Photo of the Day: ‘Giorgio of the Jungle’

Good luck tomorrow Juve fans. I will be pulling for you guys to start the trend with all Italian team comebacks and going through to the next stage. No-nonsense 2-0 win over chelsea. MOTM Buffon.

I'm hoping for a great game tomorrow. It sucks that you guys don't have Legro, but I'm still optimistic that you guys can get the win and go through. I'll be rooting for You(ve)

ps, zanetti is out too, dont forget him.

geez, remember when trezeguet and buffon and zebina and tiago and chiellini were all injured too? i spent the whole first half of the season thinking "well, were in second with half of our team in the ER so when they come back we'll be cruising!" on ly to have the other half of the team get injured in their place.

No momo, no camo, no legro and no marchionni = we are fucked big time! we're not just unlucky...we are cursed!
I'd say fuck 4-4-2 and go out in style with 3-5-2:
chiellini, mellberg and zebina/grygera as starting defenders, nedved-marchisio-tiago-poulsen-brazzo would give us control of the midfield against lampard & co.
del piero + trez up front :P

Well, the best thing to do would be to use a 4-3-1-2 with Trez and Amauri up front and ADP slightly behind them, but we know Ranieri wont do that. With a 4-4-2, Zebina vs Grygera as starting right back is a tossup, but what do you guys think about the midfield consisting of Salihamidzic-Marchisio-Giovinco-Nedved? I think it would work. All 4 of them have shown defensive qualities, some of them better than others, but like this we would be a very creative attacking team, and could possibly win the midfield battle. Though it would be safer to put in Poulsen, it would also be good for Giovinco to start instead, either way though i think we can walk away with a win here. Plus, ANELKA and DECO are out, which is great for us, (though i dont wish injuries on anyone.)

damn

All hail Keyser Giorgio.

It gets worse, Weston. 19 called up. No Momo, no Camo, but also no Legro, no Marchionni.

1 Buffon
3 Chiellini
4 Mellberg
5 Zebina
7 Salihamidzic
8 Amauri
9 Iaquinta
10 Del Piero
11 Nedved
13 Manninger
15 Knezevic
17 Trezeguet
18 Poulsen
19 Marchisio
20 Giovinco
21 Grygera
28 Molinaro
30 Tiago
41 Ariaudo

Before this, I would have said let's play Mellberg or Brazzo at right-back, cause Grygera's been struggling with injury a bit recently. But obviously now it looks like they are going to need to be starting at center-back and right-mid, respectively. Good lord, the injuries keep coming.

forza juventus! i cant believe we'll be missing both camo and momo... good thing that trezegoal is back though

Great pics of Chiellini here as well:
http://www.daylife.com/search/...

Cmon Juve .. I got some nice odds .. Juve to win the CL at 20-1 ... I put on £100 so for this season in this comp im a Juve fan .. beat those london fucks!

Forza Palermo

Ravi, I agree with your attack and midfield but would be suprised if ranieri gave the nod to zebina. Chelsea are going to be screaming down our flanks, and I cant help but worry. Considering Zebina has about 60 minutes playing time this season im pretty certain molinaro will be our left back.

The three-pronged attack worked so well against Roma last year, we should def employ it again against Chelsea. After all we need to score two goals. Here's my ideal line up:

Trez - Amauri
Del Piero
Nedved - Marchisio - Salihamidzic
Zebina - Leggero - Chiellini - Mellberg
Buffon

Zebina's always been a favorite of mine and was sort of impressive in his last outing against Torino, Molinaro proved his worthlessness against Chelsea. Plus having all big men across the back should help us keep Drogba in check.

Has Marchionni been completely ruled out for the game then?

Following the fracture to the fifth metatarsus of the left foot, Mohamed Sissoko has decided to undergo an osteosynthesis operation. The operation will be carried out tomorrow under Professors Flavio Quaglia and Giuliano Cerulli at the Fornaca clinic in Turin.

The recovery period following the operation is thought to be around 90 days.

I think it's fair to say no no Sissoko for the rest of the season.

goal.com predicts juve vs. chelski will end up 1-1.
dont care. i am looking forward to reading rob's review.

I liked what you said, Michele.

Daniel, this is Poulsen's time to prove himself. Everyone I've talked to here in Spain said he was one of the best Liga midfielders while at Sevilla, his power and his ability to really impose himself on a match. I've liked his play thus far, too often Sissoko tries to play Pirlo/Messi and loses the ball. Poulsen generally has just passed side and maintained pressure in the middle.

I agree, Sam. Based on current form, ADP-Trez-Iaquinta could be very dangerous.

last year, Ranieri put three strikers up front against Roma and worked well, he should definitely do the same on Tuesday against Chelsea...we need to score more than a goal after all..., maybe trez + del + amauri / iaquinta (he was the hungrier of two, I like Amauri but Iaquinta was on fire against toro, i think he deserve another starting spot)

No Sissoko is a killer...

(btw, have a couple paragraphs on the Chelsea match up on my blog. would love to know if others share my take)

Thank you very much roberto :-)

Sissoko is out for the Chelsea match.... Out for 2 months in fact after fracturing his metatarsal. Joy :( I think that Marchisio is more than able to fill in the slack but I'm still a bit iffy about tiago and Paulson.. Maybe Giovinco as an attacking mid??? I wish

Btw- Buffon, Chiellini, Molinaro, Marchisio, Giovinco, Iaquinta, Ariaudo. 7 Italians in the derby, and 3 who are Turin bred-and-born.

I always pull for Toro in these derbies but that win was just a show of pure will and determination. I expect the same exercise against Chelsea. Good luck!

Ranieri suggests as well too-

As both Trezeguet and Del Piero were rested, it seems they will be the starting front two on Tuesday.

“You can consider it a clue if you like! Don't forget the media all said Del Piero and Trezeguet would play this evening and they didn't.”

Good.

I hope Iaquinta gets on as a sub instead of Amauri, he's looked in good form recently.

"I think the fact Amauri started with Iaquinta last night is a pretty strong hint that he’s going old-school with ADP-Trez against Chelski."

Yup.

I think Giorgio was trying to give himself that nickname the way he was beating his chest. But credit should go where it's due. Enjoy Nnahoj!

By the way, yeah, Amauri's goin through a drought (ADP too, not good) luckily our midfield and defense has picked up the slack, the funny thing is the beginning of the season the opposite was our problem; ADP and Amauri were scoring, but when we needed 2+ goals, no one else was able to pick it up.

I think the fact Amauri started with Iaquinta last night is a pretty strong hint that he's going old-school with ADP-Trez against Chelski.

Straight BEAST.

AYE!!! I first coined that phrase!!! Where is my credit???

Sorry about non-review here guys, I'm working on the CL preview. Hopefully we should have something out tomorrow or early Tuesday.