The Juventus Offside’s Best XI of the Decade

By: agiamba | January 19th, 2010

A few weeks ago, we did the “Worst XI of the Noughties” profiling the awful busts to have haunted our locker rooms, and given the recent pile of crap otherwise known as Juventus FC attempts to play football, it’s high time for something to make us smile a bit. Below is my personal starting XI of the decade, and I’d love to know what you disagree with and how you’d fashion it! Considered in the list is a variety of things, but whether a player disgraced himself by ditching us doing Calciopoli is not considered. There are two of them. The formation is a 4-3-1-2, as the 4-4-2 only has brought us moderate success. Full team after the jump.

Gianluigi Buffon- Well, the alternative to him is notables such as Van der Sar, Chimenti, and maybe longtime servant Michelangelo Rampulla. Other than being the best damn keeper in the world, he kind of wins by default. Can you believe Gigi is playing his 9th season at Juve?

Gianluca Zambrotta- For several years, Zambrotta was probably the best right-back in the world. He doesn’t score a whole lot of goals, but he was a great wingback who put in plenty, and I mean plenty, of assists. The defending took a little while to get perfected, as his career started at Como and Bari as a winger, but he got it down. Beautiful crosses, and always a threat coming down the flanks. Of all the players who left during Calciopoli, Zambrotta was the one that surprised me the most. He had been there the longest, and he seemed like a real Bianconero. Now, he plays for Milan, and poorly I might add.
Lilian Thuram- Another one of the Calciopoli-fleers, Thuram was one of the best defenders of his era, and that is no mean feat in a time with some of the defenders of his time. He sometimes played at right-back, but as his Juve career progressed he was a mainstay at center-back and is quite possibly France’s best defender of all time. Moved to Barcelona with Zambrotta after Calciopoli, and nearly signed with PSG before a scan revealed a defect in his heart, he was lucky to have survived his whole career. The scan was a sad ending to a great career, and more evidence of the fine medical staff we have in Torino that never picked it up.
Ciro Ferrara- However much some people may hate him now, there’s no doubt Ciro is one of the best defenders in the history of Juve, though his role is somewhat forgotten due to his unfortunate injury-plagued Azzurri career. A stalwart of the backline for 9 years, he won an impressive 8 Scudetti in his career, a Uefa Cup, a Champion’s League, a smattering of SuperCoppas, and two Coppa Italias. A defensive legend, and regardless of what happens with his coaching career, let’s never forget that.
Paolo Montero- Sort of fielded out of position at left-back, though the tough Uruguayan sometimes played at left-back, most notably in the 2003 Champion’s League final against Milan, while Ferrara played alongside Tudor at CB. (Thuram was playing RB) Tough as nails, but don’t let that fool you: he was no Materazzi, aka untalented and generally a hooligan, Montero was tough, but he was an excellent defender as well. His Uruguayan temper got the best of him on a number of occasions, and he currently holds the Serie A record for most amount of red cards, though with good humor. Ironically, his best friend on the team was quiet little Gianluca Pessotto.

Antonio Conte- The captain of Juventus for many years, and all around brilliant central midfielder. Pass, shoot, defend, he had it all. The brains of the Juventus midfield for nearly a decade, Conte has gone on to a moderately successful coaching career and perhaps one day will return to Torino. A famously loyal and determined player.
Edgar Davids- If Conte was the brains of the midfield, than Davids was the lungs. During the late 90s and early 2000s, Davids was seen in his famous goggles, constantly running up and down the pitch, defending like a pitbull and opening space up with his endless endurance. “My one-man engine room,” as Lippi famously labelled him. After leaving Juventus in early 2004, he tried his luck at Barcelona, Inter, Tottenham, and back at Ajax to little success.
Pavel Nedved- His Juventus career spanned the entire decade, only missing one season at both of the bookends. One of the greatest midfielders to ever wear the Juventus shirt, we miss his work ethic, his brilliant passing, and of course, his bombing goals from midfield. We could really use him this season, and I’m sure playing as a central midfielder as he occasionally did, he could have prolonged his career alla Ryan Giggs. He certainly had the footballing intelligence to do so, though he preferred to retire to spend time with his family.

Zinedine Zidane- He only played for a very small portion of the decade, but I have to put him in here as I personally regard him as the greatest player of all time. If the short time played in this decade is an issue, I’d put Nedved at trequartista and draft in Tacchinardi for central midfield.

Alessandro Del Piero- Is there any doubt? The greatest Bianconero of all time.
David Trezeguet- This should also be an obvious one, as Trezegol has been our starter for arguably all but one season during this decade, that of last year. I stated several times this summer that poaching instinct like Inzaghi’s never dies, and after a few games to shake off the rust, Trez proved that, scoring goals when no other striker could. Best friends with Zambrotta during his time at Juve. Currently Juve’s capocannoniere of the season, and in 4th place ahead of Omar Sivori for Juve’s all time chart, only 10 goals behind Roberto Bettega and 14 behind Giampiero Boniperti.

Buffon
Zambrotta Thuram Ferrara Montero
Conte Davids Nedved
Zidane
Del Piero Trezeguet

Substitutes: Abbiati, Pessotto, Tudor, Chiellini, Tacchinardi, Camoranesi, Iaquinta

What changes would you make to the list?

Some Related Juventus Posts:

Category: Team News

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Mass

Clearly Juventus cannot afford all of these players Robee, but my point was that we need to sign youth. In regards to Edkal I disagree, can you seriously say that Edkal couldn't take Poulsen's place within our squad? If you look at the likes of Arsenal, Man Utd, that is how they develop their players, by letting them slowly break into the first team. I would imagine that Edkal would become a better player, training alongside the likes of Melo and Marchisio week in week out. You talk about him not being ready, but how do you know? Having watched him play on a few occasions this season, he seems like a real talent, why not let him develop at Juve, rather than signing another average player like Candreva! At least then we could sign players for positions we actually need. This has in recent years been one of Juve's critical downfalls. We sign talented youngsters only to lose them later on, case in point Criscito, Nocerino, Balzeretti. Lets be honest none of us would be surprised to see Giovinco eventually leave. The other problem at Juve is the fact that we have to many players past their best. Why keep the injury prone Trezeguet, yes he has done great things for us, but he is past his best. The same can be said of various players within our squad.
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Mass

Robee lets be honest even at Arsenal it is never easy to integrate youth players into the first team squad. It's always a risk, the difference is that they have more trust and better foresight to realise that this is the best way to develop their youngsters. I agree with you about the formation, the less said about Ferrara the better in all honesty. In one way i think you're correct, consistent playing time is a great thing for Edkal. On the other hand letting him develop at Juventus alongside some of the current champions will improve his game. Also its noteworthy to see that Wenger doesn't particularly like to loan out his youngsters often, instead keeping them at the club training alongside the first team and breaking them slowly into the team via the league cup. He obviously feels this is a better way to mould his players and it clearly works. I would prefer to see Edkal develop at Juve, playing in the Coppa Italia, and as a reserve for Melo/Sissoko in the league when we have injuries (which is extremely often). So in all honesty Edkal would generally get a decent amount of playing time, plus we would have more influence in shaping the player.
Robee

Maas, I really don't see any use in comparing us to Arsenal or whatever, since they all are working from a very steady system, that allows their youth to integrate easily and know what to do...
We don't even have a formation a few hours before the start... And Ekdal can use the consistent playing time now, he's doing great, and it would disturbe his progression to call him back, play him for a few weeks, just to get benched again a little later...
Armando

Now give Genoa Poulsen, De Ceglie, and Amauri and take Palladino, Bocchetti, and Criscito. What a dream that would be.
Armando

Is Iaquinta or Trezeguet back yet? Because with Paolucci and Candreva now, i would love to try out a 4-3-1-2 formation like this:

Buffon
Caceres/Brazzo Legrottaglie Chiellini De Ceglie
Marchisio Sissoko Candreva
Diego
Paolucci Iaquinta/Trezeguet

That would be awesome. Then once we get Giovinco and Camoranesi back from injury, i think we need to do a raid of Genoa, specifically for Criscito, Palladino, and Bocchetti. That would be awesome.
Mass

Clearly Juventus cannot afford all of these players Robee, but my point was that we need to sign youth. In regards to Edkal I disagree, can you seriously say that Edkal couldn't take Poulsen's place within our squad? If you look at the likes of Arsenal, Man Utd, that is how they develop their players, by letting them slowly break into the first team. I would imagine that Edkal would become a better player, training alongside the likes of Melo and Marchisio week in week out. You talk about him not being ready, but how do you know? Having watched him play on a few occasions this season, he seems like a real talent, why not let him develop at Juve, rather than signing another average player like Candreva! At least then we could sign players for positions we actually need. This has in recent years been one of Juve's critical downfalls. We sign talented youngsters only to lose them later on, case in point Criscito, Nocerino, Balzeretti. Lets be honest none of us would be surprised to see Giovinco eventually leave. The other problem at Juve is the fact that we have to many players past their best. Why keep the injury prone Trezeguet, yes he has done great things for us, but he is past his best. The same can be said of various players within our squad.
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Hey, I just wanted to say what a quality website. I really enjoyed it and found it fascinating reading. Can't wait for your next post!
bianconeri

The option to buy is for half his contract not full.
georg

haha alessio, we crossed swords many times, but i agree 100% with you this time
honorable mention for camo
Alto

A dark day for Romanisti all over the globe. Local boy, big Roma fan, ends up in the Alps.
Gaetano

I think trezeguet should stay until he retires.still scores goals. Del piero and camo as well. They are juve legends and should bow out soon. We need to start thinking about their departures and i believe bettega is trying to build a good team from little money.( youth first and italian) Candreva is the one exception which will probably be negotiated with a trade plus cash if he steps up in the next few months. Palouchi and yago didn t really cost us much.

Unfortunately we can t get back the $ from melo. I agree with you jorid, de ceglie should stay.No palladino. I think they should try to play him as a right back.
agiamba

Tuttosport and Gazzetta are both reporting Candreva has signed with Juve...
Robee

"I would love to see us sign Criscito, Klaer, Caceres (permanently), Motta, Ariaudo (back from Loan), Rannochia, Edkal (back from loan), Aquilani (but only if we sell Sissoko or Melo) Ozil, Pazzini or Dzeko."

And where do you think on getting that kind of money ? You're talking about... let's say... around 140 million.

And we didn't bring Ekdal back, because this is one of the best deals we made. This is why we loan out players... To get game-time and experience, in order to see if they are ready and to prepare them. He's not ready by a long run.
Mass

Hey guys, I'm a long time Juventus fan. This season has been a debacle, Ferrara has clearly shown he is not the right man for the job. The Candreva transfer has all the hallmarks of when we signed Almiron. Yes Candreva looks like a decent prospect for the future, but he has yet to prove himself worthy of a transfer to a big club. Lets not forget that supposedly Udinese want 7 million euros for only half his contract, should we decide to make the deal permanent. Personally i don't even think we need this guy, why we don't bring back Edkal from his loan spell at Siena is beyond me. This team is clearly crying out for defenders and a mobile striker who can stretch the game. I agree with much of what Jorid has written, the likes of Grosso, Cannavaro, Legrottaglie, Molinaro, Zebina. Grygera, Tiago, Poulsen, Trezeguet, Amauri and Salihamidzic must be sold. We have too many players who are past their best, the side has absolutely no pace or direction at the moment. Realistically this summer will be the time to rebuild this team and i hope add a manager who has a clear idea of how he wants his team to play. Personally i hope that we will appoint Laurent Blanc, who has done an exceptional job at Bordeaux. In terms of potential summer signings, I would love to see us sign Criscito, Klaer, Caceres (permanently), Motta, Ariaudo (back from Loan), Rannochia, Edkal (back from loan), Aquilani (but only if we sell Sissoko or Melo) Ozil, Pazzini or Dzeko. Lets not forget that both Del Piero and Camoranesi are nearing the end of their careers, yes they are legends but their time is almost up. Finally why is it that almost every other European nation can see that Giovinco is a great player and Juve seem to have no clue! This side should be built around him and him alone. Sorry to go on a rant but i feel better now!
michelangelo

guys weve officially signed candreva till the end of the season with an option to buy....
Jorid

Let's just hope the PDC rumor is just that. It would make 0 sense. Let's bring back a youth product who's considered a promising player, by giving them a youth product who's considered a promising player. And as usual, nobody seems to give a fuck about defense. Honestly, because of his importance and what he has given to the club, I think Gigi should be asked by Secco who he wants in defense in front of him. It would never happen, but it would make Secco's job easier too.
j

secco's as clueless as he looked, i dont mind rumors, just dont make them true
papai

All these transfer rumors make me more and more sad.
WTF is wrong with these people - we are connected with washed up nobodies, or rejected by loaned out stars.

Fuck the medical board and Fuck Secco

Moggi come back
Alastair

I wish they'd focus more on bringing back, say, Criscito, than more young attackers, especially when they don't really make use of the ones we have.
j

we need more footballing brains
al

I hope these guys know what they are doing. I am afraid that Palaoucci and Palladino would not have any space once Trez and Iaquinta are back. Not to mention Gio that shares the same position as Palla or ADP

http://football-italia.net/jan...
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Hey, I just wanted to say what a fantastic website. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it entertaining reading. Excited to read your next post!
ned lowe

no reason 2 apologize for your 4:12 p.m. post jorid...it was absolute MINT , i loved it n think u deserve a grammy for it...
with the benefit of hindsight i think it's clear that despite the significant sums we've spent over the last three summers, we have not significantly strengthened the squad...
i wonder where we'd be if the likes of nocerino, palladino, balzaretti, criscito & bojinov had been given more opportunity to blossom seeing how their replacements have not exactly covered themselves in glory
Godson Hernandez

here's something that reminds us all that not all our players are crap:
http://goal.com/en/news/10/ita...
bianconeri

I'm not too sure about Kjaer, he seems good but he lacks speed and speed is very important for a defender.
Jorid

Ale, now that I took a second look at that list, how could you not put Birindelleh (as Diego Abatantuono says in "Tifosi") at least on the bench? He was very reliable at RB, worked hard, had good crossing and a mean right footed shot. Also, he played in B for Juve when we were relegated and then kind of "let go" by the club the next season in the same fashion they got rid of Alessio Tacchinardi. Remember this gem of his, or his cross to Zalayeta for the Extra Time win against Barca in the 02-03 CL quarter finals?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
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Bang

Omg! Candreva is a good but not great player. Bet that he will become our next Tiago or Almiron. Plz don't sign him
Jose

Spot on Jorid. The team needs to pick a tactic and a way to play, then and only then should we start talking new signings. The massive amount of injuries hasn't helped Ciro but we need to learn to play a certain way and go from there.

Jorid, you also brought up something that is very important. We have a good base of players to start building from. Gigi, Chiellini, Marchisio, Diego are great players and would be starting in a team like Man U or Barca. If we get Caceres that means we need to find a world class CB and a LB, Grosso and PDC would be fine subs. My pick is Criscito, he would be cheap and young (give Genoa Palladino to keep). We need a playmaker, if Candreva can do that bring him, if he can't we don't need him. We need a young striker and Pazzini has been suggested...sure.

Lets get rid of our dead weight. Bettega is doing a good job on this. Molinaro and Tiago are gone and hopefully we will get $10m for both of them. We have way too many DM, sell one, Melo can be good and he can play horrible. Sissoko is a great player but he breaks easily. That should get us an extra $15m. Amauri can go, Zamparini says he'll take him back, then, arrange an exchange for Kjaer, with money on top.

All great managers build their team from the back towards the front. A starting line-up like this: Caceres, Kjaer, Chiellini and Criscito would be Juve quality. Melo/Sissoko, Marchisio, Poulsen and all of our young midfield talent and we are good for MF. We might have to do with Iaquinta and Trez for the next season, along with other youngsters.

We have experienced players, what we lack is direction and the know-how to build a team. Hopefully Bettega can change that.
Jorid

Gaetano: I understand what you and Ale said and I think it definitely makes sense.

Anthony: I share your view completely. You said what I was trying to say as well, in a much more concise manner. Your last paragraph especially is spot on I believe. Like I've mentioned many times before, the fact that we have thrown away so many millions and months over the last 5 years in garbage such as Stendardo, Molinaro, Zebina, Boumsong, Knezevic, Grosso, Canna, Poulsen, Tiago etc makes me cringe and miss Big Luciano for his footballing genius even more.
Anthony

I understand where you're coming from, Jorid. And I do believe that in certain areas we need to add some solidity. Then once you have that, you can insert the promising youth slowly into the team and let them play without as much pressure. If they do well then they can break into the first team. If not, then send them out on loan or co-ownership.

I strongly believe that it is important to give youth a chance though. The formula for winning is finding the right combination of world class champions and young players with a lot of promise. Lippi is trying to find the right blend with the national team right now and I really hope it works out for him. But he definitely has the right idea. He knows that he needs both the experienced champions like Pirlo as well as the promising young players that have a lot of enthusiasm.

Juve needed to create the same blend. They needed to sign only a couple of world class players, then they could have invested the rest in young promising ones. Instead, what they did was invest all their money on a lot of mediocre semi-talented players (ie Tiago, Poulsen, etc). I'm not against signing squad players, but sign the right ones. Brazzo came for nothing for example. With the budget Juve had over the past 3 years, Moggi would have signed at least 3 world class level players as well as some promising Italians and a few inexpensive squad players that were either free transfers or he could have got for cheap (he signed Cristiano Zanetti for free).
Gaetano

Touche touche. Jorid my response to you was basically what alessio said. juventus have historicaly made great players and should take a risk occasionally if the player is promising. Having said that i agree with you a 100% about secco and blanc.
Jorid

Okay, yes I did get carried away in my rant about Candreva. What bothers me exactly is:
1) Our defense is shit. We have the best GK of all time in goal and possibly the best CB in the world at the moment. I feel extremely sorry for these 2 being surrounded by trash such as Molinaro, Grosso, Canna, Zebina. In 5 years we have failed miserably to purchase 1 good CB, 1 good LB and 1 good RB. I think all this is ridiculous and sad and I wouldn't even think about purchasing anybody else before finally fortifying our defense. We need to set our priorities straight and take care of our problems once and for all.
2) I'm actually all for guys like Candreva, Guarente and Paolucci. I think such players could come in very handy to any team with great ambitions. They are young, Italian, fairly cheap and would provide additional depth and some extra talent. This however, should only be done if the team has already a well-established, successful tactic, an established basic starting 11 and starting players who are all quality/reliable(Gigi, Chiellini, Caceres, Iaquinta). Once this is already figured out, then you can go out and take a gamble by purchasing a guy like Guarente. I like Guarente, he's Italian, hard-tackling, physical, has decent passing and a good long shot and he could be a second Tacchinardi for us.(He does resemble Alessio IMO, even because of the fact that he plays for Atalanta lol) But we can't go out and continuously take gambles on guys like these and put huge amounts of pressure on them and the rest of the team/coach and say "If we win we are putting a 3rd star on our shirt", when our real problems that have been setting us back for the last few years still exist. What I'm trying to say is, we can't buy Guarente for our midfield, when our starting center mids over the last few years have been Poulsen and Tiago.

I know I went on a rant again, and it might not really make sense lol.
agiamba

I wonder if that would have worked, adam. An interesting thought.

I'm not too anti-Candreva. The kid has talent, and while I agree we need someone who can step it up right now, a loan can't hurt, and I hope this is a real shift to signing promising young Italian players.

Look at the above XI- We signed Conte and Buffon at age 23, Tacchinardi and Del Piero at 19, Zambrotta at 22, etc. Nedved, Thuram and Ferrara were the only ones over 24-25 we signed. Foreigners like Trez, Montero, and Davids were also very young when we signed them. Juve makes stars, and we need to look at some young talent again. Maybe Candreva isn't the one, but in general, that's where we should be focusing, and we should persist with it even after our aborted attempt with Criscito, Nocerino, Molinaro, and Palladino.
bianconeri

We should of tried to get Pirlo during the summer.
Jorid

All this Candreva talk is making me wanna murder Secco. Fuck that idiot. Candreva? Are you f'n kidding me? Candreva is worth shit. Udinese, fucking Udinese loaned him out. He's not even a star player for Livorno. Do I need to repeat myself again??? Livorno! The guy's average at best at the moment, and will not do much to stop us from losing left and right.
Candreva=Palladino=Marchionni=Lanzafame=SHIT.
I don't care if these players aren't exactly similar in their styles of play and positions; they are close enough and are not worth Juve's time and money at the moment. Buying Candreva would bring this current team another step closer to mediocrity and would above all, prove once again that the 2 baboons in charge of Juve don't know shit from shinola.
Juve's projected 2010 summer transfers:
-Simone Pesce(He's a stud on the wings at Ascoli)
-Nicola Mingazzini(Dominates the midfield of Bologna)
-Samuele Olivi(A rock in Pescara's defense in Serie C1B)
-Vincent Pericard(Let's bring him back too, shall we?)
-Darko Pancev(Definitely better than Amauri even at the age of 45)
-Mickey Mouse(After having given Caccavaro a non-playing position worth 50000 Euros a week following his retirement, and having sold Chiellini to Inter for 2 million Euros and 3 Frittatas, Secco will approach Mickey with a 7 year contract worth 150000 Euros/week. Unlike JCB and Secco, Mickey is not a fucking idiot and he will reluctantly leave his beloved Disneyland and begin the new adventure as the guy who plays in front of the best goalkeeper of all time.)
Gaetano

If candreva signs, will we play like this?

Buffon
caceres. Legro. Chiellini. Deceglie
Sissoko. Marchisio
candreva. Diego. Giovinco
Iaquinta.
Juergen

Great post. A good reminder of the fact that Juve is the greatest club in the world. Incredibly wonderful squad. Just to read all those names makes one dream of better times.
agiamba

I restrained myself from adding Legrottaglie to the list, too. :)