Open conversazione

[juventino_italiano]

[Zoff82]

Are we really whining about this now?? Roma got pummeled, deal with it.
Who thinks this Cissokho move is great? Cant' wait to see his ugly mug on TV.

[red]

Don't think he's all he's cracked up to be, but would be a good option for the 9m mentioned.

[juventini92]

Hi guys, I've written several articles here, take a look:

Steps to Juve Success - http://footballspeak.com/post/2012/01/2 ... s-Now.aspx

Krasic Not Needed - http://footballspeak.com/post/2012/01/1 ... ndrum.aspx

Leave your comments please!

[Bagg10]

Milan it is. First game Feb 8th at the San Siro. It'll be interesting to see what players both teams put on the field. Both teams have a congested schedule coming up, Milan having the CL as well.

Milan Schedule:
Cagliari (H)[Jan. 29th], Lazio (A)[Feb 1st], Napoli (A)[Feb. 5th], Juve (H)[Feb 8th], Udinese(A)[Feb. 12th], Arsenal (H)[Feb. 14th], Cesena (A)[Feb. 19th], Juve (H)[Feb. 26th), Palermo(A)[Mar. 4th], Arsenal (A)[Mar. 6th], Lecce(H)[Mar. 11th], Parma(A)[Mar. 18th], Juve(A)[Mar. 21st], Roma(H)[Mar. 25th]

Juve Schedule:
Udinese (H)[Jan. 28th], Parma (A)[Feb. 1st], Siena (H)[Feb. 5th], Milan (A)[Feb 8th], Bologna(A)[Feb 12th], Catania (H) [Feb. 19th], Milan (A)[Feb. 26th], Chievo (H)[Mar.4th], Genoa(A)[Mar. 11th], Fiorentina(A)[Mar. 18th],
Milan(H)[Mar. 21st], Inter(H)[Mar. 25th]


Both domestic trophies can be won or lost by the end of March. Milan have the harder schedule and the injury problems, so hopefully we can take advantage of that.

[Bagg10]

Tuesday January 24 2012

A Scudetto for seven sisters
How would a League table look which was based on the results of just the top seven sides in Serie A? Antonio Labbate reveals all.

There is a school of thought in Italian football that you lift the championship by disposing of the so-called minnows. “I’ve always said that you win the Scudetto by defeating the small clubs,” Roma idol Francesco Totti once famously remarked. Juve legend Beppe Furino mirrored that view earlier this season when he said: “You win the title in the provinces.”

There is some truth in such a theory. After all, you need to keep the three points ticking over if you have serious ambitions of ending the campaign at the top of the pile. Yet, it would be naïve to mistake cliché for fact. It would also be wrong to ignore the counter-argument that if there are so-called relegation six-pointers at the bottom of the table, then there has to be Scudetto six-pointers at the top.

Games against your direct rivals are clearly an opportunity to not only gain points for yourself, but to deny points to your opponents. Added to that is the reality that a superior head-to-head record at the end of the season, rather than goal difference, could also decide League placings in the peninsula. Are three points against a team like Novara really more important than three against a side such as Milan?

Whatever your view, the results from the first half of this season make for some interesting reading when you manipulate them to focus on just the games involving the top seven clubs at the halfway stage – Juventus, Milan, Udinese, Inter, Lazio, Roma and Napoli.

The Old Lady, crowned Winter Champions on Saturday night, would be top of a hypothetical League table involving these modern day Seven Sisters. They amassed 12 points from their six games, consisting of wins against Milan, Inter and Lazio. But what is even more impressive from that set of games is that five of them came away from home. They’ll only have to visit the Rossoneri in the second half of the campaign.

Sitting just behind the Bianconeri in this mini-table are, perhaps surprisingly, Napoli. Currently struggling in seventh place and a massive 12 points behind the leaders, the Azzurri have collected three wins, two draws and just one loss – to Roma. Their problems domestically this term have come against the other 12 sides in the Division [yes, the smaller ones…] and in light of their and Coach Walter Mazzarri’s inexperience of juggling Serie A with Champions League commitments.

Udinese have also performed well in the big games. Francesco Guidolin’s boys collected triumphs against Roma and Inter, draws with Juventus, Milan and Lazio, while they suffered their only defeat at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples. Nevertheless, they should be content with nine points from a possible 18 when you consider that they are punching above their traditional weight.

While Roma’s record of picking up only five points is perhaps to be expected given their initial struggles under Luis Enrique, it’s the statistics of the Milan clubs in these fixtures which stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Reigning champions Milan may be widely considered as the most technically gifted in the land, but they’ve struggled badly to impose themselves against sides who are around their level. They amassed just five points from their six ties and their only win came against Roma. Nevertheless, one has to treat the Rossoneri’s results with some caution.

Milan’s problems at the start of the campaign were evident. They had injuries, out of form players and they were a shadow of the side who won the Serie A title last term. It was during their period of unwanted abstinence that four of their first five League games of the campaign came against Lazio, Napoli, Udinese and Juventus. Those ties yielded two points.

The reading doesn’t get much better across the San Siro divide. Inter may have beaten the Rossoneri in Week 18, but games against Roma, Napoli, Juventus and Udinese before that had delivered just a single point. Only Sunday’s unconvincing win over Lazio saw their points tally in this engineered table rise to a respectable seven.

Worryingly though for the Nerazzurri is the fact they’ll face five away games between now and the end of the championship, while their ‘home’ tie will not hold as big an advantage as it usually would when they entertain Milan at their shared Stadio Meazza. That tie will take place in May during the penultimate round of the campaign, a game whose three points could just prove to be the biggest of the season.

Club P W D L PH PA Pts % of total pts
Juventus 6 3 3 0 1 5 12 29.30%
Napoli 6 3 2 1 5 1 11 37.90%
Udinese 6 2 3 1 3 3 9 23.70%
Inter 6 2 1 3 5 1 7 20%
Lazio 6 1 3 2 3 3 6 18.20%
Milan 6 1 2 3 3 3 5 12.50%
Roma 6 1 2 3 3 3 5 16.7% *
PH – Matches played at home

PA – Matches played away

*Roma’s total points come from 18 games after their abandoned match at Catania

http://www.football-italia.net/node/14967

[red]

Good performance overall.

Slightly sluggish start and an absolutely horrible ten minute period in the second half, though.

That's the first time I've thought Juve have really looked comfortable with the 3-5-2.

Couldn't really fault the back three, though I still feel that they don't clear set-pieces as convincingly as they ought to.

Pirlo was very good, without being spectacular. Thought Udinese made a big mistake in taking Abdi off marking Pirlo as he was doing a decent job of it early on.

Some good, sharp forward play from Matri.

Vidal would be the only player I'd say really had a poor game. Was extremely stupid of him to get caught out playing a square ball like that.

Juve then went and over-committed straight after conceding and Udinese could have scored again.

Fuck knows what Vidal and Juve were thinking in those few minutes, because Udinese can't hurt you unless provide them with an opportunity to attack with pace, so to gift them the opportunity twice in a few minutes was crazy.

[Bagg10]

I thought Lichtsteiner had a relatively below average game. His form has been dipping the past few games. It might have to do with the fact that he's played every minute of every game so far (except for today). We picked up Caceres just in time. He can give him a break, and maybe add some competition for the starting spot to keep Lichtsteiner on his toes.

Really important win today. Conte's 3-5-2 is starting to grow on me. With the players we have on the field we're able to adjust as the game goes on.

[Bagg10]

Dedicated to Dino.

[Zoff82]

So Matri misses a 1 on 1, scores twice and you want to rub it in? A 15 mil player makes that 1 on 1. I think I have more bragging rights when he doesn't score than you do when he actually does. I didn't expect that much production from the forwards. Before this game, he had only 1 goal more than Juve's midfielders. That's the type of game Juve plays. That makes 9 for the season out of 20 games for Matri, not bad. Great win though in that type of weather. I was expecting Juve to drop points in this encounter but we will take the 3, as long as they don't choke it away against a Parma team they should beat. Juve need to continue this streak if they are to make a run. It would only take 1 loss to lose that first place spot. They need to make more separation and win the next few games.

[Bagg10]

[morra10]

parma match called off due to bad weather.

[Zoff82]

Here it is. Juve's time is here. That match against Parma will be huge after results went Juve's way, big time. The killer instinct is what I've been preaching about for years. Can Juve capitalize on this moment?? Here's where the boys get separated from the men. The chumps from the champs. Juve play in an absolute MUST WIN this Sunday, especially on a lot of rest. Grab 6 points on Sunday and the makeup game vs Parma. This will give Juve a comfortable cushion on points. WIN WIN WIN is what this team should be thinking. Let's do this!!! Think Matri can sink a goal or two withouth missing 5?? We will see.

[juventino_italiano]

If matri had 8 shots on target per game, and scored a hattrick every game, would it matter how many he missed?

[red]

Yeah, because in a difficult game he may only get one chance and he needs to convert it.

Anyway, not a bad postponement for Juve.

Pepe and Marchisio wouldn't have been fully fit and Vucinic would have missed the game.

[juventino_italiano]

[red]

Vucinic may have been hit and miss, as he always has been, but his technical ability gives Juve a much better balance.

Some of the games, like away to Udinese and away to Roma, Juve have had a great deal of difficulty creating chances because they had tipped the balance of the team that bit too far towards athletes instead of footballers because of Vucinic being injured.

[Bagg10]

Vooch does a lot of positive things that don't stand out. He's not going to bag many goals for us but he'll create a lot of them.

[Zoff82]

[Bagg10]

You need to move on Dino. This isn't the Juve you grew up watching. The Waterboy isn't the same player he was in his prime. We don't have a cold blooded finisher like Trez. We don't have Nedved, a machine in the middle like Davids, and we sure as hell don't have world-class defenders like Ferrara, Thuram, Montero, Cannavaro and Zambrotta. We're in a rebuilding period. I know we've been saying this since calciopoli, but Secco and Blanc went about it all wrong. Marotta has had to reverse the damage they've done while helping rebuild a team for the future. Conte is the right guy. He's taking good, not great players and turned them into hard workers that will (usually) play hard for the whole 90 minutes. He's been coach by Trap, Lippi, Acelotti, Capello, Zoff... He knows Juve inside out, and he nows what is takes to win. He's brought back something we've been missing the past few year, which is heart. At the beginning of the season, I think everyone considered a CL spot as a realistic objective. It's true, there's a chance this team can fail, but they could also succeed. We just have to wait until the end of the season to evaluate them.