Juventus v Genoa

Serie A Week 23 –  Wednesday, 3rd February – 19:45 GMT – Juventus Stadium

Juventus

In Verona, Juventus conquered the 12th win in a row in what was arguably the most dominant performance of the season. Bianconeri completely overmatched Chievo Verona, sliced at ease into the Flying Donkey’s patched defence and scored four goals, but they could have easily tallied at least a couple more. The team is humming right now. Seeing the game in person, I was particularly impressed with the majesty of Paul Pogba: the audience starts to buzz as soon as he has a little bit of space. He and Paulo Dybala make sweet music together when they combine in the final third. I would also say that Andrea Barzagli is the quickest slow player I have ever seen.

To put things in perspective: it is true that Juventus won 12 games in a row also in the magical 2013/2014 season, but should this year’s should win one more, it would be second longest streak in Serie A history, trailing only to the 17-game one by Inter in 2006/2007. The Napoli game is obviously a big roadblock, but it is not unconceivable to think that this team can go that far. It would also be fitting, considering that we have smashed all kinds of records in the past four years.

It is a midweek game and these match days are always kind of funky. We will see some rotations, but not too much. For instance, Massimiliano Allegri hinted that Claudio Marchisio, who missed time early in the season, is not really a player that benefits from resting: we might see him pulled out of the game after an hour when Juventus already secured it, but he will rarely be given a day off. Unfortunately, Sami Khedira has picked up another hamstring injury and will miss two or three weeks: Stefano Sturaro is the favourite to replace him, the alternative is using Hernanes as deep-lying midfielder and Marchisio as box-to-box. Roberto Pereyra has recovered, but he is not ready to contribute full-time, at least until he gets some playing time in one of those usual midweek friendlies. Mario Lemina is back in the squad list too, but probably in the same situation of the Argentinian midfielder.

Giorgio Chiellini has not been called up and it is pretty strange since he was rested in the Chievo game too: hopefully they are just preserving him for Napoli and Bayern Munich and he has not suffered an injury. We will see whether Martin Caceres or Daniele Rugani will replace him.

Juan Cuadrado and Patrice Evra should be the two wingbacks: it is the most draining position, so a strict rotation when you play thrice in a week makes a lot of sense. The coach stated that he will utilize all three his available strikers in the next matches: Simone Zaza will be given a chance to start, either against Genoa or Frosinone, replacing Paulo Dybala, because Alvaro Morata has not played that much this year and it would hurt him to bench him now that he has resumed scoring consistently.

Probable lineup:

3-5-2: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Caceres; Cuadrado, Sturaro, Marchisio, Pogba, Evra; Morata, Dybala. 

Injuries:

Mandzukic (calf), Khedira (hamstring), Asamoah (hamstring). 

Suspended:

None. 

Genoa

Genoa are not having a good year: they got into a hole at the beginning of the season because of the injuries/suspensions of Diego Perotti and Leonardo Pavoletti and they are struggling to climb out of it. They have changed multiple lineups and schemes because they do not have all that talent at disposal and Gian Piero Gasperini will tinker until he finds something he fully likes. Quite often, the solution does not make sense at first but works in the long run.

They have won twice and drawn twice in the last four, so they are in a good moment. Obviously, the departure of Perotti, their true leader and playmaker on the pitch, is untimely and the coach will have to find a new solution as 3-4-3 does not seem viable anymore. They have replaced the Argentinian winger with Suso and Alessio Cerci: while they have the skills and potential to do well at Genoa, they are both left-footed right winger, while Perotti played on the left. Diego Capel is the only natural left winger in the roster, but he is left-footed; Darko Lazovic, Diego Laxalt and Oliver Ntcham can play there too. Gasperini was already forced to come up with a solution for that role when Perotti missed some games, but none of the attempts was entirely satisfying.

The reports suggest that against Juventus we might see an option that was briefly used against Fiorentina: Suso as advanced midfielder behind Alessio Cerci, deployed as second-striker, and the terrific Leonardo Pavoletti, who is their most obvious threat as he has scored ten goals in 15 match, one every 112 minutes. He reminds me of Luca Toni: he is not as big, but like the beloved Luca he is a late bloomer, a beast in the air and does all the dirty work. He is thriving in Gasperini’s system, which has always been very helpful for good centre-forwards.

They will use a 3-4-1-2, with a very physical defence composed by Ezequiel Munoz, Nicolas Burdisso and Armando Izzo, even though Sebastien De Maio has a chance too. In the four-man midfield, Cristian Ansaldi will play on the right despite being a pure left-back, but he has already performed at the high levels there, and Diego Laxalt, a true revelation for them, on the left. Usually the two starting midfielder are Blerin Dzemaili and Tomas Rincon, but we might see a little of rotation, with the newcomer Luca Rigoni in for one of the two. The formation can quickly turn into a 4-3-3, with Izzo as right-back, Ansaldi as left-back and Laxalt as box-to-box midfielder. A more defensive option would feature Laxalt as offensive winger and three pure midfielder. They do not have any absence due to injuries or disqualifications.

Gasperini’s team usually do not sit back and welcome the pressure, they play a proactive style. Nonetheless, they are fielding a very muscular squad, so we can expect a pretty tough game, especially if Juventus does not score early.

Probable lineup:

3-4-1-2: Perin; Munoz, Burdisso, Izzo; Ansaldi, Rincon, Rigoni, Laxalt; Suso; Cerci, Pavoletti. 

Injuries:

None. 

Suspended:

None. 

Formation

Statistics

Infographics from Sporticos.com