While not quite the blow out we had been hoping for, Juventus today put on an admirable performance against Fiorentina. 1-0 is a fine scoreline, indeed Fabio Capello made a career off of such scorelines, and today Juve went out, scored, and then went right to defending. Fiorentina gave us a few scares late in the game, but on the whole they were far less dangerous than in the previous meeting. That said, let’s rate these boys.

Buffon: 7. Very little work for Buffon today, most of Fiorentina’s shots were either over the bar or deflected it seems, but Gigi made a few saves. More importantly – and why he got a 7 – was when Andrea Barzagli slipped, leaving Buffon alone to stop an attacker. Gigi came off his line and made the clearance, an amazing move made even more impressive considering Buffon’s age and the lack of time he had to decide on his course of action.

Chiellini: 6.5. Perhaps this score is too low, as Chiellini assisted on Kwadwo Asamoah’s goal. However, aside from that this was a rather pedestrian performance by Chiellini. He played well, but there’s nothing to write home about.

Ogbonna: 6.5. I am maybe too hard on him today as he made a number of stops, but he always had a few scary moments. An example, he cleared a ball over the goal, so Fiorentina got a corner kick, but it wasn’t that far off from being an own-goal. It was a reckless clearance, but it was in the end an effective one.

Barzagli: 6. He wasn’t bad, but he certainly wasn’t good either today. Barzagli had maybe his worst game with Juventus today, so that means he had a mediocre to average game. Really not that bad today, but was the worst out of the three starting centerbacks. Also slipped on the great save Buffon made, hence why Buffon had to come off his line.

Lichsteiner: 6. Hustling as always, but not as effective or impactful today as he is on most days. Had a few bright moments.

Caceres (79′): s.v.  Was only on for ten minutes.

Asamoah: 7.5. Probably the consensus man of the match for Juventini. He scored the goal, obviously, but even then he was just very good all around. Troubled the keeper, dribbled successfully, defended very well. It was a magnificent performance from Asamoah today. #BOH

Vidal: 6.5. Similar to Lichtsteiner here, wasn’t bad but was not as effective as he usually is. Think he was too focused on the “shared” regista role with Marchisio, and thus we saw a drop off in play for him. Wasn’t much of a regista either, at least compared to Marchisio.

Marchisio: 7. Almost purely for his passing, I have given him a 7. I have yet to be disappointed by Claudio while he is playing as a regista, and today he was just spraying passes all over. That said, he was not passing at Pirlo quantities, but then again, who else but Pirlo can? Anyway, I give Claudio Marchisio as a regista the full David Tenenbaum stamp of approval.

Padoin (88′): s.v. He is still only a Padoin he is not yet a Jedi Knight (I know, lame.)

Pogba: 6.5. No goal, but I thought he played well. He moved the ball around plenty in attack, and even made up for Vidal’s “meh” performance with his own defensive work. Definitely an improvement over some of his recent performances.

Tevez: 6.5. Always pressing, always working. That’s the motto of Carlos Tevez. He almost created a goal out of thin air today, as he dispossesed a Viola player on the edge of the 18 yard box, only for his lateral pass to Llorente to get picked up by the goalkeeper.

Isla (82′): s.v. Thought it was odd that Caceres came on first and not him, but, whatever.

Llorente: 6. Wasn’t as creative as Tevez was (he rarely is) and he wasn’t given too many chances to hold up the ball. Not Fernando’s best game, but he will scored a headed goal within the next two games, you watch.