Firenze Sacked by the Bianconeri- Temporarily back in 4th

Fiorentina has been having a poor season, but that doesn’t mean this game was any easier. Fiorentina lives to beat Juventus, and ex-Juventini Prandelli, Marchionni, and Zanetti were out to prove a point. However, some individual inspired moves and an intelligent game from Zaccheroni meant Juventus managed to overcome a determined Viola, winning 2-1. Full review after the jump.

Saying goodbye to Florence?

LE PAGELLE:

Manninger: 6.5- A brilliant save on Gilardino at midhour to keep us in the game, that Gigi would be proud of. Two poor exits resulted in a goal, and Chiellini plowing over Keirrison, though.

Zebina: 5.5- Contributed little offensively, as he was constrained by the rampaging runs and shots of Vargas.
Legrottaglie: 6.5- Defensively solid, as he had Gilardino locked up for most of the game. Still playing better than Cannavaro.
Chiellini: 6.5- Typical Giorgio performance, as he physically dominated the backline, though he did plow over Keirrison. Missed picking up a player on Fiorentina’s goal.
De Ceglie: 5- Every Juve player who we’ve sold has come back to bite us in the ass. Marchionni was no different, as he was playing with a purpose today and gave De Ceglie a lot of trouble. I don’t blame him for Marchionni’s goal, though.

Scored with his head…..embarrassing.

Marchisio: 6.5- Fought hard for every ball in midfield, and played some excellent through balls as well. Much better passer of the ball than Melo or Sissoko. (Surprise, surprise)
Sissoko: 6.5- Held his own in midfield, and protected the defense well, particularly towards the end of the game.
Felipe Melo: 5.5- Did alright to contain Montolivo, but didn’t intercept or distribute particularly well.

Candreva: 6.5- Looked prepared for the game, and had a nice slicing throughball to Diego for his opener.
Diego: 7- Great game from the Brazilian. Moved into space well, scored a solid goal and was always looking to spearhead the Juve attack.

Trezeguet: 5.5- Was offside often, and didn’t really get any solid assists, except for an excellent one from Marchisio that Trez waited too long to pull the trigger.

Zaccheroni: 6.5- Had a point to prove today, with Prandelli tipped to take his spot at Juventus. His starting lineup was good, and obviously Grosso was an inspired sub.
Grosso: 6.5- Only really had one play in offense, but it was his goal and he took it very well.

Things I think I think:
#1- Communication, communication, communication: I don’t blame De Ceglie or Manninger for the goal. I think Manninger should have done a bit better with his exit. De Ceglie had two men to mark, as Chiellini failed to pick up his man, so all in all, there was a breakdown in organization and communication. Ditto for the Keirrison penalty incident. Needs to be a bit more communication between the keeper and defense.
#2- De Ceglie had a fairly poor game today, and Grosso was determined from the outset. I just hope this doesn’t mean Zaccheroni will give Grosso his starting spot back.
#3- The Keirrison penalty incident- Not surprisingly, all the anti-Juventini have complained about it. No comment about the fact that Gilardino, for his golden chance that Manninger saved, was offside and not flagged. That would have been a serious error from the referee, if Gila had actually scored. Giving a penalty for the Keirrison incident would be extremely harsh.
#4- Speaking of the coaching-merry-go-round, Zaccheroni continues to impress. A win in Florence is pretty solid, and again we switched tactics smoothly to a 4-3-2-1. He’s shown to be very good with tactics, and I like that he does not have favorites (benching Grosso, Cannavaro) and gives everyone a chance to prove themselves. I like that, a lot.

Bentornato, Iaquinta!!

#5- Poulsen and Iaquinta are back…hurray! Amazing that Poulsen can recover from a broken ankle in shorter time than Iaquinta’s meniscus nightmare. Both are important members of the team and it’s good to have them back…they will go a long way in resting player that have been playing too much. (ADP, Melo)
#6- If only Giovinco would be back! Given that Zaccheroni has stated Diego is tired and needs a break, and his willingness to play De Ceglie over Grosso, I think he’d give Gio a shot. It’s very unfortunate that he ended up injured right now.
#7- Also, it’d be nice to have Caceres back. Zebina and Grygera aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring right now.
#8- Marchionni didn’t go psycho in his goal celebration. Respect.
#9- Team Eats- Nice and simple this weekend, I didn’t have any Florentine steak so I made some bruschetta. Delicious.

Alessio’s Shitlist:
-Amauri: (2 Weeks) Unfortunate timing for an injury, he’ll be on here for a bit. I’m sure he’s up all night, distraught that he’s on the list.
-Candreva: Today’s performance was good enough to remove him from the list.
-Cannavaro: (2 Weeks) In the last 3 months, Legrottaglie has played solid every game, with one or two nervy games. Cannavaro has looked nervy in everygame.
-Chimenti: (1 Week) I realized for the last two weeks, Pinsoglio has been our reserve keeper. Is this because Chimenti is injured, or is it because Zaccheroni realized Chimenti is a muppet and has no point in sitting on the bench?
-Grosso: Like Candreva, clearly his inspired performance today was in a successful effort to get off the list. Maybe I should keep him on there to maintain their form. His goal won us 3 points in Florence, that is excellent.
-Grygera: (2 Weeks)
-Zebina: (2 Weeks) He has been retroactively added to the list for last week, and today’s utterly average performance won’t change things.

Some Related Juventus Posts:

• The Bianconeri return to Rome
• A Summer Revolution?
• Champions League: Chelski vs Bianconeri
• Progress
• Juventus travel to Amsterdam to take on an Old Foe

Category: Team News