Something very uncommon happened to me while browsing my totally illegal streaming service of choice to find the Juventus game this past weekend. In a truly shocking turn of events, I wasn’t tuning in just for the responsibility I have as a writer of your friendly neighborhood blog BWRAO. It wasn’t something I needed to watch because I’m nothing if not a diligent journalist with integrity and morals.

I don’t just write hot fiery takes in this here blog. I write correct, well-researched, accurate takes thank you very much.

I was tuning in because I was legitimately excited and looking forward to watching my team. Ladies and gentlemen, they let Juventus be a fun team again. The fools, the absolute fools.

Notice I said, fun, not great … yet. The baffling defeat against Cagliari, the Coppa Italia elimination by a not-very-impressive Atalanta side, the draw against an extremely mid Lazio side and the wasted opportunity against AS Monaco in Champions League — with a decent chance at the time to get into the top eight and an automatic berth into the round of 16 — are proof that this team is not quite there yet in terms of consistency.

But man, when it’s fun, it’s fun, isn’t it? They can play good, fun ball. Juventus throttled Napoli, Cremonese and Parma in Serie A and convincingly beat Benfica in Europe during that same time period. And did it all with a combined 14-1 scoreline.

(How fun is it to beat the brakes out of Napoli again? A lot. Was it a tad bit more fun to do it with Antonio Conte patrolling the touchlines for the south siders? Yes, yes it was.)

Again, a seriously challenging team does not drop points the way Juventus have, and if we are realistic the Serie A title looks all but done with Inter Milan holding a 12-point advantage over the Bianconeri. But the fact that Juventus is playing well is not something we have seen too much recently.

Consider me … intrigued, Mr. Spalletti.

(The closest pursuer to Inter? Their crosstown rival, the Max Allegri-led AC Milan! Good luck, I did not throw out my massive Allegri tifo.)

Let’s cook.

Having a good time

Not every team with gimmicks is a good team. But every good team has gimmicks.

I have no scientific evidence of this statement, but it feels true, right? I think it’s just a natural consequence of a place with good chemistry. Very often, you end up spending a ton of time with the people you work with. Inside jokes, traditions, rituals. They all start to naturally develop in these environments and you can tell something like that is happening with this Juventus team. You start seeing the group celebrations, players having their own silly little gestures and things that everyone on the team joins in. These are all good things.

Are they a bit dumb, sometimes even going into the realm of cringey? Of course they are, but that’s the point! The entire concept of an inside joke is that everyone not in on it doesn’t get it.

(Also, I’m 32 years old, officially older than all but three (3) active players in the Juventus squad. It is natural and logical that I find that the silly things younger people do are kind of dumb. They are not for me, it’s fine. Have fun, young guns.)

(Arek Milik, Carlo Pinsoglio and Mattia Perin are the three players older than me, for what that’s worth. I’m playing a bit fast and loose with the definition of “active” players, I understand that.)

Let’s not forget that there is a direct correlation between Juventus having players doing silly celebrations with signature moves and the Bianconeri being a good football team. Have we forgotten about the Dybala Mask? Paul Pogba’s Dab? Cristiano Ronaldo’s SIUUUU? All stupid to various degrees, all relevant to the team being successful. When we don’t have that the team loses, this is all very scientific.

I, for one, welcome all the silly gimmicks that our players want to do, if we are not going to be in any sort of title race, at least let’s have some fun doing it.

Starboy

Speaking of contrived celebrations!

There is no scenario in which renewing Kenan Yildiz to a contract through 2030 is not good news for Juventus. Despite his young age, Yildiz has already shown enough this season to prove that he is not only the future of this club but the present as well. The fact that they could re-sign him until the end of the decade while also not paying him anywhere near a massive deal shows me two things.

Juventus, despite everything, is still a destination type of club that can tie up top-tier talent that is coveted by every club in Europe. There is finally a player that is worth building around for the upcoming years.

This is no small thing. Really ever since Ronaldo left the team, there hasn’t been a true game-breaking type of player in Juve’s employment and definitely not one that combines Yildiz’s talent with his age. If everything goes right, we are talking about someone who has the potential to lead this team for the next ten years, at least.             

Of course, signing Yildiz is the first step. In today’s game it’s hard — or impossible — to hold on to elite talent if you are not consistently challenging for silverware. Juventus is just not at a stage where they can be characterized as a team that will challenge for those accolades every year so Yildiz might be a lifelong Juventus fan all he wants but if this current trend continues for a couple more years, how long do you think it will take for the Turkish star to get a wandering eye around Europe?

All that being said, it’s much easier to start building the next great iteration of the Bianconeri with the angular rock set in place.  

Parting Shot of the Week

Thanks to Atalanta shellacking Juventus a week ago, the Bianconeri were unceremoniously dumped out of the Coppa Italia. The domestic cup competition is always important if you win it and very easy to disregard if you lose it, then again, for a “big” club you should aim to win every competition you participate in.

We are very far from the halcyon days of last decade when anything outside of a domestic double was seen as an irredeemable failure of a year, but at least on paper, the fact that Juventus is staring straight at the barrel of another season with no realistic chance at lifting a major trophy should raise some red flags.

(In theory, it’s a possibility that Juventus makes a miracle run in the Champions League, sure. Inter could also self-destruct in league play, but both those scenarios look pretty unlikely, as fun as it would be especially to see Inter Milan choke the title away.)

Spalletti has managed to right the ship and as previously discussed it has been more fun to see this team play recently, but at some point the expectation should be higher for a club with Juve’s pedigree. Because if you don’t, well, you blink and you have almost the exact same amount of major trophy wins this decade as Manchester United. You never want to be in that spot.

(Man United has won two domestic cups to Juve’s two domestic cups. However, the Bianconeri also claim a Supercoppa victory which in theory counts as a major trophy. Yup, we have been exactly one Supercoppa better than the poster club of mismanagement and inadequacy.Whether the Supercoppa should count as a major trophy is a subject for another day.)

See you next time.