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.
THE 2028 VISION: UNEARTHING THE LONG-TERM BLUEPRINT TO KEEP LUCIANO SPALLETTI IN TURIN
Juventus are going all-in on Luciano Spalletti: Read about the 2028 contract offer, the Galatasaray fallout, and Serie A top-four hopes.
Juventus isn’t wasting any time. Even after crashing out of the Champions League against Galatasaray, they’re pushing hard to lock Luciano Spalletti into a long-term deal. The board just wrapped up a few important contract renewals, and now they want to keep Spalletti around until 2028. The goal? Give the club some real direction and stability while they turn their focus fully to domestic trophies and building for the future.
They’re not just thinking about Spalletti, either. Juventus has already nailed down new contracts for Kenan Yildiz, Carlo Pinsoglio, and Weston McKennie. Talks are rolling with captain Manuel Locatelli and Dusan Vlahovic, too. The message from the top is loud and clear: Spalletti, who only arrived at the end of October, is at the centre of everything now. His short-term deal is up in June, but the club wants him to lead the rebuild.
It’s not just talk. The board is pushing for a two-year extension – no more flirting; this is a full-court press. Spalletti has managed 27 games so far, picked up 14 wins, and drawn seven. The recent Champions League exit stings, but it hasn’t changed the club’s mind. They want him to sign on for two more years, aiming for a handshake by mid-March and then the paperwork soon after. Champions League qualification didn’t factor into their decision at all. Meetings could even happen this week if things move fast.
For Spalletti, it’s not just about the money. He wants to build something real in Turin, especially after that wild 7-5 defeat to Galatasaray. Even with a 3-2 win in the second leg after leading 3-0, only to have everything fall apart after Lloyd Kelly’s red card, the ending was brutal. Extra-time goals from Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz finished the job, and Juventus’s European hopes went up in smoke.
Now, both Spalletti and the club want to settle things quickly. He wants a clear plan for the future and some new signings, and he’s expected to earn between €4 million and €5 million a year. For him, the project on the pitch comes first.
With 11 games left in Serie A and the top four still up for grabs, Juventus needs a lift after their European letdown. Right now, they’re 6th with 47 points, just behind Como, Roma, and Napoli. It’s tight, but the club sees Spalletti as the right man for the job.
The big conversations ahead will focus on squad building and investments. By tying down both the coach and several core players before summer, Juventus is trying to set up a united front ahead of the transfer window. They’re betting that experience and a clear plan can get them back where they want to be.
THE MCTOMINAY VOID: WHY NAPOLI STATISTICALLY STRUGGLE WHENEVER THEIR SCOTTISH STAR IS SIDELINED
With Scott McTominay sidelined by tendon inflammation, Napoli relied on a late Lukaku strike to keep their top-four hopes alive.
Napoli finally got a win without Scott McTominay, thanks to a wild stoppage-time goal against bottom-of-the-table Hellas Verona on Saturday. It’s the first time all season they’ve managed a victory without him.
McTominay missed his fourth straight game for Gli Azzurri. He’s been out since aggravating an injury in that 3-2 win over Genoa back on February 7. Right now, Napoli aren’t taking any risks with their star midfielder. He’s still dealing with tendon inflammation between his hamstring and groin, which has kept him from really training at full speed.
There’s talk in Italy that McTominay could be back for the Torino match on Friday. Scotland manager Steve Clarke has his fingers crossed, hoping his 29-year-old midfielder will be fit in time for friendlies against Japan and the Ivory Coast later this month. That’s when Scotland’s World Cup prep really kicks off.
Napoli have looked lost without McTominay. They hadn’t won any of the four games he missed, including a 1-0 loss to Torino back in October when he was out with an ankle strain.
But they finally broke that bad run in Verona. Romelu Lukaku came off the bench and buried a huge winner in the 95th minute, after Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro had cancelled out Rasmus Hojlund’s early goal for Napoli.
The win keeps Napoli third in Serie A. They’re 14 points behind Inter Milan, so the title is probably out of reach, but they’re still fighting for a Champions League spot.
McTominay wasn’t the only Scot involved. There were actually two Scotland internationals on the pitch at the Marcantonio Bentegodi Stadium. Kieron Bowie played the whole game for Verona and nearly put his team ahead just minutes before Lukaku’s winner. The former Hibs man, who netted his old club a £7 million transfer fee in January, got on the end of a deep cross. Napoli’s keeper Alex Meret missed it, but Bowie, stretching at a tight angle, couldn’t steer the ball home. It rolled right across the empty goal.
Things went from bad to worse for Bowie. Moments later, he was marking Lukaku in the Verona box. The Belgian shrugged him off and slotted in the winning goal. Another tough blow for Verona, who are now bottom of the table, nine points from safety with 11 games left, and they’ve played a game more than everyone they’re chasing.
Billy Gilmour also got a run for Napoli, coming on with Lukaku in the 73rd minute. He earned praise from the Italian media for giving Napoli a late boost. This was only his second appearance off the bench since coming back from nearly four months out with a groin injury. He also played in the 2-2 draw against Roma on February 15.
