Bonucci Milan failure highlights importance of team over individual

One of the biggest and most shocking moves in Italian football this summer if not football in general was the shock move of Juventus’ star center-back to Milan.

When Leonardo Bonucci moves to Milan many people claimed that the red and black had stolen the title from Juventus.  How could they do that?  Why would Juventus let that happen? Many people asked those sort of questions and yet the Turin based giants remained calm.

One of the things that has often been forgotten in modern football but is such an important factor in Juventus’ philosophy is that the team is always more important than the individual.  11 players playing as one are always better than 11 one’s playing individually.

Bonucci had in recent times outed himself as a more selfish player than was ever really going to work at Juventus in the long-term.  Juventus is a club built on an almost scary level of adherence to principle.  “Work, work, work” and  “quietly and faithfully trust in the work” are monikers that come out of Juventus time and time again.

Bonucci had been collecting plaudits for years as the best “ball playing center-back” in Europe.  Don’t get me started on the whole there’s no such thing as a ball playing center-back there are only good and poor center-backs argument.  But it appears Bonucci had let those plaudits go to his head.

Forgetting that he was part of a gargantuan three player unit who along with far more Juventus style players like Chiellini and Barzagli reigned supreme in Italy for five years. His attitude even boiled over and he broke rank during the Champions League final and screamed at some of his teammates and manager.  It is this journalists opinion that his fate was sealed then and there.

When he arrived at Milan Bonucci even had the gall to say that he would shift the balance of Serie A.  It appears that Bonucci forgot all that made him great in the first place.  The handwork, the dedication, the humility that makes defenders the shoulders upon which most great teams are honestly built.  Perhaps he forgot that before Conte and Juventus brought him to Turin he was a player at Bari who was considered a lost hope.  He was too mistake prone, too foolish, his judgement too bad to ever possibly be a part of a great team.

Modern football infuriates me.  The focus on the self over the team is exactly what is wrong with it.  Players spend far too long shouting about how wonderful they are and collecting individual awards.  They should be clapping about their clubs and the support their given because of those badges.

Bonucci’s, who many felt was the best defender in the world, failure to even significantly alter the play of Milan highlights how idiotic some of the principles of modern football are.  If you look at the facts in the Serie A table alone it is easy to see. Juventus are 3rd and have only 9 goals allowed. The two teams above them Inter and Napoli have 7 and 5 respectively and are often praised for their teamwork.  Milan are 11th with 13 goals allowed.

Football is a beautiful game because of the teams who play it not the individuals.  Failure’s like Bonucci’s are obvious examples of how when the wrong attitude is taken and the wrong lessons learned eventually you will be found out.  It is sad because Milan are a great club and deserve to be in the Champions League and competing at the top-level.  But with attitudes like Bonucci’s they will never beat the teams who are quietly work, work, working to defeat them.

• Published on 10/26/2017 at 9:57 AM EST
• Last updated on 10/26/2017 at 9:57 AM EST