THE FEBRUARY CURSE: WHY JUVENTUS AND LUCIANO SPALLETTI SUFFER THE SAME ANNUAL WINTER COLLAPSE
Juventus is in crisis: Discover why the February meltdown is back as Como secures a historic double over Spalletti’s tired squad.
Here we go again, Juventus and their annual February meltdown. At this point, it’s practically tradition. We’ve seen it under Max Allegri, it rolled on with Thiago Motta, and now Luciano Spalletti’s caught the bug too.
In my business, they say three times makes a trend.
Well, here it is, and I can’t stand it.
Saturday at the Allianz Stadium just piled on more misery. The Bianconeri went behind early, thanks in part to another big mistake from Michele Di Gregorio, and then just sort of stumbled through the rest of the match, looking half-asleep. Como, missing Nico Paz, barely broke a sweat as they wrapped up their 2-0 win with half an hour left. Honestly, they looked miles better than Spalletti’s crew.
Add this to Como’s win over Juve back in October, the one that pretty much put Igor Tudor on the chopping block, and you’ve got a bit of history. Como hasn’t beaten Juventus twice in a season since the 1950s. Now they have.
So yeah, the February crash-out is alive and well.
Look anywhere around Juventus right now; it’s just bad news. They’ve let in 15 goals over their last five games. Zero wins in that stretch. They’re not winning; they’re not even playing well. Outside of a brief spark against Inter and a little fight after falling behind to Galatasaray, whatever energy Spalletti tried to inject into this team has burned out faster than one of Sarri’s cigarettes.
They look dead on their feet. Tired, flat, and just completely out of gas. The squad’s thin; Spalletti leans on the same guys every week, so maybe it’s not so shocking they’re falling apart as the season drags on.
Still, it’s hard to believe how fast it’s all gone south.
Not just this game, but the whole vibe. A month ago, people were saying Juve was playing some of the best football in Serie A. Now? Nobody knows what to call what we’ve seen these last few weeks.
Even the bright spots, few as they are, seem dull. Kenan Yildiz, for example, has carried this team for so long, but you can see the toll it’s taken. He’s just a kid, after all. Como figured it out: shut down Yildiz, and the rest of the team can’t do much. They fouled him over and over six times in just over 80 minutes, and honestly, it felt like more. Como never let him breathe, and as a result, Juventus barely made a peep all afternoon.
Yeah, the shot stats say the teams were even, but that’s just numbers. Juve finished with 0.70 xG, and a third of that came from a Loïs Openda shot that Como’s keeper saved without breaking a sweat. That pretty much says it all: Juventus offered nothing close to the kind of pressure they were showing just a few weeks back.
Spalletti talked before the match about wanting a response after what happened in Istanbul. Instead, we got more of the same stuff we saw in the second half against Galatasaray.
You don’t need to be a calcio expert to see this isn’t what he had in mind.
Maybe it’s a blessing Spalletti’s bald, because games like this would have him tearing his hair out if he had any left.
Honestly, I want off this ride. It’s miserable. It was ugly in 2024, it was ugly last season, and it’s still ugly now.
Until Juventus shows us something different, this is just who they are when February rolls around.
LUCIANO SPALLETTI OFFICIALLY EXTENDS JUVENTUS TENURE UNTIL 2028 AFTER IMPRESSIVE INTERIM SPELL
Juventus coach Spalletti extends his contract until 2028. Get the latest on the Serie A top-four race and match news.
Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti just signed a new two-year deal with the club, capping off a promising six months at the helm.
He broke the news to his players first, right before Friday’s training session. Not long after, Juventus posted a video of Spalletti sharing the update. “I wanted you to hear it from me before anyone else,” he told the squad. “We’ve decided to extend my contract by another two years. I wanted to tell you before the news got out. Honestly, the road ahead looks tough, but I’m convinced we’ll tackle it together. With your character and your fight, we can turn every challenge into something bigger.”
Spalletti took charge back in October, stepping in after Juventus sacked Igor Tudor. Tudor’s departure came after three straight losses and a long, frustrating stretch without a win. At the time, Juventus handed Spalletti an eight-month contract. The word was, he'd get an automatic two-year extension if the team qualified for the Champions League.
Right now, Juventus sits just outside the Champions League spots, one point back from fourth-place Como, with seven games left in the season.
“When I joined seven months ago, the club gave me this short contract,” Spalletti explained. “The idea was simple: let’s give it some time, get to know each other, then decide at the end of the season if we want to keep going.”
Back then, Juventus sat in seventh place, fighting just to stay in Europe. In the Champions League, they were already scrambling to avoid elimination.
Things have improved since Spalletti took over. Juventus has picked up 17 wins, six losses, and eight draws in 31 matches. They managed to push through to the Champions League playoffs, though Galatasaray knocked them out.
Club CEO Damien Comolli praised Spalletti’s impact. “Since joining us, Luciano’s made a real difference on the pitch, around the club, and among our fans,” Comolli said. “He’s exactly the kind of leader we need. His ambitious football matches what we all expect from Juventus, and he stands for what our club’s all about. So, we want to keep going with him. We believe stability and continuity are key to reaching our goals.”
Juventus hasn’t lifted the Serie A trophy since 2020, when they wrapped up a run of nine straight titles.
Before arriving in Turin, Spalletti led Napoli to the Serie A title in 2023, then took charge of Italy’s national team. That stint didn’t go well; he lost his job last June after a shaky start in World Cup qualifying. Now, he’s got another shot to lead a powerhouse club.
NAPOLI LEAPFROG AC MILAN INTO SECOND PLACE WITH VITAL 1-0 SAN SIRO VICTORY
Napoli beat AC Milan 1-0 to move into second place. Discover how Politano and McTominay are chasing Inter for the title.
Napoli snatched a late 1-0 win over AC Milan at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, keeping their hopes for a second straight Serie A title very much alive. Scott McTominay played the entire match, and with Napoli sitting third before kickoff, their victory bumped them ahead of Milan into second place, just seven points behind Inter. That gap was a daunting 11 points a mere three weeks ago, but Napoli's five-game winning streak, combined with Inter dropping points, has changed the picture fast. With seven matches left, McTominay and the team aren’t giving up on defending their scudetto.
Early in the game, McTominay nearly had Napoli fans holding their breath when he tried a bicycle kick, a move that’s become one of his signatures. This time, though, he couldn't duplicate his Hampden magic from last November against Denmark. The ball skipped wide.
The game felt tense and looked to be heading for a draw until the 79th minute. That’s when Napoli broke through with a quick attack down the left. McTominay didn’t get the goal, but his movement from a Mathias Olivera cross caused chaos in the Milan box. Matteo Politano, coming on as a sub, pounced at the far post and put in a tidy left-footed finish.
Billy Gilmour, McTominay’s Scotland teammate, didn’t get on the pitch. He’d started in three of his last four Serie A appearances, but this time watched from the bench.
Napoli’s next game takes them away to Parma, who sit in 13th. Inter travelled to play Como later that same day. Talking about the title race, manager Antonio Conte said, “Scudetto? It's tough. Inter is really strong and is having an incredible season. We can’t slip up; we need them to make mistakes, and not just once. Honestly, we have to be realistic… Inter deserves to lead. Still, we’ve won the Supercoppa and sit second. We should be pretty happy. With all our injuries and problems, this season could easily have gone off the rails.”
Around the rest of Serie A, Lennon Miller, who didn’t see action for Scotland over the international break, came off the bench for Udinese in the 65th minute of their scoreless draw with Como. On Sunday, Lewis Ferguson saw red for the first time in Italy after picking up two yellows in thirty seconds late in Bologna’s 2-1 win at Cremonese. Che Adams found the net for Torino in their 1-0 victory over Pisa.
