Open conversazione

[red]

"Facciamo un po' di ironia che è meglio: io credo che se oggi si fosse avverata la profezia dei Maya sulla fine del mondo, probabilmente avrebbero detto che la colpa sarebbe stata della Juventus"

- Marotta

[Bagg10]

[Bagg10]

[Bagg10]

I didn't realize we play Milan in coppa midweek.
It looks like Conte might bench a few players in anticipation.
Gazzetta prob.: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Peluso; Padoin, Pogba, Pirlo, Marchisio, De Ceglie; Giovinco, Matri

[red]

Anyone watch today?

Was golfing, so I missed it.

[Bagg10]

Yeah, I saw the game. Horrible stuff.
There's no reason we should be giving a team that's down a man 1 on 1's with our keeper. We were giving them time and space.
I also don't understand why we feel the need to constantly push up when we're a goal up, especially against 10 men.
We need to learn to sit back, soak some pressure, then hit the opposition on the counter.

[Bagg10]

Tuesday January 8 2013

Juventus boss to rotate in Coppa
By Football Italia staff

Juventus Coach Antonio Conte has confirmed that he’ll start some of his squad players in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia tie against Milan.

Although the Old Lady are only 90 minutes away from a place in the semi-finals, Conte will rest some of his key men such as Andrea Pirlo.

“There will be a bit of rotation,” Conte said this morning. “Luca Marrone will play in the Pirlo role. I want to see how he gets on. He represents the present and the future. I want to see his growth.

“The Coppa Italia gives me the opportunity to field those who have played less so far this season. It's a tough test, but one that allows me to assess the development of my players.”

Claudio Marchisio will be missing because of injury, while it is unclear whether Mirko Vucinic will be part of the game because of an ankle issue.

“Marchisio's injury is thankfully just heavy bruising,” the tactician continued. “He should shake it off in the next few days. I'm happy it's nothing serious.

“Vucinic’s condition is stable. He is recovering and we're keeping an eye on the number of minutes he plays. I'm not sure if I'll risk him tomorrow.”

Juve will go into the Juventus Stadium tie just a matter of days after their shock home defeat to Sampdoria.

“We should never end up losing a game when playing 11 against 10. We should have won that game. There were some peculiar incidents in which we were unfortunate.”

Wednesday’s Cup clash will also see Conte revive his rivalry with opposite number Massimiliano Allegri.

“He’s won the Scudetto, he’s done well for Milan. We are opponents on the pitch, but there is respect and admiration between us.

“The Italian Cup is without doubt a real objective for Milan, but it is for us too.”

“We'll be up against a great Milan side tomorrow and we're fully determined to put in a good performance.”

Conte was also asked for the transfer truth regarding a possible January swoop for Shanghai Shenhua ace Didier Drogba.

“Both Beppe Marotta and myself have spoken the truth about Drogba. It is only normal that the director general looks at a lot of players.

“Then, depending on finances and the response of the players, we’ll decide what to do. But there is nothing new to report as Marotta has not told me anything.”

http://www.football-italia.net/29201/ju ... tate-coppa

[Bagg10]

Im guessing Conte will go with:

-----------------------Storari
-----------Caceres-----Bonucci---Barzagli

Isla/Licht----Pogba--Marrone--Vidal---Giach

------------------Gio----------Matri

[red]

Yeah, I'd expect that to be the team - probably with Isla as the RWB.

I don't expect it to happen, but I'd be playing a back four in this game.

Juve have really struggled against Milan since the move to a back three.

[red]

Poor performance for the most part.

Giving the ball away cheaply, build-up play that is too predictable and playing in a way that made it really hard to put any pressure on Milan when they had possession.

I hate 3-5-2 against 4-3-3 because one of two things almost invariably happens: you either play 3 v 3 at the back and leave yourself very exposed or you play 5 v 3 and end up getting pinned back because you don't have the players high enough up the pitch to win or keep the ball.

Tonight it was the latter.

Juve, particularly in the second half, were playing 5 v 3, so Milan had heaps of comfortable possession and Juve never really looked capable of hurting Milan. That's an okay thing to do when you are winning, but at 1-1 Juve really ought to have been trying to take control of things.

Was pleased to see Conte change to a back four for extra-time. Pattern of the game didn't change much, but getting Giaccherini higher up the pitch at least helped Juve pose some sort of attacking threat during that period.

Bonucci had a very good game.

Caceres was decent enough and Vucinic made a difference when he came on.

Would be pretty hard pushed to say anything complimentary about the others.

[Italiamia]

http://www.repubblica.it/politica/2013/ ... ref=HREA-1

[red]

Draw was probably a fair result.

First half was poor.

Juve never threatened to move the ball fast enough or well enough to really open Parma up.

The defence was also very poor in the first half. What's the point of playing three CBs if you aren't going to use the security that gives to go and get tight to forwards early? Was crazy the way that Juve were allowing Belfodil to drop short or drift wide to collect the ball and start running. With the extra CB you should be marking against two forwards and not giving them the freedom to run at the defence - especially when it is Pirlo and not a DM you have in front of the defence.

Juve were then looking pretty comfortable in the second half, having got the goal, until the ball was stupidly lost in midfield to gift an equaliser. Thought Bonucci and Caceres might have done better, but it was tough to recover after the ball was lost like that.

I assumed the loss of the ball was just down to some good old self-indulgence from Vucinic, but I see that Conte is claiming it was his fault as he called for Vucinic to try the dummy.

Either way, it was a stupid thing to do and whoever was at fault, it's a continuation of Juve's habit of doing unnecessarily risky things when leading in games.

Vidal had a good game.

[red]

In games like that - where both teams are playing the same system - you really see the lack of the something extra in the Juve team to open things up.

They don't have anyone capable of beating his man one-on-one on anything resembling a consistent basis.

They don't - unless Vucinic is playing and playing well - have anyone capable of attracting a couple of opposition players in order to open up space somewhere else on the pitch.

Add in Juve's consistently poor finishing and you have a recipe for making hard work of a lot of games that ought to be relatively straightforward wins.

[red]

Still, at least this is keeping the title race interesting.

[Bagg10]

Vucinic pisses me off sometimes. His stupid attempt to dummy for Giovinco lead to the goal. Even though the mids and the defenders should have been able to cover for his mistake, I blame him.

Overall the defense was off today. And quags was selfish.

[Bagg10]

Sunday January 13 2013

Conte: 'Goal was my fault'
By Football Italia staff

Antonio Conte has taken the blame for Parma’s equaliser at the Stadio Tardini. “Juventus deserved to win.”

The Bianconeri were held to a 1-1 draw after Mirko Vucinic’s dummy was intercepted for a Nicola Sansone counter-attack.

“The goal was my fault, because I called the dummy when Vucinic was on the one-on-one,” revealed Conte.

“Juventus deserved to win considering everything we did today, but were playing against a tough side and give credit to Parma."

With one point from the last two rounds, Juve's lead at the top has been sliced to just three points.

“The season isn’t over yet, we must fight to the end and meet dangerous teams like Lazio and Milan.

“I must say that if last Sunday I was angry about the performance against Sampdoria, today I am happy with the opportunities we created.

“On some occasions we got the final pass wrong because we were a little frenetic. We always try to play constructive football and take risks, so it’s a shame we conceded that goal.”

http://www.football-italia.net/29424/co ... s-my-fault

[Bagg10]

Friday January 18 2013

Juve name Udinese squad
By Football Italia staff

Juventus have named their 23-man squad for the match against Udinese on Saturday evening - minus Andrea Pirlo.

New signing Federico Peluso has been named for the game with the Zebrette despite suffering from a fever, whilst youth team players Daniele Rugani, Pol Garcia Tena, Andrea Schiavone, Elvis Kabashi and Stefano Beltrame have also been called-up.

Pirlo had not trained over the last couple of days and is not risked for the game, while Arturo Vidal is included despite fitness concerns.

Full squad: Buffon, Caceres, Pogba, Vucinic, De Ceglie, Giovinco, Peluso, Barzagli, Bonucci, Padoin, Vidal, Giaccherini, Lichtsteiner, Storari, Matri, Isla, Rubinho, Beltrame, Rugani, Schiavone, Pol Garcia, Marrone, Kabashi

http://www.football-italia.net/29634/ju ... nese-squad

[red]

Wonder if Juve will be appropriately concentrated and cautious when in possession in this game.

Aside from having given away three goals in the last two league games to counter-attacks/stupid give-aways, Udinese are one of the best teams on the break and precautions should be taken to limit them in that regard.

Don't go committing people ahead of the ball unnecessarily and don't go playing risky square passes in midfield.

Also, Juve's defence should be prepared to play deep and track runs - rather than try to hold a high line/play an offside trap.

[Bagg10]

I say forget Drogba, Just bring back ADP.

[maro]

If you can do it against Wellington you can do it against anyone.