dortmundjuventus

Borussia Dortmund v Juventus

Friendly Match –  Saturday, 25th July – 19:00 CET –  AFG Arena, St. Gallen, Switzerland


 

Preview

Juventus return to action with their first friendly match of the summer against Borussia Dortmund. Follow the action here!

Thank God ! Praise Jesus ! Hallelujah ! We can talk about something other than the transfer market ! Hurrah !

It’s been a trying month, especially given the way things started. At the beginning of July, it looked as though Juve had completed all their transfer dealings, bringing in Paulo Dybala and Sami Khedira with deals for Norbeto Neto and Simone Zaza also on the cards. Fast forward four weeks and the Bianconeri have lost Carlos Tevez and Andrea Pirlo to Boca Juniors and NYCFC respectively, while Arturo Vidal is only days away from completing a move to German champions Bayern Munich.

Juve moved quickly to replace Tevez by bringing in Mario Mandzukic and it looks as though Sami Khedira or Claudio Marchisio will be taking the place of the departed Maestro. While Arturo Vidal is pretty much irreplaceable, Juve look to be addressing a different area of the midfield as Coach Max Allegri has reiterated his desire for a bona fide trequartista, Julian Draxler being the most likely target.

So what can we glean from all this ? Well first of all, we’ll be missing a whole lot of experience from the team next season. Tevez quite literally dragged the team to victory on more than occasion and Vidal, despite having a poor season by his standards, was the engine in midfield that kept things ticking over. As for Pirlo, well, he was Pirlo; Capable of turning a game on it’s head with a moment of utter brilliance, be it a pass, free kick or one of those goals from outside the area.

On a much more positive note, Juve have had one of their most productive and hopefully most positive transfer periods in some time. A lot of money was spent on up-and-coming striker Dybala to inject some ingenuity, pace and creativity in attack, and Zaza and Mandzukic look like the kind of strikers we all hoped Fernando Llorente would be.

Between the posts, we lost one of my favourite players in the shape of Marco Storari, but once again, we got another young star in Norberto Neto; A keeper who joins Juve following one of his best seasons to date at Fiorentina.

Add into this the arrival of young centre-back Daniele Rugani, (a Juventino since childhood), the return of Kwadwo Asamoah (who will most likely be playing in midfield next season) along with Juve refusing several offers for Kinglsey Coman. Add all that together and one thing becomes overwhelmingly apparent: The Juve squad has gotten younger. We’re not talking about a year or two. We’re talking about 8 players all born after 1990 set to play in key positions across the pitch.

In terms of formations and tactics, it’s difficult to say at this early stage. On paper, we’ve got a team that Allegri could easily field as a 4-3-3 with Pogba, Khedira and Marchisio in midfield and two of either Coman, Dybala or Morata playing wider while Mandzukic or Zaza would play as the target man.

On the flip side, Allegri could just as easily switch things to his more loved 4-3-1-2 with Roberto Pereyra, Coman or even Dybala dropping in behind Mandzukic/Zaza and Morata.

Exciting times, and i say that earnestly. After the successes of the last 4 seasons, it’s been disappointing to lose 3 key players in such a short period of time. Pirlo, Tevez and Vidal were never ‘squad’ players. They were truly one of a kind and utterly uinique, but if their hearts or heads were no longer in Turin, it was pointless to keep them. Beppe Marotta has never been one for that. Moving forward, we can look at this season as one of experiment, new ideas, formations and tactics. A new approach and a squad built completely around Allegri’s ideas for the future. While I understand the air of negativity and disappointment that lingers in the wake of player departures, I’ve followed the club long enough to see stars come and go and despite all that, Juventus always survive. They do better than survive. They flourish.

 

Probable lineup:

4-3-1-2: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; Pogba, Khedira, Marchisio; Dybala; Morata, Mandzukic

4-4-2: Weidenfeller; Durm, Ginter, Piszcek, Subotic; Castro, Weigl, Kagawa, Kampl; Reus, Hofman*

*I should point out that this was total guess work on my part. Looking at Dortmund’s last few friendlies, this may be how they lineup…

Juventus squad to face Borussia Dortmund:

Buffon, Chiellini, Caceres, Pogba, Zaza, Marchisio, Morata, Llorente, Barzagli, Mandzukic, Bonucci, Padoin, Dybala, Rugani, Neto, Lichtsteiner, Sturaro, Khedira, Evra, Rubinho, Audero, Clemenza, Parodi, Tello, Cerri, Vadala.

 

Formation