Open conversazione

[juventino_italiano]

I had a feeling that when Barzagli came off and Bonucci came on Juve would have some problems.

Caceres can play CB can't he??
I'd rather him there than Bonucci.

De Ceglie did very well.
Otherwise i wasnt at all impressed overall.
Lots of build up play and hard work, but nothing in the end, so it all seemed like a waste.

Pirlo is getting sluggish, bet he wishes the season ended now.

Vucinic pulls off some nice touches, but more often than not, he's wasteful
Giaccherini i like...works hard and he's lively.

I know another coach that tied so many games, Roberto Mancini.....sad to compare Conte to Mancini

[morra10]

I blame this result on Conte. Why he continues to start vooci when he clearly offers nothing to the team is beyond me. The guy was fucking terrible. He's a bum that gives no effort whatsoever. It felt like we were playing a man down for the last 30 minutes with him on the field. You could see around the 65 minute mark that Chievo were going to score unless Conte made a meaningful substitution. No idea why Conte is so negative with his decisions. We needed that second goal and he made a defensive substitution.

What the fuck does Conte have against players like DP and Elia? Against the smaller clubs, DP has to be given a chance because we can't break these teams down. He waited way too long to bring on DP. It's frustrating to get so many great results and then throw points away to the smaller clubs.

[Zoff82]

Have no fear, Juve's biggest skeptic is here. Well, just like that Juve are just about done and out. Roberto Mancini?? Eh, I think that's a good assessment. I think it boils down to the mentality the team had at the break. Quote from Bonucci "we are still in first place" about 2 months ago showed the arrogance this side had coming into the second half of the season. Conte's most reason message to the media stating Juve are performing miracles is a bunch of bullshit and a smokescreen to deflect the master choke this team had to win the scudetto. I think it was there for the taking but Juve's inability to beat these teams they should beat cost them a championship. It looked as if it was going to go down to the last game in the second half until Juve were gifted a few results that went their way. They failed to make the most of it and find themselves +6 from a CL spot, which could be +3 by tomorrow. Lets forget this game in hand, they'll probably draw that too. Why are the fans jeering? I dunno Conte, maybe it is because we all fear a second half collapse?? Like I said, you can't be happy going undefeated and the second half of the season is when the scudetto is won. This team is out of gas and not mentally prepared. The warning signs are there: Inability to hold on to a lead, scrapping out draws, beating downs only if they go down 1 man (not going down on 1 man, JI. Wipe the drool off your face), controversial gifts, terrible crosses, not creative up front...... need I say more? I gave the keys to winning the scudetto in a previous post. They've come nowhere near that. I'm sorry, I can't accept this "Juve are performing miracles" shit. Juve fans are jeering because of the lack of results and the major choke this team did along the way. I tasted a little victory but that taste is gone. You can't use that "exceeding expectations" parachute every time you don't get a result. Its going to get old and nobody is going to buy into especially when they had a legit shot at winning. Look, I know the legend is past it but he's on the bench. Don't let the guy go out like that, we dont' know what he can give if he's not played. It could stem from some beef they probably had when they were teammates.

[Bagg10]

[Bagg10]

[juventino_italiano]

[juventino_italiano]

[Zoff82]

Fine, Ill come out. It was getting pretty tight with you in there. I was also getting tired of being fondled in the dark.

Matri, your 20+ goal scorer/season, has 12 rounds to get 10 more goals. With the way this team is playing, that's unlikely. You want to put Quag up top? He offers nothing but a spectacular goal here and there. Not sure what he's costing Juve but they better get a refund for dat nigga. Of course the fans are frustrated. You spend all that money to sit in the cold and watch them enjoy the tie? This team plays for the tie and are content with it. No mental toughness or desire to win. Looks like Pirlo wasn't the answer. Juve need an adequate sub for him.You can't complain about what's going in or where Juve stand but you can definitely complain about what could've been.

[juventino_italiano]

[Bagg10]

Calm down Dino. You can't make judgments about things like Matri's scoring and "pirlo not being the answer" until the season is over. Plus I don't think there was anyone out there that saw Pirlo as anything more than a couple year band-aid to help this team improve short term. He's not part of the long term plans. Montolivo or Cigarini would be ideal to "replace" Pirlo, although I don't think we'll see a player that has Pirlo's quality for a while.

If you want to criticize the team or make "predictions" you can point out our schedule:

Bologna(A)[Mar 7th]
Genoa(A)[Mar. 11th]
Fiorentina(A)[Mar. 18th],
Coppa: Milan(H)[Mar. 21st]
Inter(H)[Mar. 25th]
Napoli(H)
Palermo(A)
Lazio(H)
Cesena(A)
Roma(H)
Novara(A)
Lecce(H)
Cagliari(A)
Atalanta(H)

Milan's Schedule:

CL: Arsenal (A)[Mar. 6th]
Lecce(H)[Mar. 11th]
Parma(A)[Mar. 18th]
Coppa: Juve(A)[Mar. 21st]
Roma(H)[Mar. 25th]
Catania(A)
Fiorentina(H)
Chievo(A)
Genoa(H)
Bologna(H)
Siena(A)
Atalanta(H)
Inter(A)
Novara(H)

The way we're playing it would be a miracle if we ended up winning the scudetto. Three straight away games to tough opponents. We can technically (and probably) be out of this race come Sunday.

The Bologna game this weds is going to be tough. We haven't beaten them this season (in regular time) in serie a or coppa, and both those games were in Torino, albeit we played the first game with 10-man for nearly 60 mins, and we played the second string in Coppa.

Conte needs to take a page out of Capello's book and start getting some ugly wins. Catenaccio may have been/still is criticized but it's effective. You get a lead against a mid/lower table team? Good, keep it. We've shown that we can't seem to finish off games by scoring the second. We might as well shut up shop and get the result we want. It would also be a good idea because it doesn't require our team to put effort/energy to into attacking, less running = less tired team. At least that's my take.

Chiellini out for 3 weeks, which probably means he'll miss the second leg against Milan.
Barzagli tbd, but I doubt he'll play Wednesday...



^ That's what I'd go with. Maybe ADP for Pepe or Giaccherini. If I were Conte I'd bench Vooch or even keep him in the stands.

[RomaShield27]

Vooch not playing well, no? Sloppy result at home to Chievo. And is Dino really criticising Pirlo?

[Bagg10]

[Bagg10]

Sunday March 4 2012

BLOG ITALIA

Juve drawn out Juventus have already had twice as many stalemates as Milan, most of them against minnows, and Susy Campanale warns it’ll start to make a difference.

They have a game in hand and remain unbeaten this season, but Juventus risk dropping off the Scudetto pace currently set by Milan. The reason is very simple: a win is worth three points, a draw only one. Already this term the Bianconeri have had twice as many stalemates as their rivals, sharing the spoils 12 times to Milan’s six. This sort of record could cost them in the long run and the key is found in another statistic: albeit with a game in hand, the Turin giants have scored 38 goals to 53 for the reigning champions.

Anyone who has watched Juventus recently will note they struggle to break down the smaller clubs, who tend to come with the aim of locking down a point. It’s no coincidence that the teams they have drawn with include Bologna, Cagliari, Parma, Siena and Chievo twice. Juve have drawn four of the last five Serie A matches, only getting past Catania after the Sicilians went down to 10 men.

It beggars belief that with the talent at his disposal, Conte perseveres with Mirko Vucinic in attack. He is off form, sluggish and at times even more listless than his worst Roma days. Alessandro The Waterboy may be in his last months at the club, but the captain remains a much stronger attacking threat than his Montenegrin teammate. Fabio Quagliarella and even Marco Borriello must be wondering what they have to do in order to push Vucinic off the pitch. His wasteful finishing was representative of what went wrong in Juve’s performance against Chievo.

There is another issue here, as in the early months of the campaign Juventus seemed an unstoppable force with a far higher tempo and stamina than any other side. Considering they don’t have European commitments, it looked as if they could maintain this physical standard for the entire season, but that does not seem to be the case. Perhaps the spate of games that were snowed off changed their calendar with more midweek tests, exposing the frailties within the squad that were hitherto covered by sheer brute force and enthusiasm? It is a style of football that uses up a lot of energy, regardless of which of their many tactical systems are adopted. If you don’t take your chances, then you do run the risk of allowing a good counter-attacking side to surprise you late on.

Conte has the opportunity to take this title and if they can be more effective in attack, then there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be lifting Juve’s first trophy since Calciopoli. Being out of Europe provided them with a triple whammy of time to recover, the chance to prepare tactics for a game all week long and extra motivation to shine after the humiliation of the last two years. The Coach can say all he wants that they are “performing miracles,” but it’s March, they are in second place and the fans’ hopes have been raised now. There’s no escaping the fact Juve are the joint favourites for this Serie A title.

Time will tell, but in the grand scheme of things maybe the hotly-contested result at San Siro won’t be the only decisive draw in the Scudetto race after all.

http://www.football-italia.net/node/16299

[Bagg10]

[red]

Not sure I'd be overly critical of any individual player for the Chievo game.

It was a really awful decision from Conte to play 4-4-2 - a system he hasn't used since the first few weeks of the season.

Pirlo and Marchisio had no chance to control the game because they were often playing against four Chievo players in that area. Being outnumbered in that area also presented Chievo with heaps of counter-attacking chances.

Not having control meant Juve couldn't control the tempo and whenever Juve aren't able to set a high tempo in a game to move the opposition around, it exposes the lack of creative, technically gifted players in the squad.

[Zoff82]

Let's not talk about the schedule and how it is situated. If Juve won half the games they drew, we would all be waiting around to celebrate the scudetto. Milan Juve play the same teams with Milan winning the games they need to win, in great fashion too. When was the last time Juve had a dominating victory of 2+ goals?? I realize that Pirlo was only a band-aid but he must be that store brand generic garbage where you get what you pay for. This guy is tired and can't even make it to 55 minutes. This whole team looks physically and mentally flustered. When you waste chances playing the type of football Juve does, it becomes frustrating for the other players when they should be up 2-3 goals. Their inability to finish or cross a nice, accurate ball in the middle of the box is just the cherry on the top. Bring back catenaccio?? That's even funnier than saying you can't make judgements on players til the end of the season. Like that blog entry states (and I know it is an opinion and by no means is she an expert in anything) but she's absolutely right. People are forgetting about the fact that if these results continue, which they will because no changes are being made, Juve may even lose out on a CL spot. They gave up first place, second place is only 6 points ahead. The situation clearly isn't as grave as I make it out to be but judging from the way they're playing, how can a fan have confidence?? Krasic the new Nedved.....lolll. He's a talented player, there's got to be some room on the squad for him. Can't say he played terribly last season.

[Bagg10]

Why not bring back catenaccio? Why is it ok for other teams to park the bus in front of goal to get a draw, why can't we save energy and do the same when we go a goal up?
And Pirlo being tired isn't his fault, it's Conte's.

[p_maldini_3]

you can't play 'cantenaccio' because pirlo sucks in a 2 man midfield. and conte's juve revolves around pirlo.

btw, matri has the worst goals per shots ratio in the league. he also sucks.

and where the hell is elia?? you'd think he is the perfect man in a formation with dedicated wing/wide-men.

[red]

Elia seems to have a poor attitude and isn't adapting to how Conte wants him to play.

Juve don't need to come up with anything new: the high tempo 4-3-3 of the first half of the season got them to the top of the league.

They just need to get back to playing that consistently instead of messing about with other systems.

[Bagg10]