Former Juventus coach Thiago Motta caused some stir with his first interview following his unceremonious sacking.
The 42-year-old joined the club last summer in the hopes of launching a new winning cycle. However, a series of disastrous displays coupled with a reported lack of popularity in the dressing room cut his spell short.
The management decided to sack the former Barcelona, Inter and PSG star, replacing him with Igor Tudor who will serve as interim manager for the remainder of the campaign.
In recent days, Motta broke his silence with an interview that saw him tackling several hot topics. While he admitted committing mistakes, the Italian Brazilian insisted he would have eventually succeeded had he been given sufficient time, while denying any rifts with either the players or the club’s Football Director, Cristiano Giuntoli.
Nevertheless, Italian journalist Sandro Piccinini questions these statements, as his version of events doesn’t explain how the calamitous results against Atalanta and Fiorentina came about.
“Motta’s latest words are surprising. He keeps saying everything was fine, like a captain who didn’t see the iceberg. This is why Giuntoli called Tudor,” said Piccinini in his interview with La Repubblica as translated by Football Italia.
“Motta said the relationship with the players was excellent and that everyone saying otherwise is lying. But something doesn’t add up here: if the relationship was so good. What happened against Atalanta and Fiorentina? Explain those disasters.”
Motta conceded seven goals in total between hosting Atalanta at home and the trip to Florence, which proved to be the final straw.
“Motta mentioned a few minor errors and some wrong choices, but those were catastrophic defeats. How can they be explained if everything was going well internally? He still hasn’t understood the difference between public statements and private behaviour.
“He could ask his old coach, José Mourinho, what happened in Rome last year in this regard. If Motta was honest in his interview, maybe he hadn’t realised something wasn’t right.”
