Vote of Confidence For Embattled Ancelotti
Friday 10th November 2000
Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi declared on Friday that coach Carlo
Ancelotti was safe in his job, despite fierce criticism since the Turin
club's Champions' League exit. "Results decide the fate of managers and he
starts from an excellent foundation," he said.
Ancelotti accepted the blame for Wednesday's 3-1 defeat by Panathinaikos,
when Juve had two men sent off for the second European game running. But
Moggi claimed injuries were the main reason for the ignominious exit.
"I spoke to the players, given that that's my job, and I listened to what
they had to say," he said.
"I want to declare my total faith in this group of players and remind people
that this year we still haven't been able to see a Juve side playing a first
XI, what with injuries and suspensions.
"We have been without Montero, Zambrotta, not to speak of O'Neill, who you
are wrong to judge so harshly because he has only just recovered from a
muscle problem.
"We're not making excuses," he continued. "But it's normal that a team
suffers when it is missing a number of crucial players."
Moggi then backed his embattled coach. "Carlo Ancelotti is not at risk. He
took the responsibility for the defeat because he is a great professional,
but the responsibility is everyone's," he said.
The Delle Alpi chief also looked ahead to Saturday's mouth-watering Serie A
clash with Lazio - insisting that the team would recover quickly from their
Athens nightmare and prove the critics wrong.
"We must be certain to not let ourselves be conditioned by events in the
Champions' League, because we're only three points off the lead (in Serie A)
and equal with Lazio who we play next," Moggi said.
"What we need is a big match like this so that we can fight back from this
disappointment. We will have a full squad, you'll see what a difference it
makes."
