Juventus v. Cagliari: Alright You, Back To Work (no not me)

By: roberto | January 30th, 2009

“I expect an immediate comeback”. Claudio Ranieri has no doubts with regards to his expectations from the team during the home match against Cagliari. “I want to see great determination – he added – We have to always give 120% and return to doing what we know. At Udine we were not compact and in fact we did not play like we know”. Asked whether the team is tired he answered: “I don’t think so, otherwise we wouldn’t have restricted Udinese to their area in the second half”.

Juventus therefore, will play its part, but will find opposition in a team which is currently going through a good period: “Cagliari is going through an excellent period – confirmed Ranieri – they play, enjoy it and everything goes well. We are conscious and fore-warned of the fact that they want to continue with their golden moment and repeat for example the match played against Lazio”.

Del Piero, who was absent at Udine has been called-up: “The captain is a point of reference but we have managed to do well even without him, for example in Lecce, Bologna and Cagliari. It is true that having him on the pitch gives me more tranquility”.

With regards to other possible protagonists of the match, Ranieri said: “Luckily there are many players who are on the road to recovery. With regards to Trezeguet I would like to take things easy and take one step at a time, therefore he will not be in the starting line-up. Chiellini is available”. Asked whether Amauri is tired, the Juventus coach answered: “To me he seems to behave in the same way he did when he was scoring. I think he’s strong, trains well and is a point of reference for his team-mates”.

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Part of the group of players who were in the starting line-up against Udinese worked separately or in the gym. Great signs came from Trezeguet band Del Piero who worked with the group. Zanetti showed great improvements after the ankle problem that made him miss the last match. Manninger is also feeling better while Giovinco, who injured his ankle during the match in Friuli, will not be part of the squad for the match.

The training session at Vinovo was under the observation of Juventus general manager Jean-Claude Blanc who is ready to bet on an immediate come-back. At the end of the session he met with the coach and some of the players to exchange opinions.

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No players of Juventus or Cagliari appear on the list compiled by the sports judge with regards to players suspended after the mid-week encounter. Claudio Ranieri and Massimiliano Allegri will therefore have no problem with regards to disqualified players.

Amongst the bianconeri the only player who has reached the yellow cards limit is Camoranesi. At the Friuli Legrottaglie and Nedved were shown a yellow card, the 5th for the defender and the second for the Czech.

No problems for Cagliari either who will also have Marchetti back after having missed the last match for having exceeded the yellow cards limit.

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Just a few quick words here about the Udinese game. I didn’t watch it. Funny thing is I probably lucked out. In any case I’m dealing with the result by telling myself that Udinese was bound to bounce and we were the ones short at the bottom. In Cagliari though we’re in tough once again. For more about them visit Jeremy and read his take on the game, otherwise I’ll talk to you all after the match and I’ll get some proper posts going soon once my schedule eases up.