglas Luiz to Teun Koopmeiners, not to mention Nico Gonzalez and Khephren Thuram, who is currently injured. That's a lot of top players: right now Juventus is a candidate to be Inter's closest rival for the Scudetto.
The Nerazzurri are advantaged since they dominated the last league far and wide. Repeating yourself is difficult, everyone knows it, but Simone Inzaghi and Beppe Marotta have been working hard to improve the squad in the weak points. Considering Juventus' yet untapped talent, it is impossible not to consider Motta and his team as title contenders: they are now playing a lot of youngsters and are on six points out of six.
On Sunday comes Daniele De Rossi's Roma, a team in great difficulty after their first two complicated league games (also because of the Paulo Dybala issue), and Juventus are absolute favourites. There is great curiosity to see which of the new signings will be inserted first among the starters and especially in whose place.
What is surprising about Juventus, in addition to everything we have said so far, is the team's tactical identity. Motta's Bologna was a perfect machine, which, however, he had had time to work on for months; he had time to build that identity, to work on its details.
That same identity can be found in Juventus. And that can only mean one thing: Motta is a top coach. The team has changed, the context is completely different, and he has gone from a mid-level team to the most titled team in Italy, and the incredible thing is that nothing has changed.
He didn't bend, he didn't change his way of working, and he wasn't afraid to make uncomfortable and unpopular decisions. Thiago Motta did not betray himself: this is me, this is my idea of football, I don't change, I don't care about the name of the players, I don't care how much they earn, it's this way, my way, or nothing.
A top mentality, courage and great competence: not many coaches can impose themselves like this. The season is long and it's all to be seen, but Motta could not present himself better than this. And Juventus can sleep soundly with such a leader.
