On Monday Max Allegri was in Florence for Italy’s Coach of the Year awards. “I voted for Stefano Pioli,” he revealed. “But I was undecided. I thought about voting for Roberto Donadoni too.” Once the ballots were closed, however, Allegri was declared the winner. He received 52% of the vote. Pioli and Maurizio Sarri were the runners’ up.
It was the second time Allegri has been recognised by his peers. The last time was seven years ago when the job he’d done in his first season at Cagliari was considered better than Jose Mourinho’s at Inter. The Special One won it a year later after completing an unprecedented treble and the reason Allegri picked up the prize again this week is because he came so close to replicating that achievement with Juventus last season.
The Coach of the Year award in Italy goes by the name of the Panchina d’Oro: The Golden Bench. To look at, it has more in common with the ones you see in a park rather than at a football ground. Cheekily Tuttosport felt Allegri deserved it already in October. Not on coaching merit, but in a figurative sense because he was leaving Juventus’ €32m Golden Boy Paulo Dybala out of the starting XI too much for their liking.
Allegri believed Dybala needed to bulk up, learn a new position and the Juventus mentality. The fans just needed to be patient. Allegri promised them that it would be worth the wait and hasn’t it just. Dybala’s apprenticeship has been quicker than Alvaro Morata’s a year ago and he has exceeded expectations, scoring 17 goals and laying on eight assists in all competitions.
Dybala spends a lot less time on the bench these days. However it has not lost its golden glint. If Juventus do win a fifth straight Scudetto, their strength in depth will be one of the principal factors particularly in a season when they have had more than 40 injuries.
The BBC had Martin Caceres as cover before he tore his Achilles and was ruled out for the rest of the season. They’re also backed up by Daniele Rugani, a player widely recognised as the future of Italy’s defence. Alex Sandro provides serious competition for Patrice Evra’s place. Juan Cuadrado offers something different to Stephane Lichtsteiner.
The midfield can afford one injury. Two’s plenty. But Stefano Sturaro fills in well. The much-maligned Hernanes has attracted ridicule, but also a reappraisal of his merits after better than expected displays away to Man City and at home to Bayern in the Champions League. Then there is Kwadwo Asamoah and Mario Lemina. Up front Dybala and Mario Mandzukic are pushed by Simone Zaza and Morata.
Now it’s one thing having all this depth. Using it effectively is another entirely and this is another fine facet to Allegri’s coaching where he distinguishes himself as outstanding in his field. Consistently he has revealed himself to be incredibly astute at reading the game, assessing exactly what is required and taking the right action to affect the game from the bench. Since Allegri became coach of the Old Lady 18 months ago, 25 of her league goals have arrived from his substitutions. To elaborate further, 14 have been scored and 11 were assisted by players who came on. That is a quite remarkable total and it has played a big role in making Juventus contenders again this season.
The turning point in their campaign is widely regard as the defeat to Sassuolo and the dramatic late victory in the Derby della Mole that followed. Allegri brought on Alex Sandro for Dybala in the 87th minute. He then set up Juan Cuadrado in stoppage time for a momentum shifting and mood-changing winner. Juventus haven’t looked back since taking 52 points from the 54 available.
However, Allegri’s ability to turn a game with his changes has perhaps never been more pronounced than in the last month. Zaza is arguably the symbol of them. He has come off the bench and hit the net three times in the league this season. The most important - and without doubt the pivotal moment in the title race up until now - was his 88th minute strike against Napoli in Turin which clinched a huge win and sent Juventus top of the table for the first time this season. The Old Lady’s Super Sub was averaging a goal every 79 minutes at the time.
Allegri then did it again to rescue Juventus’ Round of 16 tie with Bayern. 2-0 down at home, he sent on Morata and Sturaro and they combined for the equaliser. On Sunday even the lesser-spotted Lemina got in on the act. He replaced Sami Khedira in Bergamo and scored an excellent solo goal that put Atalanta definitively to the sword, the perfect response to Napoli returning to winning ways against Chievo the night before.
Allegri downplays his knack for reading the tea leaves of a football match. He admits luck is involved. But when it happens so often, it speaks to his intelligence, intuition and a trust of one’s gut. Tactical shrewdness and instruction aside, you have to credit Allegri’s man-management too. It’s not easy to keep players on the periphery happy and motivated.
And yet more or less every time he looks to the bench and tells a player to warm up, they do so with the intention of giving him 110% and making the difference. That’s the mentality Juventus have restored in this winning cycle and continue to pass onto new recruits. They have a Golden Bench, but if it glitters it’s because Allegri doesn’t half burnish it.
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