Fiorentina 0-0 Juventus
Serie A – Week 14 [5th December 2014] – Stadio Artemio Franchi
After a week of discussing and celebrating Andrea Pirlo’s incredible winner in the final minutes of the Derby Della Mole which erupted The Juventus Stadium, today The Bianconeri visited the unwelcoming home of bitter rivals, ACF Fiorentina. As Allegri’s men hit the pitch to a very loud and enthusiastic Viola crowd at the Franchi, it was clear that both teams were out for blood; Juventus wanted to spoil the party, and Fiorentina wanted to make more drinking mugs celebrating another potential home victory against the much hated Juve.
Allegri decided to go back to the typical 3-5-2 formation that Juventini had grown accustomed to after the glorious three year reign from Antonio Conte. It was Mario Gomez and Juan Cuadrado who would challenge the strong Juventus back-three of Giorgio Chiellini, Angelo Ogbonna, and Leonardo Bonucci. With the combination of the brutal away fans, the pace and creativity of the Colombian forward and the strength and expertise of Mario Gomez, this would prove to be no easy task for Buffon and co.
The Mister went into the match with a more conservative mentality ahead of the visiting Atletico Madrid side that will challenge Juventus in the Champions League early next week, and unfortunately for Allegri, it showed. Juventus were sloppy in posession within the opening 20 minutes of the match and failed to get any kind of rhythm. There were both positives and negatives to be taken from the draw at the Franchi, particularly including the two Frenchmen that were acquired this past summer.
After making it clear that he wanted more playing time, and after Allegri making it clear he has a great deal of faith in Juventus’ young talent, Kingsley Coman earned a starting spot along side Fernando Llorente. While Coman and Llorente complimented each other well, much like Cuadrado and Gomez–one being very quick and unpredictable and the other good at holding the play–the rookie Frenchman was excellent in creating pressure on The Viola defense and Llorente was great at doing what he normally does, holding the ball high up the pitch and creating chances off of his grand stature. While Coman was unable to get his name on the scoresheet or the assist sheet, like he did against Parma, Kingsley showed again that he is more than capable of playing at such a high and competitive level despite his youth and inexperience.
While one Frenchman proved worthy of the Black and White today, another did not. Patrice Evra, who started as a Left-Wingback in Allegri’s 3-5-2, was caught chasing Joaquin and Cuadrado too many times throughout the match, often fouling and getting beat down the flank. While Evra must be given credit as it is surely no simple task to adapt to a new system in a new league–one that is very different from the English Premier League–as a man with his experience, there still were some positives of the Veteran defender’s game. Uncle Pat (the name given to Patrice Evra by Kingsley Coman) was strong when on the attack, sending in a couple threatening crosses and even had The Old Lady’s first shot-on-goal of the match.
The real man of the match today was referee, Nicola Rizzoli. The experienced referee, having instructed a World Cup Final and a Champions League Final, went into a match filled with animosity and handled the game very well. There were 28 fouls and 5 yellow cards between the two teams (one of which was given to Giorgio Chiellini who will now miss the next Serie A fixture) and Rizzoli had the match completely under control aside from a questionable hand-ball inside Fiorentina’s box in the dying moments.
Angelo Ogbonna, who has taken his fair share of criticism upon joining The Gobbi, played another good match, containing a very dangerous Viola attack well and keeping the clean sheet for Gigi Buffon who was tested a number of times throughout the match. Juventus were lucky, however, not to concede as they allowed 9 shots in total and 4 opposing corners and the one point at the Franchi must be taken positively, especially with the most important match of the season coming up on Tuesday against Atletico Madrid.
While nobody was there to score an emphatic late winner like Pirlo did against Torino, Juventus fought well for the 0-0 draw against a buzzing Fiorentina, a side that thrives for victory against The Old Lady. With the Atletico game right around the corner, Max Allegri and the squad must regroup and go over his tactics ahead of the match as a result is absolutely needed if he wants to make The Gobbi relevant again in the Champions League.
Statistics
Man of the Match: Leonardo Bonucci
Flop of the Match: Fernando Llorente/Roberto Pereyra
Fouls: 17
Corners: 5
Pass Accuracy: 82%
Shots on Target: 1
Total Shots: 10
Ball Possession: 48%
Formation: 4-3-1-2
Formation:
Lineups:
Fiorentina: Neto; Gonzalo Rodriguez, Savic, Basanta; Joaquin (Aquilani 78), Mati Fernandez, Pizarro, Borja Valero, Alonso; Gomez (Babacar 69), Cuadrado (Kurtic 85)
Juventus: Buffon; Ogbonna, Bonucci, Chiellini; Pereyra (Padoin 88), Vidal, Pirlo (Marchisio 78), Pogba, Evra; Llorente, Coman (Tevez 60)
Ref: Rizzoli
Player Ratings:
Video Highlights:
Poll:
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My man of the match is Bonucci. Our midfield gave away a lot of balls, conceded many dangerous counter attacls and luckily Bonucci was there to clean things up. Plus, when none of our attackers were able to create anything solid, he took things into his own hands, sent some beautiful balls forward and opened up the fiore defence up.
Overall, a poor, poor performance on our part. Our midfield was horrible. Vidal made a few good touches, but was pretty poor in general. Pirlo was unable to make any kind of difference. Pogba ended the first half well and started the 2nd evenly so, but after two over zealous runs, he too fell apart and was giving away the ball far too many times.
I would like to see more of Coman. He was starting to make more of an impact once he dropped down deeper and opened up wider. He began to show his immense acceleration, quick feet and great first touch, but sadly Allegri chose to sub him off.
Summed up my thoughts perfectly.
i think allegri took him off because he was starting to tire out. it was a shame because he and pogba were the only ones creating anything. i definitely thing coman could be a super sub vs atletico. we really lacked his creativity and pace the last time we played them
I doubt its because of the absence of Coman that we lacked creativity in our first encounter against athletico. We were toothless for all of our cl matches when using the 3-5-2.
Coman could possibly, be a great super sub, but the lack of playing time worries me. Its difficult to say how a youngster with little playing time would do in our biggest match of the season thus far. He could easily flop, but he looked upset when taken off and he sounds very determined to prove his self, so he could prove my doubts wrong.
My theory on his sub is that Allegri believed that Llorente wouldve been the more likely to score. I wouldve kept them both on probably subbed Evra, but oh well.
i didn’t mean that we lacked creativity because coman wasn’t there. i meant to say that if he had come on as a sub, he would’ve helped create more chances. i would start of with a 4-3-1-2 and then bring on coman as a sub
Ye i had a hunch you didnt exactly mean it like that.
Id do the same, or a christmas tree formation… which is basically the same and will probably end up like that because of how much Tevez drops down. Ill have Pogba and Tevez behind Morata and Pereyra-Marchisio-Vidal as the flat interchanging 3.
Agree pretty much with everything John has written below – Poor game and a poor display – midfield was at the worst i’ve seen it – no ideas or invention.
Pretty clear the players had other things on their mind. I think Allegri was content with a point thinking Fiorentina might attack us hard, but they tired after a certain point and we could have pushed up and tried to get something late on.
Happy enough with a point and hoping Sassuolo go all out V Roma. Atletico is just days away and our season hinges on what happens on Tuesday. Onwards and upwards
Yea im not at all upset about todays result. Allegri is making the Cl top priority and im sure we all want the same.
I’m very happy he did. I cheered when i saw the changed in the starting 11.
Tight game, but we’ll be ready come Tuesday when we face Atletico
WELCOME BACK
Didn’t think i’d ever see you post again. How you doing, mate?
Welcome back man!
Thanks you guys, been caught up with college. Couldn’t resist to get back.
Definitely a bag of crap, but apparently Evra may be heading back to Man U and De Ceglie may be heading back our way in the winter market.
As unlikely as this is, id do it if the opportunity was given. Evra hasnt won me over at all and with De Ceglie, we ll at least get pace and he wont be making 4 mill per season. Who knows, maybe with the game time Pdc has been receiving, perhaps hes gain some form, confidence and wont be prone to errors. Im sure he could provide more to the squad than Evra.
lol
ZAZAAAAA HAHAHAHA awesome goal!!
ZAZAAAAAAAAAAAAA COME TO US
FORZA JUVE B
Just saw Zaza s second goal and its hilarious how he just gets up and walks as if nothing happened
He made tons of errors in the trashing against Bayern.
Thats what he gets for being a classless cunt.
Yea, I guess those two guys ran around the pitch all night, paying each other compliments. You wanted to say “complemented each other”! Can you guys ever get it right?!
Nearly threw my phone when i saw that Roma drew, so happy!! Forza Zazaaaa!!! Forza Sassuolo!!
No more complaining about the refs for Roma…
So anyone watch sassuolo regularly? I wanna know how Berardi is doing
I don’t, but he didn’t show much against Roma.
Champions league preview live Huge game ahead for us !