Thus, the only logical conclusions I can reasonably arrive at are 1) some of the things I write actually make sense and 2) I’m not the only one who thinks so.  In fact, some very important and very smart people do as well.  Among them, il mister.  He’s shown a willingness to learn, grow, and switch things up based on the opponent and squad at his disposal not seen in past years.  But even this has been somewhat limited thus far.

Again — we remain undefeated.  However, our draw totals almost equal our wins.  True, Conte has demonstrated his tactical flexibility, but one area where he remains steadfast is his preference for industrious players over creative ones.  The Simone Pepes are preferred over the Milos Krasics, and even moving Chiellini to left back over the faster, better-crossing Paolo De Ceglie represented a defensively-safer but more boring choice.  This has paid off against Sfinter, Milan, etc., but doesn’t — and will not — against teams that play a 9-0-1 (see Siena, Parma, etc.).  Whereas it’s been proven that Conte > Delneri, one troubling similarity is that hustle over flair seems tantamount to GDN’s preference for counter-attacking.  It doesn’t work when the other team is all too willing to soak up pressure, counter-attack your counter-attack, and ultimately be happy with one point.  We’re at the stage where we can no longer be happy with +1’s.  We need +3’s.  Lots of them.

"Put me in, coach...I'm ready to play..."

To that I say, Conte:  unleash the Elia.  Conte has said that Elia has been improving and become the type of player that he needs, and he’ll be unleashed when we least expect it.  Well, coach — I don’t expect it right now.  I swear.  Now’s the time to put him in the friggin game, take advantage of his skill and trickery, and let’s take care of this provinciale.

That is all.

My starting XI: (4-3-3) Gigi; Martin, Giorgio, Barzagli, Lichtsteiner; Claudio, Bon Pirlo, Arturo (forgot he’s suspended) Mr. Brown; Elia, Matri, Quagmire.

It’s not going to be the lineup.  But there isn’t anything else for me to write.

And with that, I leave you with the unabridged, verbatim, unedited piece from Jose entitled “Juventus by the Numbers.”  We hope that you enjoy.  In the meantime, I’ll have a Catania Preview/Gametime Thread ready later tonight or tomorrow morning, and maybe – just maybe — I’ll rant about Conte, Elia, Krasic, and how I fear I may have been right about Vucinic last July.

***

Juventus by the numbers

So, we are past the midpoint of the season and it is time to see what happened in the first 19 games.  When the final whistle blew on January 21^st against Atalanta, Juventus had played all teams in Serie A and in doing so accumulated 41 points, allowing 12 goals, and scoring 31.  On January 21^st we had played 9 games at the brand new Juventus Stadium and 10 games away.  I thought this was a good point in the season to recap everything that Juventus has done since last May and most importantly to figure out whether we are reaching our objectives.  In order to assess this, we need to be honest and think about our goals for the 2011-2012 season.  For some, playing in the Europa League next season maybe sufficient (but who am I kidding, no Interisti reads this blog).  For others, finishing top three is the goal and yet for a few it is the scudetto or nothing.  Here is what I wanted from this season:

• Qualify to CL
• Stop choking against small opposition
• Get rid of prima donnas
• Become more consistent
• Stop conceding goals left, right and center
• Stop conceding goals in the final minutes

With this in mind, lets get comfortable and let’s talk Juve…

...he didn’t have time to hug Bonucci.

From May to August

The mercato has been talked about extensively so I won’t go into much detail.  Essentially, Juventus exercised the option to buy on most players we had on loan.  The most notable exception was of course Alberto Aquilani.  This choice was made based on the fact that il Mister was going to play a 4-4-2 and there was no need for too many CMs, specially not the ones that can slow down the match and control the tempo (more on this later).

Although Marotta and Paratici were not able to bring a champion to Turin, they brought some good, decent, and very good players familiar with Serie A; the most important ones being Pirlo, Vucinic, and Lichtsteiner.  To top things off, they brought promising Bundelisga stars: Arturo Vidal and Elijero Elia.

In addition to the recruitment of new talent to the team, the management chose Antonio Conte to lead Juventus for the 11-12 season.  I believe the choice of Conte was for two reasons: 1) To have a coach that could use the players and modules already set in place by Delneri and 2) Hire a coach approved by the fans who may be given time to grow by the tifosi.  In all honesty, I don’t think the management thought Conte would be such a hit, however, I am sure they are not complaining.

Unfortunately we were not able to get rid of Amauri or Grosso by August (Did you know Grosso actually played this season? I almost forgot!).  Iaquinta and Toni also sat on the bench and did nothing between September and January.  Getting rid of all of these players (except for Grosso) in January is quite an accomplishment by Marotta.

A quick aside must be made regarding the great job Paratici has done with regards to the youth teams.  Secco’s project consisted of buying Diego and Felipe Melo and hoping things will turn out ok.  Marotta and Paratici are buying promising talents that can slowly be inserted into the team.  Most of them will go out on loan before coming to Juve, just like is the case in most Italian clubs.  However, it is clear that this management is trying to put a lot more emphasis on youth than the other big Italian clubs.  With the FIFA Fair Play system coming into effect, this is the only way to move forward.

All in all, I believe the mercato was very good.  Marotta will always going to find it hard to lure champions to a team that has held 7^th place for 2 consecutive years with his small budget.  With that being said, the summer of 2011 was a step in the right direction.  Given the fact that Juve is now playing a 3-man midfield, I think one big error in the summer was not bringing Aquilani.  He would have been a useful backup and could have been bought for little money.  However, hindsight is 20/20 and one way or another we are top of the table.

Three of those four are Marotta’s buys, just sayin.

September to January

How good has Juve been this season?  Well, we are first after 19 games so we must be doing well.  This of course is the simple answer and is similar to what Secco probably told Gigli after Juve finished 3^rd and 2^nd in the 07-08 and 08-09 seasons.  In reality, the team was crumbling before everyone’s eyes and the numbers just served to extend Secco’s tenure until the team really crashed in 09-10.

To assess Conte’s Juve, I have chosen to compare it to the Juve of Delneri and Ferrara.  Included in this comparison are also this year’s Milan and the scudetto winning Milan of 2010-2011 stats.  I have also added Juventus 05-06 (Capello’s unbeatable side) to show how far we are from being an unstoppable force in Italy.

In the first 19 matches of the season, Conte has obtained 8 more points than Ferrara’s team and 10 more than Delneri’s.  Now, if you want to be pessimistic, we have 11 points less than Capello’s Juve, but we all know this Juve is not the one of 06.  And how do we fair against Milan? We obviously have more points this season than them, but we also have one more point than what AC Milan had last year at this time.  In other words, this is the best Juve of the last three years (no news there) but we are almost equally as good as the “scudetto worthy” AC Milan of 2010-2011.

And that is not all!  Juve’s rise to the top has been consistent (Yes, I was beginning to forget that word).  Ferrara’s Juve was better than Conte’s until Round 7.  In round 8, Ferrara’s team was one point behind Conte’s and in round 11, four points behind.  Although that gap decreases to two points in round 13, it widens again to seven points in round 17^th.  As a matter of fact, Ferrara’s team slows down significantly in round 15, obtaining only 3 points between round 15 and round 19.  I was always under the impression that January was bad for Ferrara but it appears that since early December the problems were there.

Delneri’s Juve is actually worse than Ferrara’s Juve, (and by extension worse than Conte’s Juve), when looking at accumulated points.  Delneri never had more points than Conte.  The closest Delneri comes is 2 points less than Conte in round 7^th.  The difference extends to 6 points in round 12.  Delneri’s Juve slowed down in round 17, finishing the first round of games with three defeats.  This is of course when Quagliarella got injured and our season went down the toilet.

Will Conte’s Juve slow down as the season goes on? Given that even Capello’s Juve of 06 slowed down during the second half of the season I am inclined to believe that we probably will.  The more important question is how much will they slow down.  So far, our pace doesn’t appear to be changing much.  We have not lost a single match and the worst consecutive record we have is 2 draws in a row (which happened twice this season).  I think something that can cause us to slow down is losing LIchtsteiner for a long time or Vucinic.  For that reason, getting Quagliarella and Caceres up and running as soon as possible is essential.  Quags and Caceres are not like-for-like replacements of Vucinic and Lichtsteiner (maybe ADP resembles Vucinic more) but they are the most likely alternatives.

How did we get here?

First off, I think what Conte did with what Marotta gave him is spectacular.  It is fair to say that many of the players in our starting 11 are really not significantly better than some of our bench players.  For instance, bringing in DeCeglie on the left and benching Bonucci doesn’t significantly decrease the quality of our team, but it encourages Bonucci to train to be at his best.  The same can be said about Estigarribia, Pepe, and Giaccherini.  Actually, the determination of these players has surpassed the natural ability that Krasic and Elia have.  Krasic has played poorly, but he has also not changed his playing style to suit our team like Giaccherini and Pepe have.  Elia right now is at the bottom of the pecking order and after the last twitter scandal I don’t think we will see much of him.

Something else that I think has been remarkably helpful is that Conte was honest with our players.  For the first year since we came back from Serie B, there are no players talking about winning the scudetto after winning 2 games in a row (Bonucci’s scudetto remarks last year drove me insane).  This is most significant given the fact that we are doing better than any other year since 06.  I believe that a huge reason for this is Conte’s honesty.  He has said time and again that we need to give 120% to win every game and the players have come to believe this.  Our coach knows full well that we are not world beaters and our players know full well that nothing will be handed to them.

One things that I like about Conte’s Juve is an invariable playing philosophy.  We press relentlessly for 90 minutes, we do not give up the ball cheaply, and the players help each other both offensively and defensively.  This has been pivotal in our success.  No matter whether we play a 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2, 9-0-1, or a 1-0-9 the philosophy is the same.

This philosophy is also that of a big team.  With Delneri we defended and hit on the counter.  Although that may work against AC Milan, Inter, or Manchester City, it is not a winning strategy against Lecce, Bari, or Salzburg.  Juve needs to have the ball, call the shots, and impose their rhythm.

This philosophy has also helped us have the best defensive record in the league.  While Delneri and Ferrara’s Juve allowed 25 and 24 goals respectively, Conte’s Juve has allowed 12 goals (0.6 goals/game) in the first 19 games of the season.  Capello’s Juve allowed 10 goals in the same period of time (only two less than Conte).  That is a pretty sweet record given the fact this is Conte’s first year as coach of Juve.    Comparing our defensive record to Milan makes us look even better.  We have allowed 5 goals less than Milan did at this point in the season last year.

How about goals scored?  This is the area were we are not doing too good.  We have scored 2 and 3 goals less than Delneri and Ferrara respectively.  We have also scored 3 goals less than AC Milan last year and 4 less than Milan this year.  Two or three goals do not appear to be a huge difference but when you consider the number of shots we have in each of our games, these numbers are a little worrisome.  Part of it may be due to how the team is always helping out in defense.  Personally, I don’t care.  Even though Juve is not scoring many goals they are playing very entertaining matches.  Interestingly, 11 players have scored for us this far.  Our midfield (Marchisio, Pepe, Vidal, Estigarribia, Giaccherini, and Krasic) has scored 16 goals.  Our forwards (Vucinic, Matri, Quags) has scored 11 goals.  I think that if our attack picks up, we can really cruise to success.

Conclusion

In summary, Marotta, Paratici and Conte have built a very impressive team from players that are not necessarily impressive.  I know everyone here wants to win the scudetto, but even if we are not able, we have a very strong basis to build from.  Many of the players in this team will be capable reserves in one or two seasons.  These reserves will have the work ethic to teach the youngsters that scudetti are not deserved but earned (not matter what Massimo Moratti says).  Our current players will teach the new acquisitions that blood and sweat are necessary when playing for Juve.  And with time, all players will know that at Juve vincere non é importante, ma é la unica cosa che conta.

Seventeen total shots. Eight off target. Five blocked. Four on goal.

I’m not saying they aren’t doing anything, but maybe they need better scoring chances?

Just throwing it out there. Discuss.

After this weekend’s postponed game due to heavy snow, Juventus is snow-shoeing down to Enio Tardini to take on Parma in a game that was rescheduled due to heavy weather conditions as well.

For the first time in a while, we won’t be going into the match while holding the no. 1 position in Serie A. Milan is back up there now, 2 points ahead, with 2 games more than us. This is one of those games.

Last time we played Parma, it was our first official game at the Agnelli Arena and Juve put in a classy, 4-goal performance. On that sunny day back in September, Del Piero got a start and an assist, Pirlo hooked up with Steiner for the first (of many) times for a sweet goal, and Vidal and Marchisio scored some sweet volley goals.

Sadly, as is always expected, Giovinco did score against us (albeit from the spot). I don’t need to tell you he’s probably going to do the same on Wednesday. At least I’m writing this preview, cuz we all know how the John feels about him.

Juve News: Both teams are rested as both teams had their games postponed over the weekend. Conte is likely to continue with the 3-5-2 that dismantled Milan at Giuseppe Meazza last week, especially since Donadoni likes playing that with Parma as well.

Barzagli and Chiellini are sure starters, and I sense Bonucci will partner them in defense to complete the backline. Caceres did have a fantastic game against Milan offensively, but defensively he still has to learn his positioning and needs to get in the constant-pressure-grinta-till-your-tongue-bleeds spirit. He’ll get there tho.

Despite receiving a red-card and giving away a penalty against Parma last time around, De Ceglie is expected to start on the left alongside MVP & Steiner. It would be lovely to see a Quagliarella-Matri partnership up front, but I have a feeling Vucinic will get the nod one last time.

Parma News: Best news for Donadoni and his team is that they are well rested, which is necessary against a side like Juve that presses a lot and runs the whole field tirelessly. The former Azzurri coach has yet to lose with Parma in 4 games, and will like his chances on Wednesday despite Juve’s undefeated record.

Former Juventino Antonio Mirante should be healthy and back in goal, Mariga will be the midfield anchor, and Floccari + Giovinco will be the attacking options. No other injuries for Parma.

Le Chiavi

Giovinco is an obvious one. If he’s smart (which for such a big head he should be), he’ll be running wide a lot trying to stretch our 3-man defense and create gaps between them. It will also force Lichsteiner to play more defensively which should make him less of a threat in attack. I see Giovinco playing more of a wide seconda punta role, that way Floccari can play his natural striker position, which no one has been able to define yet.

Things won’t get any easier for Lichsteiner as Massimo Gobbi is also a good attacking player down that left hand side. Even though he plays left back/wing back naturally, the former Viola defender is a good crosser of the ball and pushes up quite a bit in Donadoni’s 3-5-2. Biabiany will likely be used as an impact-sub, and the former Merda player could cause problems for our defense late in the game with his pace.

For Juventus, Marchisio and Vidal will have to execute their roles of Pirlo-guardians as well as possible for us to have a chance at a win. This is no time for average games from our future captain. He needs to step up, provide an additional option for getting the ball out of defense, and also help our struggling attackers with runs in the last third of the field. Same goes for Vidal, with a lesser dose of hectic, of course.

Lastly, if Bonucci plays, you can bet your ass Giovinco and co. will try to get him exposed on the break. Could be a chance for Leonardo to impress with some quick thinking and no-bullshit type of performance.

Line-ups

My Juve Starting XI: Mr. Seredova; Kaiser, Gli, Boner; Hunchback, Principino, Malkovich, King Arthur, Forrest; Twitter-Cry-Baby, Mr. Nargi

Juve Probable: Buffon; Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, De Ceglie, Marchisio, Pirlo, Vidal, Lichsteiner; Vucinic, Matri

Parma Probable: Mirante; Zaccardo, Lucarelli, Paletta; Gobbi, Modesto, Mariga, Morrone, Valliani; Giovinco, Floccari

Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni – does that name sound familiar? It’s because he was the referee of Milan vs. Juve last week in the Coppa Italia. Under his “whistling”, Juve have 4 wins, 3 draws, and 1 defeat.

My Prediction: Parma 1:1 Juventus

FORZA RAGAZZI!!!

Another week, another called-off game due to inclement weather, and another chance for the British-based media to talk about how crappy the Italian stadiums are as if it were a microcosm of the state of the sport in the country as a whole.  Not that they’re wrong about the stadiums.

Anyway, just when things are rolling along and we remain unbeaten despite having a game in hand, we will now have two in hand.  I haven’t looked at the entire fixture list, and as far as I know only Parma-Fiorentina have been called off.  I sincerely doubt we’ll remain in first after this weekend.

Alright, well in honor of the snow, I’ll leave you with…Snow.

Enough said.

It was a few months back and a lot has happened since then, so in case you forgot, here’s a short recap:

That was fun. I believe the best way the game was described was courtesy of Sky Italia, calling Juve “possessed.” I would love it if that kind of game happens again — especially since it’s in the Devil’s house.

TEAM NEWS: No huge surprises in who Conte has called up for the first leg. Pepe misses out because of his re-injured ankle and Meelosh is not included as speculation of a move to Russia continues to grow.

For Milan, it’s a little different. Allegri has called up only 19 players. He’s got a load of players missing out — Abbiati, Nesta, Pato, Muntari, Aquilani, and Nocerino. Toss in long-term absentees like Boatang, Gattuso, and Cassano, and the Milan squad is looking a tad bit thin. Too bad we don’t have a spare Amauri to give them. Wait, scratch that.

UPDATE: We have lineups!

Juventus XI: Storari; Caceres, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Giaccherini, Pirlo, Padoin, Estigarribia; Del Piero, Borriello

Juventus bench: Manninger, Lichtsteiner, Marrone, Marchisio, Elia, Quagliarella, Vucinic

Milan XI: Amelia; Bonera, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Emanuelson, Van Bommel, Ambrosini; Seedorf; Ibrahimovic, El Shaarawy

Milan bench: Roma, Zambrotta, Mesbah, Cristante, Inzaghi, Robinho, Maxi Lopez

IN CONTE WE TRUST!

For 85 minutes our Bianconeri couldn’t find a way past the Siena defense, were out of ideas, and got little for the hard work they put in keeping possession and hustling on the pitch throughout the game. Juve did have a couple decent chances, namely Vidal’s shot, Matri’s header, as well as Lichsteiner’s flick, but none of them found the back of the net. We finally woke up a bit in the last few minutes, even had a claim for a penalty, but we didn’t really deserve a win and unfortunately we got what we deserved. Two more points dropped at home against a relegation candidate, which could’ve increased our gap over Milan in the standings and would’ve given us a bit more breathing room for the…(don’t go there Ivo, you say).

I know, I know. We are all petrified of even admitting to ourselves that we have a chance of fighting for the scudetto this year. I know I am. We’ve been burned too many times in the last 3 years. The reality is that 21 games into the season (some are at 22), we are still first, undefeated, have a game in hand on Milan, and have let in the least amount of goals by far (13 to Milan and Viola’s 19). Furthermore, we don’t have any serious injuries, just strengthened all areas of the field with a player (well, depends on what you think of Padoin and BorielLOL, but at least they are new and fighting for a sub-place), and are arguably not even maximizing our full talent yet (just ask Elia).

But seriously, it’s starting to look like a two-horse race. For ~60% of the season so far, it’s been a battle between Milan and us. And I see it staying that way until the end. Except Milan can win against the smaller teams, and Juventus can’t. On the other hand, Juve can grit out the big matches, while Milan rarely shows up and then slaps people in frustration (hah!).

For the neutral Serie A fan (or a fan of any team other than the top 4), Juve’s draw against Siena was great since it kept the race tight. Us Juventini already have that feeling like we’re gonna regret the shit out of these games at some point in the next few months. I really hope not.

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6 – Wasn’t that busy throughout the game, after all, Juve did have 70% possession overall. He did scuffle a shot that he should’ve tamed, but Siena’s Gazzi couldn’t punish him for it.

Lichtsteiner: 7 – Pretty standard game from Lichsteiner. Did his defensive duties well, though I wish Pepe could’ve done better on his part up the field so Steiner wouldn’t have had to compensate for his role too. I do get frustrated with how much he complains about decisions and always looks incredulous. I think Serie A’s refs are too. He needs to start making more runs in the area without the ball; Pirlo almost found him on one again and he almost scored. Good game from the Swiss overall.

Barzagli: 7 – Speaking of standard, that’s probably Barzagli’s middle name. Another solid game from the in-form defenseman. I love how it doesn’t matter at all who he partners with in D, he still gives his share at a high rate each game.

Chiellini: 6.5 – Gave Chiellini a slightly lower grade than Barzagli because he still isn’t comfortable pushing the ball up a bit. We need that sometimes, especially in games we dominate. It puts an extra guy in the opposition’s half, and makes it tougher to defend if he can find a midfielder with a good pass to start an attack. Hope he gets better in that area. Defensively, rock solid as always.

De Ceglie: 7.5 – Honestly, my man of match. Paolino was on point throughout the whole game, especially offensively. He made runs, played intelligently (without leaving big gaps behind him), and aimed his crosses well. If Vucinic was up to his task on Sunday, the duo could’ve created even more problems down that left side. It was very refreshing to see some service from that flank. Hope De Ceglie keeps this up, it is obvious that Conte has no problems giving him that role against smaller teams.

Pirlo: 7 – Andrea actually saw a lot of time on the ball, a lot more than I expected him to get. He had some decent ideas, some that the likes of Vucinic, Matri, and Pepe recognized too late at times. We did rely on him to create some magic as we have in the past, and that is really the rest of the team’s fault.

Vidal: 6 – Not a bad game from King Arthur, but very often he got lost in the midfield shuffle. He needs to recognize when to make a run forward and pull defenders with him, and when to drop back and help take the ball out. Usually Marchisio does this for him, but it didn’t happen on Sunday and it exposed Vidal’s lack of smart involvement (that sounded like something I pulled out my ass, but it makes sense in my head. It really does.)

Marchisio: 6 – Was once again disappointed with Marchisio. He has now raised the bar for his performances so high that a quiet, average game makes him look like Pepe on a good day. And that’s baaaad. He’ll pick himself up tho. You know how I know? We have some derby matches coming up. He always performs in those.

Pepe: 5.5 -Some of you guys said it perfectly in the comment section during and after the game – Pepe is reverting to his usual, normal self who is underwhelming and undeserving an attacking winger role. I think he does great in situations where we play away against a tough opposition, so you can count on his defensive ability and hope luck brings him something useful up front. But against these minnows at home? We need a winger that will own that right flank and be a nightmare for defenses. Kinda glad he got injured and was subbed off (not that I wish him harm, just thought he shouldn’t have been playing). I would’ve put Elia on in his place and make him an inverted right winger, Robben style.

Matri: 6.5 – The January player of the month got off to a slow start (together with the team) and never really found his role in the game. He was smart to come deeper and play with his back to the goal a bit, since Marchisio and Vidal failed at providing through ball opportunities (or even short pass ones) for Pirlo and the full backs. Just when he looked like he got out of that slump, he had another very tame game. We’ll need more from him up front, or he’ll be ass-kissing the bench (literally, of course). Especially given Conte’s strange infatuation with BorielLOL.

Vucinic: 5.5 – C’mon, Mirko, we’re playing Siena at home and you’re waiting for the game to come to you? Attack that 10-man defense, shuffle a couple players, do a one two with Matri or De Ceglie…attack for christ sake! Don’t wait for stuff to happen for you, MAKE IT HAPPEN YOURSELF! He has the talent and technical prowess to outplay Siena defenders, but doesn’t even try. Infuriating.

Subs:

Giaccherini: 6 – Maybe he came on too early to provide a more energetic boost, but I though Giaccherini’s contribution wasn’t like what we’ve come to expect from the energetic little man. I don’t like when he starts games, and I don’t like when he comes on before the 55-minute mark. But it could just be me. He’s best suited to run headlessly at or around defenders for the last 30 minutes of the game when defenses get tired. Otherwise, he can be pretty predictable.

BorielLOL: 5.5 – I love that nickname for him btw. Who of you geniuses came up with it (or stole it from another blog)? It’s immaturely hilarious. As for Marco’s performance, I maintain he shouldn’t have come on at all. We needed some creativity up front, something different than what we were already doing (or not doing). Everyone and their mother agreed – Del Piero shoud’ve come on instead. But Conte made his decision, and in Conte we trust (right?). And Marco disappointed, as we all expected. To be fair, it’s pretty hard for a player like him to make an impact in 25 minutes against a well-organized side like Siena. If it happened, it would’ve been a tap-in or a header. He had a chance for a header but scuffed. Then he started falling down too easily and the ref was never gonna give him anything. I still don’t know why we got him, but am excited to be proven wrong by him. Or Conte.

Quagliarella: sv – If Marco had no real time or chance to make an impact, Quaglia had less. At least he was a more creative option up front. If Conte doesn’t like Elia, maybe he can start Quagliarella in Vucinic’s place next weekend and see how that would go?

Coach:

Conte: 6 – For a match against his former side, Conte really should’ve anticipated the parked bus. Also, he relied on Pirlo too heavily once again. Caceres, Padoin, and Boreillo are surely not solutions to our creativity problem. For how smart he’s proven to be so far, i have a feeling he is cooking up a solution for all this on the training grounds and is waiting to release the Kraken as soon as the snow melts in Europe. Let’s see how he handles the Milan coppa game.

Things I think I think:

#1: Caceres, Padoin, Boriello, and Del Piero will all start against Milan – most likely. I’d love to see Elia in Esti’s place as well, but so far that’s just wishful thinking. Either way, I am stoked about the Milan game. Senor Danny already has a preview ready for that cracking Champions League match, which will be live on the Juventus Offside shortly. Till then, just think of Del Piero’s goal against Roma and how something similar could happen tomorrow. Awwww yeahh.

Anyway, even if the moves weren’t exactly what we had thought they would be or hoped for, they all made sense.  Depth was added, dead weight was lifted and, of course, we remain unbeaten.  The curious cases of Reto Ziegler and to varying other extents Milos Krasic and Eljero Elia prove that Conte will not have any player imposed on him which he doesn’t feel fits his system.  In fact, despite Tuesday’s game against Parma being snowed out, Conte is such a badass that he was able to keep us in first place (I know, everyone else has been making the exact same joke, but I don’t care).  To this I say onward, with trust in the Count.

The only man who can save the value of the US Dollar (Zafar - @bianconerifan).

Avanti.

Siena has not had a good run of things since promotion and poaching of their coach by us.  Their most recent win was a 1-0 victory in the Coppa against Chievo, as they remain just out of the relegation zone 19 points, 3 more than Lecce with a game in hand.  They travel to Turin to meet their old friend in his new home, with a rested squad.

Good news: It appears as if Vucinic is available, as well as any other players who may have been questionable with a knock, such as Lichtsteiner – who wasn’t actually reaching into his crotch against Udinese to warm up his hands after all.  Despite Conte’s complaints, a snowout against Parma was perhaps not the worst thing that could’ve happened.  Now the full squad is presumably available to try and keep the ball rolling and make it 4 wins in a row (counting the Coppa win against Roma).

He actually kicked her in the face when he was done tying her shoes, then threw the ball at her in disgust when he got called for the foul. True story.

Our old/new friend Martin Caceres is now available as his paperwork is finally through, as is NKOTB Simone Padoin.  My Dutch mancrush Elia has also been included with the squad, so he can watch the game from a close vantage point, maybe even on the bench this time!

Also, Siena has a midfielder named Gazzi.  It makes me laugh every time I think about that.  :)

Bad news: Well, Siena is rested too, as the snow messed up a lot of fixtures.  That shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?

Also of note is that Milos Krasic has been left off of the squad.  Oh yea, and the Russian transfer window is open until February 24.  Not looking good, Meelosh.

My starting XI: (4-3-3) Gigi; Kelso, Giorgio, Dre, Marty; Principino, Bon Pirlo, King Arthur; Dutchie, Matri, Vooch.

Alright, I’m not really mental.  Caceres surely shouldn’t start just yet, especially ahead of Lichtsteiner.  But maybe poor Steve-o could use a break, and plus, I am really, really excited to see Martin back on the pitch.  I also know Elia isn’t going to play and frankly, I’m over it.  I just feel like I need to remain consistent to keep my street cred up.

Siena probable: (4-4-2) Pegolo; Vitiello, Rossettini, Contini, Del Grosso; Angelo, Vergassola, Gazzi (ha!), Brienza; Destro, Calaio.

A disp: Farelli, Pesoli, Terzi, Grossi, D’Agostino, Reginaldo, Gonzalez.

Remember when Gaetano D’Agostino was so sought after by us, but Udinese was playing hardball with us, pricing us out of the market?  Yea, that was crazy.  Thank God that transfer didn’t work out.  Oh wait, that pushed Secco to sign Felipe Melo to play out of position as a regista.  Nevermind.

Juventus probable:  Buffon; De Ceglie, Chiellini, Barzagli, Lichtsteiner; Marchisio, Pirlo, Vidal; Vucinic, Matri, Pepe.

A disp.: Storari, Bonucci, Estigarribia, Giaccherini, Del Piero, Quagliarella.

Have at it, folks.

Oh, and one more thing.

We almost had him, so this picture counts as relevant.

LET’S GO GIANTS!!!

(Sorry, Danny)