Antonio Conte's Comments on Juve Were Innocuous, but Were They Accurate?

On Monday, Antonio Conte was awarded the Panchina d'Oro—translated as Golden Bench—the award for the best Serie A coach of the previous season. Given the fact that he guided Juventus to a European-record haul of 102 points, the result was academic.

In a gaggle of press after the presentation of the award, Conte was asked a question and gave an answer. That answer was reported out of context and turned into something of a sensation, sparking debate among Juve fans.

Rather than go straight to the sensationalism, what follows is a translation of what Conte said from Reuters, which seems a more fair representation of his feelings towards Juve's season:

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"Regarding the championship, I can say that I expected it to be a tougher battle," he told reporters after a ceremony where he was named as Italy's coach of the year. "If this Juventus were as ruthless as mine, Juventus would be 20 points clear by now."

But he added: "By and large, Juventus deserve to be top, they have shown that they have more to offer than the others."

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The only thing most of the media has decided to talk about is the bit about points. Football Italia's staff, in relaying an ANSA report of his remarks, referred to the comments as "a withering assessment."

Giancarlo Padovan, a journalist and former Torino women's coach, told Tuttomercatoweb (h/t Football Italia) that Conte had an ego "he can no longer control" and criticized him for disrespecting his former club and his successor, Massimiliano Allegri.

Of course, the other part of the interview—the part where he praises Juventus for their utter superiority over the rest of Serie A—were totally ignored by most media. All they wanted to do was use the Italy coach as a lightning rod for controversy when all he did was make a joke (he can be seen laughing along with the attending media when he makes the comment in the video above).

As false and manufactured as this "controversy" has been, it has also sparked more passion in a debate that has been simmering among Juve's fans for the last few months. Would the club be doing better had Conte not left the Bianconeri in July, or has Allergi been an improvement?

It's a deep question, one that can only be answered by nitpicking.

Interestingly enough, if Conte had meant his comments about Juve's lead in the standings as a true barb, there is an argument to be made that he would have a point. Juventus have blown leads against Sampdoria, Inter, Cesena and Roma this year. All four matches ended in draws. Had they held those leads, they would be a whopping 20 points clear and could be playing the Primavera in Serie A to keep their stars rested for the Champions League.

It's hard to imagine Conte's later teams—especially last year's squad—losing those points. His teams played with a spirit and will to win that was truly impressive. It was an emulation of the 100 percent effort he was known to give as both a player and manager.

That grinta has occasionally been absent this year. Against Samp and Inter, Juve dominated the first half before inexplicably wilting in the second. They were in big trouble after the break in both of those games.

Similarly, Roma not only pegged Juve back after Carlos Tevez opened the scoring but looked the more likely to score the winner even though they were playing with 10 men. With the chance to well and truly put their closest challengers for the title to the sword, it's hard to imagine a Conte squad losing their heads and ceding their advantage.

As for losing their lead to lowly Cesena, who are likely to be relegated in May, it was simply inexcusable.

Conte put together one of the best three-year runs in the club's history during his time in charge, but Allegri is certainly not without his merits.

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

His supporters point to the tactical flexibility he has brought to the team and his success in European competition. His midseason shift from Conte's 3-5-2 to a 4-3-1-2 has given the team a dimension it didn't have before, especially in Europe, and he managed to avoid an embarrassing tumble out of the group stage in the Champions League—something Conte couldn't do a year ago.

These arguments in Allegri's favor all have some substance but also have some major problems. Conte was devoted to the 3-5-2 through thick and thin, but that was mostly because he lacked the players to effectively flex his tactics for more than the odd game or two. He had no left back and no true wingers—that's the reason he shifted to the 3-5-2 in the first place.

He played a 4-3-3 for the first half of his first year with the team and experimented with it against the stiffest opposition he could have faced last year—eventual European champions Real Madrid. Interestingly enough, those two games against Real were arguably the team's best of the season. The inflexibility argument doesn't really have legs.

The other main blot on his record—last year's traumatic drop to the Europa League—completely overlooks Conte's other European campaign. As a rookie coach in Europe, Conte not only advanced to the knockout rounds but won a group that was arguably more difficult than the one Allegri squeaked through this season.

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Juve came from two goals behind to draw the opening game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. After a pair of disappointing draws against Shakhtar Donetsk and Nordsjaelland, Juve thrashed the Danes at home and then dominated the defending European champions at home 3-0. Needing a point to advance, Juve arrived for the group finale at the imposing Donbass Arena and did even better, winning via an own goal forced by Stephan Lichtsteiner and going through as winners.

In the knockout stage, the Bianconeri totally controlled both legs against Celtic before being drawn against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals. The Bavarians were a buzzsaw; they dominated throughout and won both legs 2-0. Considering the fact they went on to destroy Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate in the semis, there was no dishonor in the defeat.

The odd fan will argue that Conte deserves less credit for that campaign because he was serving a suspension during the group stage for his alleged failure to report match fixing in games involving his Siena side.

There are two rebuttals to that argument. First, the suspension should never have happened in the first place. The "evidence" against him is comically insufficient. The allegations hinge on the word of one man, Filippo Carobbio. Carobbio had already been caught red-handed in the match-fixing probe and was naming names in the hope of getting a more lenient sentence.

If it were his word against Conte's, it would be impossible to distinguish between the arguments. Unfortunately for Carobbio, there are 24 other men who were at the meeting in the Siena locker room in question, and none of them corroborated his story. Conte was suspended simply because Italy's sporting justice system presumes guilt rather than innocence and is in need of serious reform.

The second reason the suspension doesn't take away from Conte's contribution to that Champions League campaign is that its terms only applied to his presence on the touchline. He was still trained the team at Vinovo. The game plan going into every match was his. Massimo Carrera and Angelo Alessio merely oversaw its execution.

Conte's remarks were never meant to be any kind of dig at Juventus or Max Allegri. He was simply making a joke in response to a question he probably thought was beneath him. What that response did do, however, was highlight some of the major differences between his teams and Allegri's squad.

Allegri is having a great season on the Bianconeri bench—but it's still tantalizing to think of what Conte might have been able to do with the squad he would have had at his disposal.