At the end of the past season, Juventus started a process of rejuvenation that aimed at totally rebuilding the squad that won 9 consecutive Scudettos. Former star Pirlo was then identified as the man capable of bringing this change forth, while giving the team the spectacular play they never really had.
Juventus' season turned out to be rather disappointing. First of all, they failed to win the Scudetto again, ending up 13 points behind Inter, and then they very seldom managed to play the kind of football they were planning to. On top of that, they were absurdly eliminated from the Champions League too soon, by Porto.
Juventus had not actually started badly, losing only 1 of the initial 17 games, 0-3 at home to Fiorentina, but they often threw away points against the minnows. Moreover, they never really impressed in terms of play while conceding in basically every game.
After losing to Inter in week 18, Juventus tightened the defence, keeping 6 clean sheets in 7 games in all competitions, but then they suffered defeats every 3-4 games, losing to the likes of Napoli, Atalanta, Milan and, most embarrassingly, Benevento at home.
Having fallen out of the top 4 at the end of week 35, they managed to achieve qualification to the next Champions League only thanks to Napoli's suicide in week 38.
Juventus had problems in midfield, missed a real playmaker, only rarely had the strength to impose their play and were depending too much on Ronaldo. He scored the usual bundle of goals (29) but often looked apart from the team. And Dybala never managed to become a protagonist.
Cuadrado, 11 assists, Morata, 11 goals and 10 assists, and Chiesa, 8 goals and 8 assists, were the ones to make the difference, together with De Ligt and, when available, Chiellini at the back. In fact, despite all their problems, Juventus held the next-to-best Serie A defence with 38 goals conceded, only 3 worse than Inter.
Despite winning the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup, with a top 4 finish, Pirlo was let go and Allegri will lead the new Juventus after 2 jobless years.
