Juventus 2-0 Lazio
Scorers: Mandzukic 69 (J), Dybala 73 (J)
SuperCoppa Italiana – Saturday, 8th August – 14:00 GMT – Shanghai Stadium
Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic were on hand to provide the goals for Juve’s 2-0 win over Lazio in the Supercoppa Italiana.
What a match; A first-half hampered by a dreadful broadcast from RAI, topped off by a thoroughly lacklustre display from both teams. Did you have a random Chinese guy interrupting the match every 10 minutes? No? Just me then.
Rather than dwell on the negatives, I thought i’d jump in with some positive moments from today’s match:
1.Mario Mandzukic
What a performance from the big-man. Dominant, powerful and commanding in the box. I’ve heard a lot of people say he’s too anonymous and does nothing to contribute in the build-up. Based on today’s performance, nothing could be further from the truth. While he may have spurned a glorious chance early on, his opening goal was a perfectly taken header, beating two defenders in the process before nodding past Marchetti. He even played his part in the second goal, pulling wide and shrugging off a challenge before crossing into the box. A very positive display
2. Paulo Dybala
It’s been a few hours since the game ended and I’m still watching highlights of Dybala’s strike, over and over. Watch his movement. Perfect positioning, doesn’t lash at the ball, he meets it just right to put it into the roof of net. His introduction into the game gave Juve some added pace and creativity and ultimately, it sealed the result. A brilliant start to his Juve career.
3. Paul Pogba
I wasn’t a fan of handing the ’10’ shirt to a player who may well be leaving the club a year from now. As much as I love Pogba, and I do love the guy dearly, I couldn’t understand the rationale behind it, other than it being a cynical marketing ploy to sell more shirts. In hindsight, I think those comments about Paul wanting the ’10’ shirt probably ring true and perhaps it was all down to him wanting the added responsibility. He turned in what I can only describe as a ‘mature’ performance. Fewer flicks and tricks, more intelligent runs, passes and dribbles. I’m pretty sure he completed more tackles than anyone else on the pitch today, before laying the ball off for Dybala to score Juve’s second. Maybe, just maybe, Allegri, Marotta and Agnelli know what they’re doing.
Honourable mentions should go to the defence, especially Leonardo Bonucci who worked tirelessly to help Gigi Buffon keep a clean sheet. Very impressed by Stefano Sturaro as well. A few mistakes early on quickly gave way to a more industrious display in the second half, including the assist for Mandzukics’ goal.
Statistics:
Man of the Match: Paul Pogba
Flop of the Match: N/A
Fouls: 10
Corners: 0
Pass Accuracy: 70%
Shots on Target:
Total Shots: 6
Ball Possession: 45%
Formation: 4-3-1-2
Formation:
Lineups:
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Caceres; Lichtsteiner, Sturaro (Pereyra 89), Marchisio, Pogba, Evra; Coman (Dybala 60), Mandzukic (Llorente 79)
Lazio: Marchetti; Basta, De Vrij, Gentiletti, Radu; Onazi, Biglia, Cataldi (Kishna 74); Candreva, Klose (Djordjevic 61), Felipe Anderson (Morrison 86)
Ref: Banti
Poll:
[socialpoll id=”2287407″]
Didnt see the game since i was working, but fucking nice result! Great to see goals from the new guys and a thriving Pogba with the 10!
strong second half, much better when we had Dybala on. To think, we had no Morata either – I figure it will be Mandzukic + Morata/Dybala with Zaza operating as the backup.
I can see where the trequartista would help us – a natural player to sit behind the strikers and create something. The midfielders behind need to be doing their own jobs.
Really impressed as the game went on, especially from Pogba. Really strong display from him. He only gets better with each season. Sturaro was great today as well as Gigi in goal.
Bonucci deserved a mention too.
I’m really impressed with Sturaro .. This kid is good.
Good to see Mandzukic and Dybala getting their first goals and Pogba playing so well in the number 10 jersey. First half was average and the second half was certainly improved once Dybala came on. Boncucci did very well at cleaning everthing up at the back.
Why was Coman even starting this game?
WTF is that? You pay 40 million for a striker and then you play the kid who was on the bench all year .. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Well, I find it great coaching. It’s not that you cost a lot, that you will play, work your ass into the squad. Maybe Coman worked hard on training and deserved a XI spot. Or Juve wanted to show him, that they believe in him. Eventhough Comand didn’t played fantastic, it was great to see he got a starting spot.. Hope to see him getting more chances. Mandzukic, Dybala, Morata, Coman, Llorente .. hard choice for Agnelli But the two goals I saw from Mandzukic, where real striker goals..I gues he will have a toe ahead in the race for startingspot.. Morata Dybala close combat I’ll gues, but Dybala was so a live and kicking. So I conclude Mandzukic – Dybala as starters, Pogba on the 10 spot. Why not?
I just saw some highlights but Mandzukic looked very good … His header, and the 2nd goal was created by him before it got to Pogba.
In other news, I think Roma are a bunch of fools for selling Romagnoli … If he’s supposed to be the new Nesta, then why give him up to Milan for 30 million … Why not keep him if you’re only getting 30 … They’re still such a small club in so many ways .. We’re offered 80-100 for Pogba and we say no … Now, that’s impressive.
You are right… Why buying dzeko if you are not building a real competif team.. Happy to see Italian teams getting (sub) top players .. Dzeko jovetic kondogbia mandzukic … Serie a is getting stronger .. But juve Will be once and again with head and shoulders above THE rest .. Roma or inter second ??
Roma is getting stronger. They haven’t lost anybody from their squad last year besides Astori and that was prob for the best. They have Sczensny Maicon/Florenzi-Castan-Manolas-Digne
Pjanic-De Rossi/Naingolan-Strootman
Salah/Iturbe-Dzeko/Totti-Gervinho/Falque
That’s not a terrible team and they are prob stronger than last year but I still think we are the better team
They’re a very good team but then again, got fuckin embarassed against Bayern in the CL 7-1. That’s pretty bad. Roma doesn’t have the DNA to be great and they never will. They’re a team that has historically been it’s own worst enemy.
Totally agree with you but even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes. So they may not become great especially with the milanese teams making moves but they can still make a push for the scudetto. Hopefully they get knocked out of the group stages again and go deep in EL so we get more money and Serie A gets more coefficient points
Wow, its scary to think how good we will be when this new squad finally clicks together! Can’t wait!
YES. thats what i think too.
for me dybala was the difference maker, coman is just too young and immature playing style wise, i saw him get frustrated easily, stop running a few times, showed a real lack of 1st team experience. Meanwhile dybala was the catalyst to the second goal and opened up the field for the rest of the match. Great buy. Great investment. He appreciates the serie A and JUVE more than foreign players anyway, which will turn into loyalty in the long run.
I dont know about the loyalty part, he already said he loves Barca and would do anything to join them, before coming here.
Roma bought Dzeko and Salah. Salah is great.
they’re going to get Gerson as well….strong squad
He will join barca.
Cant wait for matchday 2.
Looks like he will be in Roma soon to complete his medical. Let’s hope he flops!
They’re selling Romagnoli…They might regret that in the long run but if I had to choose between Milan or Roma being stronger down the road I’d choose Milan. More history which would improve the league’s image
Been watching some of these EPL games that started this weekend …
Juve is hands down better than all of the top teams in the Prem, in fact it’s not even close .. Man United are absolutely dreadful to watch .. I’m watching Arsenal right now and although they do have some good players, this team is nowhere near the upper echelon of Europe…
Overall, the quality of play in the Prem is nowhere near the top of the world … Spanish, German and Italian football are so much nicer to watch in terms of what goes on on the pitch .. Prem is overrated. Big time.
Arsenal is terrible. Can’t judge on just one match, it can be a whole different Arsenal next match, but yeah it’s crap today. The defending at the 0-2…… It makes me mad how dumb EPL defenders can be.
I wouldn’t say it’s boring, maybe the big teams, but there’s more than just the top teams. Atleast Ogbonna is doing well.
Forgot to add, it’s been known for a while that EPL is heavily overrated. People just don’t want to see it because it’s so spectaculair. People relate that to good play. It’s nonsense and english teams prove it every year in europe. Only team i expect something from this season is Chelsea. Depending on the groups, we might see City and Arsenal in the 2nd round, not further than that. Chelsea might reach quarters/semis.
Did you see Ogbonna talking about how he got to play at the spectacular Wembley stadium haha. He deleted the tweet immediately but he got some slack for it. Darmian had a killer game too for man u. Sucks that he left Italy
Darmian should be here ….. Overall, Manchester United is dreadful.
Wembley? Was that a mistake?
Man United is a growing project, i do understand his decission. He probably wasn’t allowed to leave to Juve, so what were his options? Milan? United probably looked more promising to him.
Learning under Van Gaal is never a bad thing for a player too.
I’m sorry but IMO, Man U is sucking bigtime, all respect to van Gaal, But IMO he lost it. Carrick, Blind, Schneiderlin, Fellaini, Herrada, Schweinsteiger … tomato tomato … now he wants Pedro, when he had Di Maria and has Mata Januzaj Valencia Nani … once again tomato tomato … what growing project ? He sould start building a team, what he was/is good at it, now he is just shopping… Depay is maybe a great talent, but not enough to raise Man United to the top
Ogbonna posted on twitter that they had a great win at Wembley instead of saying the Emirates and the bpl fans jumped on him for that. Do you really think Cairo wouldn’t let him go to Juve? They sold us Ogbonna not too far back. I’m sure it’s better for him to be there though, more money and more exposure. I wish the best of luck to him I’m just still bitter that we didn’t seem to even push for him
Italy jumps over England in Europe ranking, so there is an actual prove as well
England, like every other english speaking country in the world, is terrible at football …. Why is that?
Right now, maybe. England has always been one of the best, club wise and country wise. Though the national team goes way back for that. England is one of the most traditional football countries, so no, you can’t say that.
Italians just have a strong bias against english football. I always have an argument with one of my friends that Serie A historically is the best league in the world but it’s so hard to come to a conclusion with that so we never agree and we usually drop it pretty quickly. They technically invented the sport so they got that at least.
YES! The Curva Sud will now be reopened for the opening match against Udine! We appealed the decision and won. The atmosphere from the stadium is always wonderful
Well yes and no. The original punishment was closure for 2 matches, which we appealed and got reduced to one match. We appealed again to CONI and they agreed more time is needed to review the case, therefore there is a hearing on September 3rd to decide what to do. The Curva is open against Udine, but might be closed in another game, depending on the decision
Yep you’re right! Rather have it open for the first game tho. Also on the Juventus website they posted the findings about the guy who threw the bomb and said that there is no way we should be punished lol…https://www.juventus.com/en/news/news/2015/club-statement-.php
Yeah agreed there, hope the punishment will be lifted completely. I don’t see the point of it really, the guy wasn’t even a Juvefan and he snuck in that shit in Torino’s stadium, not ours.
Yeah exactly but everyone in Italy likes screwing over Juventus. It really would not make sense to punish us and hopefully the court ruling goes our way. I love hearing the cori and whenever the ultras arent there then it’s just not the same
Yeah, all we can do is hope I guess. But even if they do punish for one game, it isnt such a big deal
I wasn’t able to watch the game unfortunately. Does anyone know where I would be able to watch the full game?
Just watched the game and I thought Pogba played great along with Mandzukic. The defense looked pretty good for the most part and seems like Bonucci hasn’t lost anything from his great season last year. Marchisio was a good reference point in the midfield but even Pogba was dropping very deep at times. He really tried to be a part of every play and really had a good grasp on the game, exactly what we need from him. Could have been 2 assists if Mandzu finished that first chance. Dybala really has great body control whenever he is dribbling and is able to to get around defenders using his body. However the announcers on RAI were saying that Allegri was yelling at him to play more with his teammates instead of just playing the ball himself, which will come in time since he’s prob used to doing everything himself at Palermo. I really expect great things from him. After he scored the goal he ran around not knowing to go at first and then running into Pogba’s arms was awesome!
I think they gave him the #10 because it only adds to his value if that sounds crazy … He’s 22, a #10 on a very good team and he’s going to be a main guy at next years Euro’s in his home country … And as for Juve giving it to him to make money and sell shirts, then good on them … Everyone else does that, I see absolutely no problem with it if that’s the case ….
And he simply deserves that number !! He is absolutely THE best player
I don’t think giving him the 10 does anything to his value. He is already around 80-100m and I don’t think just because he is wearing the 10 he will now be worth 120m. Also I think the 10 means too much to give to a player just for the sole purpose of selling shirts. He asked for it and wanted the responsibility of it and I think it will propel him to new heights. For all our sake let’s hope that means he’s staying for a bit longer
Does anyone else think Dybala got too much praise for this game? He did score the goal but besides that he kept trying to dribble through defenders and losing the ball which was frustrating. Dybala got 17% of votes and Mandzu only got 11% and I think the latter had a much much better game
It was kind of a dull game.. When Dyballa entered he brought the game a live.. I think people voted for him because ot that
Seems like Vidal told the media that Coman is a great player and has a very bright future. He said he has great technical ability and is very fast. He also said that he should go to Munich…
I didn’t mind the interview where he was talking about his move to Bayern, but this part annoyed me somewhat. Good for you that you went to Bayern Vidal, but don’t just fuck up our team with talks like that
It seems to us that he is taking little jabs at us but I dont think that is his intention. Everyone when going to a new club is going to say that they want to win and have a better chance at the new club. Or maybe I am just trying not to believe that vidal would be a dick to us
Yeah i know but talking about Coman doesnt make sense for him. Inlees he wants to kiss ass by luring Coman with him there. Doesnt sound like Vidal to me
Interview to Bild from Vidal…
Vidal: “The defeat to Barca fueled my move away from Juve because at one point in my career I want to win the Champions League.”
Vidal: “I feel like with Bayern Munich, its more likely that I will win the Champions League”
Vidal: “When it was 2-1 vs Barca I was sure we’d go to penalties & then win it. Luckily I won Coppa America which made me happy”
Well he has chosen once for us, once for them .. No hard feelings .. This is football .. Goodluck Vidal !!
Yeah doesn’t really bother me. I think it’s fair to say Bayern are more likely to win CL than us. I just hope we get them in the CL now so we get to prove him wrong 🙂