The hammer has fallen and Igor Tudor is no longer Juventus’ manager.
The thing is, like when Tudor took over for Thiago Motta back in March, there is no international break — or at least part of one — for the next man up to come in and try to at least establish some sort of rapport before stepping onto the field next.
That’s not how it’s going this time around.
Juventus dismissed Tudor on a Monday. All of 48 or so hours later, Juventus have another game with the first midweek edition of Serie A this
season. The man who will be leading the team on the sidelines, Next Gen head coach Massimo Brambilla, will only be there for one game — or so we think. As Juve work to secure a more experienced/suitable/well-known replacement for Tudor, Brambilla will be the one who will take the helm on Wednesday evening when Juventus face Udinese in a class all-bianconero battle between the teams sitting in eighth and ninth place, respectively, at the Allianz Stadium.
Brambilla, in his second stint as the Next Gen squad’s manager, has done plenty of really good work in Serie C. But he now — albeit for one game as we await Luciano Spalletti to take things over come Thursday’s training session — steps into a situation a lot like when he was brought back to Turin early last season. You know, the kind of squad that needs something to turn things in the right direction. Or, since it’s widely assumed he’s just in place as the caretaker manager to face Udinese and that’s it, to just try and stop the bleeding before Tudor’s longer-term replacement comes in later in the week.
There haven’t been many examples of this kind of managerial situation in Juventus’ storied history namely because dismissing managers in-season just isn’t something the club has done. But we certainly haven’t seen an interim manager step in for one game that actually means something with the anticipation that it’s the only one he will coach before going back to what he was actually at the club to do. (Remember, the two games in which Paolo Montero coached in lieu of Max Allegri’s departure was just for the final two games of the 2023-24 season that had already seen Juve qualify for the Champions League.)
Essentially, it’s hard to know what to expect.
But then again, that’s a feeling we’ve had about Juventus a good portion of the time these last few years.
Just what the vibe at the Allianz Stadium will be like on Wednesday as Udinese come to Turin will be an interesting one. Juve are on their worst run of form in 16 years and haven’t gone four games without a goal since 1991. In their first two league games out of the October international break, Juve have looked increasingly out of sorts in so many different phases of the game.
Brambilla, for all that he’s accomplished with the Next Gen squad (especially last season after coming back to the club while it was in the midst of a terrible run of form), has never coached in Serie A. And while this is looked at as a one-game deal and then he’s back with his usual Next Gen squad, it’s a game that Juventus need to desperately win to try and put this winless run to an end once and for all.
Udinese have, expectedly, cooled off significantly since their hot start to the Serie A season when they collected seven points in their first three games. They’ve won just once in the five games since, beating likely relegation battlers Lecce over the weekend.
No matter who the coach was going to be for this midweek fixture, facing a mid-table Udinese side that has one just once in Serie A since September was quite a decent matchup to try and get three points. But, as we know, Juventus are in the kind of situation where beating just about anybody feels like a big ask at the moment. They’re just in a spiral we haven’t seen in quite a while.
So here’s to hoping that the Brambilla bounceback effect can rub off a little bit on the senior squad like it did with the Next Gen guys last season. If not, then Juve’s next manager will be coming in at quite a time — and not much of it looking very good at all.
TEAM NEWS
- Brambilla did not hold a pre-match press conference, so it’s hard to know where things stand fitness-wise of some players — most notably Kenan Yildiz, who was bugged by a bit of a knee issue entering the trip to Rome — as Juventus get set to face Udnese on short rest.
- We do, however, know for sure that these players will miss Wednesday night’s game: Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Carlo Pinsoglio and, of course, Arek Milik.
- Based on the predicted lineups that have come out in the Italian press on Tuesday, the thinking is that Brambilla won’t stray too far away from the 3-4-2-1 that Tudor used for the vast majority of his time with Juventus.
- While most of the starting lineup seems pretty straightforward for Brambilla, there are a couple of rumored runoffs between Juventus players: Jonathan David and Dusan Vlahovic up front, Weston McKennie or Joao Mario as the wingback on the right, and Federico Gatti or Daniele Rugani in defense.
- Teun Koopmeiners is one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
One of the biggest issues that folks had with Tudor was the constant changing of his starting lineup rather than having any sort of continuity even with the jam-packed fixture list that presents itself to a club competing on multiple fronts like Juventus are this season.
None position group is more proof of that than what Tudor did with his decisions at No. 9 spot up front in his 3-4-2-1. So while it’s not expected that Brambilla is going to shake things up in terms of formation, he could very well go with the man who played a major role in the only goal scored over the weekend against Lazio.
(We just won’t mention who actually scored that goal, but you can probably guess based on the slight bit of snark behind these last couple of sentences.)
So let’s talk about him because he’s an important piece on this roster no matter who the manager is.
The first couple of months at Juventus for Jonathan David has not been very kind to the talented Canadian striker. (And yes, he is talented no matter what his form at Juve has shown thus far.) He has been bounced in and out of the starting lineup, and hasn’t been able to find any sort of positive rhythm at his new club — and his personal and the squad’s overall form has shown.
Brambilla will only be his coach for one game and then it’s time to hand over the keys to Spalletti as he comes back into the managerial game at the club level. Is one game enough for a fresh start before the new full-time manager comes in? Who the heck knows.
But, if anything, David knows that the guy who couldn’t for the life of him decide on a regular striker to go with has now left the building and will probably be following Juventus’ matchup with Udinese from Croatia or some beach somewhere where the weather is much warmer than what’s expected in Turin on Wednesday.
Of course, it could very well be an hour before kickoff against Udinese and Vlahovic is the one who will be leading the line for Juventus at the Allianz Stadium. But David is at least somebody who Juventus need to get going both for the immediate as well as a more longer term future considering they’ve invested a lot in him when it comes to his annual salary. Vlahovic’s future at Juventus is likely done when the 2025-26 season comes to an end. For David, though, he’s a player who will almost certainly be around for a span of time longer than that.
And Juventus need him to be the David that Canadians see with the national team as he’s decked out in red and white or what Lille supporters saw for the better part of the last five years. The real Jonathan David has yet to show himself at Juventus, and hopefully the final days October proves to be the time in which he can start anew.
MATCH INFO
When: Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 5:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, 12:30 p.m. Central time, 10:30 a.m. Pacific time.
(Please note that the fall time change has gone into effect in Italy, thus having kickoff be an hour later than usual in certain areas of the world like the United States.)
HOW TO WATCH
Television: TLN (Canada).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada; Amazon Prime Video; Fubo Sports Network Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.
