Misfiring Juventus fall way short of expectations

With six matches remaining, many issues are still unresolved in this season's Serie A. Long-time leaders and champions Inter are only one point above Roma and three ahead of third-placed Milan.

At the wrong end of the table, bottom sides Siena and Livorno are heading for the drop as they are eight points away from safety. Atalanta (31 points), Lazio (34), Udinese and Bologna (both on 35) are also fighting for survival in the Serie A.

Further up the standings, there is another mini-league involving four sides who are still in contention for the fourth Champions League spot. As things stand, Palermo and Sampdoria are joint-fourth with 51 points, Napoli have 49 and Juventus are seventh on 48.

Juventus have, without a shade of doubt, been the biggest let-down of the season. In the summer, the Bianconeri spent heavily to strengthen their squad with a view to producing a strong challenge for the title.

After winning their opening four league games, Juventus have been in steady decline. They never really recovered after going down to Palermo on the seventh day.

New signings Fabio Cannavaro, Fabio Grosso, Felipe Melo and Diego all failed to leave their mark. Consequently, Juve were never really in the hunt for honours this season.

In the Champions League, Juventus looked well on course to qualify for the knock-out stage until they crashed to Bordeaux on the penultimate day of the group phase. In their final game, against Bayern Munich, Juve only needed a draw at home to go through but they were crushed by the Germans.

David Trezeguet's early opener was a false dawn as Juventus went on to suffer a humiliating 4-1 defeat. Throwing away leads has been a Juventus trademark this season.

When the Euro club competitions resumed in February, Juventus had a new coach, the experienced Alberto Zaccheroni, after they sacked Ciro Ferrara. By that time, Juve had dropped out of the title race and had also been knocked out of the Champions League and the Coppa Italia.

Consequently, the Europa League represented Juve's only chance of winning a trophy this season. Proof that this competition had become a priority for Juventus was to be found in Zaccheroni's decision to pick his strongest line-up for the matches against Ajax and Fulham.

A 2-1 aggregate score took Juve past Ajax but the Turin giants stumbled at the next hurdle despite beating Fulham 3-1 at home. The return leg at Craven Cottage brought further misery to the Old Lady as Roy Hodgson's team came from a goal down to beat Juventus 5-4 on aggregate.

After their 4-1 home debacle against Bayern, a defeat by the same score had dashed Juve's Europa League hopes.

Under Ferrara, Juve managed 10 wins and three draws in 21 Serie A outings (an average of 1.57 points per game). Things did not improve under Zaccheroni as the two-times European Cup winners have only gained 15 points in 11 games (approximately 1.36 points per game).

One has to point out that, before taking over at Juventus, Zaccheroni had only coached for five months - ironically at Juve's city neighbours Torino in season 2006/07 - in the previous five-and-a-half years.

Juventus's decision to dismiss Claudio Ranieri and promote Ferrara to the top job in the final weeks of last season was widely seen as a big gamble. Ranieri has since silenced his doubters by turning Roma into serious title challengers.

There was nothing wrong in giving Ferrara the chance to prove himself at the top level but when a club of Juve's stature goes with an emerging coach, they have to back him all the way.

For fairness sake, it has to be said that Juve did not push Ferrara towards the exit door after the first defeat. The ex-Napoli and Italy defender was given time to turn Juve's season around but it was to no avail.

Things under Ferrara were going from bad to worse. Yet, Juve made a mistake in hiring Zaccheroni, on an interim basis, as the former Udinese mentor represented a cheaper option compared to Dutch maestro Guus Hiddink who was also linked with the job.

Juve are still in the hunt for fourth spot, albeit their remaining fixtures are anything but straightforward. Whereas Juve's final three home fixtures, against Cagliari, Bari and Parma, are winnable games on paper, the same cannot be said of their trips to Inter, Catania and Milan.

The Bianconeri are coming from three straight away defeats in the Serie A and if they are to claim a top-four finish, they can't pin their hopes on winning their remaining home games only.

It's hard to predict whether Juve will reach their top-four objective come the end of the season. It seems that Zaccheroni will follow in the footsteps of Ferrara as his confirmation as coach for next season is highly unlikely.

Along with Zaccheroni, a number of players, including veterans from the old guard, will also be offloaded in the summer. Juve's 'revolution' should not start with the coach and end with the players, though.

If Juventus are to return to the summit of Italian and European football, their starting point for next season should be the appointment of a new board of directors who have the vision, passion and knowhow to rebuild a winning team.

Serie A statistics

0 penalties were awarded in Saturday's Serie A matches. Chievo's Santiago Morero was the only red-carded player. Udinese are still in search of their first away success. Inter, Palermo and Sampdoria are still unbeaten at home. Long-time leaders Inter possess the most prolific attack (61 goals scored) and the best defensive record in the division (28 goals against). Josè Mourinho's side have not conceded at home since Siena's Massimo Maccarone scored in the 65th minute of his team's 4-3 defeat. Livorno have the poorest scoring record in the division with just 22 goals in favour. Siena, having conceded 55 goals, have the weakest defence. Juventus and Fiorentina have been involved in the least number of draws - six each.

1 point separates leaders Inter from Roma. In last weekend's fixtures, Inter were in a class of their own as they annihilated Bologna 3-0. Inter's second successive 3-0 home win coincided with Bologna's fourth straight defeat and overall their fifth successive winless game. Roma pulled off a vital 1-0 away win against Bari. Roma's 22nd positive result on the trot coincided with Bari's first upset after a five-match positive streak (three wins and two draws). Claudio Ranieri's team from are undefeated on the road since their 1-2 upset to Udinese on the 10th day.

2 months had to pass for Sampdoria to return to winning ways away from their Luigi Ferraris Stadium. Luigi Del Neri's side made a giant step towards a top-four finish thanks to a 2-1 win at Chievo. Samp were the only side among the Champions League hopefuls to win their weekend's fixture as Palermo, Juventus and Napoli faltered. Chievo are winless in their last six outings (three draws and three defeats). Genoa threw away a 1-0 lead to share the spoils with Livorno at home.

3rd straight away defeat for Juventus, who were comprehensively beaten by Udinese. For Juve, this was their seventh away loss and overall their 12th reverse of the term. The Friulani have collected 30 of their current 35 points in 16 home matches. Walter Mazzarri's Napoli came from a goal down to salvage a 1-1 away draw with in-form Lazio. Both sides have now stretched their respective unbeaten runs to four games (two wins and two draws).

7 winless games in a row (two draws and five defeats) have diminished Cagliari's hopes of challenging for a Europa League spot. Third-placed Milan were Cagliari's latest executioners as the Rossoneri remained three points adrift of Inter. This was Milan's first victory after a three-match winless run (two draws and one defeat) and their first away success since beating Bari 2-0 on the 25th day. Parma extended their positive run to seven games (three wins and four draws) thanks to a 1-1 home draw against Fiorentina.

9 points have been collected by Atalanta in their last four outings. In a direct relegation encounter, Bortolo Mutti's side edged Siena 2-0 to stay in touch with fourth-from-bottom Lazio. Alberto Malesani's team from have gained only one point out of the last available nine. In a highly-contested Sicilian derby, Catania struck two first-half goals to dent Palermo's hopes of claiming the fourth Champions League spot. For Sinisa Mihajlovic's side this was their fourth straight home win. Palermo have managed only three away wins, their most recent coming against Juventus on the 26th day.

25 goals were scored on the 32nd day: 16 coming from the hosts and the remaining nine from the visitors, who obtained three wins. Foreigners contributed 12 goals while there were 15 first-half nettings. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 814. Thiago Motta (Inter) and Maxi Lopez (Catania) grabbed a brace each. Davide Astori's own goal enabled Milan to conquer Cagliari's Sant'Elia Stadium. Richmond Boakye came on as a substitute for David Suazo and scored for Genoa. Antonio Di Natale consolidated his place at the top of the scorers' list after netting his 22nd goal.