Season Starts at a Crawl

Well, that was unpleasant.

Juventus opened our new season with a loss, the first time that happened since 1982. Did we deserve the loss? I don’t think so, Bari were better, but not massively. The game was decided by one genius strike by Bari midfielder Massimo Donati, otherwise a pretty dour game. (Side note, as a simpazzante of Bari, a giant fuck you to Donati. Guy was pretty crap all last season, and saves that for now? C’mon) I am disappointed of course, but I am not hitting the panic button yet. First, Bari is a tough team. They showed it last year, and turned the San Nicola into a fortress. Even with a better team, this is a game we’d be looking at drawing. Second, this team is new, and it needs time. Particularly some players who have been here less than a week. (Ahem, Marotta) Either way, I’d rather start low and crawl up, then defeat Roma 3-1 on the 2nd matchday and have everyone naming us for the title. This game did prove though, that despite some enthusiasm for the mercato, we’re definitely very much fighting for the Champions League this year. The Scudetto is still far off.

LE PAGELLE:

Storari: 6.5- Came up with a few excellent saves, could do nothing about the winner.

Motta: 5.5- I thought Motta had an alright game, considering it was his Serie A debut for Juventus. Defensively suspect at times, and I was disappointed with his offensive contributions, particularly his on-goal attempts from 40 yards out. As far as a first game goes, adequate enough. He’s got a lot to grow to be a great fullback, that’s for sure.
Chiellini: 7- The leader of our defense, as usual. Keyser Giorgio was everywhere at the backline, cleaning up for De Ceglie, Motta, Bonucci, De Ceglie again, and like last year, was probably our biggest threat going forwards. Nearly salvaged a draw for us with a free header at the end. His player rating (7) from this past springs game against Bari- Again, an absolute colossus in the center. Broke up counter-attacks, nullified Bari’s strikers, and as always, was a serious goal threat up top as well. Sounds about right.
Bonucci: 6- Continues to make some rash and sloppy challenges here and there, but covered for Motta on a few occasions. A promising start.
De Ceglie: 4.5- There were a lot of similarities from last years 3-0 victory in the season, like Keyser Giorgio being an absolute defensive monster. De Ceglie’s performance wasn’t one of them. Last time, he had Alvarez locked up, could have had two assists, and generally played very well. Not today. Alvarez proved to be a very difficult opponent, and it could have been far worse if Alvarez wasn’t a complete failure when it comes to the final ball. He needs a fair amount of playing time before we bury him, like we did to Criscito.

A difficult competitor in more ways than one

Krasic: 5- A very subdued performance. Flashes of excellence, but never really put anything coherent together. Given he’s trained 2-3 days with his new team, he deserves a pass.
Marchisio: 5- Another poor game from Il Principino, who was anonymous for long stretches of the game, was shrugged off the ball for Donati’s goal, and didn’t contribute much up top. It reminds me of Del Piero in fall 2007, who’s contract negotiations appeared to weigh on his performances on the pitch. Del Piero scored the match winning goal against Genoa the first game after he signed an extension, maybe Marotta needs to tie him up quickly?
Felipe Melo: 6.5- Probably the best midfielder today, Felipe Melo has had a very positive preseason and is starting to play like the Fiorentina hardman we thought we signed. Mopped up in the center and had an opportunity to score following a great one-two with Del Piero. Improving.
Pepe: 4.5- An utterly dreadful game. In fact, if he didn’t run up and down the pitch, he’d probably deserve a 2. Almost none of his passes found their intended target, his crosses either were drilled into the stand or never beat the first defender, it was an awful awful game, and one that makes us wonder if it’s worth signing him at the end of the summer. Krasic was quiet, Pepe wasn’t, but not in a good way.

Del Piero: 5.5- Shades of Diego last season. Constantly had to drop far too deep, which limited his attempts on net and prevented Alex from being truly threatening. Unlike Diego who typically had two forwards to feed, Del Piero had a well marked Quagliarella. A frustrating performance.
Quagliarella: 5- Utterly anonymous in the 2nd half, not terribly threatening in the first half. Considering he just arrived in Turin 2 days ago and has not yet practiced with the squad, he deserves a pass as well.

Sissoko: 5.5- Nothing of note.
Martinez: 5.5- Ended up hurt, but he had a few flashes of talent here and there. I honestly don’t know why everyone is so anti-Martinez. I really don’t find his transfer fee that absurd (considering Pepe’s would be 10mil) and while physically unfit still, he does have a couple nice moves here and there.
Lanzafame: 6- Certainly divided critics today. Some said he was timid and poor, I thought he certainly sparked something extra into our stagnant attack. Moved into the final 3rd well enough.

Plenty to think about for Il Mister…

Delneri: 5.5- There’s a whole lot of question marks about today. Some of them, like Quagliarella, were pretty unavoidable. Subbing both his wingers was probably avoidable, Lanzafame should have started and if Krasic wasn’t ready, he wasn’t ready. Subbed on Sissoko for the wrong center midfielder. The bigger doubts for me is if Delneri voiced his opinion enough regarding the mercato. Trezeguet and Diego both would have helped a lot today, and supposedly Delneri wanted both to stay.

Things I Think I Think:
#1- Avoid Double Standards on Our Fullbacks- If you admire playing young Italians at fullback, we are going to have some problems there, but that is to be expected. If we do play Motta/De Ceglie as our starting fullbacks this season, we have to realize that they are of course young and inexperienced, and will make mistakes. This season we are aiming for 3rd/4th, and I think we can do that with the young duo at fullback giving them some crucial playing time. We’ll see if there’s any growth from them.
#2- The Defense Looked Alright- De Ceglie and Motta struggled here and there, but largely I was pretty satisfied with our defense, considering it was the first game. Bari had one or two golden opportunities, but we limited them. Donati’s goal was the main thing that separated us, and that was Marchisio’s fault. I am still scared to death about our defensive reserves. What would that second-string be? Salihamidzic-Grygera-Legro-Grosso? Yikes.
#3- The Wings are Very Much a Work in Progress- Kinda stands on its own. Pepe, Lanzafame, Martinez, Krasic, there’s a lot more we need from these guys. I don’t really like the thought of Pepe starting, though. At age 26, he’s pretty much not going to grow into the next Angelo Di Livio, and he’s utterly average as we knew. Alright for defensive depth, but blehhhhhhh.
#4- Injuries are back. Oh no. Martinez has some bad bruising to the left knee, and there could be light ligament damage. Marchisio has a problem with his upper left thigh. Both finished the match limping…that’s what happens when you use all of your substitutions by the 60th minute.

#5- Borriello puts himself on the market- Surprise surprise, Ibra’s arrival has unsettled Borriello, as he’s pretty much a direct substitute as the prima punta. Kinda sad that a Milan youth product is being replaced by the definition of mercenary, but I don’t think anyone would argue Milan made the wrong move there. He’s had injury problems, but if we can’t get Pazzini, he’d be an interesting option for prima punta. People say he’s too immobile and inconsistent, but hey, we have Amauri. Can he be worse? Probably not. 14 goals in 27 starts last season is a pretty respectable record at a club like Milan.
#6- My MOTM: Sergio Almiron- Sonofabitch.
#7- Diego Could Have Helped Today… As could Caceres and Trezeguet, that’s all I’m going to say about that.
#8- The One Positive from Today- A lot of people were quick to say “same old Juve” today, in that we lost, and looked confused up top. But I saw a difference, and that was we didn’t give up after Bari scored. Until the end, we were looking for the equalizer. And that’s an improvement. Last year, we would have given up at half-time and conceded 1-2 more.

Juventus Offside Shitlist:
Claudio Marchisio- (1 Week) I love ya, kid, but need to stop thinking about money and a new contract and start playing.
Simone Pepe- (1 Week) For just proving everything we expected of him.
Paolo De Ceglie- (1 week) That kind of performance is not going to see you starting for long.

All in all, we should be disappointed with the result, but it is understandable. Bari is a squad that has remained pretty much the same and played the same, pacey, attacking, direct. They drew Inter 1-1 last year at the San Siro, a game they deserved to win after Diego Milito dove for a penalty, so they’re a strong side. And we are one very much in flux. But yes…..things need to improve.

Some Related Juventus Posts:

• Player Ratings: Juventus Season 2009-2010
• Delneri’s Juve: What is his vision?
• Europa League: SK Sturm Graz v. Juventus
• Trofeo TIM: An Antipasto Of Sorts
• A Summer Revolution?

Category: Team News