Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri could be SACKED if they lose to Lazio tonight after shocking collapse in form… as ‘iron sergeant’ under-19 coach Paolo Montero waits in the wings

In over 100 years of Serie A history, Juventus have never been more than 20 points from the top of the table.

But they are right now and this unpleasant situation is causing friction within the locker room, with coach Massimiliano Allegri not even speaking at the press conference on the eve of Tuesday’s Italian Cup semi-final first leg against Lazio.

In the event of a bad result, all the Italian media are suggesting Allegri could be sacked in order to prevent the team from suffering a definitive collapse in Serie A, as well as a cup exit.

According to Tuttosport, Allegri’s bench is currently creaking and there is no margin for error, with three victories needed from their upcoming games against Lazio, Fiorentina and Torino.

A long and complex series of poor results has already inevitably changed the thinking over Allegri’s future and he seems to have exhausted his justifications for giving up on his team’s attacking play.

The weekend loss means Juventus have taken just seven points from their last nine matches

The advantage over those outside the Champions League places had even reached 17 points but those are old memories given Juventus has fallen from second to third place.

Meanwhile, Thiago Motta’s Bologna has risen into fourth, just two points behind the Bianconeri. Now the pressure is heating up and Allegri is guilty of having made too many mistakes.

Mail Sport can reveal members of the Juventus board of directors are angry and disappointed about the results and the handling of delicate cases concerning Kenan Yildiz and Federico Chiesa.

In the event of a bad result on Tuesday evening against Lazio, the coach could be fired and his natural successor has already been identified in Paolo Montero.

The Juventus youth coach is considered the right man to try to strengthen the psychology of the locker room and compared to Allegri, he would be an ‘iron sergeant’ like Gennaro ‘Ringhio’ Gattuso or Igor Tudor.

MONTERO TOTALLY DEVOTED TO JUVE

Montero would be welcomed with open arms by Juventus. Cut him, and he bleeds black and white, and wouldn’t coach the club as a profession but out of love and total devotion to the team he’s always adored.

Born in 1971, he is mature and knows every nook and cranny of the club’s training centre by heart. He would talk a lot about the players and, above all, would motivate the whole group.

The possibility has been raised that Juventus under-19 coach Paolo Montero could take over

Montero was a fearsome competitor as a player and remains totally devoted to Juventus 

He would serve as a kind of antibiotic for the players’ heads and hearts.

Montero was a hot, aggressive player, he always fought and demanded total discipline. With him the team would not smile after a defeat, as Adrien Rabiot did in the images caught by DAZN cameras.

Montero would also accept a contract until June 30 before returning to coaching the Juventus youth teams while remaining available.

He’d use the 4-3-3 and a more fluid attacking system, putting things back in order and landing the black and white plane in the placid sea of the Champions League – their minimum objective.

There are no more excuses for Allegri as the patience of the Juventus fans has expired. They have been filling the web with the hashtag #AllegriOut.

The ‘Old Lady’ no longer exists, she was erased by the gross errors of her coach who since Saturday evening has been at the centre of an internal debate within the club over possible dismissal.

The 1-0 league defeat against Lazio, the fourth in nine games, has definitively undermined the club’s certainties regarding their Tuscan coach.

At the end of Montero’s possible trial, there would be Antonio Conte and Motta, who would currently put all offers on standby awaiting the choice of CEO Cristiano Giuntoli.

Juventus fell to a 1-0 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday in their latest setback

ALLEGRI IN FREE-FALL

The clear feeling is that ‘Acciughina [little anchovy]’ – Allegri’s nickname – has completely lost control and that emerged from the argument in the final minutes with his deputy Marco Landucci – caught by the DAZN cameras.

The sum of these psychological cracks in the locker room has created an irreparable fracture that CEO Giuntoli has reported to the Elkann family, who are considering serious measures.

Not qualifying for the Champions League next season would further complicate the attempts to close with a new sponsor destined to take the place of Jeep on the chest of the Bianconeri.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, this will probably be of foreign origin and probably from Saudi Arabia

There are still eight league games left and at least two in the Coppa Italia, with a lot at stake for the club, yet more so for Allegri who risks ruining his career once and for all.

He now risks being fired because he no longer has the strength to dominate discontent in the locker room as well as the tactical knowledge to impose a change of pace.

There seems to be little tactical coherence to Juventus under coach Allegri at the moment 

Tudor and Daniele De Rossi have demonstrated how a change in tactical management can be fundamental in the rebirth of a team but this aspect – at least until today – has been underestimated by the Elkann family who didn’t wish to make a change.

In three years, Allegri has managed to destroy the psychological strength of the team, dividing the supporters into two large blocks; those in favour and those against his continued presence in the dugout.

Juventus need 11 more points to secure Champions League football but that is in doubt if they continue to play like this.

Any coach in the world would have been sacked after getting seven points in nine games but he’s still sitting there, watching the Titanic slowly sink while the violin orchestra continues to play.

4-3-3? NO! 3-6-1 WITHOUT ANY LOGIC

Juventus initially deployed in a 4-3-3 but that was an illusion that lasted just a few minutes.

Andrea Cambiaso looks baffled at Allegri’s instructions in the Lazio defeat

Seen from above, the team does not follow any tactical line and is positioned in a 3-6-1 without any kind of logic, with players choosing freely where and how to play without direction.

Andrea Cambiaso is a left back who has never played in his role under Allegri. It is a terrible way of managing the resources at his disposal, which has effectively exposed the tactical obtuseness of a stubborn coach.

He responds with great anger to journalists and fans who criticise him and so is left alone, without any concrete support from the club, with a dressing room that has essentially abandoned him.

Allegri has suffered from errors of judgement in choosing players, making all the wrong decisions from the match against Empoli.

He did not consider the delicate balance of the locker room and further divided them in a spirit of improvisation by forcing Yildiz to the bench, when the Turkish star was on the rise, to give space to Arkadiusz Milik and from that moment on the team was short-circuited.

TACTICS LIKE A THURSDAY NIGHT PUB TEAM

Mattia De Sciglio and Fabio Miretti would have difficulty playing in Serie B today but they are Juventus starters and this should open up numerous reflections within the club.

The team does not follow Allegri and the coach no longer knows what to say and what to do on the pitch despite maintaining a very strong sense of attachment to the club’s values.

The choice to insert and burn Nikola Sekulov in a few minutes was a sensational mistake, as demonstrated by the negative events in the final part of the match which condemned the team to a bad defeat.

Juventus continues not to play, to give up on implementing decent tactical ideas and defend low like they’re having a kickabout in the park with a few friends.

Mattia De Sciglio has won favour with the coach but looks well short of Juventus class

The players are in a panic and against Lazio, the team managed only two shots on the opposition goal, through Chiesa and Cambiaso.

The disastrous return of seven points from nine games would have condemned Juventus to Serie B if the Italian championship had started 60 days ago.

In getting everything wrong, Allegri has undermined the excellent work done in then first part of the year and seems unaware of the risks Juventus are taking in this historic moment.

Against Lazio, he showed confusion, shyness, fears and, above all, tactical and technical disorganisation, making all the wrong initial choices.

Despite the defeat, Allegri remains in third place in Serie A and is falling back on his 500 games in the Italian championship while raising serious doubts about his adaptability to modern football.

CHIESA’S SAD BAMBI EYES

Chiesa’s eyes as he left the field for an incomprehensible substitution are the perfect image of the general confusion that guides Allegri’s choices.

He looked like Bambi, Walt Disney’s famous fawn, with eyes full of tears as he went off.

Removing the No 7, the only real top player on the team, was embarrassing and shows that something has probably broken in the relationship between coach and players.

Chiesa should be a support for all the players but the changes chosen by Allegri have weakened his charisma, reducing him to just one of many players available.

Chiesa was framed on the bench and he seemed to be talking about his replacement with Cambiaso, who was also strangely removed from the pitch.

This aspect seems to be the prelude to a strong clash between the interests of the coach and those of a team which no longer seems to have confidence in him.

Federico Chiesa struggled to hide his hurt after he was inexplicably taken off at Lazio 

SZCZESNY ADMITS EMBARRASSMENT

Wojciech Szczesny’s words are so harsh that they are understandable even to a child – the team thinks badly, plays badly and experiences one of the worst moments in its recent history.

The Polish goalkeeper admitted on Sky Sport: ‘Everyone must learnt to manage this pressure, the most beautiful thing we have. If we can’t manage it we have to go and play soccer with friends, not at Juventus.’

The Bianconeri’s team situation is ’embarrassing’ and now fears are starting to spread even within then dressing room.

The blame can only lie with a coach who is failing to get to grips with a situation that risks becoming out of control, further lowering their self-esteem.