In the grand scheme of things, we are not really going to remember a lot of Saturday's season finale.
Juventus beat Monza 2-0 at the Allianz Stadium to put a bow on what was one of the worst second-half slides the club has ever had in its history.
And with it, finish what was ultimately a disappointing Serie A campaign for the Bianconeri.
They played like title contenders in the first half of the season and like relegation battlers the second half of it.
It was enough to earn a ticket for next year's Champions League, but not much else.
We will ultimately remember this season due to their staggering record of three wins in 17 matches, a run that started with a draw against Empoli and a loss to Inter in the first game of February.
I can't remember a streak that bad in all my years of Juventus watching, and I sure as hell hope we don't see something like that ever again.
It's over.
Finally.
Let's cook.
MVP: Alex Sandro Shout out my guy Alex Sandro.
For as bad as his last couple of years were at times, I'm glad he got the chance to captain the club in his last time out at Allianz Stadium, play a pretty decent game, get his name on the scoresheet and deservedly get his name cheered on one last time from the Juventus faithful.
He leaves the club tied for the record in most appearances by a foreign player with Pavel Nedved, and while he never reached the lofty heights of the Czech Ballon d'Or winner - who could have? - he was a really good player for the Bianconeri for most of his stint.
He was a huge part of the teams that won everything there was to win domestically and without his outstanding 2016-17 campaign Juventus does not make it to Cardiff.
It's unfortunate that final went the way it went because he was one of the best fullbacks in the world during that stretch.
We will remember him more as that player than what he actually was the last couple of years.
Best of luck to Alex Sandro and farewell to the last remaining player of the golden age of Juventus.
Time for a new era.
Runner Up: Federico Chiesa - He was born to play out wide, full stop.
One of the many things that went wrong in Max Allegri's second stint was his complete refusal to abandon the Chiesa as a striker project.
I get he didn't have the most complete squad, but he was never good enough to make a difference from that spot on the field and Allegri should have recognized that way earlier.
.
.
or at all.
Whoever takes the job next season hopefully is taking notes, just play Chiesa out wide and figure out the rest later.
Welcome back, Beans.
It happened so early in the season that sometimes we forget that this was supposed to be the Nicolo Fagioli breakout season.
Fresh off winning the best young player in Serie A, an entrenched starter, playing a key role in midfield.
At this time in 2024, Fagioli should have arrived already.
Obviously, we all know what happened, and I forget how many times we said this year that this midfield needed some more creativity up front, while said creativity was suspended and sitting in a luxury box at Allianz Stadium.
Still, despite the lost year, it was nice to see Fagioli back in the lineup against Monza on Saturday and doing what he does best.
He is one of the handful of players who represents a legitimate in-house solution to one of Juve's biggest ailments and I expect him to be a big part of the club moving forward.
Trivia Time Remember the name Carlos Alcaraz the next time you boot up that Immaculate Grid game and it asks for a guy that played for Southampton and Juventus, because that's most likely the lasting impact Alcaraz made during his - most likely - short time in Italy.
Alcaraz didn't get the fairest shake of the dice, to be honest.
Shortly after landing in Turin, he got hurt and was caught in the death spiral of mediocrity of Juve's second half of the season.
His stint was mostly like his performance in the season finale - a couple of intriguing flashes of talent, but not quite enough to justify the huge fee it would take to.
permanently signing him to the club.
In the end, it was not meant to be.
But the tennis jokes were kinda fun for a while, huh?Parting Shot of the Week What a weird, weird season this was.
From the heights of a title fight to the lows of, well, everything after the beginning of February.
To still, somehow, managing to win the Coppa Italia even in a down period, to the mess of the Max Allegri firing.
It was a year that was infuriating, frustrating, fun and everything in between from one moment to another.
And like it always is, it was challenging for yours truly as it was for every writer on this site.
While I enjoy doing these articles, let's be real, sometimes it's not easy to crank out 1,000-plus words on a Monday afternoon after catching all sorts of strays at work and figure out something interesting to say about another frustrating match Juventus has played for the the umpteenth time in a row.
So, there's a reason this column is called "The Last One" - because it is also the last Grab Bag that will go live on this site in its current format.
When I started writing for this site full time in 2018, I was a junior employee at my company, fresh out of college, figuring things out.
I didn't really struggle to find the energy or the time to crank out over 40 articles a season because the one thing I had in bundles was exactly that.
However, six years, two promotions, one dog, one engagement and one pandemic later, it's been hard to find the broadband to take care of everything and to continue putting my best foot forward when it comes to my work in this site.
This is not to say that the Grab Bag is fully going away.
But for next season my contributions to this community will be a little bit more sporadic, on a basis that remains TBD pending multimillion dollar negotiations with our head honcho, Danny.
(Kidding, but not really.
)See you, next season.
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