Cristiano Giuntoli once again says that Thiago Motta's job is not under threat

Yesterday at 10:23 PM

More heat for the man who fills out the starting lineups at Juventus.

Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli typically talks with Sky Italia before the kickoff to games, but after Sunday night's 3-0 defeat at the hands of Fiorentina in Florence, things were a little bit different.

And rightfully so.

Giuntoli was the first one to walk up to the Sky Italia mic for a post-game chit-chat, not under-fire manager Thiago Motta, who has seen Juve suffer two of their three losses on the Serie A season by a combined 7-0 scoreline in back-to-back weekends as they've fallen out of fourth place. During his time on the Sky Italia airwaves, Giuntoli — much as he did after Juventus were eliminated from the Coppa Italia by Empoli — reiterated that Motta is not going to be dismissed despite all of the recent disappointment and poor results.

Here is Giuntoli's full statement regarding Motta's future and the current state of the team:

"Difficult moments make us stronger together so it's time to be united. Clearly, we are very unhappy. We've played two games below our level, but we're still convinced that we can come out of this moment united and with Thiago Motta. Our project started a long time ago, when we had to overhaul the squad and reduce wages, so some difficulties are to be expected.

"But we must not think about that now, because our only thought is to qualify for next season's Champions League. We have to be clear headed in analysing what's happened over the last few days, and we have to do it with balance, on and off the pitch, to understand together what we have to put right.

"We were the best defence in the league and we conceded seven goals in a week, which means we all have to find this balance together. This is also confirmed by the fact that until now the team had always reacted well to a negative performance and this time it didn't happen. We must all work together."

(Source: juventus.com)

Considering Juventus are now heading into the first international break of the 2025 calendar year, it seems like if they were to make a change at manager then doing it now would make some sense. But, as is usually the norm at a club like Juventus, in-season managerial changes are very much not the norm.

The thing when it comes to Giuntoli's comments that are a little off-putting is a two-parter.

The first is that he is emphasizing Juventus need to come out of this difficult moment "united" and it's something he says multiple times. Does that suggest that things are very much not united right now and the rumors of discontent in the dressing room are more than just the Italian media speculating? Is there a group of very grumpy players directing that unrest toward Motta more than somebody you could totally see being disgruntled like Dusan Vlahovic? The talk of unity certainly raises questions and without many answers.

The second part of it is that it feels like he's trying to isolate these issues to just the losses to Atalanta and Fiorentina — which, if we're being honest here, is very much just the culmination of a season's worth of issues that have now come to the fore. Be it issues in defense, issues in attack, issues with some of Motta's decision making, it's all reaching its apex right now — and not in a good way. So for Giuntoli to make this sound like it's just Atalanta and Fiorentina in which the issues have begun when you can say pretty much the same thing about the last 3 ¹⁄₂ months (at least), it's a little odd.

But Motta is very much Giuntoli's guy, and is very much defiant in the defense of his biggest hire at Juventus. Yet if the performances and results continue to trend the way they currently are and Juve risk missing out on the Champions League next season, then that steadfast support of Motta by Giuntoli is going to be tested even more than it already is.