Juventus Official Announcements and Interviews

[tonykart]

Jose: Ranieri isn't a winner

Inter boss Jose Mourinho has launched a stinging attack on Juventus counterpart Claudio Ranieri, adding venom to a war of words.

Ranieri annoyed Mourinho yesterday with his response to the Bianconeri’s defeat against Hamburg.

“Unlike Mourinho I don’t need to win to be sure about what I am doing,â€

[Amedio]

[Zoff82]

[Amedio]

[juventino_italiano]

[morra10]

stadium pic's.

http://studiogau.it/gallery/cat0120/index.html

looks great.

[Alfio]

[tonykart]

Calcio Debate: Are Juventus Paying For Lopsided Priorities?

Juventus invested the least amount of money in defence, compared to other areas of the pitch this summer. Will such blatant cost cutting end up costing them more in success as a result? Salvatore Landolina believes it just might...

Anyone who watched the Emirates Cup game between the Old Lady and Hamburg (and Claudio Ranieri's face when Juve conceded - repeatedly) will have seen that Juve have some major issues at the back.

With injuries to Dario Knezevic and Christian Molinaro as well as long- term absentee Jorge Andrade, the Bianconeri completely fell apart.

A less-than-perfect Hamburg side made Claudio Ranieri’s men look like a bunch of schoolboys with no understanding at the back in the final few minutes of the game. The defence was a shambles and even Nicola Legrottaglie, who is first choice, was back to his old habits of ball watching and failing to react on time.

Indeed, the defensive options now look thin. Although Juve have done extremely well on the transfer market, they seem to have forgotten about the most important area on the pitch. They have only brought in Olof Mellberg on a free transfer from Aston Villa, and Dario Knezevic was signed from relegated Livorno for around €1m.

Such poor investment to the side is likely to cost the Bianconeri.

In times gone by the side always had a world class stopper to lead the line and take command. Names like Fabio Cannavaro, Ciro Ferrara, and Claudio Gentile all spring to mind. Juve just don’t have such high calibre defenders in their side and they really cannot expect to win trophies with the defenders they have at the moment.

Calibre

Although Giorgio Chiellini is highly-rated, he is not world class and he cannot be compared to stoppers like Ferrara and company. Take Chiellini out of the equation and the picture looks even more bleak. Knezevic, Molinaro and Andrade are all injured. That leaves Legrottaglie, Grygera, Mellberg, Zebina and De Ceglie.

Age may be a problem. At one end of the scale we have old defenders: Mellberg is 31, while Legro is fast approaching 32. The rest, lacking experience, don’t seem capable of leading Juve on the road to Champions League or Scudetto success.

What’s worse is that Alessio Secco and company spent a massive €24.8M for Amauri when, they really didn’t need him given the fact that Juve possess Alessandro The Waterboy and David Trezeguet. The hit-men scored 41 goals between themselves last season and Pinturricchio finished as Capocannoniere. Part, if not all, of the kitty spent on the Brazilian could have been spent on bringing some top quality stoppers to the side.

Just look at Juve’s rivals. Inter are champions because of the solid defence at their disposal - an area of the pitch that they will never neglect, not least under José Mourinho. Milan brought in Gianluca Zambrotta this term, while Roma pulled off a coup in signing John Arne Riise from Liverfekkin'wankscum to give them that extra muscle at the back.

Euro: Trash?

The Bianconeri, on the other hand have failed to take note and they may end up paying the price. Football is a team game and having a water tight back line should be priority, especially if the Champions League is a target. Giovanni Cobolli Gilgi has always stated his penchant for the European Cup. It doesn’t seem he’ll be getting it any time soon though given the crisis at the back.

Apart from Andrade, none of Juve’s other stoppers have enough Champions League experience in order to mount a serious challenge on the trophy: such a worrying oversight is inexusable.

To this end a number of fans have made their feelings known against Secco as it seems as if the transfer chief is making all the wrong signings. Decent defenders are needed but yet the club have ignored all the warning signs - the 1-0 defeat to Udinese, the 3-2 slump to Fiorentina, the miserable loss to Reggina. All these matches should have had alarm bells ringing in Corso Gallileo Ferraris, yet, once again, another summer of non-existent investment in defence.

Luciano Moggi must be scoffing at the club’s poor ability to bring in the muscle at the back.

Although it remains to be seen, Juve are likely to suffer the consequences of not putting enough money where it matters most. Ranieri was concerned about the state of his defenders and their injuries. Maybe someone needs to tell Tinkerman that there is a bigger problem on the horizon.
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Although his points were weak, I do agree. But, there weren't too many options out there. We needed to take advantage of this last year, or sign a guy like Lugano, who even then is just a slight step up from Mellberg anyways.

[Amedio]

[tonykart]

[Amedio]

Note: I opted to post this piece of news here as a continuation of the words war between Ranieri and Mourinho which has roots in some of the aforementioned posts.

[b]Italian media turns on Mourinho

Jose Mourinho’s attack on Claudio Ranieri has earned a vicious reaction from the Italian Press, who dubbed him “arrogant, offensive and in poor taste.â€

[Carlo Romano]

Ahmed, now that's what I call a sensible signing, buying Manninger from Udinese!

Words fail me with Chimenti, they always did. Inasmuch as they are both eccentric, he reminds me of Fabian Barthez. The difference being that at least up to a point Barthez could also keep goal! Not that Chimenti can't play too but in the sense that his best judge would be a drama critic rather than a football pundit!

As for the exchange of words between Mou and Ranieri...I have to laugh. Even over the deliberate point of making Il Mister Claudio appear to be 10 years older than he actually is!

[Bagg10]

[tonykart]

Mourinho Satisfied, Ends Ranieri Feud

Inter coach Jose Mourinho was satisfied with his side’s 1-0 win over Bayern Munich on Tuesday night. The result sees Inter lift the Beckenbauer Cup as well as the Pirelli trophy. The 'Special One' also settled the Ranieri battle.

The Nerazzurri were better than their opponents on the night and it was new signing Amantino Mancini who settled the affair in the second half.

Mourinho was pleased with the performance and he is hoping the team continues to evolve following the good display in the Allianz Arena.

“It was a good test for us and we played against a great team who are well ahead of us in terms of preparation,â€

[JuveGER]

[Bagg10]

I'd take a humble coach over an arrogant one any day.

[tonykart]

If the humble coach is as good as the arrogant one, no problem.

[Bagg10]

If Ranieri was backed by the money Mourinho was, he too would have won those league titles in the years where Man U and Arsenal were in a slump. Mourinho has won more, but it doesn't mean that he's a better coach, specially in unfamiliar territory like the serie a. I personally rate Prandelli a better coach than both of them, but I think we'll have to wait until the end of the season and see who is the better coach. I find it funny that Mourinho is talking as if he's coming of some kind of victory....

[tonykart]

[tonykart]

Camoranesi: Ten Years Until We Become Capello's Juve

Juventus midfielder Mauro Camoranesi believes it will take his side at least ten years to become like Fabio Capello’s old Bianconeri team because the club are moving too slow.

The Italo-Argentine midfielder is looking ahead to the new season and he has set his eyes on the Champions League.

Juve have been investing well this summer as they prepare for the big European stage but Camo insists it will take time to rise back to the pinnacle of their game.

The World Cup winner thinks the club are moving a little to slow in terms of developing compared to the way things moved under the previous management.

“Capello’s side had more quality, it will take at least 10 years for the team to get to that level at the speed at which the club is moving now,â€