Calcio Debate: From Tinkerman To Thinkerman

Just over a month ago Juventus were in a real crisis, having gone five games without a win. Successive defeats to Palermo and Napoli left the Bianconeri languishing in the bottom half of Serie A, while a 2-2 draw in Europe at Belarusian minnows BATE Borisov had compounded the misery and humiliation.

The consensus among Juve tifosi was unequivocal – Ranieri had to go. Indeed a poll conducted by Goal.com at the beginning of October revealed that just under 60 per cent of readers believed that the ex-Chelsea boss should be sacked, with only 11 per cent calling for Giovanni Cobolli Gigli and Jean-Claude Blanc to keep the faith.

Having survived, five weeks on, many Juventini must be delighted with how things have worked out. Juventus, still with Ranieri, have embarked on a five-match winning streak, including the double over two-time reigning Spanish champions Real Madrid, which has seen them book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

This included last night’s splendid 2-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu where, if truth be told, Juventus handed out an Italian footballing lesson to their Iberian counterparts.

Madrid boasted a Rupert Murdoch-like monopoly of possession, 66.6 per cent to be exact, and racked up 15 corners to Juve’s one, but they created precious little all night, and Alex Manninger was not forced into a half-decent save until the second minute of injury time.

Now I have been a critic of Ranieri in the past but I will always give credit where it is due, and last night he really did get his tactics absolutely spot-on, completely outfoxing Bernd Schuster, who himself is developing a habit of being made to look silly by Italian coaches. Last year Luciano Spalletti and Roma also did the double over the German.

The Juventus defence alternated between sitting back and soaking up the predictable Madrid attacks, and pushing up the pitch, safe in the knowledge that neither Raul nor Ruud Van Nistelrooy had the pace to get in behind them. Juve picked the right moments to attack and, unlike Los Blancos, every time they did come forward they looked like causing problems. Aside from Del Piero’s magnificent double, Juve also had four other big openings, two in the first half which were squandered by poor final balls, and two after the break with Marco Marchionni, and Del Piero again.

It was the perfect away performance, and Ranieri deserves to be lauded just as much as his players, especially when you consider that 10 first team squad members, including five (Buffon, Grygera, Camoranesi, Poulsen/Zanetti, Trezeguet) who would have expected to start, were out injured.

Ultimately Ranieri will be judged by the trophies he wins at the end of the season, and this fantastic result, Juve’s first win at the Bernabeu for 46 years, will soon be forgotten if neither the Scudetto nor the Champions League is captured.

But for one night at least, the ‘Tinkerman’ became the ‘Thinkerman’.

What are your views on this topic? Does Ranieri deserve to be praised following the 2-0 win over Real Madrid? How do those of you who believed he should be sacked feel now? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think…

Carlo Garganese