A nice man, but not exactly part of “la Juve antipatica”

Alessio, it’s a great pleasure to have you on our show. We’ll always remember you with great affection because there was never a game where you you held back. You’re a symbol of the disliked Juve, the one that gave everything to win with our shirt.
- “Good evening and thank you. A disliked Juve doesn’t exist anymore…”

From our fan club on Facebook, many of our listeners have written to us. There are also many who became a Juventino for you, above all women… [d'oh]
- “Thank you very much to all. Hello to all the Juve fans, I carry them with me in my heart, always.”

Let’s talk about today’s Juventus. How can they return great?
- “Juve needs to return to being the real Juve as soon as possible, because it’s been too many years that we’ve suffered in seeing a team in these conditions. Now they need to open the wallet and take 3 or 4 top players. Currently the squad does not have players who make the difference, to return to the top, you need important players.”

And to think at this time we had Tacchinardi under contract still…

But in the last few years, unlike the Triade’s term, they’ve invested a lot of money in the mercato. Is this proof of the incompetence of the managers after Calciopoli? In Moggi’s time Juve usually autofinanced their deals, and bought smart. This Juve on the other hand spends, and does it poorly.
- “It’s true, in these last few years they have truly spent poorly. I had still had a contract in 2007, but they sent me away to get Almiron and Tiago, spending a lot of money in the process. Instead, they’ve spent high figures to take many players but of low quality, they should have bought two or three champions per year. We seem like we’re the Inter of pre-Calciopoli that bought so many average players every year, and never won anything. During the charity derby match a few weeks ago, where there was us old stars, I saw the old true spirit of Juve. There were 3-4 strong players and the rest built around them. Real champions who make the difference need to be in every squad, the current Juventus has many decent players, but nothing more.”

With all the loan signings last season, Juve risks another revolution next summer, because not everyone will be signed. And among the many names that are being associated with Juve for next year, there’s no champion.
- “And so, last summer Juve’s project could have been implemented well, at least as a criteria, having taken a manager like Marotta, but the signings haven’t proved it right. It’s enough to see what happened with Martinez, a player who we spent so much on. Too much.”

Also Pepe, who many consider to be the new Di Livio, has a redemption price higher than his real value.
- “Di Livio was 5 times better than Pepe. He played 70 games a year, at 200km/h, he didn’t have great quality but Pepe doesn’t have anything else. Angelo also was a leader, a player who gave his soul for the whole game and during the whole year. Pepe has little consistency, he has flashes of good play. Di Livio was signed for cheap from Serie B, but in his years demonstrated to be a fundamental player who played everywhere, attack and defense, a tremendous player.”

Juve had a lot of good players, but they also had great champions who helped out the work of the “soldiers.” Now, instead…
- “In this team there are no leaders. When things went bad in my time, there were players who made themselves heard in the locker room. Vialli, for example, at the smallest error would make a big fuss about it, like Zidane, Montero, Davids, and many others. Now there isn’t this type of leader, there’s not one with personality. Some speak of Felipe Melo, but for years he’s played good games, and then vanishes.”

This Juve is too psychologically fragile. When they concede a goal, or a man is sent off, the team falls apart, they don’t withstand the tension.
- “I remember, for example, Di Vaio, who was a great player when he was at Juve, told me that he felt the pressure even when training. If you’re strong, you’ll leave great, if you can’t do it, you’ll come out 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. These younger players need to know at Juve, winning is the only thing that counts.”

Is Andrea Agnelli the right person to bring Juve back to victory, or only his cousin’s manager or of EXOR’s stake in general?”
- “When I spoke to him 10 days ago, he seemed like the only positive person of the new management. He loves this shirt very much. He wants to return quickly to the highest levels, but everyone in this club is convinced that this team without injuries, suspensions, or other problems, could compete for the Scudetto, but I absolutely do not agree. This Juve only a “discrete” team, without important players. Andrea Agnelli is a good man, I hope that Elkann gives him the money he needs. I spoke with Andrea and he wants the best for Juve, he doesn’t want to give up. He wants important players….”

For you, what did EXOR and the Elkanns do in 2006 to save Juve’s dignity during Calciopoli?
- “Little. I think they could have found a loophool, like what happened to the others, maybe a 20 point penalty, but they’d stay in Serie A with strong players. Instead, we were the only ones to end in Serie B, we paid, and we’re still suffering the consequences, but they could have done more. Cobolli Gigli in an interview a week ago spoke of the risk that UEFA wouldn’t allowed Juve to play in the European cups, but I’d have fought anyways. It’s been 5 years and we haven’t won anything.”

After what’s come out in the Napoli trial, thanks to Luciano Moggi’s defense, how do you explain that Juventus did nothing to reopen the sporting justice process?
- “I know Andrea is fighting, but my feeling, aside from the issue that many players are now refusing Juventus, we lost our political weight with the press. We are no longer unpleasant, we used to give them a lot of trouble. There’s been a clear shift since Calcipoli, Juve is no longer feared.”

What do you do these days, Alessio?
- “I’m one of the coaches at [Serie C2] Pergocrema, and maybe in 4-5 years I can be ready to coach a professional team. I’m trying to use all my experience, and maybe sooner or later I’ll find myself at Juve again.”

Recently on our show, Michele Padovano told us that for Juve to return great, they need to bring the old winning penalty back, those who have lived it.
- “I’ve always said that Juve is made of Juventini. Who has written the club’s history needs to return to Torino: Juve needs to be a unique team that carried their tradition forwards. The mentality is extremely important.”

Deschamp’s departure is perhaps the biggest regret of the last few years. He left saying “now they will sign players who are contented to be at Juve” like what happened and continues to happen. If they’d listened to his advice, with his winning mentality, could they have already opened a new winning cycle?
“As a coach, I don’t know Didier, but on the pitch he was one of the greatest leaders, next to him I grew a lot. He left because surely he understood that they weren’t going to bring the team up to a high level, but they should have kept him on the bench.”

In the future, could you see yourself as Conte’s vice-coach on Juve’s bench [Juvegasm], like many press groups have written?
- “I’ve heard from a journalist friend that it’s almost done for Conte to go to Juve, although it seems strange to me. I think Juve wants Spalletti or maybe an important coach. If they don’t get Spalletti, they’ll go for Conte or Gasperini. But Conte is a guarantee, he knows the environment very well. However, I don’t want to be a vice-coach, I’d like to be the first team coach instead.”

Alessio joking with his good buddy Alessandro

Two thoughts before leaving us- your greatest regret, and your greatest joy in Bianconero.
- “My greatest regret, which still hasn’t left my head, is the Champion’s League final we lost against Milan. Other losses were heavy, but that one shocked me, I suffered a lot. I have a lot of beautiful memories…the first Scudetto and the Coppa Italia in my first year, then the Champions, then the Intercontinental cup, we really won it all. Also on the evening of the charity match, I spoke a lot with Lippi, in 10 years, we won everything. In Europe, we always were in the semifinals or final, winning Scudetti in repetition, an unrepeatable cycle. At the beginning of every season, it was almost assured we’d end at the top, but you have to realize it’s because there were people who never gave up, from the first ritiro to the end of the season.”

Even then, they were trying to put a dark mark on Juve’s name with the doping accusations.
- “That was ridiculous, they tried to tarnish our name. However, 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.
- “Yes, but also Chiellini, who before Juve-Milan told Allegri “may you win” laughing. 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.”

Thank you Alessio, we appreciated you on the pitch and you’re pleasure off it as well. Anyone who says things as they are, without hiding the truth or being unoriginal is always one of us.
- “Thank you, ragazzi! It annoys me when I read people giving sweetened nonsense to the fans, they need to take the proper responsibility. Juve has proven to have a poor championship this year. I hope Juve wins everything, but to get into the Champion’s League will be difficult. When I hear discussions about the Europa League, I feel like crying, the Bianconeri need to return to the top!

Recorded almost immediately after the final whistle of the Cesena match, emotions were understandably high as the four boys were reunited after a week off due to technical difficulties (New Orleans is a third world country & the Milan result technically hurt!). After a quick discussion of the game the conversation quickly turned to the past, the future and who shouldn’t be a part of it. Possible names to replace Delneri are discussed and we discover Marco is allergic to other people sitting on the fence.

“You want the truth?”

Check out Somnath’s article on Milos Krasic that we reference in the podcast

Like Cassani and Balzaretti, it’s a shame Lorenzo isn’t a bianconero!

It’s Not All Black & White

The 2010-11 season brought much expectation for the bianconeri faithful. The overwhelming belief was that this would be the year that Juventus returned to greatness – back amongst the Serie A elite where they have always been throughout much of their glorious history. Yet, with only nine games remaining, the Old Lady find themselves in seventh place, but more importantly eleven points adrift of fourth place. Barring a miraculous turnaround, Juventus will once again miss out on the Champions League causing much consternation and discord among the fan base. Such is the disappointment that many fans are already calling for the head of first year coach Gigi Delneri. But, is sacking the coach really the answer? The issue is not just simply black and white.

Since returning to the top flight in 2007, Juventus has finished in 3rd, 2nd and 7th place respectively while currently sitting in 7th place this year as well. After achieving real success in the two years that followed promotion, many wonder why Juventus hasn’t been able to get over the hump and legitimately challenge for the scudetto. The underlying answer can be found in the way the club was mismanaged during the Secco years, which was initially masked by the great finishes in 2007 and 2008. With the club mired in mediocrity this season, the new management at Juventus is taking the brunt of the criticism for the poor results.

And yet, even though the season started off promising, it was always going to be a difficult affair for the dynamic duo of Beppe Marotta and Gigi Delneri – fresh off their incredible run with Sampdoria a year earlier.. The fact of the matter is that for a club that expects and demands immediate results, patience is not an option. However, it should be. The successes of the past were rooted in years of hard work and consistency, not frequent turnover.

One of the chiefest of problems has been the Juventus transfer policy over the past few seasons. Marotta did not have much time to virtually start from scratch with what his predecessor left him. Juventus had one offseason to try and bring in quality players – not just quality in name, but up to the standard that Juve demands. Not only that, but the club also had to offload players who were not up to par. It was a tall task and one that had its shortcomings. The bianconeri brought in some potentially great players (Aquilani, Krasic, Quagliarella) while also signing ones who do not live up to the gold standard (Martinez, Rinaudo, Motta, Traore). They sent some of the waste from years’ past away (Zebina, Molinaro, Poulsen) while allowing some true talent to escape them (Caceres, Diego, Trezeguet).

As with any transition, it takes time for achievements to be seen. Delneri came in with plenty of pressure on his shoulders to reverse a negative trend in a short amount of time. The season has had plenty of highs and lows but with the recent revelation that his side will most likely not make the Champions League, disappointment has reigned supreme. Surely, Delneri has a part in the blame for the club’s plight, but he is far from the sole point of reference nor even its main one.

Sacking Delneri at this point would be foolish. First, it serves no purpose as the club is not risking anything by keeping him on board. Second, as the past dismissals/resignations of Ranieri and Ferrara have proven, there is little to gain by bringing in a caretaker. Third, Juventus has a history of sticking by their coaching appointments until the end. It wasn’t until recently that this trend of sacking coaches became popular in the bianconeri camp. The Juve mentality is one that has stood as an example to the rest of the league – you fight through each game and you do so until the end.

Perhaps it may be absurd to entertain such a notion, but I believe that Marotta and Delneri should not only stay on until the end of the season, but also be given an opportunity to regroup and further establish a team under their guidance going into the 2011-12 season. Why on earth would anyone even think that to be a good idea? Well, there’s a perfect case-study in Serie A that shows what happens when a team resorts to restarting season after season.

Take my beloved Palermo. Here is a club that is bursting with potential – and has been for the last few years now. The Sicilians found themselves on the cusp of uncharted territory in its history with qualification to the Champions League. The team finally had a coach who produced tremendous results, while being in complete harmony (and friendship) with the DS. Everything was coming together and a true project seemed to be in place. But the pieces started to fall apart slowly but surely during this season.

The beginning of the end came with the DS resigning over “differences” with the president. Several months later, after a poor run of results, the president demolished his own project by sacking the club’s greatest coach in its Serie A history. The new caretaker who was brought in has not done anything to make the situation any better and in reality, has made the club play worse. The end of the season threatens to set the club back significantly with several key pieces likely to be sold off. Once again, Palermo will have to rebuild. It’s a vicious cycle that has prevented Palermo from making that final step to legitimacy amongst the Serie A elite; but with Zamparini calling the shots, it is something that is practically inevitable.

The beauty for Juventus is that they don’t have to worry about a situation like the one mentioned above. While the Old Lady expects titles, it can also rest assured that the ability to establish a plan will not be ruined year in and year out. It takes time to create a winner. The glorious years under Lippi and Capello did not come about because of a single offseason. There was a project in place and a plan to follow. While Marotta and Delneri find themselves in an unparalleled time in the club’s history due to a myriad of factors, the duo deserve the faith of the fan base in order to rewire the club back to its glory days.

Even the casual observer can see that this year’s Juventus have shown positives not seen in the club over the past few years. There is certainly progress being made and one would think that should the current management be allowed to continue on, it wouldn’t be long until real success returns. Above all, continuity is crucial to Juventus. The fans expect it, the players know it and the club demands it. This Juventus is slowly turning the tide befallen them since Calciopoli and a return to greatness may be just around the corner. Only time will tell…if it is allowed to be given.

In defense, we had Chiellini at left back, Bonucci at right-centre, Barzagli beside him and surprisingly, the young Sorensen at right back. In midfield Del Neri employed the usual foursome of Marchisio on the left wing, ‘Felipo Mele’ at left centre, Aquilani beside him and Krasic on the right wing. Then in attack, we had the partnership of Luca Toni and the only goalscorer, Alessandro Matri.

In the opening minutes, the first chance of the game went to Inter’s Pazzini who did nicely lose Barzagli with a dummy, but was timely intervened by the covering Bonucci before he could get a clean shot away. Meanwhile, the ever-watchful Chiellini, more than made up for his absence in the middle of our defense with countless runs into Inter’s half since taking over Fabio Grosso’s old spot. The seamless transition into his old position is a testament to his Giorgio’s abilities and should not be underestimated as his positioning never skipped a beat.

Defensively, the back-four played an incredible match on Sunday and did everything Del Neri asked of them to do, and perhaps more. At times in the first-half, it seemed as if Eto’o was on a different level than everyone else with incredible pace and clairvoyant-like passing, however Del Neri’s men did well to let the Cameroonian run about in front of them but never in behind. Juventus kept deep and narrow while defending with numbers not to allow too much space in between their rows, making it difficult for Inter to play their brand of football.

“Leonardo realised he needed more width, and took off Kharja to introduce Goran Pandev on the right, as Inter switched to a 4-2-3-1. Whilst Pandev and Eto’o played wider, Inter still lacked a true winger – someone who could go down the line and put crosses into the box. Pandev and Eto’o wanted time on the ball and to come into the centre of the pitch, and Juve shut them out well, minimising the space between the lines and dropping increasingly deep.” –Zonal Marking

Part of the reason for that was because of the work by Felipe Melo. He ran tirelessly to disrupt Inter’s play defensively, and to win back possession offensively, playing box-to-box very effectively. When Melo wants to be, he’s one of the premier footballers in that position, hence our collective frustration when he lashes out and forgets that his teammates depend on him so much. Nevertheless, Felipe and the rest of the squad did well to keep an eye on their assignments as evidenced by Sneijder’s disappearing act in the second half.

Before leaving the pitch, while being substituted for Iaquinta, Luca Toni received a standing ovation from the Olimpico faithful and rightfully so. Despite looking like a wildebeest tip-toeing through tulips while on the ball, Toni exceeded everyone’s expectations on Sunday masterfully holding up the play and evading tackles all-night, including a nice back-heel to spring Chiellini in on goal. Speaking with Mediaset Premium earlier this week, Toni explained his job in the team, “Here I play with very attack-minded strikers and I am here to help”. Gradually we’re beginning to understand why a few Giallorossi tifosi hold Toni in moderately high regard.

Obviously the outcome of this game could have been very different seeing as Eto’o missed an incredible opportunity to even things at one a piece. However football is like life- shit can happen. On the other end of the field, Ma-ta-ta-ta-tri and Chiellini each missed a few more golden opportunities to extend our lead and the ball sailed wide. Looking back, the scoreline was a fair result and Del Neri’s men can certainly feel proud of their efforts that were made that night, Iaquinta’s aside.

That said, there’s no telling how far these three points can go to help jump-start our campaign for some European revenue next season. Speaking of revenue, Balocco just renewed their contract to sponsor our entire youth team, and a third of the first team’s games, apparently only our friendlies. It’s not the mother of all partnerships, but it’s a start. Last Sunday was certainly a test for Juventus in many ways, one in which they came away with their character stronger than ever. Forza Ragazzi!

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

“It will take time; you cannot have everything at once. There needs to be a plan in place, and Juventus are doing that for the long term. In Italy we have to improve on these things, leaving the coach with time and allowing the youth to come through. I think there needs to be no rush. It will take at least two or three years before we see the fruits of their labour. Juventus need patience and time.” Ravanelli

Certainly this year’s expectations of a fourth place finish are beginning to fade by now. The gap in quality with Napoli and Roma (and perhaps Palermo too) are regrettably, still quite significant and impossible to fill this season.

“Juve were used to having players like Zidane and Nedved. To be frank, we can’t win the Scudetto with this team. Inter, Milan and Roma have stronger squads. There are many injured players. But this is Juve and you have to work hard. We will need to roll up our sleeves and go forward like this. Our objective is fourth place. We have been discussed a lot recently. This is a great club that has won everything, but the reality is that you can also struggle against Bari. We cannot be a Scudetto team one week and fail in the Europa League just before.” Aquilani

Truthfully, we don’t deserve a Champions League entry for next year. Even if by some wonder we got one, we’d be eliminated before we knew it given our current state of footballing affairs. Which International star would want to join a club just on account of some brief appearance anyways? Our level of football at home needs to improve first, only then can you rebuild our reputation, and only then will we enjoy the fruits of our labour. Here’s hoping Marotta and Paratici know what they’re doing.

In other news, the offers to write for the Juventus Offside have been rolling in and the support has been nuts! As a result I’ve decided to bring on two people instead of just one. For those of you who’ve sent in your requests I don’t want you to think you haven’t gotten a reply by accident. I’m in discussions with the head of admin for The Offside so once he gives me the go ahead, everyone of you will hear back from me. Also if some of you have commented before under a nickname I’d appreciate it if you could include it in your emails.

We’re going to do this thing like the winter transfer season which ends January 31st. After 12:01 am EST (or somewhere around then) emails will be sent out and the new Juventus Offside line-up will be made official with a post on the 1st of February. TuttoMercatoweb.com has been reporting that a deal has been struck with Jorid, however we can’t confirm or deny that rumour at this time.

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

Everyone recognize the guy on the left?

Welcome home, Pavel.

Obviously, I’m extremely pleased with what we’re seeing right now. The scorelines, the enthusiasm, the desire to win reminds me of the beginning of the 2007-2008 season. We had crushing victories like 5-1 over Livorno, or 5-0 over Palermo to announce our return, but also some nailbiting entertaining encounters like our 3-2 victory against Cagliari, which we replicated (1 better!) just a few weeks ago. We started the season with a fairly drab 1-0 loss to Bari, and then the floodgates opened on both ends. We all wondered whether the scoring or conceding would dry up first, and Delneri’s hard work drilling tactics into the squad seem to be paying off.

This isn’t to say we’re out of the woods, not by a long shot. There’s much work to do, but I can say as I said this summer, this team can qualify for the Champion’s League. It may not be a Scudetto-winning team, but that’s not our aim right now. We wanted a younger, hungrier, aggressive team with a fine tactician, and that’s what we have. Regarding the Scudetto, it is a dream. I do not want the team to focus on it, I like the way we are flying under the radar right now. If we come to late March, and are still in contention, that is when we talk about it. But it is too soon, there is much work to be done. (It reminds me of the NFL Baltimore Ravens in 2000. Their coach banned them from talking about the playoffs, and the team subsequently referred to it as “Festivus.” They ended up winning the Super Bowl, or “Festivus Maximus.”)

So no more talk of the Scudetto. It remains a pipe dream, as far as I’m concerned, but we can see that this team is certainly a contender for automatic qualification to the Champion’s League.

LE PAGELLE:

Storari: 7- The sign of a great keeper is not necessarily if he can make a string of super-saves, but if he can be decisive when it’s most important. Storari made a brilliant save at 1-0, preventing Lecce from getting into the game. While I think we would have won even if they scored, Storari came up big in the one real chance they had.

Grygera: 6- With Krasic ahead of him, it removes a lot of offensive responsibility from Grygera, and it allows him to play simple, to play defense. It’s no coincidence that Krasic’s emergence has come at the same time as Grygera’s started putting in solid shifts at fullback.
Chiellini: 6.5- Keyser Giorgio gave no quarter to any of Lecce’s strikers.
Bonucci: 6- Looked a little too casual at moments, but another clean sheet and another good relationship-building performance with Chiellini. Looks like they are improving day-by-day.
De Ceglie: 6- Like Grygera, De Ceglie wasn’t too troubled as Lecce didn’t really attack down the wings. Got forward, had a few good crosses in the 1st half, but otherwise a pretty quiet game.

Anyone with photoshop skills, please take the above picture and make it into this with “Welcome to Torino”

Krasic: 8- Blimey, this guy is sensational, and he’s only 25 years old. Looking more and more like the goddamn buy of the summer, whether Serie A or all of Europe. I thought Krasic would be a great signing, but he’s looking beyond great. What is that, 2-3 assists yesterday?
Aquilani: 7- Stepped in and displayed all his quality, very much displaying the player he was at Roma. Technical quality, simple and difficult passing with ease, and a lovely long-range effort to open the scoring.
Felipe Melo: 7- Freed from any kind of playmaking responsibility, Melo is able to do what he does best. Win back the ball, and pass it to someone else. I’ve mentioned several times that Felipe also has an eye for an occasional great pass, and he shows that too. Maybe when he’s not pressured to be a playmaker is when he can actually be one.
Marchisio: 7- Played again as a central-midfielder-slash-winger, in which he occasionally advanced down the wing, other times drifted centrally to help Aquilani and Melo. Excellent performance, and on the wing he’s allowed to display a few tricks here and there. I still don’t like him outside, though.

Quagliarella: 6- Drifts out wide and deep, given a lot of tactical license. His cross, albeit not a particularly good one, led to Aquilani’s opening goal, and then with a diving header, scored Juve’s 3rd in the 1st half to kill the game. Why did he score it with a diving header when a simple tap-in could have sufficed? Because he’s Quags, damnit. If he makes it harder, it becomes easier.
Amauri: 5.5- Good build-up play, but again doesn’t seem to have the ruthless streak to score freely. With Dzeko’s shadow looming, he needs to get into form or his position as “foreign bomber who (supposedly) scores lots of goals with some skill involved” will be replaced. Fouled a lot, and caught offside in a relatively mediocre performance.

Delneri: 7.5- Everything worked well, the defense, the midfield, the offense. Cannot complain about how the coach had the team organized.
Del Piero: 10- Grazie per tutti i gol, Alex.

Things I Think I Think:
#1- Foreshadowing: Roberto titled his preview “All About The Quality.” Lecce didn’t have any.

#2- Tactics, tactics, tactics: In theory, Delneri played a 4-4-2 and will always play a 4-4-2, but for large portions of the match this was simply not the case. In reality, between Krasic shifting flanks and attacking the middle, it could easily be interpreted as a 4-3-1-2, with Marchisio drifting central and Krasic as the trequartista. Hard to argue it didn’t work.

#3- Delneri this summer: “Del Piero is the charismatic captain of Juventus but for the future I’m thinking of Marchisio. Marchiso’s an important element, a central midfielder, not a wide man. He’s young, he has the right temperament, I like him.” Gah. Where did that go to?

Aquilani is not impressed with Melo’s dancing

#4- Melo’s cucchaio: He bet his father he’d do it. Aquilani teased him he wouldn’t be able to. A cucchaio shows incredible confidence, perhaps bordering on cockiness or hubris, but it shows Melo is full of it at the moment. In so many ways.

#5- Perfect way to leave the international break: I was a bit worried that some of our positive momentum going into the international break might be robbed, but we were raring to go from minute one. We didn’t look rusty at all, looked tactically

#6- Another clean sheet: Forget the 4-0 drubbings, every clean sheet we get is going to boost the confidence of players like Grygera, De Ceglie, and Bonucci, all who need it. That’s two in a row, Red Bull Salzburg are a poor team and we should really aim for another clean sheet there, regardless of how many goals might come.

#7- Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday: Lecce are a team “without quality.” So are Red Bull Salzburg, who have lost 2-0 to Lech Poznan (at home) and 2-0 to Manchester City. We have Bologna coming up this weekend, so Delneri should use this time to experiment. Maybe using Pepe as a fullback, ahem ahem?

#8- Missed the game? Watch it on YouTube, narrated by Claudio Zuliani.

#9- Beyond the Pitch, the best damn podcast out there managed to snag an interview with Diego. He says some very kind words about Juventus, and also drops a big hint about Dzeko. (Those “Juventus fans hounding us about how much they liked you” that Anthony mentions could have been me. I may have sent them a lot of messages about it.) Absolutely worth a listen, it’s about 10 minutes or so, go czech it out. (Grygera/Nedved groan)

C’E UNA STELLA IN CIELO CHE INDICA IL CAMMINO, FORZA JUVE VINCERE E IL TUO DESTINO!

They came from rather diverse backgrounds: Cobolli Gigli was a businessman who spent much of his career working for various companies in the FIAT Empire. Jean-Claude Blanc’s background is in management of various sporting events like the Tour de France, and perhaps most notably the Roland Garros tournament in France. Alessio Secco, as much as we may dislike him, comes from a diehard Juventus background. Born and raised in Torino, he is the son of Sergio Secco, long-time Juventus accountant and right-hand man of Juventus President Boniperti for many years. He joined Juve at age 29 as a press secretary, then team manager, than understudy to Moggi before being promoted in the wake of Calciopoli. It seemed like a good mix, a businessman, a sports businessman, and someone who lived Juventus his entire life.

While most say it ended in total disaster, I won’t go that far. They do deserve credit for bringing Juventus from Serie B, to a team challenging for the top 4 in Serie A, but clearly lacked the experience to take us a step above. Secco of course was canned by Andrea Agnelli, and Gigli resigned a year earlier to be replaced by Jean-Claude Blanc as President of the club. To do an analysis, we must first define what their roles are in the team. The ultimate head of the team is the President, who both works with the financial issues, the stockholders, as well as transfers and on-the-pitch matters. The General Manager/CEO and Sporting Director both respond to the President, and ultimately, the fate of the team rests in his hand. The GM/CEO position is largely financial- it includes marketing, revenue, sponsorships, costs, etc. The Sporting Director is pretty much exclusively dedicated to footballing matters, making transfers, contract negotiations, etc. In the wake of Gigli’s resignation, Jean-Claude Blanc took over the President responsibilities as well, which many questioned if he was taking on too much work.

Blanc’s beard is an attempt to go incognito…

With Pavel Nedved and Giuseppe Marotta joining the CdA, along with two Torino natives, there was a discussion this morning in Tuttosport about the management of the club. Jean-Claude Blanc, notably, remains the highest paid manager at the club. By the time his contract expires in 2012, he will have earned €12 million in compensation, so €2million per season. Last year, while wearing two hats as President and GM/CEO, he earned €2.7 million which is fairly steep. There are also details that if we sacked him, we would owe about €3 million in golden parachute payments, which is perhaps part of the reason why Agnelli canned Secco but not Blanc.

If we separate Jean-Claude Blanc’s tenures, it becomes clear how he has done. From 2006-2009, he was exclusively involved as a GM/CEO, and did brilliantly. The Swiss Ramble’s article on Juve’s finances prove that he has done wonderfully to build Juventus up financially, while investing into the new stadium. Each mercato, Secco had a significant amount of money ( €30-45million) to spend, without the Old Lady going into any kind of real debt. Cash flow has been excellent, the TV revenues are high, and the marketing/sponsorship deals have been excellent. In the last week, we signed agreements with Sony and MSC Crociere which will certainly help our balance sheet. Overall, he has signed fewer sponsors, but involved them more heavily than some of our rivals. He successfully sold our new stadium naming rights, as well as getting a solid deal on Betclic as our new shirt sponsors.

It’s well known that JCB has done an excellent job revitalizing the team financially, and in that case, his salary/bonuses are certainly worth it. It reminds me of the outcry over Wall Street exec’s compensation- if they tanked the stock and posted losses, then yes, the criticism is warranted. Many, however, have certainly delivered in profits or market capitalization, thus earning their massive pay. It is worth paying top dollar for top management, and when it comes to our balance sheet, Jean-Claude Blanc has done a stupendous job and deserves credit.

The negatives are largely his decision to become President in 2009, where he oversaw Juve’s worst ever season. Ultimately, the club rests on the President’s shoulders, and he was not up to the task. Andrea Agnelli stepped into those shoes in May 2010, and quickly made all of the changes that Blanc should have done long ago. Andrea Agnelli hired a competent Sporting Director to replace Alessio Secco, who after 11 years on the Juve payroll was let go. He immediately went about resolving our injury crisis, by having Vinovo inspected and fixed (the drainage system) and letting the entire medical staff go, some who had been at Juve for 15+ years.

All of these were problems that had manifested themselves for sometime before- Our injuries were high in 07-08 and 08-09 as well, and Secco failed miserably especially when it came to rebuilding the defense. The addition of Roberto Bettega to the team was a smart one, but a clear sign that JCB had no idea what was going on, and needed a calcio man to sort things out. It was a good move, but obviously one that would not bear fruit immediately, particularly when the other administrative problems (medical team, Vinovo, Secco) were still around. Ferrara paid for it, as by late January the Bettega effect had failed to inspire the team. Then came the sacking of Ferrara.

Two calcio-savvy men that will let Blanc return to what he does best…

Firing Ferrara was the ultimate proof he didn’t know what he was doing. A supporter of JCB might suggest canning Ferrara was necessary to try and kick the team in the pants, but as I said at the time, and Zaccheroni’s brief tenure proved, the team’s problems went FAR beyond the coach. Ferrara took the fall because at that point, Blanc and Secco simply had no other ideas on how to kickstart the team. Blanc should be fired Secco before January, but their sole move in the winter mercato was pitiful and even more evidence to can Alessio. All of these problems existed for some time, Blanc was not new to the organization. In this case, he failed.

With the introduction of Andrea Agnelli as President, Blanc took a direct demotion, and did so without complaining. With a healthy balance sheet, excellent sponsorships, and a great investment in the stadium, Blanc has done well and deserves his pay, especially now that he has been removed as President. His contract expires in 2012, and it remains to be seen if it will be renewed, perhaps his work will be done with Juve on stable feet and the stadium finished. It all probably depends on Jean-Claude…having organized the Tour de France, Winter Olympics, and Roland Garros, will he move onto another project, or is he satisfied in Torino?

Welcome back, member of the Board of Directors and Team Manager Pavel Nedved.

Tiago has fired a parting shot at Juventus following his move back to Atletico Madrid on loan. The Portugal international seemed to revel in the idea that Juventus couldn’t sell him outright. Tiago has made no secret of his annoyance at the way Juventus have treated him in recent years. Speaking at his second official unveiling as an Atletico player, Tiago said: “Atletico and I are happy, but in the end Juve will be a little less so. I am very happy. It was very difficult for me, but in the end I got what I wanted. I believe that we are much stronger than last year.

The Juventus Offside exclusive on how the prior incident went on.

For someone who has NO personality on the pitch, he has a large amount of it off the pitch. You all may remember when he LOCKED our club President in the bathroom for trying to make him sign with another club. I didn’t understand why he did it the, and I don’t understand why he’s being such a bitch about things now. Tiago has nothing to complain about at Juventus. At one point under Ranieri AND Ferrara, he got his time to prove himself, and failed to do so. He was never verbally assaulted by the fans like Felipe Melo or Z3BINA. And now, we try and offload him to a club he wants to be playing for, and he acts like a complete ass about the whole thing.

Either way, between the Tiago and Andrade experiments, here is a new official policy for Juventus.

“We will be playing against an organized and physically strong team and therefore there are risks but it is the start of the season and we need a good result”

“Now things are getting serious”. This is how Luigi Del Neri began the press conference held at the Tallaght Stadium on the eve of the match against Shamrock Rovers. The opponents may not be amongst the elite of European football but must not be underestimated:

“There are always risks and we will be playing against a team which is organized, well prepared, more advanced in training and physically strong. It is the start of the season and beginning with a good result is very important”.

In order to obtain a good result Del Neri expects a great Juve: “I’d like to see that attitude shown against Hamburg and Lyon. We are obliged to play like Juventus. My team has great qualities and I think it can do well in this competition but we must be aware of the obstacles that such matches may bring. If we maintain the right attitude however, adding the quality of our players we can obtain a good result”.

The coach did not reveal anything with regards to the formation: “I will have to examine the conditions of some of the players and tomorrow we will be on the field. I tried different solutions to see if certain players are compatible but I have not yet chosen who will play”.

Del Piero, seated by his side underlined how in matches like the one against Shamrock the purest aspect of football is represented and a joy to live through: “All the players are passionate and want to play. I am convinced that Alessandro has this sort of attitude. The coach is obliged to field who can give the most and he is surely one of those players”. Juventus.com

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

These judges gave better ratings than I did

4- Dreadful. Consistently producing horror shows and generally completely incompetent.
4.5- Poor.
5- Subpar. Never impressing, and while not terrible, never playing well either.
5.5- Mediocre. Not something a player should be pleased with.
6- Decent.
6.5- Solid. Putting in consistently good shifts, though not exemplary.
7- Excellent. Playing well typically, and capable of brilliance.
7.5- Outstanding. Consistently winning MOTM awards.
8- Phenomenal.
9- Legendary.

Injuries don’t directly factor, as that has weighed enough on their performances as is. So without further ado, the Juventus Pagelle for season 2009-2010.

SuperrrrrrrGigi!!!

KEEPERS
GIANLUIGI BUFFON- 7: An odd season from Gigi. Due to injuries last season, people wondered if Buffon’s days were numbered. At the beginning of the season, he showed them when healthy, he is still the worlds best. Unfortunately, Gigi incurred his seasonal length injury, as a meniscus problem kept him out for 1-2 months. It seemed he recovered well enough, but was struck again with injury in late February, a strain to the right thigh keeping him out for 6 weeks. It seemed he’d be well enough for the World Cup, but a substitution in the last game against Milan was worrying, and it occurred against as a back problem caused him to substitute out of the first World Cup game against Paraguay, and miss the rest. Sadly, the Lippi-Buffon reunion did not go well. He’s due to undergo surgery on his back which will keep him out until January…one wonders if Buffon will ever be healthy. One other note- in the game against Roma, towards the end Buffon came flying out and took out Riise, earning himself a straight red card. Some players might storm off in the tunnel angry or disappointed, but Gigi walked over to the bench to embrace Manninger and wish him luck.
BEST MOMENT: For Italy, it was no doubt the wondersave against Bulgaria that defies all physics and logic. For Juventus, his two games against Maccabi were just chock full of brilliant saves.

“Why in God’s name am I here in America?”

ALEX MANNINGER- 6: As Buffon took his annual 3-month sabbatical, Manninger once again got his chance to shine. He wasn’t quite up to the standard as last year, he looked uncharacteristically nervy in a few games, but a fairly capable showing. If he gets relegated to position of 3rd-choice keeper with Storari’s arrival, he’ll be the best third-string keeper in the history of Juventus.
BEST MOMENT: Terrific save on an (offside) Gilardino when Juve was up 1-0 in Firenze.

Playing his role as Vice-Seredova

ANTONIO CHIMENTI- 4.5: Last year, I said his best moment was “never setting foot on the pitch.” Wish I could have said the same this year. Chimenti played a couple games when Buffon and Manninger were both out, and they were awful. 3 goals conceded against Siena, 4 goals conceded against Fulham, and then the Samp game…oh, the Samp game. Chimenti actually had a good game, then Cassano tried an ambitious volley which he inexplicably punched into his own net. Afterwords, Samp was peppering him with some (excellent) long-range shots, and he saved them very well, but it wasn’t enough.
BEST MOMENT: At least the guy cares somewhat about Juve and/or his personal performances, which is more than I can say for at least 1/2 of the team this year. After conceding Cassano’s wondergoal, he was so angry that he punched a table in the locker room, fracturing his hand in the process and ending his season.

DEFENDERS

Giorgio of the Jungle celebrating a goal

GIORGIO CHIELLINI- 7.5: One of the few bright spots in our defense this year, Giorgio was typical Giorgio. Our defense conceded the most goals in a single league campaign in Juve’s 100+ year history, but Chiellini wasn’t responsible. In fact, he was one of the few things keeping it from being even worse. Constantly had to be cleaning up and covering for his muppet-ish clowns otherwise known as defensive teammates, but one defender isn’t enough. Looks like he’s properly getting the contract and defensive teammates that he deserves. I do have to mention he scored 4 goals in 32 games, Amauri scored 5 in 30. Had it not been for Iaquinta offside-ly poaching a Chiellini header, he’d have matched Amauri. A center-back. Almost matching a center forward. God, it’s been a shitty year.
BEST MOMENT: I am a big fan of his goal against Sampdoria, way back in Fall when it was #1 v. #2 in the table, a huge match. Despite being a CB, he goes far up, starts the move with a nice sliding pace to Amauri, and continues his run and taps it in. At the time when he started running into the box I was thinking “What on earth are you doing, Giorgio?”

“Hmmm, maybe I should have signed with Albinoleffe”

FABIO CANNAVARO- 4.5: He had an excellent start to the campaign that would easily merit a 6.5, and closed out the season equally, perhaps trying to keep Lippi’s attention. For the 6+ months in between though, he was garbage. Too slow, tactically out of position, he looked vulnerable every goddamn game. Notably roasted by Alessandro Matri against Cagliari, there were numerous incidents where he simply lost his man and watched as they rounded Buffon/Manninger and tapped in. Was the only natural CB available for the away game at Fulham, got bitched off the ball in the 10th minute for Zamora’s goal, and then 15 minutes later got himself sent off, which led to the complete disaster that was Salihamidzic-Grygera-Zebina-Grosso protecting Chimenti. Awful, awful season, and he never should have come back. Equally poor at the World Cup, unfortunately.
BEST MOMENT: Cannavaro scored one goal this season, and in true traitor fashion, it was against his newly ex-club in preseason, Real Madrid in the Peace Cup. Poetic.

Class act, giving credit to Diego for the goal.

NICOLA LEGROTTAGLIE- 6.5: I said all last summer that Legrottaglie-Chiellini was the ideal CB partnership, and after Fabio’s brief flame into form, it turned out to be so. Datasport, an excellent source for player ratings, mentioned in winter “Cannavaro is no longer at Legrottaglie’s level.” I am convinced that he’s got haters because of his past, but fact is, he’s been excellent the last 3 years. Started out the season shaky, probably because he wasn’t playing much and bringing in Cannavaro (who replaced in him in 2004) was a very public bitchslap from the management, but he grew into form. After September, he was pretty solid and the biggest difference for me was the Fulham games. The first, our CB partnership was Legro-Canna, and the second, it was Zebina-Canna. Canna wasn’t great in either game, and as the Fulham Offside put it-

One nugget of information I’ve noticed little mention of is the absence of Juventus defender Nicola Legrottaglie. Last week he manhandled Bobby Zamora. Thankfully for us he was suspended last night and Bobby managed to have a field day — even before Fabio Cannavaro was sent off.

Also of very important note. Nicola Legrottaglie did not miss ONE game through injury this entire season. You read that correctly. I’m a huge fan of his of course, but between his decent record last year, his un-injuredness (it’s a word) and his leadership, he deserves to stay. Storari, Motta, and Lanzafame have all explicitly identified Legrottaglie as one who has welcomed them into the team, Motta said he has helped him defensively. Guy would be a great youth team coach when he retires, I think.

BEST MOMENT: Probably the first Fulham game, where he scored a nice thumping header inside the first 10minutes and it looked like everything would go well. And it did, Fulham had virtually no effort on goal and their only goal was a horribly deflected lucky shot. About a month before that, he scored another nice header against Livorno. (Which I predicted- “Amauri should take lessons on set piece headers from Legrottaglie”, about 15 minutes before the goal) Also of note- both of those goals come from perfect set pieces from Diego.

“Oh God, he got by me! Time to rugby tackle him!!”

ZDENEK GRYGERA- 4: God, it was an awful season for Grygera. He probably deserves a 4.5 in that he wasn’t completely dreadful in every game, but he gets -.5 for being comically bad in a couple. Notably Palermo and Siena, where he singlehandedly doomed our team, with horrendous backpasses and generally getting schooled by Maccarone, who now plays for Palermo. Please, if he stays, do not field him against Maccalermo. Should he stay? He certainly hasn’t played to deserve it, but I’d rather sell Grosso and Zebina first, who are older, have higher salaries, and are equally worthless. There’s so much rebuilding going on this season that Grygera might get spared. Or maybe not, Ajax and Bologna have been linked with him.
BEST MOMENT: It’s probably telling that I’ve chosen a pre-season friendly incident (again, Real Madrid) for both Grygera and Cannavaro. Best no doubt goes to a horrendous potential knee-breaking tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo, a month after Perez shelled out 90million euros for him. Bosman > 90million euro crocked player.

World Cup bringing the inner Paolo Montero out in Martin

MARTIN CACERES- 6.5: Considering his age, and the fact that he came from a league not known for defending, Martin did very well. His first month or so was very shaky, he was frequently caught out of position at RB and beaten defensively. (see Kolorav’s effort back in September) But he quickly grew into Serie A, and by November, was an undisputed starter at RB. That month, in the Derby d’Italia, he was named MOTM has his defensive tackles and never-say-die attitude kept Inter at bay. He’s young, he’s Uruguayan, and he wasn’t owned by Juve, but he showed the Juventus spirit like an Italian veteran, some of his tackles reminded me of Tacchinardi rushing back in defense. He developed some solid defensive skills, but he was no slouch offensively. Pacey, with decent technical skills and an eye for a good cross, he set up many goals from the right flank. See Camo’s best moment where his cross provided Camo’s goal against Maccabi, or Fabio Grosso where he perfectly ran onto a pass from Poulsen and volley-crossed it pinpoint to Fabio. Or the game against Genoa, where he received a throw-in, beat two Genoa defenders and then put in a delicious cross to Amauri, who actually converted it. I am very, very disappointed that we won’t be signing him. He’s very young, already has decent Serie A/Juve experiment, why not sign him and convert him or Motta into a left-back, alla Zambrotta? Wherever he ends up, I wish him well.
BEST MOMENT: Caceres had some excellent games this season, I wish someone made a compilation of his performance against Inter, but it goes to his first and only goal at Juve, in his first ever Serie A start. It was against Lazio, in September, and Juventus struggled to break them down, until Martin scored. Ironically, it was a relatively poor performance from Caceres, he was beaten by Kolarov more than once and caught out of position. But the goal won us 3 points.

Swap Eto’o for a figurative Juventus bank account, and this is what has been happening the last three years.

JONATHAN ZEBINA- 4.5: One of my least favorite players to ever wear the Juventus jersey, as regular readers will well know. Zebina wasn’t completely awful this season, he wasn’t injured for 4 months like in 07-08 and 08-09, so that’s an improvement. But he just is simply inadequate, as he’s always been. Offensively, he contributes something nice one in every 20 games, and in doing so, leaves large gaps at the back. Better than Grygera or Grosso this season, but that doesn’t say much. Especially when you’re making 2.5 million a year, making more than Chiellini and furthermore, the best paid defender on the team. Unbelievable. Thankfully, he looks certain to leave, as Marotta/Delneri are giving him a free transfer in exchange for “getting the hell outta here.”
BEST MOMENT: Zebina did have two good moments this year, a nice dribble/shot that turned into an assist for Trezeguet against Bologna, and then the Fulham game. Oh, the Fulham game. In the first, he scored a brilliant, brilliant goal, his 2nd ever for Juventus that literally left me laughing in tears. (and Bettega, from the video) In the return leg at Craven Cottage, when he played terrible, got sent off, and gave the middle finger to the Juventus fans. Another words, normal service resumed.

“Why does anyone ever let me play club football??”

FABIO GROSSO- 4: Oh, Fabio. Though I was a naysayer on the last mercato, saying Felipe Melo and Cannavaro was the wrong pick when most thought they were smart signings, I was TOTALLY wrong on Fabio. I’ve been advocating his signing since two summers ago, I though he’d be a great left-back for 2-3 years, solve our issues. I knew he was not that great of a club player, but at worst, I thought he’d be a moderate upgrade on Molinaro. In all seriousness, he was worse than Molinaro’s performances in 08-09. With Molinaro, we got pace, decent defending, and utterly garbage offense. With Grosso, he was a slow, and didn’t really contribute much on offense either, his crosses were an improvement, but not by much. And while he was drifting up the field, he constantly was leaving massive gaps at the back that were frequently exploited on counter-attacks. Beaten often by his man (I remember a goal we conceded I believe against Atalanta, where he just simply got schooled) it was a terrible, terrible season, and Secco gave him a 3-year contract. He hasn’t improved, either. Delneri likes his wingers attacking and his fullbacks defensive, which doesn’t play into Grosso’s hands, Tuttosport ran a report on players progress thus far in training and Grosso was definitely in the negative bucket. Could be experimented as a left-winger, but there’s really no point.
BEST MOMENT: Two nice goals this season that won the game for us. The first was just odd, our flanks were generally rubbish this season, and this was a goal scored between our two fullbacks against Udinese. (Nice pass from Poulsen there) The second was the match-winning goal in Firenze, where he chipped it in from a very tight angle to beat Frey.

Nooo! YOU. SHALL. NOT. PASSSS”

PAOLO DE CEGLIE- 5.5: A middling campaign from the young left-back, who put in some good games, and some average ones. Typically good offensively, his crosses are excellent, and occasionally lost his man for a goal. I think this kid has some serious potential, Zambrotta was much older when he was converted to a fullback (and was iffy for the firt season) and De Ceglie has the offensive capability to be a great fullback. He just needs some confidence from the coach, and some personal tutoring on defense. It may be happening, in Tuttosport’s report of early training notes, they stated that “De Ceglie no longer appears timid” and that Delneri’s instructions seem to have calmed him. Noted that his crossing has been good, he’s pacey as usual, but also that his defense reporting, though it left the report warning that “it remains to be seen against top-level strikers.” Hoping this kid has a breakout season, I like him. And so should the ladies.
BEST MOMENT: Nothing really jumps out, kind of like his personality in general. A nice combination with Del Piero against Ajax let to a perfect cross from De Ceglie, and a goal headed in by Amauri.

Molinaro in something not black-and-white striped. Hooray!

CRISTIAN MOLINARO- 4.5: It was clear from day one that Molinaro would be leaving, as both De Ceglie and Grosso were preferred to him at left-back. This snub definitely hurt his performance, he was alright last year but the confidence was shot, and he played like garbage.
BEST MOMENT: Molinaro, not exactly the most technical of players, attempted an ambitious backheel. It did not succeed.

MIDFIELDERS

DIEGO- 6.5: I’ve made my opinion clear on Diego many times, and that is that Diego had a relatively successful in his debut season in Serie A. It’s totally ludicrous to me that he’s been labelled one of the flops of the season, and in the worst Serie A XI of the season. I have one very, very simple argument. Go watch all the goals we scored this season, and you’ll see Diego’s brilliance. He has an important hand in something like 40% of the goals (probably almost 50% if you consider the games he was absent for), and while he didn’t score as much as we hoped…he was massively influential. He actually has 1 more goal and assist (as well as two goals in the Coppa Italia) over Sneidjer in 7 more games, and was fouled almost three times as many times as Sneidjer.

Yet Sneidjer is hailed as one of the best players in the world. Don’t get me wrong, Sneidjer deserves all the accolades he got, but the difference between Diego and Sneidjer is simple. Juventus sucked, and Inter won a lot. Mostly due to the difference in defenses, of course. Had the opposite transfers happened, Sneidjer would have been labelled a flop and Diego a champion. Thankfully, it seems Gigi Delneri has seen his talent shine in training and reversed his previous anti-Diego stance. Looks like we might be playing a 4-4-1-1.
BEST MOMENT: No doubt, his wonderful performance against Roma where he banged in two beautiful goals. Close second would be where he completely faked out Frey and slotted it in against Fiorentina.

A goal that will long live in our memories.

CLAUDIO MARCHISIO- 6.5: A consistent year from Marchisio. He had a few tremendous games, plenty of satisfactory ones, and very few poor ones. For a young player, consistency is sometimes rare, just more signs of his tremendous maturity. Delneri has said he plans to build Juventus around Marchisio, excellent news. Was always a first-choice player, whether as a left-winger or central midfielder. Played three games in March when suffering from the flu, picking up a MOTM award in one of them. You can’t not love this guy.
BEST MOMENT: The highlight of the entire season. Juventus v. Inter, against a team who cannot seem to play one player from Italy. Our homegrown player, born and bred in Torino, wearing the Juventus jersey for the 16th year of the last 17, and scores a delicious game-winning chip...schooling experienced players Walter Samuel and Julio Cesar in the process.

HASAN SALIHAMIDZIC- 5: To be honest, I remember VERY little of Salihamidzic from this season, which considering how the season went, maybe isn’t bad. I mean, I know he played, but I just can’t really remember anything. The little I do remember was noting that Salihamidzic cannot play as a central-midfielder, only as a winger. Camo could adapt to playing in the 4-3-1-2, so Ferrara gave Brazzo a shot at it, but he just had very little impact when positioned there.
BEST MOMENT: Sometimes I think he missed his true calling to be a Pippo Inzaghi-style striker. He seems to just pop up at the right time and score, like he did against Parma and Catania.

I can’t decide which one of these players I hate more.

FELIPE MELO- 4.5: You don’t win the Bidone d’Oro for nothing. Although at the time it was a little ridiculous to give him the award, he evidently promised the radio sponsors that he would do everything in his power to merit it. He was the wrong choice for Juventus from day one, as he simply did not fit into our transfer needs. Melo started the season brightly enough, indeed the team did as a whole, but as the season progressed, like Cannavaro, his season went to utter garbage. Every game highlighted his inadequacy, as he wasn’t technically skilled enough to play as deep as he did, and when he was shielding the defense, he often gave away the ball in a dangerous position. It got to a point where we were guaranteed an awful performance from him, and more than likely he was going to receive a card for a poor tackle. Unlike Cannavaro, he never got out of his dreadful form, and finished the season in outright war with the Juventus fans. Against Siena, he infamously shouted at the fans to “shut the f*** up” after being jeered for attempting to dribble out of defense. At least unlike Zebina, he didn’t try and play the race card. If Melo is played correctly, he can be a strong component of the team, and in a 4-4-2 where his passing abilities are less needed and he’s given the ability to roam, he’ll be better. However, he has literally burnt every bridge with the fans and I would much prefer to see him sold. Unfortunately, singlehandedly knocking Brazil out of the World Cup seems to have dampened any remaining interest. He’s too emotional of a player.
BEST MOMENT: Felipe Melo scored an excellent header against Atalanta, and then ran under the (empty) Curva to ask forgiveness for the Siena debacle. As Juve commentator Claudio Zuliani said, “finally, he did something good!” A nice gesture, but the fans weren’t there to see it.

I hope to see these two Argies with us still next year.

MAURO CAMORANESI- 6: Mauro’s season was interrupted by far too many injuries, which is becoming more and more common for him. And the frustration of the godawful season got to him, as he started to become a walking red card later in the season. It is suggested that he was the player who told Zaccheroni upon his arrival “I am here, but don’t count on me” but there’s no way of knowing for sure. That said, when Camo plays, he’s still excellent, and that’s the reason I’d like to keep him for the last year of his contract. (That, and he played in Serie B) He had a period, not surprisingly uninterrupted by injury, back in October where he was in tremendous form, scoring two goals against Atalanta and then one against Maccabi.
BEST MOMENT: His goal against Maccabi set us up for qualification to the round of 16, before the Bayern/Lyon disasters. Then there was the Atalanta game, where he was just all over the place.

“Yo Giorgio, watch where you’re puttin your foot!”

CHRISTIAN POULSEN- 6: An improved season for Poulsen, who is very understated in his role, but effective nonetheless. As Felipe Melo’s season imploded, Poulsen slowly got more and more chances to play, and grew into the team. He’s not a flashy player, but he effectively protected the backline, and has an eye occasionally for a brilliant pass. (see Grosso’s goal against Udinese) The Dane continued to improve into the winter (just like home?), even picking up a MOTM award or two, before breaking his fibula against Napoli in the Coppa Italia. He was out for about 6 weeks, and by the time he got back, the whole team had given up. Not anywhere near his Liga form, where he was considered one of the best in the league, but an improved season. Hopefully he has an impact next year.
BEST MOMENT: Can’t really think of one. Didn’t score any goals, and had a very quiet role in the team.

Gio has tremendous talent. He just needs someone who believes in him.

SEBASTIAN GIOVINCO- 5.5: Definitely a step down from last year, but can you blame the kid? He got FIVE league starts all season, which is just absolutely absurd. FIVE. Molinaro basically did the same, and he was 3rd choice and sent on loan for the 2nd half of the year!! Frankly, him leaving makes no sense to me, but when it comes to Gio, nothing that makes sense seems to happen. Marotta likes young Italian players, and Delneri likes pacey attacking wingers. (and wanted him at Sampdoria this January, ended up with Guberti) So while it makes perfect sense that he would get a lot of playing time at LM in the new regime, it doesn’t look likely. I want the kid to go to Bari, my sympathies aside, it’s an attacking team, and Ventura has a great record with young players. And he’s promised to build the team around him. Under Ranieri, Gio shoulda played more but played “enough”, starting 10 matches and having important cameos in 10 more league ones, he also took part in 4 CL games. This year it should have been a further step forward, but it’s been one giant leap backward, and his development has certainly stalled. He needs to play, and if he can’t at Juve, time for him to leave.
BEST MOMENT: In the 4-2-3-1 he flourished, playing excellent against Sampdoria and Atalanta where where racked up 5 goals in both games, with Gio getting some assists. Despite losing the game, against Napoli, he scored his only goal, had another opportunity, and had an excellent pass to Diego on the flanks that opened Napoli up.

Strangely, after this tackle got Sissoko sent off, Javier Zanetti didn’t run to the referee. Previously, he said he would demand the game be suspended if there was any racism, but Interista racism is acceptable I guess…

MOHAMED SISSOKO- 5: Very much a year to forget for Sissoko as well. It wasn’t really his fault though, he didn’t have enough consistent games to nobody’s fault. He started the season injured from breaking his foot against Torino in March 2009, didn’t return until October this year. Three weeks later, strained his thigh, spent another month out until December, and then went to the African Cup of Nations, then came back and was out for another 6 weeks due to reaggravating his muscle strain. Then in February he was out for a while with an inflamed tendon, you get the idea, shit just continued. Finally, Sissoko gets healthy, and in a terrible tragedy, both of his in-laws were killed in a car accident. Bad enough situation, except as Zaccheroni revealed in June, Sissoko ended up having to take care of 4-5 of his siblings-in-law, who were still under 18. Between injuries and this tragedy, his mind was never really focused this season and he didn’t play particularly well in the few games he made it for.
BEST MOMENT: There really wasn’t one, but I can tell you what his best moment wasn’t: getting sent off early in the Derby d’Italia in Milan, which pretty much doomed our team after a pretty positive start.

Those stripes look nice on you, Tiago. Keep ‘em.

TIAGO- 5: Played well the first few weeks, and it seemed Ferrara was getting the best out of Tiago in the 3-man midfield. As the season went to shit, Tiago just started completely disappearing in games. Fed up, the management finally offed him on loan to Atletico Madrid for the spring, and negotiations are on-going with Atletico due to his rather high salary demands. Juventus gave him permission to skip on our training camp to stay looking for a casa in Madrid, so he’s finally gone for all intents and purposes. And Marotta also got rid of Almiron this summer, not bad.
BEST MOMENT: Getting the HELL out in January, after failed attempts in the past to loan him to Marseille, Atletico, Sporting, Fiorentina, Tottenham, etc….

ANTONIO CANDREVA- 6: Not bad, Antonio. You made the jump from Serie B to Juventus and an Azzurri call-up all in one year. Here’s the thing about Candreva, he has the talent to play for Juventus, he just came at the wrong time. The team was in free fall, and he isn’t good enough to singlehandedly turn the team around. A versatile, creative player, he did have a bad habit of disappearing from the game in the 2nd half, but his versatility was excellent, playing as a attacking midfielder, a creative central midfielder, what have you. I wish we had seen him experimented as a regista, but it didn’t happen. Good player, but not worth 8.5mil for co-ownership.
BEST MOMENT: He kind of has a girly shot, but his goal against Bologna was excellently placed. Had a nice clever through ball for Diego against Fiorentina.

STRIKERS

“I’M A BALD DOUCHEBAG WHO CAN NEVER COMPARE TO YOU!!!”

ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO- 6: It took Alessandro a LONG time to get into form, and I mean a LONG time. This was the first time ever he hadn’t scored a goal in the Fall portion of the season, and given how much he fell off in Spring of last year, he didn’t score many goals in calendar year 2009. Not really his fault for this season, he was pretty much injured the whole time, he had a back problem during preseason training and was out until September, then after returning to the bench for the 2nd game against Roma, mysteriously disappeared again until October, where he played 10 minutes against Bologna. Reaggravated the injury and was out until December, so he played 10minutes in the first 14 games of the season, give or take. Once he started to play though, Del Piero rounded into form. Excellent performances against Ajax, Lazio, Genoa, etc, he finally found his scoring boots around February. Creative and deadly as usual, he racked up his 300th and 301st goal against Siena this year. Looks set to still have an important role under Delneri, though perhaps not as starter.
BEST MOMENT: As Diego Maradona says, “I am convinced that Del Piero never really grows old.” He had some beautiful goals this season. My personal favorite was against Genoa, where he tackles Criscito to maintain possession of the ball, dribbles around a bit, passes to Diego who makes a wonderful backheel, and Del Piero finishes. Brilliant volley to score against Roma, as well as the above volley and 301st goal against Siena.

DAVID TREZEGUET- 6.5: At the beginning of the season, a lot of people said Trezeguet was past it. He came off a crap season due to double knee surgery and disagreements with Ranieri, and was supposedly on the market last summer. I said it before, and I’ll say it again- Like Inzaghi or Del Piero, Trezeguet’s talent won’t ever die, because it is relatively independent of physical condition. Unlike his friend Thierry Henry, who based a lot of his ability on his acceleration (not just that, but that was an important part of his game) and thus declined rapidly, Trez is a poacher, and thus his talent will remain. It was no surprise then, that once he started playing, he started scoring. The first came against Lazio. The first few weeks of the season were filled with optimism, Amauri and Iaquinta were playing well, and Trezeguet had been forgotten on the bench. In a “cry for help” he said he was planning to leave Turin at the end of the year, which perhaps wasn’t the most professional thing to say, but he had been forgotten. Ferrara responded accordingly by giving him a substitute performance against Lazio, and he scored. A crap goal, but it’s a goal. It justified a few more games though, and sure enough, he started scoring. Though like everyone else, his season was disrupted by injury, he scored 10 goals in 18 starts by the end of the season. Not bad. I’m hoping, like Camo, for him to finish his contract at Juventus this season and get the farewell he deserves. He’s talked about possibly rejoining his best friend Thierry in NY, and that would be a fearsome attack for RBNY.
BEST MOMENT: His goal against Atalanta tied Omar Sivori for the 4th greatest goalscorer in Juventus history and the greatest foreign goalscorer, and he ended up surpassing him. Tremendous game against Bari back in December, where he not only scored but in very un-Trez-like style, provided several golden assists for teammates. Trez scored some amazing volleys in Europe this year, against Bayern Munich and then an even more ridiculous one against Fulham at home. Another favorite of mine is the Napoli game (See the Giovinco Best Moment) where Grygera floats in a nice teasing cross, and Trez in SUPER poacher style, just nails it in. Brilliant.

VINCENZO IAQUINTA- 5.5: This could have been Vincenzo’s year, given that Lippi put an extraordinary amount of faith in him, but sadly, as it seems for his entire Juve career, injuries have disrupted his growth. When Vinnie is unencumbered by physical problems (and eventually gets in form), he is one of the best strikers in Italy. Unfortunately, we’ve seen that in 3-4 month spurts here and there and then he gets injured. This year he was out for 100+ straight days after knee meniscus surgery, taking longer than Marchisio and Buffon combined, who had the same injury. Believe it or not, but he was out for 100+ days, played 1/2 the amount of games Amauri did, and scored 1 more goal in the league than him. Incredible.
BEST MOMENT: No doubt, his MOTM game against Bari in the spring. Scored an excellent goal from a tight angle and then followed up with a nice tap-in later in the game.

Playing in a league where he probably belongs.

AMAURI- 4: Goddddawful. Just terrible. He started the season out in good form, but as the goals were denied with by the post, or super Sorrentino/Julio Sergio saves, his confidence plummeted. And then some. Looked too slow and static up top, couldn’t score with his feet or head, Amauri was awful. And to compound it, he was always seen bitching and whining, often at his teammates. Needs to work on sprinting, playing with the ball at his feet, playing with his face forward, aka learning how to be a striker. 4-4-2 and Delneri may suit him better, but he’s got a LONG ways to go to earning back the fans love. 5 goals in the league, he was outscored by Iaquinta and nearly Chiellini, of all people. And it’d be one thing if he scored once a month, but 4 of his goals came in a one week span
BEST MOMENT: The Genoa goal (see Caceres section) was pretty nice, a solid header with two defenders marking him, but it definitely goes to the Ajax game, in Amsterdam. Before the game in the press conference, Martin Jol identified Amauri as the biggest threat to his team. Juventini laughed. Evidently Jol either knows his team really well, or can predict the future, because Amauri scored a double. (Thanks to some brilliant work from Alessandro Del Piero) Juventini were confused. Jol was angry.

MICHELE PAOLUCCI- s.v.: What a waste of 6 months for the kid.
BEST MOMENT: Giving Blanc and co the finger.

MANAGEMENT:

FERRARA- 4.5: The squad was poorly built, and he had an injury crisis of biblical proportions. That said, he really didn’t seem to be able to get the team to be playing his vision. Ultimately, his inexperience was his downfall- when the team got stuck in a bad rut, he was unable to get us out. Sampdoria got stuck in a bad free fall last January as well, but Delneri tactically got his taem out of it, let’s hope he can show the same balls and brains at Juve.
ZACCHERONI- 5: Poor Zac, he was screwed from the start. He inherited a squad ravaged by injury, and with confidence levels in the team as low as humanly possible. Zac tried, he had some good ideas, and at one point, the team’s confidence appeared to have returned and we were playing decent footy. In one week, that was irreparably destroyed, and he can thank Grygera for most of it. Against Siena, having gone up 3-0 in 10 minutes, we proceeded to concede 3. Confidence plummeted. Then we traveled to Fulham, and in the perfect storm of injuries, suspensions, questionable refereeing decisions, etc, we got mauled 4-1. There was no turning back point after that.
SECCO- 3.5: Diego was a great signing, although not entirely necessary. Melo is a good player, but was the wrong buy from day one. Grosso and Cannavaro were both old, cheap, and far too over-the-hill to play at Juve. The only necessary and excellent signing he made was Caceres, except it was only on loan. Candreva was alright, but one player isn’t going to fix things. Paolucci’s development was set back an entire year because of an unnecessary, stupid, and panicked recall.
AGRICOLA- 0: ‘Nuff said.