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”

Marco flanked by Brazzo/Grygera- “Hey, what’d you two do today?”

Could not have been any more stereotypical, right? Roma starts out brightly, playing 4-2-3-1, assaulting our goal. When it doesn’t go in, thanks to some miracle saves from Marco Storari, the Roman mentality kicks in- they despair. Some teams fight back when they go 1-0 down, they didn’t. Our mentality is a little different; this was an old-school Juventus performance, where we didn’t play the best, but we capitalized on our chances, and they didn’t. That’s essentially the story.

This result was very important from a morale standpoint, important as well looking at the table, as Udinese and Lazio both lost this weekend, but it doesn’t mean we’re back into the Champion’s League hunt, we threw away far too many points in January and February to consider that a possibility. We may finally be getting out of a funk, and a home match against a pretty terrible Genoa could serve as more chicken soup to rehabilitate the squad. This was our 3rd victory in a row against Roma in the capital…could it lead to our first 3 victories in a row this season?

BEAST.

LE PAGELLE:

Storari: 8- My goodness, what a game from Marco Storari. If he wanted to prove that he deserves the starting gloves for now, he could not have done it any better. Pulled up 3 goal-saving tremendous saves in the first half, and all credit for last night’s win and clean sheet go to Marco. We could have easily gone into the half 2-0 down, and who knows what would have happened there?

Motta: 6- A vast improvement on what we’ve seen thus far, managed to contain Mirko well enough for the most part. Occasionally gave Vucinic too much space to cross, didn’t even try and block his cross for Totti at the far post.
Bonucci: 6- Typical Bonucci performance- a bit too casual with the ball at times, but once he cut out the nonsense, was a solid showing at the back.
Barzagli: 6.5- A good performance from the ex-Palermo man. Covered the backline well. Playing-wise, he compliments Bonucci well, they just need to work on their partnership and moreso, one needs to assert themselves as leader of the backline.
Grosso: 7- By far Fabio’s best ever performance in Bianconero, as a result, the whole team is spending time at the tanning machines in Vinovo today. For the most part, he kept Menez quiet in defense, and was tremendous up top, pulling in two fantastic assists and nearly scoring himself. Good work Fabio- now take the rest of the season off.

Marchisio: 6.5- An all-action performance from the Juventus captain. Worked hard in defense, carried the ball well, and all-in-all, helped to control the midfield. I felt in a pure 3-man midfield, he got a lot more space than normal, and did well with it. When Pepe or Krasic carried the ball up the pitch, they passed it right to the opposition. Claudio’s got a very cool head, even when he goes on a 40 yard run, he makes an intelligent pass at the end.
Felipe Melo: 7- Rock solid performance from the returned midfielder- as Adam mentioned on last week’s podcast, Melo always seems to play his best against Roma. Played relatively deep, almost a defender at times, and never put a foot wrong. There was a point where he was dribbling with the ball under pressure from two Roma players, and I feared a Melo-of-old foolish turnover. Instead, he calmly passed it straight back to Storari. A very tactically disciplined performance.
Aquilani: 5.5 I was rather disappointed with Aquilani’s performance, perhaps the jeers of the Roma crowd got to him. In the first half, his passing was rather poor, failing to meet its target or forcing the player to take it wide. As Roma ceded the midfield in the 2nd half, Albertino grew into the match, but still all in all, a rather down performance.

Krasic: 6- I’m surprised by some of the glowing reviews that Milos is getting for the match, Datasport gives him a 7.5 and calls him “looking like the Milos of old.” There were three real positives about his performance- he saw a lot of the ball, was getting into excellent positions to receive the ball, and opened the scoring with a well struck right-footed volley. There were plenty of negatives too- he was frequently wasteful with the ball, either preferring to shoot (when others, say Pepe, were standing ready to run onto it) or making a 40-50 yard run only to pass it straight to Roma. He can be one-dimensional at times, switching flanks with Pepe helped, but he’s gotta continue developing.
Matri: 6.5- Worked hard as a lone striker. For most of the first half, he was relatively isolated and I was calling for someone to play as a seconda punta to try and support him. Excellent run to go 1v1 beating the offside trap, and cool as ice as he placed it right between Doni’s legs to kill off the game. Including his Italy debut, Matri has 7 goals in 10 games since joining Juve in January. He also scored 11 goals for Cagliari in the first half of the season. In tremendous form.
Pepe: 6- Again asked to play a different role, Simone worked his ass off running up and down the pitch. Had a great turn and shot that Doni saved, but otherwise doesn’t look too clinical up top. Still think he should be experimented with as a fullback, he could be great there.

This is starting to get a bit creepy.

Delneri: 6- Hard to give him a rating here- if it weren’t for Storari’s miracles, we might be back in crisis, with finger-pointing all around. The formation was a decent, but not great one. Not because of the individual errors that led to Storari making those magnificent saves, but because we didn’t look too deadly up top until Rome pushed forward and conceded more and more space. Their desperation led to our win.
Salihamidzic: 10- He lives!
Sorensen: s.v.- Thrown on as a cameo.

Things I Think I Think:
#1- One good game does not a fullback make: Funny as hell that Grosso and Motta have decent games, and neither of them have the opportunity to repeat it next week- Grosso is suspended for yellow card accumulation, and Motta of course was injured. I don’t think either of them would have had a good game against Genoa anyways, so it’s a blessing both happened. I nearly threw my laptop out the window when I saw them lining up against Roma. One good performance doesn’t change the fact that they’re both shit and need to leave this summer.

#2- Marco Storari proves his worth, puts Delneri in a pickle: You may recall I argued a few weeks ago that Marco Storari should be starting ahead of Gianluigi Buffon right now. I was met with ridicule, but Buffon has gone on to make more errors, and Storari pulled off a blinder of a match against Roma. Note I never said that Gigi should be sold, it was only until the team started racking up enough points that we could reintroduce Gigi. Storari’s performance was enough to make Delneri a bit uncomfortable, and then he followed up with this throw down after the match.

“Only a blind person can’t see what I am doing and I hope the Coach is not blind,” he stated at the Olimpico. “Will I move to Roma instead of Buffon? I have never hidden the fact that I am a Roma fan, but the truth is that I am happy at Juventus and I want to earn some space here.”

I think there’s no doubt he’s irritated that Delneri made a lot of fuss about meritocracy before Buffon returned, and then ended up immediately benching him anyways. That’s a serious challenge from Marco though, implying that he wants the #1 gloves. Delneri responded afterwords- “I know what Marco said, we spoke, and he knows I respect him. I understand it’s difficult to sit on the bench, and that he deserves to play, but he has a great champion like Buffon ahead of him, today he demonstrated that he’s a great professional and a great man. I hope he stays for a long time at Juventus even if he’s not playing.”

To me, that’s Delneri saying “Thanks Marco, but Gigi is still our #1.” I don’t think Storari will be too happy to hear that, and considering the great form he’s in, I really don’t know if he’ll stay this summer. At his age, he’s still got 2-3 years at the top level left, and he’s been kind of a late bloomer, he might want his time in the limelight. With Manninger’s contract expiring and leaving in almost all certainty, we might go from having 3 tremendous keepers to one. But there’s no doubt in my mind, if Storari wants to be #1, he will have to leave Juventus. I will wish him well, I have become a big fan of his.

#3- Is the formation change behind the result? No: A lot of people said hallelujah when they saw us line up with a 4-5-1, or a 4-3-3 depending on your view. Like I said on Delneri’s rating, we could be having a very different discussion right now. Offensively, it didn’t work very well, and it took Mexes’ injury and an increasingly desperate Roma before we got in a goal. Is Delneri’s “typical” 4-4-2 a real 4-4-2? No. Did this formation change revolutionize us? Again, no.

#4- I love Mauro Camoranesi. I also love David Trezeguet. Shame they didn’t get what they deserve. Juve has a bad history of booting out our legends.

#5- La Stampa was on one hell of an NBA kick: “Fabio Grosso made dazzling assists, he seemed like a calcio-version of Magic Johnson. Felipe Melo planted himself square in the area like Shaquille O’Neill, marking “return to sender” for all of Totti’s shots.” Wow. Is it the playoffs or something?

THE JUVENTUS OFFSIDE SHITLIST
- Gigi Delneri- Two wins help. Get a third.
- Jonathan Zebina: (Lifetime Award)
- Marco Motta: (2 weeks) Hasn’t done enough to get him off the list.
- Vincenzo Iaquinta: (Seasonal)
- Giuseppe Marotta: Mauro and David, really? You douchebag.

It’s all about the tan, man.

“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)

Compare that to this team and their overall performance. Melo was playing very well against Bologna until we conceded and has been a great player this season, Aquilani has people that can make the runs and Chiellini had a good central partner until he was placed on the left wing where he is more inconsequential than effective. Marotta’s Juve is better than Secco’s Juve, I think that is clear for everyone. What some fail to realize is that Secco had four years with the team and he benefited from Moggi’s project (one that had 14 years to develop). Secco didn’t build a team that got us into 3rd and 2nd place in Serie A, Moggi did, and it was such a great team that it took 4 years for Secco to crush it to the ground in the way we saw last season.

The first thing I want to ask of my fellow Juventini is to forget about Moggi, he was a great director who knows lots about football, he might have been the best director that Juve ever had but he is not here anymore and I don’t think Juve ever want him back seeing that he is 74 years of age. The other thing we have to remember is he is not with the club anymore so he doesn’t know anything that goes on behind closed doors. He doesn’t know the transfer budget, he doesn’t know the salary budget and he doesn’t know what the club is going through as he did prior to 2006. From that position it is very easy to criticize, anyone can say: Juve should buy Kjaer, Ranocchia, Bonucci, Schelotto, Aquilani, Krasic, Balzaretti, and Dzeko. However after the transfer market has gone by it is clear that Juve couldn’t have afforded three champions, even if we didn’t spend 12m of Martinez. Champions don’t generally come in a free loan with an option to buy or for less than 15 m.

We should be grateful to him, but he is not the future. Juve is bigger than Moggi.

With the Moggi issue out of the way, I want to look at Marotta’s tenure in detail. Last year we had one of the oldest squads, compare that to our average age after the summer transfer market, 25.5; in the winter we got Toni, Matri, Barzagli and got rid of Amauri so I imagine we are still one of the youngest squads in the peninsula. The wage bill came down as well which makes the prospect of Juve not qualifying for CL less worrying than last year. Marotta built a team for our coach, something totally unheard of in Turin since 2006, he did this with the budget of a provincial squad. Also, all the loans with option to buy allow us to make changes depending on how the season goes and how the players respond. This to me is one of the best things Marotta has done. After Secco’s tenure we were stuck with players like Amauri and Grosso who had obscenely high salaries. With Marotta we don’t, we can send Marco Motta, and Pepe packing if we choose to and focus on refilling those places. If that is not a good market strategy I don’t know what is.

Two great players that fit the coach’s style of play. Reason for hope?

Del Neri must be also mentioned. The coach for some is tactically inflexible, if that is your opinion, I disagree but I am not going to argue. However, do you think it is a good idea to change the coach at this point? If so, who would you bring in? Juve are not going to win the Scudetto, no matter who our coach is, Champions League qualification is still a target but one that is not in our hands anymore. Will Lippi get us to the CL? I don’t know, but the thought of him starting Grosso at left back for the rest of the season is terrifying. Spalletti is an attack-minded coach, would Juve be better off with him seeing that we are conceding goals left, right, and center? I don’t think so. Capello might be the answer, but I doubt he will come to Juve unless we give him a huge salary (we don’t have the money) and we buy 2 or 3 champions (we don’t have the money). All sacking Del Neri will do is tell the players once again that this is not their fault, that losing to Lecce was the coach’s fault and that the Bologna loss was due only to poor tactics. Juve should have won both games with the players they had on the pitch, Juve should have won both games playing with 10 men. But the squad is too scared to go out and win.

Where does the mental fragility come from? Some of it is down to age, Sorensen can’t shake off a bad start to the game the way that ADP can. Some of it is the fans putting pressure on a team that is not ready for it yet. Besides Buffon and Del Piero no one has won anything of any significance in their lives. Changing the coach at this point is the equivalent of taking a child away from the parents because he fell when riding a bike for the first time, it makes the parent look irresponsible and prevents the kid from growing. The situation that we are in is mostly the players fault and not Del Neri’s tactical schemes or lack thereof. Losing to Lecce, Parma, and Udinese are 95% due to mental weakness and 5% to poor tactics if that. This mental weakness was aggravated after tying Chievo, losing to Parma and our main striker. Quagliarella got us out of trouble many times and the players could always look towards him to make a difference, now the squad needs to adapt to his loss and move forward, and so must we.

I believe Marotta has done a great job given the team and resources he had available to him, likewise, Del Neri has made us better than last season, and Agnelli is making changes that will make us a stronger team going forward. No Champions League will be a hard pill to swallow in May if it comes to that but it is part of our growing pains. In the summer other players that are dear to us may leave, and others will arrive in order to achieve third place and with the funds the stadium will bring in, we will be able to spend even more.

The club is in a very difficult period. In 2006 Juventus was being relegated and we hurriedly decided to agree to a shady deal of going to Serie B in exchange for a “minimum” point deficit on our first season in the second division. In a rush we appointed Alessio Secco as our sporting director. When things weren’t looking very good for Ranieri the club panicked and chose to appoint Ferrara. In the summer of 2009 D’Agostino’s price was too much and the club once again got scared and bought Melo asking him to be a player he is not. Now we are doing it again, Juventus has lost to two weak sides, teams who on paper should not be able to score on us, let alone beat us. Just like a child that is learning to ride a bike, this team needs time and hard work.

Del Neri might not be the man to get us two Champions League trophies and five Scudetti, but he can get the team out of this slump. The players believe in him, which was clear from the Bologna game. Give the players at least two more games and we will see where we go from there. I understand the frustration, but calling Moggi back, and asking Marotta and Del Neri to resign is not the way out of this situation, faith in the people that are now running this club is. I know many of you disagree with what I think is the path to go through. I don’t have the right answers and this blog is what it is because we are open to discussion. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Article written by JoseR

Raise that voice, San Gigi!

LE PAGELLE:

Buffon: 6- Since he’s come back, San Gigi has hardly had any saves to make. He’s played against Catania, Bari, and now Sampdoria, and seriously, we should be charging him admission. Today, Sampdoria only had one real effort on goal, a mis-shot that luckily landed right in Pazzini’s path, who horribly scuffed it. Is it a coincidence our defense has tightened up since San Gigi is back? I don’t think so, he certainly is very vocal and provides that leadership that perhaps Storari, as great a shot-stopper he is, had been hit-or-miss on.

Motta: 5- Sadly, every game is turning out to be the same for Motta. Can’t really defend, caught out of position, offers very limited in attack, it’s becoming painfully clear that his option will not be picked up come June. I wonder if he knows that.
Bonucci: 7- Classy play from defense, he’s certainly more of a passer than Giorgio is. The two of them formed an unbreakable pairing today, the fullbacks general mediocrity notwithstanding, and hardly let Pazzini or Macheda have an eye on goal. Had a very good effort on goal, altogether a very confident performance from Leonardo.
Chiellini: 6.5- Dominated aerial play and kept Sampdoria quiet for much of the game. He’d get Bonucci’s rating although he had a nervy moment here and there, one he was booked for, and one was a possible penalty shout for bulldozing over Macheda in the box. Not saying it was a penalty, but some referees might have called it.
Grosso: 6- Came on as a sub shortly after Traore, and much like his generally “acceptable” performance this season after having been frozen out of the squad, did his job as a professional. Limited Mannini’s movement on the wings, didn’t offer much up top, but an improved defensive display.

Guberti was playing in Serie B two years ago, c’mon Marco…

Krasic: 5.5- Like our team in general, he hasn’t really clicked back into gear after the Christmas break. Milos had a few accelerations that probably freaked out Ziegler and Samp fans, but faded fast from the game and had very little influence. Rightfully hooked after the break.
Aquilani: 6- Was very inconsistent today, and Juve’s performance closely mirrored that inconsistency. Doesn’t seem as fully fit as he was back in December, physically he faded as the game went on. It might be because as Adam notes on the newest episode of “It Ain’t Over”, he had a lot more defense work to do, helped out Motta on the right wing on occasion.
Sissoko: 6.5- It was a very physical match with lots of tackles, exactly what Momo thrives on, and he had a good performance. Won the ball back, for much of the 1st half, he controlled the midfield with Aquilani and Marchisio. A lively battle with Poli and Palombo.
Marchisio: 6- As a winger offered his typical hard work and coverage, but I really don’t like him as a left-winger, I think his talent is wasted. You can probably copy-paste this line for every one of his games at left-mid.

Pepe: 6.5- Surprised me at how naturally he slotted in at seconda punta, of course, it was his original role years ago, but he rolled back the years instantly. I think that’s as good as a performance as Floro Flores would give, sorta ditto for Martinez. Moved to a winger position and cooled down a bit, but a good performance.
Amauri: 3.5- What can you say anymore about Amauri? Forget us, this man needs to get the fuck out of Turin for his own sake. Unless he wants to pull a Winston Bogarde, clearly the playing environment is not working for him, and a move might shake things up to get him to be a half decent striker, because right now, Erjon Bodgani has FIVE more goals than him in Serie A.

Il Mister applauding his former fans…Sampdoria fans.

Delneri: 5.5- While Delneri clearly his been working at the defensive problems we had (and it’s paid off) there are a number of decisions that are baffling to me. I’ll go into them more below.
Del Piero: 6.5- Yes, he missed a golden opportunity to win the game, but three possible reasons. First, that’s not an easy goal to score, he should have, but was trying to place it and leaned back too much. Second, he’s had the flu and was very sick yesterday, and third, the Marassi pitch was dreadful. Disappointing for him to miss, but he made a difference when he came on and proved at age 36 that he’s still a crucial member of this squad.
Martinez: 7- Speaking of difference-makers, whew. El Malaka came on and totally changed the game, opening Sampdoria’s defense up time and time again despite coming on 6 minutes before regulation time ends. Created 3 golden opportunities, two Alex shots, and headed back for Amauri to somehow not bang it in.

Things I Think I Think:

#1- Moments that Delneri made me facepalm-
a. Why on earth is Amauri still starting? Some said supposedly Delneri gave Amauri today as his “last chance” to prove himself, as much as I’d like to believe it, I doubt it. The man is awful, and he destroys our offensive play simply by existing. Unable to get into goal-scoring position, too slow to beat players like Volta to the ball, cannot shoot, cannot score, he’s awful. I understand maybe Delneri wants to keep his value/self-esteem high, but I think both are still ruined by him playing. It’s time for Delneri or Marotta to come out and say “Amauri’s time at Juventus is finished, we thank him for his efforts but it’s best for us to both move on.” Promote Libertazzi (1:20 in the video) and give him some time, he’s promising. Or Giannetti, he may have been relatively anonymous against Catania (I think it was?) but Amauri literally destroys our play by being up top, Giannetti wouldn’t necessarily help, but he wouldn’t harm it either.
b. Why didn’t El Malaka come on earlier? Jorge Martinez has had many critics dating back to this summer, you may recall I am not one of them. While he probably wouldn’t have been a primary transfer target for me, there’s no doubt he’s a creative and versatile player. It’s a shame he showed up to training overweight and out of shape. Regardless, he started to show some of his talent heading into November before breaking his foot against Milan. And in the last two weeks, he’s looked very lively when playing. He played 30 minutes last week, trained all week, why on earth couldn’t he have done a half? Whether it was up top with Del Piero as he did before, or as a winger, he changed the game. Couple more chances and surely we’d have buried the, right? As someone mentioned- maybe if he gets in good form, we’ll see a long-haired South American tricky dribbler and a blonde Eastern European tearing up the flanks again…
c. Did Delneri confuse the wings? There’s a couple things that Delneri has done tactically on the wings that makes plenty of sense. Pairing an ultra defense right-back (Grygera/Sorensen) with an ultra-offensive winger, of course Krasic, makes sense. There might not be overlapping play between them, but they stick to their task, and do it well. On the other flank, Marchisio started playing left-wing to accomodate Paolo De Ceglie’s less than stellar defensive abilities, although they did improve as the season goes on. Grosso shouldn’t need anyone to hold his hand, so Pepe should be able to play in front of him no problem, with typical Pepe hard work. I don’t understand why Marchisio is playing on the left-wing when he doesn’t really need to (I guess playing time out of position is better than no playing time) or why Delneri chose to go with Motta again. As I said, Motta might realize by now he probably won’t get picked up, and if he does, his performances will surely drop, but playing him behind Krasic limits Milos immensely. Milos has to track back more, play more defense, offer coverage…things that surely limit his attacking play, right? So play Sorensen/Grygera-Milos on the right, and on the left, if Marchisio is playing, we want a more attacking fullback. Like maybe Simone Pepe.

#2- I’d Love Andrea Poli on this Team. Should Sampdoria be interested in selling (they’re probably not) there’s no question we should look at Poli. Very young still, Delneri launched his career last year and he formed a great center midfield partnership with Palombo, he’s been on the outs of the first team most of this year, and put in a pretty good performance today to show what promise he does have. Poli has denied any interest in moving to Juve, and relations with Samp of course are not very good, unfortunately.

Milos and a future teammate?

#3- I’d also take Ziegler. (and Palombo, Lucchini, and I guess half of Samp) Sure, Milos was having an offday, but Ziegler did a pretty good job at left-back for Samp, a very efficient display. He’s worked under Delneri in the past, and while he wouldn’t be a big upgrade on De Ceglie, I think he’d be a fine player to rotate in with him, it’d be nice to have a reserve left-back that isn’t atrocious. Certainly a big upgrade over Traore or Grosso, that’s for sure. It seems Ziegler will finish the next 6 months of his contract at Sampdoria, but he’s eligible to negotiate a move in June starting now. Marotta should start talking to him- Milan is interested as well, though perhaps Beppe doesn’t want to “upset” Sampdoria in case he decides to go Crazy this summer…

#4- The Quality has Disappeared from Sampdoria- Boy, and some people complain about our side being too functional and not creative. Not only does Andrea Poli not get enough playing time, they dumped Cassano for virtually free, their creativity has dried up. Not good for two strikers like Pazzini and Macheda who thrive on service in the box. It’s sad to see Samp this year, they are a shell of a team they were last year, and it’s hard to see a positive future for them. Di Carlo won’t get them relegated, but he’s used to working with teams full of garbage teams, so it’s unlikely we’ll see a creative, forceful Sampdoria anytime in the near future. That talk about the Vialli-Mancini partnership being recreated with Pazzini-Cassano? No more. I wonder how long Giampaolo will want to stay at a team destined for mid-table finishes…

#5- Team Eats- Pesto, I happen to know everything there is to know about pesto. I love pesto. I love pesto on pancakes. I love it on pizza. And I take pesto and put a little bit in my hair when I’ve had a rough week.

Milos v. Sampdoria 4 months ago…

#6- Krasic needs a break. From calcio, and from Motta. Maybe Milos is just a bit tired? I know he’s He-man and all, but even superheroes need to take a break once in a while, right? Kid has been playing nonstop for about a year now, with CSKA and the World Cup occupying pretty much his entire summer, it’s easy to see how he could hit a bit of burnout now. Or maybe it’s just because he has to track back more to cover Motta, which makes him a little more tired, and begins a vicious cycle…

#7- Roma and Udinese coming up this Week- Reasons to care about these upcoming games- sure, it’s just Roma in the Coppa, but we’re both tied on 9 wins, and 10 gives us a big fancy star. I’d like the Coppa, but 2nd best is Roma not getting that silver star before us. Petty? Absolutely. And Udinese might want a bit of revenge. We spanked them 4-0 at their home earlier this fall when their season was starting off absurdly slow. Then again, that was revenge for losing 3-0 at the Stadio Friuli last March. Does revenge transfer stadiums? I don’t know, but Udinese thrashed Inter 3-1 today, and have been scoring absurdly freely in the last month, one of the in-form teams in Serie A. They will not be the same team we rolled over in September, although I feel Udinese played well but Inter also played poorly.

#8- This team today with Luca Toni in place of Amauri gets the 3 points. Just sayin. Also, a small (very small) part of me does feel for Amauri. You can see the goal-scoring drought is weighing on him, his confidence is shot, he’s probably depressed. Like I said, leaving Torino might be the best option for him career-wise as well as psychologically at this point.

#9- Mercato Madness- Zarate? Don’t like him. Overrated and attitude issues. Forlan and Fabiano are great players, but too old to move to make them our “franchise prima punta”, we’d have to replace both in 2 years or so, and that’s not worth the investment Sevilla or Atletico would want. Matri’s available on free in 6 months, and he’s an interesting idea, but my mind is still shouting the same thing it was about 18 months ago- “Pazzini, bitches.” If we move for him, Garrone might not invite Beppe to his birthday party next year, but it’s worth it…

Of course the usual round up of how the ex Bianconeri are doing across Europe, skimming rapidly over Jonathan Zebina’s Brescia getting a win & keeping a clean sheet.

Hope you enjoy the show!

Aaron, Marco & Adam

Then follows an in-depth discussion of the players on loan at Juve & which of them should become permenant moves, a topic spark by a combination of Quagliarella’s brilliance & Motta’s sheer uselessness. The right back slot was also cause for debate as the three of us mull over the merits of Pepe, Sorensen & a number of other alternatives. We wrap up with a preview of the strike-threatened Lazio game.

Hope you enjoy the show.

Aaron, Marco, Adam & Lars

Prematch thoughts:

Motta is starting. Why? He’s been poor recently, and given that Krasic is returned, why not play Sorensen, who is far more defensive?

Luca Toni v. Giorgio Chiellini: Not worried at all. The only thing more washed up than Luca Toni is Hernan Crespo. [Post-game note: Who actually scored today, ha.]

Game on.

1′- I like the Marassi stadium, and I really like the camera angles here.

Krasic goes down in the 1st minute from Criscito, light contact but assistant referee didn’t like it. As Adam said, Milos will have to get shot to get a penalty in the future. Oh wait, he actually got the foul there.

2′- Marco Storari flattens Luca Toni with a brilliant sliding tackle in the box. LEGEND. Straight out of my FIFA.
4′- Genoa wins a free kick on the edge of the box, dangerously swung in, Storari punches it out, didn’t fully judge it right there.
5′- Gorgeous cross field delivery from Aquilani to Krasic who is being jeered by the crowd. He is a Serb after all.
6′- Some funny finger-waggling from Felipe Melo.
10′- Krasic delivers a lovely cross in, Eduardo has to punch. Felipe Melo breaks up the play, hands to Aquilani who passes to Krasic precisely. Lovely midfield today, the 4 of them are a tremendous group with a diverse skill set. Aquilani, the silky passer, Melo, the destructive enforcer, Marchisio, the hard-working all-rounder, and Milos, “the Serbian bolt” as Zuliani calls him. A bit better than Momo, the headless chicken, Pepe, the hard-working not-good-at-anything, and Tiago, well, because he’s just a piece of shit.
12′- Iaquinta has a long-range pop, but it’s fairly wide. Worth an effort, at least. Krasic had a thigh strain, and given his pace and acceleration, I really hope he doesn’t push it too hard. That’s not an injury where you go from unhealthy to 100% instantly.
14′- Criscito comes in late with a two-footed slide tackle on Krasic, and deservedly gets a yellow card. That is real bad news for him, against a pacy player like Krasic, he is going to have to hold off on strong challenges. Kaladze has not been given much help to Criscito on the left.
17′- What a bizarre goal! Aquilani (I think) does well to win the ball in midfield, Marco floats in a lovely cross. Quagliarella does well to head back, Marchisio volleys, deflects off Dainelli and Eduardo comically heads it into his own net. Quagliarella back-header/Marchisio volley reminiscent of Trezeguet’s goal in “the” Real Madrid semi-final.

Genoa probably don’t deserve to go down, it’s been a pretty even sided first 15 mintues, but that’s calcio.

19′- Luca Toni has a poor volley. It used to be Amauri was the crap version of Luca Toni, but now Luca Toni is about as bad.
22′- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLL. Super goal from Krasic, who does a few stopovers, schools Criscito, and fires in. Again, Eduardo probably should have done better. Criscito completely unable to stop Milos, yellow card definitely conditioned him there.

Milos goes over to celebrate with Brazzo, it looks like. I think Salihamidzic translates for Milos, another reason to treat him well.

Two goals in 22 minutes. Not bad. Will this finish 9-0? [Subtle La Liga dig, I know.]

25′- Aquilani puts a lovely ball over the top to Marchisio, who controls well and shoots/crosses but Iaquinta isn’t there. Genoa started out well, but have suddenly looked very shaky. I guess two goals will do that.
27th- Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh, Criscito volleys off of a corner, hits the crossbar, very impressive, and Luca Toni horribly shanked the follow-up. Pre-Euro2008 Toni buries that. (As long as not in Azzurro)

Woulda been candidate for goal of the week if that had gone in, no matter what happens in the other games, that was a real great volley. Genoa have woken up a little bit offensively.

So defense in shambles, offense looking alright. Normal service for Genoa has resumed.

31′- Genoa also has reverted to a 3-5-2 it looks like, although their midfield look real confused tactically on where they should be. Ballardini switched to a 4-3-3, but back.
32′- Luca Toni scores, with his hand. Motta heads it in for him, but it’s rightfully chalked off and Toni gets a yellow. Cue Luca praying to the referee, and Paul Scholes silently grinning.
33′- Kaladze now gets booked, furious with the referee for reasons I don’t understand. Looks like he’s saying Iaquinta was holding his shirt, but he was doing the same and knocked him over from behind.
35′- Aquilani, Marchisio, Melo, and Krasic are just passing lovely between each other. Genoa haven’t looked totally awful in attack, but we are controlling the midfield at this point, and away, too. Impressive.
36′- Lovely recovery from Marchisio there, just robbed Toni of it and passed to Aquilani.
37′- With Krasic on, we have such a strange formation, Marchisio tucks in centrally and Milos plays way up top, a real lopsided 4-3-3 in attack. But it works. As I say that, Krasic just rips through two defenders, lovely cross to Iaquinta who gets a good touch of it goalside of Ranocchia, but just wide, a “palla-gol” there as they say in Italian.
38′- First real sighting of Marco Rossi, one of the dirtiest players in calcio.

A 4-4-2 with Marchisio and Pepe is solid, but Milos really adds that extra spark to unlock the other teams defenses.

39′- Ooohh, real worrying moment there. Cross in, neither of our defenders get to it, and Marco Rossi lurking just misses a touch, Storari touches it around for a corner that Genoa take horribly.

Grosso the culpable one there, failed to clear, I suppose he didn’t realize Marco Rossi was hanging out right behind him. Or “lurking” instead of hanging out, first of all because it’s appropriate for a scummy player like Marco Rossi, and it’s just a great word in general.

41′- Apparently Chievo and Inter are the only other two teams to win this season at Genoa. Who are playing today, odd coincidence.
42′- Ranocchia’s been looking decent out there, but still not as commanding as he was at Bari. 3-man defense doesn’t suit him.

It doesn’t suit Rinaudo either, not that that’s really an issue at this point.

43′- As I say that, Ranocchia swoops through and robs Melo of a ball, continues moving forward as Luca Toni plays a decent backheel to him. Milanetto plays in a clever ball to Criscito, but Krasic is in the penalty box defending well. Strange.

44′- Genoa’s had some real poor touches up front that allow our defenders to recover.

As I say that, Quagliarella plays in a good ball to Iaquinta who’s touch lets Dainelli recover and start a counter. I’m predicting the future.

45′- Rafinha has been real poor offensively, which is supposed to be his M.O. Krasic runs down the right and wins a corner, after being double marked by Mesto and Criscito. Beast mode.

Dainelli heads the corner out of the box, Melo does very well in his defensive midfield role to collect outside of the box, pass back in.

Half over.

As I said in last week’s podcast, Genoa, despite the points, don’t seem any better under Ballardini than Gasperini, shame they haven’t even gotten a new manager bounce. They got two 1-0 wins under somewhat fortuitous circumstances, a Milanetto screamer and a late Ranocchia header. Offense hasn’t changed, and that’s what got Gasperini sacked. Their offense has looked positively unimpressive in the first half.

Our midfield has totally controlled the game, and it looks like 3 points are in the bag here.

Second half:

45′- Kharjah on for Ranocchia? What the hell? Genoa switches to a back 4, but you’d expect Ranocchia to be given that chance there, not old men Kaladze/Dainelli. Inter-owned Destro comes on for Mesto, as Ballardini likes rhyming. I like Mesto and think he’s a bit underrated, but he hasn’t done anything today.
48′- Bonucci goes off the pitch, stopped the game for treatment under no challenge or pressure. Not good, looks like his knee, though he doesn’t look in too much pain. Kaladze concedes a real awful corner.
49′- I said in the first half that Genoa looked tactically confused having switched to a 3-5-2 or something similar, and have reverted to a 4-3-3 in the second half. They still look really tactically confused, or maybe it’s just our midfield dominating theirs.
51′- Brilliant little backheel touch from Aquilani there. He then drives in a nice shot/cross, if Iaquinta got any touch on that, it’d have been a goal, but it was a fast shot and hard to reach.
52′- I have not noticed Quagliarella much in this game. Iaquinta however has been noticed, but hasn’t had a good enough touch to look dangerous, gets beaten by Dainelli.
54′- Melo makes a dangerous challenge in the box on Marco Rossi, just knocking him over without getting the ball. Woulda been real harsh to call that a penalty. Sorensen comes on for Motta, smart move. Motta was having another mediocre game out there, will solidify the back 4 a bit.

As I say that, Sorensen blocks a cross coming in. Atta boy.

55′- Sorensen blocks another cross, this one inside the box. Not a bad way to sub on. Correction- Bonucci blocked that one.
56′- Genoa having a bit of a spell of possession here, which is to be expected. Can’t have 100% possession.

Luca Toni gets the ball on the edge of the box, attempts a volley as either a shot or an assist, it’s neither.

57′- Genoa have had some possession recently, but like Roma, it doesn’t ever really look like Genoa are going to score, Bonucci-Chiellini have been a rock. They get another corner after Sorensen makes a smart header in the box.
59′- Case in point. Couple passes between Toni, Rossi, and Destro, but nothing comes up of it. No final ball.
60′- Kharjah makes a smart pass to Toni who’s onside, but does nothing. Krasic is subbing off for Momo.

Oh dear.

NASA just texted me an alert, a black hole has been detected in Genoa. Pesto fans in the world cry out. Seems Gigi Delneri is setting up shop and calling this a 2-0 win.

62′- Grosso with a poor challenge on Rafinha, deservedly booked. Free kick headed out by Chiellini who has been in beast mode all game, Rossi hits the rebound but well wide.
63′- Commentator is pointing out we’ve had a rather unfortunate habit of conceding after we go up. True. And that’s why the Momo sub annoys me, why not sub on Lanzafame, we’re defending with 30 minutes left?
63′- Iaquinta put on goal, probably fouled Kaladze there, but poor touch and smart goalkeeping by Eduardo prevent a goal. Quagliarella was unmarked waiting in the box.
64′- Rafinha booked for a poor tackle on Quagliarella. Criscito ran at Sorensen a minute ago and was completely blocked, this kid is not bad.

So I just realized we have the Milan midfield back, Marchisio-Aquilani-Melo-Momo. Functional, but square peg in round hole.

But yeah, I’m not a big fan of the Momo sub. He could win the ball and comically miss in the box, allowing Quagliarella to score, but ultimately it’s a real defensive sub with a LOT of the game left to play. Delneri has done real well to drill us tactically in that we can defend that lead, and I expect us to be able to withstand Genoa’s pressure (admittedly, they don’t look too sharp up top) but why go defensive if you can throw Lanzafame on, give him a few minutes, and look for goal #3? It’s not the “joga bonito score lots of goals” Nike marketing campaign I’m thinking about, it’s more that we’re just inviting pressure this way and I’m not a big fan.

66′- Cross comes in, Luca Toni was onside but can’t direct it on target, Sorensen did well to pressure him.

I’m wearing a Juventus jersey, not just because I do whenever we play, but also out of necessity. I need to go check my laundry.

68′- Sorensen tackles Criscito, smartly lets the ball go out for a goal kick. He’s looked way better than Motta in his brief time on, certainly one for the future. And by future, I mean now.

70′- Cross in, Marchisio volleys but Dainelli is there to block it. Aquilani collects it on the clearance, and Juve back in the drivers seat.

Not terribly impressed with Momo’s play thus far, but again….square peg, round hole.

As I say that, Momo has a real godawful first touch in a promising position, gives it to Genoa. On the counter Sorensen reads the ball perfectly and clears.

71′- On the counter, Aquilani plays a lovely throughball to Quagliarella, who attempts to cut in and have a shot, but plenty wide. Mediocre game from our two center forwards thus far.
72′- Kharjah plays in a nice ball to Rossi who just can’t reach it, he’s been real positive since he came on for Genoa, he might have that final ball that Genoa otherwise have been totally lacking thus far. The Genoa player was real good for Siena, and looks to be playing well at the Marassi.

As I say that, Kharjah has a volley, which is deflected and tipped over the bar by Storari.

75′- Momo’s had two decent tackles in the last minute or so, and then kind of fouls a player off the ball. Hasn’t been too great since coming on.

I just saw Sorensen venture into Genoa’s half. Mind you, I don’t care if he doesn’t, although Momo doesn’t offer the same kind of offensive capabilities that Krasic does.

76′- The King comes on for Quagliarella. Not a great game from Quags, not necessarily poor, but at 2-0 up, it’s not that important to criticize our front two.

Substitution delayed as Momo may have a muscle twinge.

77′- Genoa has a good opportunity as Luca Toni heads it down for Destro, who’s shot is deflected out for a corner by Chiellini. Giorgio and Bonucci have been mopping up back there.

Miguel Veloso and Rafinha were strongly linked to us a while ago. Anyone see anything in them today that makes you wish we had them? Not me.

78′- Sorensen blasts a lovely cross field ball to Marchisio. Kid can play.
80′- So Aquilani is coming off for Salihamidzic, when Quagliarella was due to come off for Del Piero. Strange, if they scrubbed the switch, I wonder if Alberto asked to come off. Either Momo/Marchisio will slide into the middle, and Salihamidzic will play at right-mid.

Genoa have had a lot more pressure since Momo came on, but still no real good final killer ball. This kind of reminds me of a game 3 years ago against Genoa, I believe it was also at the Marassi. Grygera had a screamer, and then a brilliant slalom-cum-assist for Trezeguet, and I think it all happened in the first 30 minutes. Game was put to bed in the first half, and this one looks similar. Considering they’re 2-0 down, Genoa have lacked any kind of urgency.

82′- Momo gives the ball away, but Toni’s no-look pass is crap. Can’t decide who is worse right now, Amauri or Toni. On the counter, Grosso plays in Marchisio who has a shot but well saved by Eduardo who at half-time must have decided it was time to play.
84′- Yikes, Kharjah has a cracking drive, it hits the crossbar, with Storari beaten. Unlucky for Genoa, there have been 4 times the ball has hit the post today- 2 were our goals, and Criscito/Kharjah had the other two. Like I said, Kharjah has been a tricky little fellow today. Also, is it just me or does he look Asian?

This might be my 2nd Genoa game this season I’ve watched, but perhaps Genoa’s poor attack is down to relying on an utterly-washed out Luca Toni? They try and play the attack with him as the focal point- like Italy at Euro2008, It’s not working so well.

85′- Ex-Juve primavera Omar Milanetto gets a yellow for clipping Felipe Melo on the counter. Melo has had a solid game. Milanetto has not.
86′- Sorensen puts in two solid tackles. Can be a Grygera-style RB, but also definitely a CB, he’s got impressive physical stature and strength that Criscito doesn’t.
87′- Salihamidzic plays a good long ball to Iaquinta, headed out, and Momo puts in a great tackle to win it back for Juve.
88′- This game was put to bed in the 25th minute. Hasn’t been a drab game to watch, I like our midfield possession and passing, but well, hasn’t been one to keep me on the edge of my seat. Thank God I’m watching this on replay- where I am, this game was at 530am. Some might question my Juventinita, but if I got up then to watch it, I’d be a bit cranky, this liveblog might be profane than an Alberto Malesani press conference. (or a Gigi Buffon Genoa game)
90′- Luca Toni clips Melo, who rolls about 7-8times. I used to do that as a child down hills and such. Oh, Felipe Melo, the man-child.

5 minutes of added time, really? Seems a bit long.

90+1’- Destro makes a good run forward, and has a shot that Storari does very well to save. Had that gone in, my heart rate might have ticked up a notch, woulda been a tense finish. It won’t be, instead, which is perfectly acceptable for me. Kharjah had a very clever pass for Destro.
90+2′- Rudolf has a shot that Storari kinda fumbles. I still laugh a bit whenever the commentator says Rudolf. Jokes are too easy.
90+3′- Commentator says “Freddy Sorensen has looked very solid since coming on” as he heads out a cross. I concur. Well done Freddy.
90+4’- Rafinha fouls Grosso with a poor tackle, could have been a 2nd yellow but that’d just be cruel. Game is already over, we’re in stoppage time.

Game over.

Summary?

0-15: Milos Krasic.

LOLGOAL.

15-25: Milos Krasic.

25-90: Freddy Sorensen. Luca Toni sucks. Rudolf is awesome, but not for his ability. Iaquinta heavy touches. Quagliarella too far from goal. My laundry is done. Momo is no Tea Partier. Kharjah made this semi-interesting.

But hey, I’ll take a controlled albeit a bit boring performance, if it secures a 2-0 win away at a decent team. Should spark a few questions over Gasperini’s sacking, I don’t see an improvement at all since.

I’m off to go roll down a hill, discover my inner man-child. Cheers all.

LE PAGELLE:

Storari: 6.5- Wonderful save on Menez early on, and then had very, very little to do. Why shouldn’t he be in the Nazionale right now? He’s proving to still be one of the most consistent keepers in Serie A.

Sorensen: 6.5- Made his Juventus debut as a central defender, I was very surprised to see him get a start against Roma, and moreso in a right-back position, but he repaid Delneri’s faith in him significantly. Concentrated and cool under pressure, a wonderful and very promising performance. Strange he isn’t getting more praise in the media.
Bonucci: 6- A relatively good performance marred by some real bad errors when he moved forward. Really needs to do better when leaving position, as far as protecting the ball.
Chiellini: 7- A brilliant game from Keyser Giorgio, who read passes like Scirea and man-marked like Gentile. He is absolutely vital to our defense.
Grosso: 5- Three games in 2 weeks is a bit tough for a player in form, but for recalling a player from 6 months of sitting on the shelf, rather difficult. Fabio was not good against Brescia, and also against Roma. That said, he wasn’t disastrous by any means, and this is more or less the kind of performance I expect from someone on the fringes of the squad.

Class.

Pepe: 6.5- Penalty aside, a very good performance from Pepe who was whipping in some dangerous crosses and also helping out in defense as usual. If he can play like this more consistently, there’s no reason we shouldn’t sign him as a reserve.
Melo: 5.5- Back from a small injury, and it showed. Caught in possession a few times and didn’t make as many imperious tackles as we’ve seen thus far this season.
Aquilani: 7.5- Wonderful, wonderful performance from the ex-Romanista. I wondered before kickoff if he’d be poor, or great in facing his old team, he chose the latter. Mastered the midfield, threading passes around and advancing whenever he liked. He’s far more than a regista, he can tackle (his foul on Totti) and he has a good shot/dribbling skills. Brilliant assist to Iaquinta for the goal, he nutmegged Greco and then put in a precise cross to Vincenzone.
Marchisio: 6- When advancing he created a few problems for Roma, but it wasn’t too consistent of a game. Relatively subdued, and I’m still not a fan of him on the wings.

Quagliarella: 6.5- Very dangerous in attack, he looked creative, determined, and capable. Held up play well, had a brilliant volley/shot that would have been goal of the season if not for Julio Sergio’s save. In very strong form at the moment.
Iaquinta: 6- Didn’t look too in-form, as a real heavy first touch let him down when he was nearly 1v1 with the keeper. Followed up with a goal Quagliarella would be proud of, a real genius scissor-kick.

Delneri: 6.5- More than anything, this game convinced me we’ve seen a new Juventus. Roma had the lions share of possession for most of the game, but we never looked like we’d concede.
Del Piero 5- His substitution was ostensibly because Iaquinta wasn’t fully fit, but also to allow Quagliarella to push up, but Alex didn’t play well. Lost a lot of balls, didn’t ever look too inventive, all in all, a let down. (Roma is his favorite target, too) But hey, it happens to the best.
Traore: s.v- I don’t even know what to say. At times during the game I wanted to ship him back to Arsenal, other times I thought “he could be useful.” First debut in a new league, and not a bad one. Caceres was really poor in his debut against Lazio…and he adapted quickly.

Totti acts like the douche he is

So Aquilani flattens him. Good man.

Things I Think I Think:

#1- Referees aren’t corrupt, but they continue to make shit decisions: Is what Pepe did a penalty? Yes. Why was that not a penalty for Milan? Why did Milan’s 45+2 end at 45+2 but Juve’s continued well beyond? The problem is not the calls, it’s that for some reason the referees only seem to be applying the full letter of the law to us. Krasic got banned with TV evidence. Will Borriello get the same for tripping Chiellini in an off-the-ball incident? Why did Iaquinta get booked for celebrating in front of the Udinese fans and Totti get off scot-free for saying STFU to the Curva Sud and insulting Storari? Either call the rules the same for everyone, or don’t. Ridiculous.

Did I mention Totti repeatedly called Storari a “piece of shit” after scoring the penalty. I hate that man, so much. Classless douchebag.

#2- Subbing Iaquinta for Del Piero Didn’t Work: The idea made sense, Quagliarella looked dangerous but was dropping very, very deep to pick up and defend the ball. Iaquinta wasn’t fully fit and his first touch was letting us down on the counter attack. So put in Alex to hold the ball, and let Quagliarella move up. I would have done the same, except Alex didn’t do so well. Maybe something about playing almost 2 1/2 hours in the last 7 days isn’t so great for a 36-year old. Might not be the age, though, even the best players can have nights off.

#4- Quando Gioca Sempre Segna Trezeguet: He scored again this weekend against Real Sociedad, giving Hercules a 2-1 victory. 6 goals in 9 games for Trez, and as high as his salary was (barely higher than Amauri anyways), we should have cut Amauri a free transfer and kept Trezegol for one more year. Now we’ll have Amauri sitting around next summer when we try and sign a champion striker. Forget transfer fees, who would want him at 4+mil a season?

Nedved- “God, I wish I could be out there to tear Mexes a new one. Giorgio, do me a favor?”

“STOP BEING FRENCH!!”

#5- Afellay signs for Barcelona: There was confirmed interest from both Inter and Juve within Italy, but PSV winger Ibrahim Afellay has chosen to sign with Barcelona. No bitter regrets here, as I didn’t think we ever had a chance of winning his signature, but seriously, enjoy the bench Afellay. You’re an attacking midfielder/winger, joining Barcelona of all teams. Are you out of your goddamn mind?

#6- Watching Materazzi Get Hit By Ibrahimovic: It was like watching Justin Beiber fight Lady Gaga- somehow, you hope that both will die so we don’t have to hear from them again. At first I didn’t think Materazzi was hurt, after all, he has faked injuries and done so to avoid being humiliated. Can’t believe Rafa picked him for the derby, he’s 37, he’s been shit for years (probably his whole career barring a 2-year span) and hasn’t played all season.

That’s all for now. Good news- Marchisio skipped out on Nazionale due to muscle fatigue (be back in 2-3 days) and Krasic started training and could be ready by this weekend.

SEMPRE JUVE!!