Juve was certainly in complete control of the match, but things weren’t exactly going their way. Does that makes sense? I hope it does. Juventus attempted 29 shots against Cesena. TWENTY-NINE. They had 74 percent of the possession. And this was without Andrea Pirlo and his glorious hair on the field. But only eight of those were on goal. Not exactly a kind of ratio we were all hoping for.

But like we’ve seen in the previous couple of seasons, it was a match that Juve might have dropped points in. Be it a fluke equalizer late by (insert low-table team here) or continuous chances being blown, the past few editions of our beloved Bianconeri had found a way to come away with one or no points rather than three in the kinds of games against teams they should beat.

Yes, it should’ve been put away much earlier, but they got the job done. Three more points and back on top of the table. Business has been taken care of.

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6 – Only had to make one save, and that wasn’t even difficult. Probably could have sat on a Chaise lounge chair with Alena and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. It was nice of the guys to pass it back to Gigi every now and then to make sure he was still awake.

Lichtsteiner: 6.5 – Back to normal for the Swiss right back. He did his usual running, got involved in the offense frequently. With Cesena sitting back and defending the whole time, Licht was able to push up as much as he wanted to. Getting Forrest Gump back to normal was definitely a good sight considering how much he struggled — especially defensively — against Napoli.

Barzagli: 6.5 – If I were to tell you that he’s the only guy to play in every single minute, what would you say? Crazy, isn’t it? Didn’t have to do much with Cesena sitting back trying to weather the Juve storm in front of their goal, but he didn’t have any major screw ups either. Sound performance.

Bonucci: 6.5 – The only blemish for Leo was his screw up in the match’s opening moments. Other than that, things were solid. There was no Napoli hangover. Obviously we’ll see in the coming matches against more attack-minded teams (Hi, Udinese) whether that is still the case.

Chiellini: 6.5 – Like his teammate on the other flank, was really able to push up the field with Cesena doing nothing on offense. Had a part in a lot of the attacks, be it crosses or going more centrally toward the middle of the pitch.

Marchisio: 7 – On a night where goals were extremely hard to come by for the Juve offense, leave it to Il Principino to get the game-winner. An extremely well taken effort, both with his first touch and then the finish with his left foot, for his sixth (!!) goal of the campaign. I love this man.

Vidal: 7.5 – He was an absolute warrior in the midfield; Vidal was all over the place against Cesena — breaking up a potential attack, contributing to his own team’s attack. The stats back it up: 91 percent pass accuracy, 10 tackles. Had the assist on Marchisio’s opener and then got a goal of his own with the late penalty. Man of the Match.

Pazienza: 6.5 – He’s certainly not Pirlo out there, but it was a smart match from Pazienza. Did his work, put in a good shift. A solid performance by the former Napoli man making his first start of the season. Now back to your role of being the official victory sub, Michele.

Pepe: 6 – Oh, Simone. Where were your finishing boots from the previous three games? Pepe had three incredible chances in the 2nd half to put his name on the score sheet for a 4th consecutive game. He didn’t finish any of them, blasting one right at Antonioli, one over the bar, and heading one just wide.

Matri: 5.5 – A frustrating night for Matri, without a doubt. Had chances but never really got into the flow of things in front of the goal. Was definitely a battle for him against Cesena. First time in a long time he had been substituted for that early in the second half.

Vucinic: 5.5 – He definitely had a better first half than he did against Napoli, but it just seems like there’s something missing with Mirko. He was involved in setting up some scoring opportunities, had a few scoring chances of his own, but he’s still struggling with that final step involved in scoring a goal. Was correctly yanked by Conte early in the second half.

Subs:

Quagliarella: 5.5 – Wait, Quags is allowed to play before 80 minutes is off the clock? Huh, who knew? He struggled to make a huge impact on the match. Understandable seeing how little he’s played this season.

Del Piero: sv – Finally got a chance to get a good chunk of playing time. But within eight minutes, he was being carried off the field after being kicked in the head. What about that backheel when he was in, though? Sexy.

Giaccherini: 6 – He came on after Del Piero had to be taken off. Got involved right off the bat and subsequently crashed into Antonioli for the resulting penalty.

Coach:

Conte: 7 – He’s now in charge of the only team in Europe to not lose a game this season. It’s incredible how well this squad is doing under Conte. He went back to the usual 4-3-3 setup and it looked much, much better. Obviously playing against a team that was just sitting back and defending the whole time helped, but there wasn’t any kind of tactical madness and chaos like there was against Napoli. Extra kudos for his celebration after Marchisio’s goal. He’s such a Juventino.

Things I think I think

#1: Only Il Capitano posts a picture of himself in an ambulance on Facebook to let everybody know he’s okay.

#2: That wasn’t a red card on Antonioli. That wasn’t even a penalty. And you might be saying right now “WAY TO STICK UP FOR THE KEEPER, YOU BIASED PUNK.” Yeah, well, the ref got both of the calls wrong.

Now I will patiently wait for everybody to disagree with me.

#3: So if that’s a red card in the ref’s mind, how is Rossi booting ADP in the face not a card? I don’t get it. Rossi was already on a yellow, give him another and he’s done … OH NOEZ! Incidental or not, that kind of challenge has to warrant something, right? I mean, Del Piero’s head needed eight stitches, so he obviously got a pretty good knock.

#4: Finish 2011 on a high note. Four more matches — three Serie A, one Coppa (this Thursday) — before the Christmas/New Years break. A struggling Roma side is next, then Novara, and finally Udinese. Those are all winnable matches, with the match at Udine being the toughest. Get nine out of nine points and things will be looking awfully nice going into a few weeks of vacation. Make it happen, boys.

THE JUVENTUS OFFSIDE SHITLIST:

- Krasic: Another game on the bench for poor Meelosh.

- Zebina: (lifetime award)

- Amauri: (lifetime award) #IBlameAmauri

A little bit background info – What the fuck happened?

On Tuesday, October 18, Juventus’ “savior” president Andrea Agnelli, son of the legendary Juve president Umberto Agnelli, decided that a shareholders meeting was the ideal time to announce that Alessandro Del Piero – arguably the most legendary player to ever wear a Juventus jersey – was playing his last season as a Bianconero. This puzzling and seemingly distasteful move by Agnelli was taken in shock, disgust, and despair by Juventus fans and football lovers across the world. No official word has been given from Juventus or Del Piero since the announcement, while the issue has been constantly talked about by the media, fans, online forum boards, social media sites (Del Piero was trending on Twitter all day Tuesday), etc.

Why the outrage?

Sheesh, were do I start.

First and foremost, this announcement was not Agnelli’s to make. Alessandro Del Piero has been synonymous with Juventus most of his career/most our lifetime. He is the biggest status symbol the club has, the captain that has led us through green pastures and dark, Mordor-like quests. For me, he IS Juventus and has been ever since I started watching the Old Lady in the early nineties. His entire career impacted every day of my life since I can remember. If there was one decency this man deserved, it was to call his own shot on how and when he wants to end his Juventus fairytale. That is the least Agnelli could do. A measly shareholders meeting is the last place to announce something big like this.

Second, the timing is terrible. It’s the middle of October and we are only 6 games into the season. 6 GAMES! Why announce something like this now? The team is just starting to learn Conte’s ways, the Scudetto talk is cooled of and everyone is getting their heads straight mentally, and bam you hit players with something like this. It feels off, like it was not planned well at all, or like it was planned too well and used for some sort of a political agenda. Such a shame. In my opinion, there were 3 ways this could’ve been handled.

1. Make the announcement before the season starts – This is probably the riskiest one, but by doing so, you make this one hell of a special season. New stadium, new coach, a few promising new signings, and a season when every Juventus fan will have his eyes glued to the TV for every match to watch Del Piero play. Plus, you’re setting expectations. Every player goes into the season with an extra edge, an additional motivation – to give Del Piero the send off he deserves. You automatically ensure that every single game is sold out in the first season of the new stadium. Would it have added more pressure on everyone? Probably, but it wasn’t like the pressure wasn’t big to begin with. We all know what the weight of the shirt is and any player wearing that jersey does too. I would’ve hated the “Juve must win Scudetto in ADP’s honor” media bullshit, but that would’ve been something most realistic fans would’ve seen through. Plus, all of us distant diehard fans would’ve had more time to plan our pilgrimage to Torino to watch Del Piero play live.
2. Make the announcement after Christmas – This approach would’ve probably been my move. Give this new team half a season to gel and get a feel for each other and the coach, then send them home for Natale and family time, and when they’re back in training for the second half of the season and feeling good, activate the Nitro – Del Piero is playing his last 6 months. Mamma mia, can you imagine the feeling, especially if we are at a half-decent spot on the table like we have been the previous two years? It would have possibly single-handedly erased the fear of Juve collapsing in an embarrassing fashion for those last 6 months. Everyone would be focused and motivated to finish this one off for our capitano. Grande.
3. Make the announcement at the end of the season – I call this the Michael Jordan ‘93 move. The season is over, you can leave on a high ground if it was a Scudetto-wining season, or look back at it positively since it’s the last one either way. Everyone would be shocked, yes, remember how it was when Nedved retired? Still, the farewell match would have been EPIC! Not that it won’t be either way, but I’m just sayin’. The worst part is that the fans would’ve loved to know in advance and plan to see Alex play live, but oh well.

So why the hell did this happen?

There are a couple of theories out there (or in my contrived mind). The most obvious one is that Del Piero isn’t getting any younger or fitter anytime soon, and Agnelli simply made a mistake announcing his departure too early. Let’s be frank – Del Piero is already having a tough time finding minutes this season. Many of us should have (and some of you probably did) see Del Piero’s relationship with Juventus ending at the end of this year, especially after taking a paycut and signing a one year contract over the summer. However, it was easy to avoid thinking about it. The excitement around this new season was immense, we all started convincing ourselves that Juve will qualify for the Champions League and he will stay one more year to play in the CL in our new stadium, etc. As for Agnelli, the safe approach is to just say he made a terrible mistake, he is probably home hiding in the corner crying in embarassment, and he will do his utmost to make it up to the club, the fans, and most importantly, to Pinturicchio.

A more dramatic theory is the “Agnelli vs. Moggi era” conspiracy. Some people are speculating that Agnelli is trying to push Del Piero off the squad finally, like he did with Nedved and to a lesser extent with Camoranesi and Trezeguet. If you’ve been following Andrea’s behavior since coming on as a president, this one can be pretty easy to deduce. He was never a fan or a supporter of the triade that ruled before him, and he has really tried to distance himself away from most things from the Moggi era. Hell, he didn’t even invite Moggi & Giraudo to the stadium opening ceremony! Yes, he is a public supporter of the 29 Scudetti quest, but in all honesty that one is more of a club & fan issue than a Moggi issue. Plus it can be seen as him trying to strike a balance so he doesn’t seem overly judgmental of the legendary management before him.

Lastly, one can even argue that Agnelli is jealous of the power and aura around Alessandro Del Piero. By letting him go at the end of the season, Agnelli’s is getting ready to take uninterrupted ownership of the club without worrying about upsetting the ever-so-respected captain. It would be certainly interesting to see how proponents of this theory respond if Agnelli offers Del Piero a management role. I don’t think Agnelli will ever be fully in control as long as Del Piero is around in one way or another. Is Agnelli’s ego really that big? Is he that ballsy to put himself before the team and before the team’s icon?

Truth be told, no one really knows for sure what the motive is. There have sure been plenty of negative reactions to the announcement in the meantime:

• Moggi’s disappointment
• Tacchinardi’s emotional response
• Boniek’s “tad bit too realistic” opinon

Personally, this hasn’t really hit me yet. It will be a while before it sinks in. I am sure this is the case with many of you. Honestly, I cannot even imagine seeing a Juventus match without seeing Alessandro Del Piero in black and white. I don’t think I’ve ever had that experience. I know I don’t want to. As I said on Twitter, I don’t see myself wearing another Juve jersey with the number 10 ever again. It feel so pointless. No one will ever be able to live up to it.

Realistically, the conclusion to the Del Piero & Juve love affair was going to happen some day, and I guess we know now when that day is. But the way Andrea Agnelli is approaching this is pissing me off to no end. Totally disrespectful, with a cold, business-like tone reading a pre-written statement like he can’t think of words for himself. Does one think of anything else other than superlatives upon hearing Alessandro Del Piero’s name?

This cannot be the way it all ends for my idol. It cannot be how he is treated. A class act his whole life, he deserves so much more than this. As someone put it so simply, this Juventus doesn’t deserve Del Piero.

It is undoubtedly time for some serious damage control. If Agnelli lets this get out of hand, he will regret it very soon. If this new Juve project of his is going to succeed, he needs continuous support from fans and former players and coaches related to the club. The last thing he wants is to make us pick between himself and Del Piero.

One thing everyone needs to remember is that this whole thing is not about Agnelli, Juventus, or us the fans – it is about Alessandro Del Piero. He deserves more than we can possibly give him during this last season of his and his farewell. Let’s at least give it our best shot.

If you’re strong, you’ll leave [team team] great, if you can’t do it, you’ll come out quickly because they’ll eat you after two draws. You’re not allowed to mess up, these younger players haven’t understood what Juventus is, what kind of history it has. There are a few in the Old Guard that can transmit this. Now there’s only Del Piero, because I see Gianluigi Buffon playing with a lot less enthusiasm.

Juve needs to return to being disliked- when I see my ex fellow players and managers, I tell them “you were obnoxious, unpleasant, and disliked.” Now it’s not like that anymore. Like Buffon, who after a loss caused by his error, was laughing with Gattuso at the end of the match. Before games, I had blood in my eyes, and when I played against the Rossoneri above all, I didn’t speak with anyone, not even with Ancelotti who I had a special relationship with. At most I spoke to him after the game to say hello, when it was all finished. Now the players at Juve act differently.”

Two notes on today’s match:
-After the game, Chiellini had harsh words for everyone and everything, and was visibly furious. He refused to speak on transfer speculation of him to Real, saying “I’m not going to talk about it when I’m this angry.” [Many of his comments regarding what Juve needs have unsurprisingly not been reported on the official site.]
-Gigi Buffon on the other hand was joking and laughing with Bojinov.

It makes me even more furious than the pathetic match did. Gigi, you’re an idol and a legend, but you are treading dangerous waters here. Del Piero was angry and stormed off the pitch when the game was done. Chiellini raged. Buffon? You’re the vice-captain- act like it.

You can read my review of the Catania game, and it rings exactly true. We meet a crappy squad at the Stadio Olimpico, one that has little left to play for. We dominate the first half, score two goals. One goal conceded- and we fly into a mad panic, showing no tactical shape or defending capability whatsoever. And sure enough, we take a sucker punch. Thank God that Uribe sucks and Marchisio was as always, in the right place at the right time, otherwise I’d be even more bitter than I am.

There is something seriously wrong with this team, and I blame most of it on Delneri. As a coach, he has miserably failed to make the Stadio Olimpico a home fortress. We are by far worse at home than on our travels, unable to keep a clean sheet or maintain a goddamn lead. We might talk about our garbage fullbacks, and that is a valid concern, but for God’s sakes, Ranieri managed to grind out games with Molinaro and Grygera on the flanks.

That’s what is greatly disappointing to me about Delneri. When I wrote about Gigi Delneri’s prototype “plan” for Juve you’ll note I spoke about his defense, particularly the ability to hold out leads. His teams are usually stingy. They grind out wins, much in the way Claudio Ranieri did, and while I expected more drawing than normal like we did with dear Claudio, not in the way we have been. Today’s game might have been endlessly entertaining to a neutral, but there is no doubt I’d take a boring 0-0 Ranieri draw over a Delneri draw. At least when Ranieri is up, he finishes out the game, and moreso, when he makes a defensive sub even at 0-0….it stays that way. Delneri makes defensive subs against Catania and we concede 2 more. We may play with grit on occasion, but we lack the steel reserve that the old Juve had.

Speaking of comparisons between Delneri and Ranieri, what the hell was with substitutions today? He made one, and while it worked out alright, I didn’t agree with putting on a slow attacker when the game is blazing end-to-end stuff. Ranieri made late subs if he made them at all, and Delneri took a page from his book today. When your team is suffering badly out there, one of the easiest ways to turn things around is to jive things up with a few substitutions, it shows you’re unsatisfied with the way things are going, and can lead to a tactical shift. It is incredibly clear that this Juventus cannot hold a lead. Chievo was absolutely assaulting our goal, the team was in complete disarray, no one was performing on a tactical or individual level, it was chaos. That is the time you need to throw on two players, if only to pause the game and scream at the players to mentally press reset and get back into position. Instead, we just watched Chievo score two.

Another strange similarity between Ranieri and Delneri’s sides at Juventus is the complete failure to achieve a difficult objective. We can get fired up for the big teams, sure, but we can’t beat the little sides, and whenever we come close to reaching “the dream” be it the Scudetto under Ranieri, or the CL under Delneri, we fail, miserably. The squad deserves some tongue-lashing for this, but ultimately it may speak to the limitations of these two managers- they cannot inspire a team to break through that final barrier to achieve a tremendous objective with a great team. It’s probably why neither will ever win a league title.

Disappointed Gigi is disappointed

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6- Didn’t have much to do, but could have been sent off again with a reckless exit against Pelissier.

Motta: 5.5- An okay display from Motta, at least he got one side of the pitch right today. Nearly permanently missing from his defensive duties, but helped out a lot up top and a key reason why Milos looked good today. Still- this was an improvement for Motta, still not good enough by any means.
Barzagli: 6.5- Andrea has been surprisingly consistent ever since arriving in January, and as I’ve said a few times, I think he makes a better pairing with Giorgio or Bonucci because he’s more like Legrottaglie- the two are rather similar and it can work, but not as naturally. Not responsible for the team entirely giving up any defensive performance.
Chiellini: 5- Alright, so he nearly scored a goal, but Keyser Giorgio was otherwise terrible today. Bad clearances, bad touches, bad giveaways, poor manmarking, it was a real disappointing performance. He was all over the place, and not in a good way.
Grosso: 5.5- Did okay. Grosso has actually been somewhat reliable in the last few months, but at his age and salary, he’s not the way forward. I’m still all for selling him this summer if we can get Ziegler in.

Krasic: 6- A much improved display from the last few months, particularly with his decision making. Previously Milos would sprint up the wing and deliver a terrible ball or worse, just simply lose it, but he delivered some decent ones today. Rightfully booked for diving- his reputation precedes him, but it’s probably just because he never rolls around agony. Look- everytime he dives, he just kind of looks around. You’ve gotta act better if you’re going to convince the ref.
Marchisio: 6- I thought he was better than a lot of sites are giving him- he didn’t see too much of the ball, but a few of his through passes opened up Chievo, and he was battling hard defensively. Still doesn’t look totally comfortable switching back to central mid after over a year pushed out of position, but you can’t knock his tactical intelligence.
Aquilani: 6.5- Really should have scored in the first half, when an excellent cross ball to Milos was headed down to Motta. A few misplaced passes aside, Alberto did well to spread play. Unfortunately, as a team, we surrendered the midfield around the 60th minute.
Pepe: 6- A hardworking, efficient performance. Glad to see some natural width on the left.

Del Piero: 7- Another excellent performance from Il Capitano, a perfect penalty, a lovely assist, and a few good plays here and there to open up the game. Came close on a set piece. Great individual performance to celebrate his contract renewal.
Matri: 6.5- Worked real hard up top and was largely starved of service during the first half, but turned on his Trezeguet mode to finish past Sorrentino beautifully for Juve’s 2nd. Drifted out wide as the game progressed, which hurt the team’s attack.

Delneri: 4- What can I say more? Poor subs, and he does not have this team drilled on set pieces or defending. The team was without any kind of tactical identity for about 15 minutes, and he did nothing other than throw Toni on.
Toni: 6.5- Thought he did real well with the brief time he saw. Hit the post with a header, knocked down several balls to teammates, and generally made a nuisance of himself up top.

Things I Think I Think:

#1- I hate Pelissier. I hate Sardo. I hate Chievo: Before the match, I was chatting with Papai about Pelissier, and I mentioned that he’s the #1 player I would like to buy for the explicit reason of never having to face him. Julio Cruz used to be “that guy” but has since completely disappeared. I think I said the same thing back in November when he scored the last equalizer against us. I hate that sonofabitch. I dislike Sardo too, who marked his 2nd goal against Juventus, the culmination of one of the most average careers in the league. And I hate Chievo- nevermind their affiliation with Inter, they are a godawful team, one content to play 10 men behind the ball for an entire season to stay in Serie A. They aren’t the real team from Verona.

#2- Delneri could choose his words better: Before the match, he said he’d give himself 100% chance of being on Juve’s bench next season. After the match, he merely said “the club will decide.” Also, worst reaction ever to the match. He was arguing with the referee Gervasoni as the game ended, for what, I have no idea. Then he follows that up with the stupidest comment during the post-match interview he could have possibly said. For a man who’s had doubts all season about whether he is merely a good “provincial” coach, he suggested maybe Juve weren’t that big of a club. The fans are scared we’re turning into that, with the powers that be currently residing in Milan and Rome. Don’t confirm it. Also- if we are a “small” side, shouldn’t you be doing well?

#3- Beppe Marotta had some interesting words: “The statistics are clear, we’re ubneaten in 8 matches, but with 4 draws, 3 of which we let a 2-0 lead slip to a lower table team, this shows a lack of personality and balance in the team, we need to work on goals conceded- unfortunately we were unable to in this year, but now we will do it. [Fuck you, Motta. Does this mean we get real fullbacks?] We have very clear ideas, soon we will have a general meeting to discuss the situation for the good of Juve, there are two games and we will take a final decision after Parma. [Before Napoli?? Strange] Delneri has a two year contract and has the necessary basics to be our coach next year, but we need to evaluate everything, and it’s not right to say yet what we will decide. This week the CdA will meet, and there is determination from John Elkann and Andrea Agnelli to support Juve, but it’s wrong now to name figures, since we’re a publicly traded company. The team and everything will be evaluated, Juve at 1-0 should manage far better, in the case you’re ahead, you cannot let the other team back in like a team with such an inferior character. We will find players who do not succumb to this, so it does not occur again.”

#4- Like I said v Catania, I don’t like the hybrid 4-4-2/4-3-3: I think we play immensely better when we have two natural wingers, and I don’t buy the idea that Marchisio needs to play there to accomodate Aquilani and/or Grosso/DeCeglie. Grosso is doing “alright” back there, and Aquilani has improved his defensive game. Where does that leave space for Marchisio, I don’t know, but playing him at left-mid (or any CM for that matter) just bogs us down immensely. Maybe play it against big teams, big away matches, whatever, but when we’re playing a “small” team at home, we need to unlock them. Our width caused Chievo a lot of trouble today.
#5- Pazza Juve- How Juve became Inter and Vice Versa: I wrote this over a year ago. Is it just me, or is it eerily accurate?
#6- The coaching situation: I’m very disappointed with Delneri, but I said this a few weeks ago after Catania and I still stand by it. Where the hell do we go from here? I strongly believe the coaching continuity is an underrated part of a club’s success, and we have not had it since Calciopoli. I remember being one of the few who thought sacking Ranieri with 2 days to go (the first Juve coach to be sacked mid-season in 30 years or so) was absolutely ludicrous. Then we sacked Ferrara mid-season, of course I think we all know now that sacking Delneri with 4 games to go is pointless. He can do a better job next season with an improved team, but can he make 3rd? Sadly, that’s our aim, and I’m not so sure. It depends on who’d replace him. Mancini, Spalletti, Gasperini, Mazzarri I don’t think any of them can do much better, and so it’d be pointless to can him to go for another year of “this coach needs time to mould us.” There’s one man that we need to give an iron-clad 4 year contact- Andrea Agnelli and Beppe Marotta need to fly to Marseille and beg Didier to come to us. He just won his 3rd piece of silverware in his 2nd year at Marseille, and possibly could hit a domestic double two years running.

THE JUVENTUS OFFSIDE SHITLIST
- Andrea Agnelli: (2 weeks) Two words, Andrea. SILENZIO STAMPA.
- Mauro Bergonzi: (Lifetime Award)
- Gigi Delneri: (3 Weeks) A shambolic game v Catania followed up by a disgusting display v Lazio followed with a shambolic display against Chievo. Great.
- Catania: (Seasonal)
- Vincenzo Iaquinta: (Seasonal)
- Milos Krasic: Looked good today, particularly the final balls.
- Marco Motta: Good enough improvement.
- Jonathan Zebina: (Lifetime Award) The new Roby Baggio finishes his Brescia career on the bench?

“Alla Juventus vincere non è importante, è la sola cosa che conta”

I don’t even know where to start with this ridiculous match. It should have been put away far before Bergonzi handed Catania a point on a silver platter, so as much as he’s a colossal asshole who should be banned from refereeing for life (you should remember him) it’s not even his fault. It’s the entire team, that went up 2-0 and mentally shut off as we’ve seen countless times. It’s Krasic, for failing to bury the goddamn ball in the net and for giving up the ball so easily that led to the “first-FK-given-after-stoppage-time-was-over.” It’s Grosso and Marchisio, who failed to mark Gomez lurking at the far post on the simplest of counter attacks. It’s Delneri for watching his team contently sit back and failing to do anything about. It’s all of them. The rest of the post can be summed up as this:

TL,DR; An angry amateur blogger named Aaron has harsh words for just about everyone

It infuriates me, because the entire team showed no real urgency about killing off the game when it was 2-0. No one player was at fault, and that makes it worse. If it was one player who screwed up the game, bench him, or loan him out to Atletico Madrid. The entire second half, for whatever reason, Catania gave up and we could have scored 5, until one of them looked at their watch and said “Hey, we have 15 minutes left! 0 points isn’t good for avoiding Serie B, let’s do something!” I don’t buy the excuse of 2-0 is a secure scoreline. It is for a great team that can grind out wins, fuck, it’s a good enough scoreline for Ranieri who drew far too many games, but at least was able to defensively organize his team to avoid conceding late goals.

Sure enough- Catania pulled one back, and suddenly we looked nervous as shit. Catania took the initiative, and while our players individually held up well enough to prevent any clear opportunities, it was a one way assault on goal. Some might say “if Lodi missed the FK, we’d be praising the team for grinding one out.” Absolutely false. If he missed it, I’d still be ranting about letting the opponent back into a game when they have no business to do so, albeit probably with less profanity. It’s unacceptable to let a shit team creep back into contention at your home. We’re talking about a terrible team here, one we beat 3-1 in Sicily, and one that conceded 4 to Lazio at home last week. Their defense was just as shambolic, but we didn’t capitalize, assuming 2-0 was good enough. All they needed was that 1 goal, and we panicked. Was anyone surprised? No.

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6- Had very little to do, as the defense for the most part did stellar. Commanded his area well enough, there was a nervy moment or two, but nothing he could do on the two goals. When I saw Buffon angrily walk off the field, I was somewhat pleased. He was furious, and rightfully so. THAT’S THE TYPE OF ATTITUDE I WANT TO SEE WHEN YOU LOSE THE GAME FOR US AGAINST MILAN, AT HOME. Not smiling and joking with the player who scored on you, however good a friend he may be, it can wait.

Motta: 6- I’ll give the kid some credit. Stupid yellow card aside, he did well today, defensively he held his own, and certainly helped out Krasic more than Sorensen did. Certainly had to come off at half-time as I trust Motta on a yellow less than Bergonzi at the San Paolo, but a good display. I still don’t want him wearing Bianconero next year, unless it’s back at Udinese.
Bonucci: 6- A positive display for Leo, who has been improving after a dip in form. Understanding is getting better with Barzagli.
Barzagli: 6.5- I’ll be honest, I was very hesitant about the ex-Palermo man coming in January, at Palermo he was poor and too inconsistent, prone to some real shockers. I think by-in-large, he’s been better than Bonucci since his arrival, and looks like a solid 3rd-choice CB for the next few years.
Grosso: 6.5- Did a fairly good job keeping Gomez quiet and never hesitated to move up the flanks, with some real positive offensive forays. Catania’s 1st goal is partially his fault, as he left Gomez to Marchisio (seemingly not telling him) to cover…absolutely no one. But keep tanning, Fabio. It’s done such a wonderful job hiding Berlusconi’s age, maybe that’s the ticket for you too.

Kissing 2 points goodbye?

Krasic: 5- If I had to pick one person as my goat-of-the-match, it’d be Milos. A few good plays here and there, one that led to a counter-attack and an assist for Del Piero’s second goal, but otherwise was poor. Had a few golden chances to put the match away in the 2nd half, and didn’t do it. 3v1, and he puts in a terribly heavy ball to Pepe. Worst of all, an extremely casual turnover in the 94th minute forced Felipe Melo to foul Gomez, and that led to Catania’s equalizer.
Aquilani: 6- As Catania started to turn on the heat in the end, it required Alberto to do be fast, and defensive, two aspects of his game that are not exactly his strong point. In the first half though, a few bad passes aside, Alberto was solid. We need to sign him this summer.
Felipe Melo: 6.5- Another good game from our resident man-child, who broke up attacks and did well anchoring the midfield. I had a brief discussion with Gabriele Marcotti on Twitter about Felipe in the last few minutes. You all know that I am not exactly the first member of Felipe’s fan club, but blaming him for tonight is a knee-jerk reaction unfounded in fact, and trust me, I’d love to slag him off for this one. That late in the game, fouling Gomez that far from the goal is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, especially when one of your teammates just casually handed him the ball. It’s far enough from the goal that it should be no problem, and Gomez was a tricky sonofabitch. And blaming him for the “handball” that led to the 2nd free kick is ridiculous, that should never have been called by Bergonzi. Felipe’s arm was pinned to his chest, it wasn’t held out, it wasn’t deliberate, it was impossible to avoid it anymore. As Delneri said, “What is Felipe supposed to do, take his arm off?”
Marchisio: 5.5- An okay performance. He failed to track Gomez for Catania’s first goal, although he was a bit left in the lurch by Grosso’s decision to pull centrally. Otherwise, I’ve said time and time again, I don’t like Marchisio being played in the mezz’ala role as it is forcing a square peg in a round hole, all for the sake of “playing it safe.” Marchisio deserves better. Juventus deserves better.

Matri: 5.5- Drifted out wide, supplied crosses, but didn’t attack the net enough. Had a good opportunity here and there, but wasn’t playing as a prima punta as he should. Maybe he was confused going from a 4-4-2 with him wide (February with Toni) to a 4-5-1 as the sole prima punta, to a traditional 2-man partnership up top.
Del Piero: 7.5- A magical performance from the captain, the two goals being his personal “lowlights” of the match. People who didn’t watch the game might see his penalty and chested-goal-he-knew-nothing-about, but Ale was inspirational tonight. Constantly dribbling through Catania defenders, setting up beautiful chances (his backheel to Matri was genius) it was clear the Etnei defense couldn’t handle him, so they resorted to fouling him from behind in the 2nd half.

Delneri: 4.5- Quite disappointed with his management of the 2nd half. The subs were ones meant to preserve a 2-0 win, as Sorensen, Pepe, and Toni are like-for-like defensive replacements for Motta, Del Piero, and Matri. But as I said against Lech Poznan 6 months ago, it’s far more than defensive subs, it’s that there was a clear mentality of “okay, 2-0 is a good score, let’s finish out that way.” I said above that makes sense if your team can close out the match like that, Delneri should know after 10 months at Juventus that we are not psychologically at that level.
Sorensen: 4.5- Came on and made Motta look calm and competent. Enough said.
Toni: 5- Didn’t really manage to do anything in his time on the pitch, one decent header aside. Didn’t hold up the ball at all.
Pepe: 5- His non-goal aside, I cannot remember anything about Pepe in this match. I don’t even have a clue where he was playing, was he supposedly a seconda punta? Anonymous.

Things I Think I Think:

#1- I owe my roommate a new plate and glass: Sorry man.

#2- Mauro Bergonzi, You Are a Worthless: First the Napoli debacle, then he harshly sends off Manuel Giandonato against Chievo, he’s had a bad record against us, not to mention the Melo non-handball. While his record is definitely more negative than anything for Juve, there’s ample evidence he’s just a terrible referee in general. Against Cesena, he should have sent Buffon off. How do you not send him off, but you do Giandonato? Buffon had no one behind him, Giandonato had maybe two or three that could have covered. Today was further proof- the handball at the end was a non-call, and the penalty probably too. At first I thought it was for a push on Melo, was confused, saw the Catania players remonstrating and Bergonzi explaining it was a handball. I reviewed it several times. It does appear Capuano touches it with his hand, but I have watched it 2-3 and don’t understand why you would call that a penalty- maybe by the book, but harsh as hell. At first, Juventus players had no idea why it was called, either.

#3- What was Catania’s deal? Seriously. This is a team battling relegation, and after two rather fortunate goals for Juve, they just kind of gave up and their awful defense let our awful offense have all the awful attempts on goal we wanted. And then suddenly, they realized, “hey, we might be in Serie B soon” and snapped into motion. What the hell? Did Simeone tell them “hey preserve your energy for the last 15 minutes?” I don’t think so, and I’m totally confused. I was also rather entertained by their celebration of the win draw that gives them 1 point. I guess you need to celebrate everything at that level, but seriously, you guys just got 1 point from 0. That doesn’t help enormously, it’s not like you won the Coppa Italia or something.

#4- Catania Classy in “Victory”: All of the comments coming from the Catania players and coach were rather surprising in how they paid tribute to Del Piero. Gomez said “Certainly the match changed with Del Piero’s exit, he is one of the best in the world and to not have to play against him is an advantage.” Coach Simeone agreed, “Along with Baggio and Totti, he marks an epic era of Italian football, to play against him is an honor and he makes you realize that more than some others.” The other goal scorer Francesco Lodi one-upped both of them, saying “I’m sorry for Juve, but this was an important point for us. Del Piero is a great man in all aspects, he scored two goals today, but even them aside, being on the pitch you see how great and humble he is at the same time. To score a free kick in Del Piero’s stadium is truly something exceptional.”

#5- I officially don’t like the hybrid 4-3-3/4-4-2: Shifting Marchisio to the LM was originally something we did against Inter to counter Maicon’s threat against the inexperienced Paolo De Ceglie. It worked well, but partially I’m sure because Maicon is garbage this year. Since then Marchisio has been deployed there as well ostensibly to help out Aquilani, who is too “defensively weak.” Nonsense. Alberto’s positioning and defensive ability has massively improved since coming in August, and no longer needs to be babied in a 2-man midfield. It makes our left flank a non-factor, assuming Fabio hasn’t hit the tanning machines, and thrusts responsibility on Krasic. No more playing the safe angle, if we’re playing a “4-4-2″, it’s time to do it with genuine wingers.

Angry Gigi is angry

#6- At least we’re not “pleased” with this point: As you can see in the “highlights” Buffon was furious as he stomped off the pitch, repeatedly shaking his head. Marchisio destroyed one of the advertising boards that they bring out for post-game interviews as he marched off to the locker room, and Felipe Melo hounded Bergonzi, shouting “You always do these things against Juventus, ONLY against us!” After the match Andrea Agnelli had a “face-to-face” meeting with the players for nearly 40 minutes in the locker room before they were let go. This does make me say something about Felipe Melo- I don’t like him, though that doesn’t get in the way of stating he has been superb this season, and it seems like he feels like a real integral part of Juventus. One thing pissing me off- WHY HAVE WE NOT CALLED A SILENZIO STAMPA YET? I am sick of hearing everyone saying “Sorry about the result, we’ll try better.” Enough platitudes.

#7- Where the hell do we go from here? I strongly believe the coaching continuity is an underrated part of a club’s success, and we have not had it since Calciopoli. I remember being one of the few who thought sacking Ranieri with 2 days to go (the first Juve coach to be sacked mid-season in 30 years or so) was absolutely ludicrous. Then we sacked Ferrara mid-season, of course I think we all know now that sacking Delneri with 4 games to go is pointless. He can do a better job next season with an improved team, but can he make 3rd? Sadly, that’s our aim, and I’m not so sure. It depends on who’d replace him. Mancini, Spalletti, Gasperini, Mazzarri I don’t think any of them can do much better, and so it’d be pointless to can him to go for another year of “this coach needs time to mould us.” There’s one man that we need to give an iron-clad 4 year contact- Andrea Agnelli and Beppe Marotta need to fly to Marseille and beg Didier to come to us. He just won his 3rd piece of silverware in his 2nd year at Marseille, and possibly could hit a domestic double two years running.

#8- As if selling us Jorge Martinez wasn’t bad enough: The player that Catania replaced him with? Gomez. Yes, the tricky short little player who scored against us, the one who never stopped running and was constantly causing us problems. Where was Jorge Martinez? Injured. And Lo Monaco? Lighting fine Cuban cigars with €100 notes, by my count he has 120,000 left to burn. This isn’t the first time we’ve signed a player, and their replacement at the club does better than them. Mauricio Isla is playing pretty damn good as a winger for Udinese.

This Week in Cassani Watch:
Negatives: Mattia caused a stupid penalty in the 2nd minute.
Positives: Mattia caused a stupid penalty in the 2nd minute. Driving down your market price? I approve.

THE JUVENTUS OFFSIDE SHITLIST
- Andrea Agnelli: Two words, Andrea. SILENZIO STAMPA.
- Mauro Bergonzi: There was a reason you were sent to Serie B for two years- you’re a godawful referee.
- Catania: (2 weeks) Not happy with you at all, Catania. You may end up on the list for the rest of the season.
- Vincenzo Iaquinta: (Seasonal)
- Milos Krasic: (2 weeks) A key reason we didn’t win today.
- Marco Motta: (4 weeks) On-off, on-off. At least it’s better than earlier this season when his form was off-off-off-off-off
- Jonathan Zebina: (Lifetime Award) Z3BINA handed Milan the Scudetto by shitting the bed on a simple offside trap. Alternatively, he denied Inter another Scudetto. Take it for what you’d like.

“Alla Juventus vincere non è importante, è la sola cosa che conta”

Genius

It was a relatively sterile match, surprising for Fiorentina-Juventus, which usually brings out the hostility and ill-temper in everyone. (Some Fiorentina fans maintained it with racist chants against Melo, and pro-Heysel songs) Neither team looked particularly fired up for the match, and neither looked like they wanted desperately to win. Utterly strange.

So are there any positives from this? Sure, some. The defense stepped up quite a bit, Bonucci had Gilardino in his pocket for much of the game- he’s quite skilled at marking target-men, tricky fast players tend to bother him. Even Motta and Grosso put in decent shifts. We had a few good opportunities on net that had we converted, we’d be talking about a solid 1-0 win in hostile territory.

The Juve locker room pre-match. Aside from Storari making Toni laugh, everyone just kind of goes about their business

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6- Another day in the office. Little to do for San Gigi.

Motta: 6- Held his own surprisingly well against Pasqual and Vargas. Delneri said he was the best player on the pitch, which is absurd. Maybe to boost his confidence? Who cares. He’s here for the next 6 weeks, and that’s it. Sorensen should be playing.
Bonucci: 6.5- Had Gilardino marked tightly for most of the game, came close to scoring. Looked like the Leo of the fall.
Barzagli: 6.5- Also did well when required to mark Gilardino, a strong defensive performance.
Grosso: 6- It seems our back-up left-backs can’t cross for shit. And that’s De Ceglie’s strong point. Good defensively, but nothing got to Matri.

“Who has sweet hair? This guy.”

Marchisio: 6- Won a lot of balls and worked very hard. Wasn’t able to contribute much offensively.
Aquilani: 5.5- Often double-marked, bypassed often by Viola’s wingplay, had little impact on the game.
Felipe Melo: 6.5- Jeered by the crowd, subjected to racist chants, Melo was impeccable again in protecting the defense. He’s been superbly consistent this season.

Pepe: 5- Never was able to beat his man or deliver a good ball. Crowded out by the Viola.
Matri: 5- Isolated. It was obvious- the 4-3-3 hasn’t worked offensively, I picked that out last week. Matri was offside too much, but starved of service.
Krasic: 4.5- Another very disappointing display. Didn’t ever trouble Fiorentina. At this point last season, Diego was roundly being called an epic flop, despite continuing to deliver assists. Krasic has been even more poor since January.

Delneri showing more emotion than the entire team combined

Delneri: 6- It wasn’t a defensive formation, but it was a defensive performance. Team was cagey. The 4-3-3 didn’t work, again, as far as offense goes. It seems we can’t ever get both sides of the pitch to work- either we are great offensively and we’re terrible defensively, or vice versa.
Sorensen: 6.5- This surprised me- most pagelle ratings from other sites did not give Freddy a very good rating. I thought he was fantastic, well positioned and always making great challenges. Stupid yellow card, but he was plenty calm afterwords.
Del Piero: 6.5- Livened the attack up. A 4-4-2 with ADP/Matri back is a must, compared to this 4-3-3.
Toni: 6- Did rather well in his cameo, better than Matri, but he had the fortune of playing alongside Alex.

Things I Think I Think:

#1- The 4-5-1/4-3-3 is not a panacea: Said it last week. We saw it again, this week. The team didn’t look hungry for the victory, but it wouldn’t have mattered much if we did considering how disjointed our attack was.
#2- Felipe Melo racially abused by Fiorentina fans, Viola fans start Heysel chant, zero action: It’s only racist if Juve does it, as Balotelli proved. It wasn’t racist nor necessary to take action when Chievo or Udinese fans abused Balotelli, but dear God, shut the city of Torino down because there are some racist imbeciles in the Juventus curva! A few morons in the Viola Curva made racist chants at Melo when he fouled Montolivo, but the FIGC doesn’t care. Nor does it become a national debate. I’m not even going to get into the umpteenth pro-Liverpool/Heysel display…

Class acts, all of you

#3- Fiorentina are the new Torino: Little chance of making into the Champion’s League without Prandelli, they’ve resorted to two campaign goals: avoiding relegation, and raining on Juve’s parade. Sounds like a team we used to know…
#4- Selling Amauri for 5.5mil won’t even result in a financial loss: While recording “It Ain’t Over” last night with the guys, I came to a startling realization- Under a simple accounting method for amortization, we technically won’t sell him for a loss if we manage that amount. Under straight-line depreciation, you adjust his book value down every year, rather than mark him as a 23mil cost in the first year, it’s adjusted. His value after 3 years? About 5.5-6mil. That said- 33.5mil altogether including his salary for 17 league goals results in 1.97mil per goal. Iaquinta, who everyone says is worthless? 11mil transfer, 7.5mil salary (with one year more) so 18.5mil for 30 league goals, or 616,000 per goal.
#5- Alberto Aquilani becomes a father: Early today, his girlfriend Michela Quattrociocche gave birth to their daughter, Aurora. If you have never searched Google Images for his girlfriend, do so now.
#6- Team Eats: Bruschetta. Yummy.

This Week in Cassani Watch:

Negatives: Palermo won. Mattia looked good out there.

Positives: Mattia looked good out there. Zamparini is still insane.

THE JUVENTUS OFFSIDE SHITLIST
- Catania: You sold us Jorge Martinez for 12mil, and couldn’t even hold back Lazio for us? There’s only one way to get off the shitlist for next week, Argentina B, and that’s to take a thrashing at the Stadio Olimpico.
- Vincenzo Iaquinta: (Seasonal)
- Milos Krasic: Didn’t want to do this, but he deserves it, and probably should have been put on here earlier. In very poor form.
- Marco Motta: (4 weeks) On-off, on-off. At least it’s better than earlier this season when his form was off-off-off-off-off
- Parma: Ha! Well played, Parma. One week after I threw your entire team on there due to inability to beat Lazio, you end Inter’s Scudetto hopes by beating them 2-0 through Amauri and Giovinco. Well done.
- Jonathan Zebina: (Lifetime Award)

“Alla Juventus vincere non è importante, è la sola cosa che conta”

Hell of a way to wish someone luck, no?

As I sit and watch the Derby della Madoninna, I find it easy to reflect and think about what it must be like to be a fan of one of the Milan teams.  Despite the players and coaches downplaying this all week, this game will certainly be decisive as to which team team wins the Scudetto.  Any tifoso must be on pins and needles. 

If you’re a fan of Juventus or Roma, however…well, you don’t have that problem.  In fact, if you’re like me, you’ve forgotten what that even feels like.  At this point, both teams are languishing in a sort of purgatory: their squads that are just short of complete, and they’re both stuck in this spot where neither are elite, nor are they mid-table.

Although neither are fighting for the Scudetto, that doesn’t diminish the gravity of the match tomorrow.  With Roma and Juventus 6 and 11 points out of a Champions League spot, respectively, tomorrow will determine whether either squad have a reasonable chance to play with Europe’s elite next year.  Make no mistake – Roma is certainly in a better position.  Saying that Juventus have an uphill battle is an understatement.  I’m not delusional, and not for a second stating that I believe a win tomorrow will put us back within a reasonable chance to make the Champions League.  Come see me in a month from now, and show me what the table looks like then.

If you’re more optimistic than I am, well, first of all, you’re probably not Italian.  However, if you’re Gigi Delneri, you have a reason to at least need to pretend to be, and tomorrow could prove to be a turning point.  While a longshot, a win would at least provide a glimmer of hope for a top four finish.  It would also be a big blow to Roma. 

With that in mind, I’m expecting a pretty wide-open game.  Roma will be coming out with guns blazing, desperate for a win.  I think the same will be true for Juventus.  As the podcasters astutely noted, Roma may have equally bad or worse wingbacks than Juventus.  That says something.  At any rate, Juventus were handed a big blow this week, as Giorgio Chiellini will be sidelined, as will the one bright spot as of late, Alessandro Del Piero.  The injuries to Paolo De Ceglie and Fabio Quagliarella were bad enough, and things couldn’t possibly get worse.  Right? 

Well, it was reported today that Leonardo Bonucci and Claudio Marchisio have had to leave training for different knocks.  Great. 

At least neither injury seems serious, and both players were still included with the squad. 

One question that remains is what lineup and formation Delneri will use.    Tuttomercatoweb is predicting Delneri’s standard-issue 4-4-2 , with a lineup including Grygera and (gulp) Grosso as the wingbacks, with Matri and Toni up top.  However, Tuttosport predicts  a switch to a 4-3-3, ala the game against Cagliari.  Their version includes Sorenson and (Jesus!) Grosso in the back, with a midfield made up of Marchisio, Aquilani, and Melo, and a trident of Pepe, Matri, and Krasic in attack. 

All things considered, I think I’d prefer the 4-3-3.  We shall see. 

In Italian, we say “in bocca al lupo” – literally “in a wolf’s mouth” – in order to say “good luck.”  As it stands, tomorrow our beloved Old Lady will be staring 11 wolves in the face.  She may need a little luck yet.

(Big thanks to Sposato al Nemico for the artwork.  It’s one of my favorite ones yet)

Simply getting better and better and better as time passes by. No not this podcast, Alessandro Del Piero who led his team to victory yet again this past weekend as Brescia visited Turin. Finally securing three points Delneri’s men looked good going forward but the defensive fragility remained and this is discussed at great length by the boys in this episode. Also up for debate is the mental state of Gigi Buffon who gave up another soft goal, the complete lack of cohesion and leadership in defence as well as the improvement seen in attack since the arrival of Ale Matri.

One small step as they say! Thanks again for listening and don’t forget you can download the podcast from itunes too here

It wasn’t all horrible. I’m not sure why, but in the last month or so, this team has improved in certain ways…and at the same time, others compensate by shitting it up. Cesena was no different- after 4 goalless games, our midfield and strikeforce finally looked competent, although it wasn’t by fluke, with Matri finally fielded as a proper central striker with a seconda punta. While the offense and midfield looked far brighter than their dismal display against Milan, the defense suddenly collapsed. The technical quality of Cesena (what?) unlocked the defense, and I’m not sure if it was nerves or a more basic difficulty against their skill, but the defense looked nervous from minute one. And it wasn’t just Traore and Motta, who we all expected little of, it was Chiellini who is supposed to be our rock. When it isn’t your season, I guess it just isn’t your season…

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6.5- I’m tempted to give him a 5, or a 7.5. More on that later.

Motta: 4- Did it surprise anyone that Motta doomed us? Not me. I haven’t been a fan since minute one, and he’s just getting worse and worse. Today was his first start since January, and if it was Delneri’s idea of “okay, you have one last chance to prove anything” then there’s no doubt Motta is heading back to Udinese. (not that there ever was) He’s not even worth the 1.25mil paid for the next 3 seasons, a damning indictment. Sorry Marco, but you’re just dreadful. No other way to say it.
Bonucci: 5.5- Seems to have problems with tricky fast players. Parolo and Giaccherini gave him endless problems, he was saved several times by San Gigi.
Chiellini: 5- Did I see a different game from everyone else? Browsing through some other sites pagelle, they are generally positive reviews of his performance. I thought it was awful. Completely schooled by Parolo for the penalty, had he hauled him down it would have been a yellow. Everytime he was in possession, he was making nervous clearances, poor passes, backpasses that threatened the goal…I was very disappointed in Giorgio last night.
Traore: 6- A satisfactory game, all things considered, but like Motta, there’s pretty much no chance of seeing him in Bianconero next season. Offered a bit of forward movement and looked composed enough in defense.

Pepe: 6- A typical hardworking performance that saw him deliver a few good crosses, get into good position, and horrible scuff his chances. Kidding. Pepe won’t offer flash, but it was nice to have a genuine wideman on the left for once.
Aquilani: 6- Quality play in the first half, but simply outnumbered after Motta was sent off.
Marchisio: 6- Ditto for Aquilani. Covered a lot of ground.
Krasic: 5.5- Another subdued performance from Milos. A few flashy moments here and there where he accelerated away from his marker, but pretty much the same performance we’ve seen from him of late.

Del Piero: 7- Magical. Seems to have lost his shooting boots, but there is no doubting his quality. It makes the decision to bench him for Toni in the last few weeks look all the more baffling.
Matri: 7.5- Pacey, direct, strong, and clinical in front of net, what’s not to like? 5 goals in 6 games for Juventus, and as Adam notes on “It Ain’t Over Till the Old Lady Sings” he has scored as many goals this season as Bari’s entire team, yet no one seems to talk about him.

Delneri: 5- The starting XI was the right one, Motta aside. After the game, he said “Today we chose quality, and I liked the midfield performance.” Very true. The midfield was a quality group, as well as up top, as opposed to Marchisio playing on the left-wing, and Matri-Toni up top. Italian coaches are notorious for preferring hardworking tall players (Iaquinta) over quality ones, and Delneri has been guilty of this very often as well. It’s about damn time he chose quality, even if Toni was injured and Melo/Sissoko out, and up until Motta screwed the pooch, we looked good. Let’s hope Delneri chooses quality more often.
Grygera: 5.5- A correct substitution, and probably the only one.
Martinez: 5- Useless. But at that point, as much as Martinez has been useless this season, we had surrendered the midfield. He was never going to get into the game.
Iaquinta: 4- It is really depressing watching Vincenzo play.

Check out the shoulder charge Aquilani delivers for Matri’s 1st goal to free up Alex…

Things I Think I Think:

#1- Marco Motta needs to walk back to Udinese: Trezeguet was flown in First Class to Alicante. Diego flew coach to Germany. Knezevic was afforded a 1-way Greyhound bus ticket back to Tuscany. Marco? Time to start hiking. Maybe you can hitch-hike with Iaquinta.

#2- Gianluigi Buffon’s performance was again frustrating: I called for Marco Storari to be drafted in goal, and took a fair amount of criticism then. I took even more when San Gigi popped up with three tremendous saves, and people asked if I would recant my heresy against Gigi. No. If you misread my earlier post as suggesting Gigi is the root of Juve’s issues, or even a significant problem, then I apologize for not clearing it up. He’s not the problem. But he hasn’t been up to par of late, and if you can say that about any player, if they have a valid alternative, you should consider a switch. Here’s the point about yesterday- yes, Gigi kept us in the game late. But he should have sent off for the 2nd time in a month, and that would have screwed us over. Would we have been hammered in the 2nd half if we were 2-0 up still? Doubt it.

It was still a Juve-dominated game until the penalty, then Motta was shortly sent off afterwords. And speaking of that sending off, there’s no doubt in my mind that Bergonzi sent him off poor ‘ole Marco to compensate for not sending off Gigi, either consciously or subconsciously. Is a high foot a yellow? Yes. Is it a second yellow before the half in a relatively level-headed game? No. The defense deserves a hefty amount of blame (particularly Chiellini for letting Parolo through) but so does San Gigi. He made great saves and it’s lovely to see him do that, but he’s still making critical judgement errors that are jeopardizing the team. If we go into that half 2-0 up with 11 men, it’s a different game.

The Focal Point

#3- It’s about time Matri returns to a prima punta role: I had been whining about this for the last few weeks. Matri is a good player- he can play wide, he can play deeper, but it’s wasted there. I still think signing Luca Toni is a relatively smart decision, if he plays as a reserve. If he’s starting over Alex, it’s a mistake. If he’s starting over Alex and forcing Matri to play wider or deeper, then it’s a crime. Sure enough, we saw Ale-Ale up top, and it was a classic prima punta-seconda punta partnership. Del Piero provided fantasy, and Matri bulldozed through the Cesena defense with acceleration and strength. Imagine seeing Matri-Quagliarella up top next season…

#4- Should Delneri stay until the summer? No doubt in my mind- when you sign a coach and are battling for the Scudetto up until December, you should give him the full year. Sacking GDN makes no sense at this point- it’s like canning Ciro Ferrara or Giampaolo Ventura for Bari. If we admit that Champion’s League qualification is beyond our grasp (as it appears to be) what is the point in canning him? Last year, we were in free fall when we sacked Ciro, and I said there was little point because this squad wasn’t salvageable, so give Ciro some time to work. Sure enough, Zaccheroni, try as he might, could not turn around our fortunes. Same with Delneri- if we missed out on our goal, CL qualification, why sack him? Why not give him until the rest of the season so we can make a qualified and fair judgement on him this summer?

All Cesena’s base are not belong to us

#5- It’s irrelevant, as he has the clubs backing: Earlier this week, Andrea Agnelli and his cousin John Elkann visited Vinovo and chatted with Delneri and the players for a while. We discuss this on the podcast, but Agnelli/Elkann are not going to make that trip if they intend to sack him soon, particularly John Elkann who is removed from the day-to-day running of the club. Today the club attacked Tuttosport publicly (as I’ll discuss further below) which is further proof that they are backing Delneri. It’s the right move, until the summer at least.

#6- Giaccherini: Worst miss ever? Rivals Marchionni’s miss v Sampdoria.

#7- Aquilani and Marchisio midfield: I like it. It has a lot of potential, though it’s clear they aren’t fully accustomed to play with each other. Some say it’s too weak, but I think that’s the attitude that sees Toni starting up top over Alex Del Piero. It worked well in the first half of the game, and some might say they failed to control the midfield in the second, and that’s true. But the midfield was down a man when Motta was sent off, and it’s not realistic to expect Juve to dominate possession at that point.

Official Note from Juventus:

Juventus Football Club has maintained an open dialogue with all of the media during this season. The club intends to continue on this line, despite the sporting results that are unsatisfactory as judged by the fans, the technical staff, the management, and the players. Every component is absolutely committed to the improvement of the team towards that deserving of the clubs tradition, however, we maintain that the newspaper Tuttosport has been completely irresponsible, which pretends to be a newspaper “of reference.” The newspaper has spread unreliable news, with the only objective to call into question the professionalism of the coach, of some players, and the management. To create a list of 7 names of possible new coaches in 8 days is to simply provoke the emotions, without facts based in credible reports or having credible sources.

Juventus does not have newspapers “of reference” nor “preferred”, and the large portion of the Juventus fanbase is the same.

The players, the coaches, the employees, and the management continue to work, knowing that this season will create the base for a work that needs to completed quickly, to bring the Bianconeri colors where the history, tradition, and millions of fans have put it. With passion, with courage, with determination.

An interesting press release from the club, slamming Tuttosport for being full of nonsense. There’s a lot of subtext in this, particularly the 2nd paragraph. (I’ve preserved the original formatting) In some ways, I regard this note as inexperience from Andrea Agnelli, lashing out at the newspapers in frustration. It certainly reinforces the point I made earlier that the management is still backing Gigi Delneri. Others have suggested this is John Elkann who is well versed in the media, turning the tables on Tuttosport. The newspaper does have a lot of access to Juve, and pretty much have been actively working to bring it down over the last two years. It certainly throws some pressure on Tuttosport, and I wonder what the Cazzetta and Corriere will have to say about it.

I’m going to miss this…

THE JUVENTUS OFFSIDE SHITLIST
- Gigi Delneri: (1 week) Can he get us out of this psychological funk? He’s got the experience…but I haven’t been too impressed thus far. Slow improvements, but we need drastic ones.
- Jonathan Zebina: (Lifetime Award) You douchebag. I’ve waited about 7-8 years to see JZ come to Torino as an opponent, and he gets suspended for the match? He’s trolling us, man.
- Marco Motta: (1 week) Too deserving. He’ll finish the season on the list and probably end up in the Juventus Offside Shitlist Hall of Fame. He’s like the Italian Z3BINA, without the douchiness. Occasional ability in attack, poor defending, utterly average. Today’s red card, deserved or not, complicated things immensely. Somewhere someone in Montreal is grinning when I say this- I miss Cristian Molinaro.
- Vincenzo Iaquinta: (1 week) It’s sad to put him on this list, because I’ve been a big fan. In the few spurts he’s remained uninjured, he looked like a great striker, and very capable coming off the bench. He has not been the same player since his 100-day injury last season, and he looks completely spent as a player. It’s sad, but Vincenzo has to go- even if he gets into some kind of form, he’ll likely get injured the next weekend. We spoke about Iaquinta on the podcast a while ago, about how unlike Toni/Del Piero he doesn’t “ride the fouls” (to put it nicely) and takes the full brunt of every foul, and that’s probably why he’s so injured. Against Cesena, he flopped like Toni and angrily rose his arms like Amauri when he didn’t get the foul. Awful.

“Alla Juventus vincere non è importante, è la sola cosa che conta”

Quote by Clint Eastwood, artwork courtesy of Sposato.al.Nemico

The ability to not look back and get distracted by an event in the past is a mental feature many high level athletes work tirelessly on. To some, it comes easier than others. But for most, the task to forget one’s mistake during a game can be much harder than physically playing it sometimes. Today, it’s no secret that Juventus’ players are going through a difficult moment, no doubt complicated by a number of physical injuries, but certainly compounded by some mental ones as well.

Del Neri and Marotta’s comments after the Milan game left many fans, myself included, scratching their heads, wondering if they had even been watching the same match. But to put an optimistic spin on things, perhaps their hopeful and “improving” sentiments were made to artificially create a certain atmosphere around the team that calms and relaxes- Lord knows they could use some.

“It is not a good time for us, everyone knows this. At the moment, we must not look too far behind or too far ahead, only focusing on the present, which is the match against Cesena on Saturday. If we play like we know how to, we will win. We must walk onto the pitch without any fear of conceding an early goal, knowing we can overcome this setback” -Marchisio

In certain ways our opponent this Saturday will be ourselves, not the other team. Like Il Principe said, if we play like we know how to, we will win. Granted the Seahorses are coming off of two fine results and they’re in good health, but one can’t imagine the Bianconeri losing here if they play close to their potential for ninety minutes. However since 2010, that’s been easier said than done.

In terms of line-ups, La Gazzetta believes Buffon will start (read Aaron’s excellent piece on the subject if you haven’t yet) with Sorensen, Bonucci if Barzagli isn’t fit in time, Chiellini, and Traore in defense. In the middle of the park there’ll be Krasic on the right, Marchisio, Aquilani, and Pepe behind Del Piero and Matri up top. Last week we severely lacked some quality going forward and at times looked as disjointed as ever. It’ll be up to Del Neri to try and fix these on-field issues as best he can. Hopefully the team responds once and for all and we can stop the bleeding. Here are the call-ups for Juventus and Cesena.

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!