Open conversazione

[RomaShield27]

Thats scandalous. They were 100% correct to punish him in the first place but now getting his suspension cut to less than half of what it was makes a mockery of it all. Some things never change.

[red]

I love how confident you are in Conte's guilt given how flimsy the evidence against him is.

[juventino_italiano]

Anti-Juve biased people jump at any signs of a chance to attack juve and label them as cheats regardless of facts or evidence.

[red]

I'm torn on the whole thing.

I think Conte may well be guilty, but I haven't seen enough evidence for a reasonable court to be able to convict him.

Then, in the previous appeal, Conte was cleared of one of the two counts of failing to report, but the tribunal suddenly announced that Conte was serving two ten month bans concurrently, when there had been no previous mention of that to my knowledge, so the length of the ban wasn't cut at that point.

Now it has got to a point where no-one will be happy, but no-one is really going to suffer a great deal of long term damage from the whole thing, so everyone'll probably call it quits.

All a bit of a mess as far as I'm concerned.

[juventino_italiano]

[red]

GdS's prediction for tomorrow:



Same lightweight midfield that struggled away to Genoa.

Less chance of them being put under so much pressure against Siena, though, one would imagine.

[Bagg10]

Vidal starting instead of Giach. Fuck Gazzetta.

[red]

Only watched the second half, and it was a fairly mixed bag.

Juve looked decent enough going forward and created enough dangerous situations that they really ought to have scored more goals.

However, the back three was atrocious and looked likely to concede every time Siena managed to get up to the halfway line. Complete lack of organisation, aggression and general intensity from them.

I think more resposnsibility has to be taken by the CBs to actually mark the opposition forwards in open play, rather than trying to play zonally. The right and left CBs should be able to go and get tight to forwards, while the central CB can drop off a little and act as sweeper. The zonal system today just left all the Juve defenders looking at each other and waiting for other people to take responsibilty.

Bonucci has many faults, but he isn't one for shying away from taking responsibility.

Still, wins on the back of tough midweek games are not to be sniffed at.

[Bagg10]

Yeah, the defending was pretty bad. I want to say the Siena goal was mainly De Ceglie's fault, but Barzagli and Marrone(i think) failed to mark Calaio.

I thought Giovinco had a great game. Vucinic was pretty poor. Vidal was quiet. And I was surprised Carrera brought on Quags for Marrone towards the end.

Word on the street is that Angelo Alessio's ban may be reduced, so he may be on the sideline next game.

Nest opponent is Napoli. I'm not pleased that we have to face them coming off international break. We always come back rusty.

[RomaShield27]

Juventus Club Focus: How To Beat Antonio Conte’s Bianconeri
http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2012/10 ... ianconeri/

Juventus disappointed what few fans were in Juventus Stadium on Tuesday, largely failing to show up for the match against Shahktar Donestk. The match ended 1-1, but Shahktar were by far the superior team. Even though their opponents out-classed them, Juventus still ended the match without losing.

They haven’t lost a match at all since the Coppa Italia final in May, but that was without their best defender Giorgio Chiellini and it’s still their only loss in any competition dating back to May 2011.

Even Chelsea, the reigning champions of Europe, couldn’t beat Juve in their own stadium after going up 2-0. Arturo Vidal and Fabio Quagliarella saw to it that Juventus didn’t lose, with their goals leading to a 2-2 draw.

So how can this Juventus side be beaten? Well, there are a few weaknesses that other sides can look to exploit.

First, Andrea Pirlo is the focus point of Juve’s attacking motion, and if left unmarked he will direct the game entirely as he wants to. While focusing on him opens up opportunities for Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio to create plays, the alternative of an unmarked Pirlo spells certain death for a side. Chelsea stumped Juventus (for 45 minutes) mostly due to Oscar successfully outmarking Juve of the match. A.C. Milan have had some mixed success against Juventus, and that’s only come via Max Allegri using one of his players (once, Urby Emanuelson) to cover Pirlo.

There have also been times where Pirlo himself was not man-marked, but had a bad game for whatever reason, to the opposition’s favor.

Of course as I said a moment ago, focusing on Pirlo opens up chances for Vidal and Marchisio. It’s fine to let them take up Pirlo’s play-making responsibilities, but you must not let them take shots on goal, especially if they have even a small breakaway. Marchisio scored in space in Siena’s 18 yard box this weekend, and there are few things the midfielder enjoys more. Vidal is the same, and his magnificent goals against Roma and Napoli last spring show this. Both players love to take longer efforts on goal, but those aren’t all that successful.

The best way to try to somewhat off-set Vidal and Marchisio is to have one of your defenders push up in the midfield, this of course carries risks within itself. For a side looking to grit out a 0-0 draw or perhaps a 1-0 victory due to clinical finishing, it’s best to not worry about this and focus on shutting them down once they get into the final third. However, if you’re a big club trying to out play Juve, you need to get that extra man in the midfield.

The second part of the beating Juve plan is almost as important as the first. Drop back, close up shop in your own half. Juventus are going to control possession, and unless you’re Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina, I don’t advise trying to out-possess Juve. So, sit back, wait for them to pass to the strikers (they’re not too good), and then regain possession. If you’re lucky Mirko Vucinic will be off his game and he will more or less give you the ball on several opportunities throughout the match.

A quick note on formations – this is a tricky decision to make while playing against Juve. Obviously most teams cannot just pick a formation based totally on nullifying the opposition, as they need to use the tactics they know and that fit their team. However, it’s best to get a five man midfield, and ideally two strikers to mess with the backline three.

Sounds like I’m telling you to mirror the 3-5-2, right? It’s because I am. Especially if you have one physical striker and one quick, clinical one. The big man can occupy the center backs, while the quick one plays off of him and tries to get a breakaway on Buffon, but more on that in a minute. This isn’t a deal breaker, as Chelsea weren’t using a 3-5-2, they had three attacking midfielders though, something that gave them some liberty to adjust their shape according to Juve’s.

Then there’s the backline trio of Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Andrea Barzagli. Barzagli is a bit old and a bit slow, and Bonucci is sometimes prone to momentary lapses of concentration. Taking advantage of those can give the side it’s only true opportunities to score in a match. Genoa sort of scored like this, with Ciro Immobile catching the Juve defense out of their preferred shape.

Siena sort of did this too, with Emanuele Calaio scoring off an unmarked header at point blank range from Buffon. There were defenders in the box, but they hadn’t had the chance to organize themselves properly and Calaio accelerated into space to meet the ball. There’s also countless example of breakaways that would have been successful had it not been for poor finishing by strikers throughout this season and last season.

Finally, there’s one last refuge for teams trying to beat Juventus – individual brilliance. It’s how Chelsea scored twice against Juve, with both goals coming from Oscar’s ridiculous display of technique, vision, and finishing. It’s how Cavani scored in the SuperCoppa after his original one on one with Buffon ended in Gigi’s favor. Cavani retrieved the ball that Buffon had punched away (it only went a few yards) and finished the ball excellently. Of course, most teams can’t rely on that one phenomenal players, as most teams don’t have that type of player.

It’s not easy, and no one team has put all the necessary steps together, but Antonio Conte’s Juventus can be beaten. Will Napoli do so after the international break? We won’t know until the match happens, but they’re certainly the team best suited to do so.

[Bagg10]

The article makes some decent points, but I feel like it just rights off the whole defense and pretty much the whole team. If it was easy to beat juve then we wouldn't be on a 45 match unbeaten streak. The one team I'm actually afraid of is napoli, not losing the scudetto to, but losing head to head. I think a key part of it is that they play the same formation, and have done so for a while. I don't like that were facing them coming off international break, but at least were playing at home.

[Bagg10]

Some good news...

Saturday October 13 2012

Vidal early return for Juve
By Football Italia staff

Arturo Vidal will return from international duty early after the Juventus midfielder was sent off for Chile.

He had been due to fly back to Turin on Wednesday, just days ahead of Saturday’s Scudetto showdown with Napoli.

However, Vidal is available to jet out to Italy immediately, as he will be suspended for the next World Cup qualifier.

The midfielder was sent off for lashing out with an elbow in Chile’s match with Ecuador.

Chile went on to lose 3-1 in Quito with nine men, as Pablo Contreras had already seen red.

http://www.football-italia.net/26087/vi ... eturn-juve

[Bagg10]

Thursday October 18 2012

Matri and Quagliarella to start
By Football Italia staff

Sky Sport Italia are speculating that Alessandro Matri and Fabio Quagliarella will start for Juventus in their tie against Napoli.

The two teams will meet at the Juventus Stadium on Saturday and the duo are being tipped to be in the first XI.

Mirko Vucinic is a doubt given that he returned from international duty with a cold, while Sebastian Giovinco suffered a knock to his ankle while with Italy.

Matri has one goal in four Serie A appearances this season, while Naples-born Quagliarella has two in four.

http://www.football-italia.net/26258/ma ... ella-start

[red]

If Vucinic is out, and Buffon misses the game as well, things could get pretty tough.

Would mean a draw would be a perfectly acceptable result.

Hope Juve take a reasonably cautious approach and focus on denying Napoli space (like they did in the 3-0) game last season, rather than going out to dominate possession and present counter-attacking chances to Napoli (like they did in the Super Coppa).

[Bagg10]

Storari is a more than capable back-up, and he has a score to settle with Napoli. As for Vooch, he's been hit or miss this season, so his absence isn't going to have a bige negative impact on the team imo.

But you're right we can't try to dominate possession and play on their half.

[red]

Buffon and Vucinic have both been left out of the squad:

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=393004

[Bagg10]

Probable line-up (Gazzetta): Storari; Barzagli, Bonnuci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Asamoah; Quagliarella, Giovinco

[Bagg10]

Perfect game today, kept it tight in the back, conceded very few counters. Napoli really only had the one chance with Cavani hitting the post on the freekick. Pirlo was brilliant. Giovinco worked hard. Great decisions by Cont/Alessio to bring on Caceres and Pogba.
It was actually a lot like the last game we played against them in torino. Tight game until the first gol and then the floodgates opened up.

Now we need to focus on getting a high scoring win against Nordshaelland.

[Bagg10]

[RomaShield27]

Jeeeez, whoever took that photo should be fired...