Inter v Juventus
Serie A Week 8 – Sunday, 18th October- 19:45 GMT – Stadio San Siro
Juventus
Is this a must win game? Technically not, because we are only at the 8th match day, but I think symbolically it is, for various reasons. First of all, every game against Inter is a must win game, period. Secondly, Juventus must rapidly close the eight-point gap from the arch-rivals. Finally, Juventus have already badly botched two big games against Roma and Napoli, and it’s time to make a statement after a stuttering start. It’s safe to say that the schedule has not been particularly kind with all these difficult matches on the road, but I guess the silver lining is that we will host them when things get more significant later in the season.
It’s been a frightening international break, but luckily there have been no major repercussions. Alvaro Morata did not fracture his fibula as first feared and the ankle sprain that forced Paul Pogba to leave the France camp is not severe. Both are expected to start, but we will know more about them after the pre-game presser by Massimiliano Allegri tomorrow.
The irony: Martin Caceres has been reinstated after his car crash, but in the meantime he has suffered an ankle sprain while playing with Uruguay because of a tackle with Juan Cuadrado. It’s a bummer since El Pelado would be perfect in this fluid 3-5-2 where the right centre-back often acts as a right back: I think everybody would agree that Caceres is a better fullback than Andrea Barzagli. Stephen Lichtsteiner remains sidelined as he is following a protocol to heal properly from his heart condition, the latest reports say that he could return in mid November. Roberto Pereyra has a hip muscular problem and his availability is in serious doubt. Mario Mandzukic has trained with the rest of group, a sign that he has recovered from the thigh strain, but we will see if he is fit enough to be called up. Of course, the biggest news of the week is that Claudio Marchisio is ready to go after his second physical problem of the season, hopefully the last one as Il Principino has never been injury prone.
After the break, you usually have to factor in the long travels by South Americans, who have returned only on Thursday, and consider resting them. I don’t think Juventus have that luxury with Paulo Dybala and especially Juan Cuadrado. Juventus are still without a right back, so 3-5-2 is pretty much the only option: I don’t think Allegri would dare putting Barzagli or Padoin there in a straight 4-3-1-2 formation.
Juventus should be able to field something very close to an ideal XI, with BBC in front of Buffon, Sami Khedira partnering for the first time with Marchisio and Pogba in the midfield, Cuadrado and Patrice Evra on the flanks, Dybala and Morata upfront. If Pogba and Morata are not considered healthy enough to contribute, Mario Lemina or Hernanes and Simone Zaza would take their places.
UPDATE: Mandzukic has been called up and Pereyra too. Morata is a game-time decision.
Probable lineup:
3-5-2: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Cuadrado, Khedira, Marchisio, Pogba, Evra; Morata, Dybala.
Injuries:
Lichtsteiner (heart condition), Caceres (ankle).
Suspended:
None
Inter Milan
Inter have come down to earth in the last two matches after an explosive start. They had not really steamrolled anybody even before the two stumbles: they barely beat Chievo, Hellas Verona and Milan and they triumphed thanks to late goals against Carpi and Atalanta, but at least they got job done. The match against Fiorentina was kind of fluky as it was ruined by early gaffes, while they played decently against Sampdoria but also were pretty exposed by Blucerchiati’s counter-attacking game.
Inter have not been particularly impressive in terms of style of play and rhythm. They are a very physical team who can control the pace, is pretty good in defending and always finds a way to score because they have terrific weapons at disposal. It looks like an early José Mourinho squad.
During the break they have recovered Stevan Jovetic who has been battling some weird stuff, a thigh problem but also some back pain, all caused by a posture imperfection that will continue to nag him. The Montenegrin forward has been their best player so far, with three goals in five matches and especially he adds that little zing in the attack that nobody else in their roster has.
Roberto Mancini should opt once again for 4-3-1-2. He had hinted in the past that he could use a three-man defense once Gary Medel, Miranda and Jeison Murillo would all be available, but this is probably not the right game for experimenting. Moreover, he used 3-5-2 a little against Fiorentina, but that did not produce any good result.
Their only long-term injured player is Nemanja Vidic, who has had back surgery and that will not see in an Inter jersey until January (or ever…). They have a couple of banged up midfielders: Felipe Melo missed a practice with muscle fatigue while Geoffrey Kondogbia spent the break dealing with an ankle injury. At this point, it looks like the French ace will sit, with the former Juventus playing as pivot and the versatile Medel on his side, with Fredy Guarin completing the midfield. Anyway, any combination of these four is possible for Sunday.
There has been some chatter about switching to 4-2-3-1 so Ivan Perisic can be used in his natural position, as he is not playing up to his potential as no. 10. The Croatian winger performed very well when he was moved to the lete flank late in the Sampdoria game and with his national team. However, the only viable option as right winger is Jonathan Biabiany. The defense should be composed by Davide Santon, Miranda, Murillo and probably Juan Jesus: Alex Telles has a chance to starting at left-back, he is a decent player with good feet but he tends to get lost when he is obliged to defend a lot and Juventus field on that flank one of their most effective weapon, Cuadrado. The main threat comes from Mauro Icardi, who has always scored when he has faced Juventus, dating back to his Sampdoria days: he has tallied six goals in five matches against the Old Lady.
UPDATE: Ljajic has been ruled out with muscle fatigue. There are still doubts about Jovetic’s availability, so Palacio or Biabiany could start.
Probable lineup:
4-3-1-2: Handanovic; Santon, Miranda, Murillo, Jesus; Medel, Melo, Guarin; Perisic; Jovetic, Icardi.
Injuries:
Vidic (back), Ljajic.
Suspended:
None
Formation

Stats and Facts




Infographics from www.sporticos.com
Must win game or the Scudetto is out of reach.
We re gonna win, no doubt in my mind.
Gladbach made 5 goals today.
Against Frankfurt. Low table teams in the Bundesliga aren’t so great. I’m not that worried about Gladbach.
Already the most important serie a game of the season. Juve need to win this to get back in the race.
Dybala isn’t in the starting line -up. I think that we’ll see a dominant juve with marchisio back.
come on tonight juve!!!!!
My first game of the season!! And my Prinicipino is back as well!!! I smell vittoriaaaaa!!!!
First game of the season??? FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON???????????? So thats why we havent been on form? You’re the key to our success.
Ive been busy!! Moved twice in the past 2 month andbhad tobdeal with apocalypses and what not!!!
Damn Apocalypses!
Move to Holland, no apocalypses here.
Im planning on it :p you guys treat animals well with that high way and circus and stuff :p
Circus and stuff? :p
How you guys dont mistreat animals in the cirucs:p
And if i do end up going to holland, we re packing a biwl together :p
Oh haha. Never considered our circusses being a positive thing about the country.
No Dybala? Zaza instead?
Gazzetta Dello Sport had a big piece about the battle of the argentines, Dybala vs Icardi. Turns out Dybala isn’t even playing.
It’s ridiculous tbh.
Its a fucking joke is what it is .. Get rid of this Zaza.
If Juve loses today, it’s on Allegri. Thats it and thats all.
Goddam joke.
Zaza sucks.
No Sandro .. No Dybala … Hmmm..
I’ll bet Sandro is wondering what the fuck he did coming to Juve.
Weird.
It’s not weird at all. Evra has been solid for us. Sandro is new. I am sure he is not wondering anything. He will take over for Evra at some point, but right now he will split playing time with him – as expected. Don’t underestimate the experience and leadership Evra brings to this team. This is not FIFA 16.
Let’s go JUVE!! Lets do this!!
whos gonna get sent off first????fuck come on juve!!!
ZAZA SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK ZAZA !!!!!!!!!!!
Please be quiet. Zaza might not have had the best day as a striker, but he was all over the field making sure that the defense wouldn’t have a single break.
GET ZAZA OFF THE FIELD.
We lose the ball so many times..
zaza ia garbage bro …… Pure fuckin garbage.
If he’s worth 18 million, then Morata is worth 100 million
The 2 CL matches were our 2 best matches of the season, by far. In neither of the matches we had Zaza starting, in neither of the matches we played 3-5-2. Why make both mistakes in this match, which is as important as a CL match. We can’t lose this or we will lose track of the number one and possibly the CL places.
It’s been obvious to anyone that Serie A has gotten alot stronger this past transfer window, how come Allegri is underestimating the league this much. He’s only focussing on the CL.
There was a major overhaul over the past summer. The squad is still settling down with each other and my guess is Allegri is STILL testing things out. I just went through a HUGE amount of change in a short period of time, trust me its difficult. Serie a CAN be more complex than the CL.and we faced a those pussy spaniard teams and a shit poser english team. So our succes in the Cl could be due more to the weakness of the teams we faced. Just my guess tho. Havent been around much :p
I think u right
Man City have a very strong squad with one of the best midfielders in the world and one of the best attackers in the world. 2 of the best midfielders even with Toure and Silva. City is anything but a poser team, it just won’t click in CL. I predicted for them to get quite far.
Sevilla being that weak was a big suprise to me, seeing how they won the EL twice in a row. They can do much better than what they showed us. Maybe they just lost too many players and i’m still viewing them as last years Sevilla.
As for us, the loss of Pirlo, Vidal and Tevez is showing heavily, but we have played 9 matches now, 10 including the supercoppa. The time to test is over, it’s time to get results.
But like i said, serie a is extremely complex. A bunch of chess matches. Sevilla is a spanish team, quite straight forward. They touch, enjoy possession. Countering that shouldnt be too difficult. Unless theyre Barca.
City in paper look tough, but again, they have no pedigree and dont have the winning dna embroided in their jerseys. Different year, same results with them.
It clicks really well in the PL though. Now you can counter that with ”PL sucks”, but i don’t believe that’s the reason.
Sevilla pretty much defended the entire match against us.
I can’t argue the fact that Serie A is complex but we had little trouble getting the points in the last 4 years and this comes back to playing Zaza over Dybala.
Each league has its own style. I dont consider any league inferior unless its obvious. But the level of the premiership has undoubtly fallen, but also, City is one of the technical savy teams vs a bunch of forward thinking teams. Technique > physicality most of the times.
Sevilla defended most of the time :p wow, im assuming its because Allegri read them well :p
Haha when he came into the stadium Sevilla thought, DAMN that man knows us too well, let’s defend!!
Serie A all of a sudden is too difficult for Juve where CL looks like a game that is more suited to them ..
Not sure what is wrong with Pogba and Zazais wasting that centre forward position, I wish Morata or even Manzukic was there instead and we had someone like Pereyra on the left side…Allegri is just making the wrong choices with his play selection
Pogba was pure potential, now the pressure has gotten to hom before his potential was even 25% met. Its gonna be even more difficult for him because hes “living in the future”
Cuadrado is a beast.
Cuadrado is scared to get into it in the air … He’s good, but he isn’t fierce.
Not trying to make excuses for him, but it could be due to his style of play and overall mentality.
and why should he ever have to get into the air? Has nothing to do with being a beast. That is just being smart.
he brings good qualities but being aggressive and putting pressure on the other opposing player is always necessary, it’s the Juve way. He’s a very good player, but I’m not sure if the grinta is there.
and what does getting into the air have to be with being aggressive and putting pressure on the opposing player?
do you even know what you are saying? is this the first year you’ve watched football?
Just because he’s good at one thing, doesn’t mean he has to ignore the others parts of a game .. Go give your head a shake.
Being aggressive means being able to fight for every single ball. That includes air balls. Winning headers at any place on the field can be extremely useful. It usually is.
He has no clue what he’s saying ..
I hope Melo tears his ACL.
Fuck sake, Zaza is finally in a perfect position and they don’t pass to him.
How
C’mon Dybala show us why you should play..
Fuck!!!
Thank god Napoli won
I know it’s easy to be a monday morning quarterback, but Marchisio should not have started that game. He was not ready after his injury and I believe Pereyra would have been a better start.
Besides that, Pogba was a no-show for the first 55 minutes of the game. He needs to step up. Had a better second half, but by far an acceptable performance.
Let me try to be positive for a second. I think there is high potential for that right side with Cuadrado and Barzagli. I was not expecting Barzagli to look that quick for his age and after that injury. His defensive skills makes it much easier for Cuadrado to focus on the offensive part.
I know Zaza didn’t have much success as a striker in this game, but the guy put in a huge workload. He was all over that defense, making sure they would not have a second of peace.
I have high expectations from Khedira, if he can stay healthy. He looks good so far. The miss was unfortunate – but still a good game from him in my opinion.
I love that Zaza was all over the field, it really says something positive about him. It’s his job to finish our chances though, nothing more. So while he was trying his absolute best to be useful, he failed horribly at his main job, and being everywhere got him alot of balls, but he lost most right after getting them.
People putting this much pressure on Pogba claiming he has to be our leader at the age of 22 is destroying him. It’s quite sad.
Zaza putting in the defensive work. Love that. But doesnt have the quality to be a starter in matches like that. We sorely miss Tevez this year.
Pogba need to calm down. He needs time to grow.
But against Inter it was the weakest Pogboom ive ever seen.