Another successful Serie A weekend is in the books and Juventus have one and a half hand on Scudetto. A couple of more matches without dropping points and we can start to celebrate. Now it’s time for the second goal of the season: Europa League. Round of 16. Juventus-Fiorentina.
Europa League isn’t the most fascinating competition in the world, we all agree on that. But two facts make it more pleasant. First of all, Juventus entered it in the best part, the win or go home round, skipping the group stage. Most teams from unknown places you have to travel long hours to reach have been eliminated, there is no more NT friendlies or Coppa Italia matches, so the schedule is not so grueling. Secondly, the final is at Juventus Stadium: this is almost a once in a lifetime chance. I think that at this stage EL is no more a burden, but an opportunity.
Seeing the approach in the return match against Trabzonspor, I’m optimistic that Juventus are valuing this competition and are willing to progress as much as possible. Also, I don’t think I’m being a homer when I say that Juventus is the strongest team in the competition. These are the other teams that are still in: Ludogorets, Valencia, Porto, Napoli, Basel, Salzburg, Az Alkmaar, Anzhi, Olympique Lyonnais, Sevilla, Betis, Tottenham, Benfica. Porto and Napoli, Tottenham and Benfica are facing each other. I don’t see many of them winning the trophy.
Unfortunately, Juve will have to face a very good team this early and Della Valle & co. would love an upset.
Juventus
The squad rotation conundrum. Juve have a 14 (11) point lead and face Genoa on Sunday night. Surely a good team with Gasperini at the helm, but let’s not forget that Chievo beat them this Sunday and Udinese scored three goals on the road against them. This led to the main question: why not playing the best lineup possible against Fiorentina (and then again in the return leg), and field a XI full of backups against Genoa? If you lose, you are still 11 (8) points above Roma (assuming they beat Udinese, which is probable but not a sure thing), with only 10 games to go. If you lose in Serie A, you have retests. In Europa League, you don’t.
There are mixed report coming from Vinovo. Let’s start from the certainties: Isla will start, he has been designated to speak in the pre-game press conference along with Antonio Conte. Pirlo will start as he was disqualified in the League. Bonucci will start, as he was rested this Sunday.
In the back, there should be BBC, with Caceres and Ogbonna maybe giving a breather to the banged up Barzagli’s Achille’s tendon and Chiellini’s calf muscle against Grifone. Reports confirm it. More uncertainty in the midfield: Marchisio played a good game against Viola, but in the DLP role. Pogba was ok, Vidal was subpar. It’s a battle between the French and the Chilean, but I’m sure nobody will lose his sleep over this.
What I’m more worried about is the left flank. Some reports suggest that Peluso will start. A simple question, do you prefer Peluso starting against Cuadrado, or do you prefer Peluso starting against Marco Motta (probably Vrsaljko won’t be healthy enough to start)? That’s a no-brainer. Peluso isn’t a bad player, but I think that due to his physical structure, he’s not efficient against the Cuadrados of the world. He would probably pick up an early yellow card, make a second dangerous tackle and force Conte to sub him off to stay in 11 on the pitch after 20 minutes. Just start the red-hot Asamoah.
Trouble in attack. Carlos Tevez has a sore patellar tendon. This is one of those injuries caused from usage and you can live with that, but you have to managed it properly. A small tear would sideline him for a month, a complete tear would mean that his season is over. Tevez has been the driving force of Juventus attack also when it has struggled and I think in this kind of matches his fighting spirit is much needed. But the latest report say that Giovinco with start. Giovinco did well in Trabzon, but here he’ll have to face tall, strong, elite CBs: it’s a different story. “Il Bomber di Coppa” Osvaldo will probably start, but don’t rule out Fernando.
Fiorentina
The Turin match has given Montella some useful indications. Diakitè at RB is terrible. Mario Gomez isn’t Mario Gomez yet, he’s not ready, he does not move enough to play alone upfront, even in a 4-3-3. Wolski, Fernandez and Matos have provided a good spark off the bench.
Borja Valero is available in Europa League and of course he will start. Pizarro wasn’t very brilliant, to say the least, against Juventus. It’s not easy for Montella to renounce to him, but Aquilani might start in the regista role, with Valero and Mati Fernandez completing the midfield. Anderson isn’t included in the EL squad list.
Rumours say that Montella will continue with 4-3-3, with Tomovic returning as RB, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 3-5-2, with Ilicic and Matri in the attack. Ilicic was rested at Juventus Stadium, Joaquin too. Savic and Joaquin didn’t train yesterday, but they are expected to be called up. Compper and Diakitè are ready to replace Savic if he’s not able to make it.
Alessandro Matri spent 90 minutes on the bench at Juventus Stadium on Sunday (trip down the memory lane?) and I think it’s safe to say that he will start the match. “Il gol dell’ex” is a rule in football, hopefully it won’t be respected this time, even though we know how much Mitra would like to stick it to Conte & co.
Bottom line
Europa League is a different animal from Serie A. Last Sunday, it was a must-win match. This Thursday, it’s a must-win large match. After taking the lead, I think Juventus went on cruise control to save some energies for the following clash. The second half was poor, but all in all Fiorentina created only a really good chance (the bar by Matos).
Juve need to start this match like the lunch match and the one against Trabzon, hammering the opponent, with an intimidating high pressing in the first half. Juve need to keep a clean sheet or win like 3-1 to go to Stadio Franchi with more serenity. This game lasts for 180 minutes and we have to keep that in mind.
My main concern is: Fiorentina tomorrow will field a better lineup than on Sunday, they will be more driven as Europa League is their main target now, the second half they played on Sunday probably gave them confidence. They will be a better team than the one that lost 1-0. Will Juve be?
first
Finally a Juve match imma be able to watch! lets hope Peluso can cope against Cuadrado.
why is Peluso playing?
Squad rotation, tho I’d prefer Asamoah to play Fiorentina and then let Peluso play Genoa this weekend.. But it’s said Peluso will start so fingers crossed and hope he’ll do well
yea and Peluso vs Motta would be one epic showdown. probably two of the most hated wing players amongst Juve fans in recent years go head to head.
xD I wouldn’t say most hated (I don’t hate them at least) but neither is good enough for Juve 😛 But interesting match-up indeed.
i dont either, but they do get some harsh critism. peluso doesnt really get much here, but elsewhere, oh my goodness, ihe cant cat a break
Peluso is a fighter, he isn’t THAT bad. His attitude is great, he plays with passion, but his skills aren’t good enough and he plays too agressive. Nothing new to you or any Juvefan but I don’t mind Peluso that much. He’s okay for depth and to be used for lesser opponents, so Asamoah can get a break.
We need someone who will challenge Asamoah, that’s something we dont have
I’ve been thinking, the EL winner automatically gets a CL ticket for next season. In case we win the EL and the league, does it change anything for Serie A teams? Like, another team getting a spot in CL/EL, since Juve gets the spot from winning EL?
If so that would be awesome
No i don’t think so.
No and besides the EL doesn’t give CL qualification, not yet, that rule starts from next year.
Ah well, too good to be true :p
guys honestly, but whoever is doing the art work for the new website needs to give his head a shake … you have white writing on the europa league written in yellow, and can barely make anything out, it’s hurting my eyes!! … come on, surely this could be fixed, it looks awful.
RANDOM question:
has anyone here gone through a season of meditation, think up a bunch of ideas that make sense start believing in these ideas and then random things just come out of nowhere and pretty much give you a sense of confirmation that your ideas are true? for example you think of this idea, then decide to go on a walk, then at some point in that walk, you decide to look down and there on the ground is a poster or flier confirming or furthering your belief on that certain belief? cause thats happening to me right now and its happened before, but not so much like it is currently.
A season of meditation? Oh John you’re such a hippy! :p
or a spirtual activist :p
.. Hippy!
ok! albert einstein wasnt a hippy and he meditated!
but anyways you wanna see something funny? its gonna be in 2 comments cuz i cant post two pics from my phone in one comment:
read the previous reply first!
It’s true lol. The porygon episode that was banned after it was aired in Japan. Caused multiple seizures around Japan for crazy lightning coming from 2 attacks colliding.
I watched it and didn’t get a seizure though. But it did feel really weird on the eyes. Damn Pikachu and his thundershock…
dammit Pokemon, why you gotta be so hard.
Happy birthday Edgar Davids! may we win in his honor today!
Should i take him as my ava again?
you may do as you wish :p
Got to play like we did against trabzonspor,the 2nd leg lol!…..We need to be on it tonight,FORZA JUVE.
I really hope we keep a clean sheet. I want to go to Fiorentina with a lead, not having to chase.
Too right mate,these viola bastardi are gonna give it aright go over these two-legs.Big test for peluso tonight i feel.
Yeah indeed! I really don’t want a 1-1 result or anything like it, a clear lead is what we need. If we have to chase a goal, Fiorentina will sit back in the return and hurt us on the counterattack and I do NOT want that to happen 😛
https://twitter.com/Marcocalcio22/status/443044589717319680/photo/1 wow, amazing stats and check out who the guy is and with whom his dp is 😛
Expected line-up: Gianluigi Buffon; Martin Caceres, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini; Mauricio Isla, Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Kwadwo Asamoah; Fernando Llorente, Dani Osvaldo
I can agree to this line-up/ Barzagli and Lichtsteiner getting rest and Osvaldo for Tevez since El Apache is injured and not called up for this game
I read its gio instead of llorente so conte can switch to 4-3-3 midgame if necessary
Yeah its different everywhere, some sites tip peluso to play instead of asamoah too, we’ll have to wait a bit longer :p
Caceres: I believe I can fly!!!
dare to Zlatan :p
Caceres, famous for his hair in his early Juve period, now famous for his close to permanently bandaged head xD
DRUGHI FANS….ILOVEJU BUT PLEASE STOP THE CHANTS INVOLVING SCIREA AND HIS FAMILY…..PLEASE.
OMG!!!!DRUGHI CHANTING RACIST NAMES AGAINST ASA,POGBA AND OGBONNA???WTF????
our OWN drughis are doing all that!?
Im disgusted dude…..and i thought these fans loved juve?????: ((
Why the hell would they do that? Scirea is a Juve legend, he died working for us, what is this bullshit?
because theyre pieces of crap. shameful dick heads: completely undeserving to be at our stadium
Dumb racists everywhere
Bastards!!!!!!
It’s definition of an ultra imho, they are the most narrowminded, dumb and utterly racist people you can find in the football world. The kind of ppl who go to the stadium just to cause trouble, start fights and shit like that. Also the people who get arrested in away matches
Im not down with that shit….whats up with the banter???
S.O.B i forgot about the time change! so i assume the game is in an hour?
yes dude
Yeah an hour from now
Ludogorets (the team that kicked Lazio out of the EL) losing 0-2 at half time to Valencia. You watching, Lazio?
napoli 0-0 porto im watching
Yeah hopefully Napoli wins it, would be great for Serie A. two Belgians facing off too 😛 Porto’s Dufour and Napoli’s Mertens
good players mate,ive got to say i think mertens will have a great world cup,just a hunch lol.ive got a bet on for a draw,but yeah,napoli win would be interesting lol
I hope to enjoy a good campaign for Belgium 😛 Dark horses to win it, along with Colombia. All I hope (and expect) is to go further than group stages, anything beyond that is a sweet bonus.
And I just want Serie A to get all points they can possibly get 😛
Will Falcao make it?
Not clear yet
He really suprised me in a positive way this season. I’ve known him for a couple of years now because he played at PSV and he was one of their better players, but nothing really special and playing for Napoli is completely different. He pretty much adapted immediately.
Juventus: Buffon; Caceres, Ogbonna, Chiellini; Isla, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Asamoah; Giovinco, Osvaldo
Pogba benched, kinda suprised though I have to say deservedly. I hope gio and osvaldo can do as well as they did against trazabour
Im happy with this.
No Bonucci? That’s strange, he was already rested this weekend
Fiorentina are going with a 4-3-1-2. Conte might switch to 4-3-3 midgame and go with this:
Buffon
Caceres-Ogbonna-Chiellini-Asamoah
Vidal-Pirlo-Marchisio
Isla-Osvaldo-Giovinco
very strong in my opinion
no cuadrado for viola?
Damit, Porto 1-0 Napoli
Dutch referee, Kuipers. Tell us about him Dutch, is he a good ref? 😛
He fucked Milan over against Barca last year or 2 years ago.
Ugh nevermind xD
Other than that he’s pretty good though. Didn’t he do the euro 2012 final? He’s probably gonna be at the world cup too.
Or the confederations cup final idk anymore.
https://stvstreams.com/
STV flash 3 is english. Can’t find a dutch one 🙁
the choreography is so awesome <3
I’m sure they purposly give giovinco the tallest child to walk out with just so they’re abiut the same height
Look at our fans…. JU<3VE. Amazing!
Matri: “Hoping for a goal at Juve stadium” So did we Matri, so did we.. xD Its weird to see him in purple now though
Another english stream: https://dazsports.org/daz2.html
wow the stadium is packed!
If only that was a goal already xD
GOLLLLL
gooool
VIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL ARTUROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHAHAHAHA
REEE ARTUU!!!
Sweet jesus christ what a combination!
Asamoah – Vidal – Marchisio – Giovinco – Vidal – GOL!
i just wanna point out the brilliant movement of Marchisio in tht play. he drags aquilani so that asamoah could run into more space, the ball lands at his feet and creates a goal scoring opurtunity
You should become his PR agent 😛
whats that :p
Not forgetting the ball he played in
i did not
Oh damn it, I miss 4 minutes only, and I miss it..
Dude, you missed out on something there
OMFG! Dutch I’m using that Dutch site and the English commentator doing this game is f*cking special needs! First off he keeps saying giovinco when osvaldo does something and then the one time he is talking about osvaldo when he has the ball he says he is yet to score since signing for juve.. Wtf? Also he keeps calling Isla ‘ila’
Ah so I did hear that right, thought so too
He needs a new fact sheet I think
Indeed xD
Again he says it! It annoys me more with each mention!
Hahahah xD Dutch commentators aren’t so bad after all, right. Especially when you can’t understand them XD
English ones always bother me the most because I can understand the sh*t they are talking about
I guess thats natural because most dutch commentators annoy me the most.
Are you watching the BT Sport stream?
Number3
Pirlos with a BUNCH of space. not that im complaining :p
Matri was actually close lol
Damn isla is having an amazing game
Asamoah just saved our butt
What a game, Fiorentina fighting just as hard as us
It is the Europa League after all 😛
The competition for lions 😛
Bad touch from Osvaldo there, sadly. Would’ve been 2-0 if he could shoot it.
Lol Marc, you also have another commentator now?
Not being able to tell Giovinco and Osvaldo apart got him fired?
Who knows 😛
it shouldnt be hard:p Giovinco, the short bald dude; Osvaldo, the Johhny Depp/Kahl Drago look alike.
This is the tale of hoard leader drogo, kahl so brave on the seven plaaaaains!
i need to watch that show… sounds so epic!
You do! I’m trying to get my parents into it, got them into the walking dead now! It’s great!
Yeah thank goodness! I was like woah wait wtf you doing put the game back on then he changed channel to a different one I was just like THANK YOU!!
Maybe the director was tired of that horrible commentator too xD
I just wanna know who he is so I can go teach him a lesson
Asamoah and Isla tearing the flanks apart, liking this a lot
Vidal sooooo close
Great play Marchisio!!!
wow this cant be the europa league. its so awesome
Arturo about to deck Pizarro there lol
HO LEE SH*T gio just won a header
Fuuuuuck the bar
Unlucky 🙁
Lol Chiellini, that was great
Even he is stunned by that sprint xD
Oh wait no this one is just as bad ‘chiellini was originally a LB and was converted into a CB in the 3 man defence by conte’ WTF?!
Wasn’t he a LB at Livorno?
He was a LB originally but converted by conte? What the ever living f*ck?
and us up until ranieri.
fox soccer?
No idea.. Dutchesses stream
i think it is cuz my commentator said the same thing.
Better than the other one but still.. I prefer not understanding my commentators
Pretty great first half. Hopefully we can put some more in in the 2nd half.
Yeah that was an awesome game so far.
Gio looking confident… keep it up Gio! and i think he also out muscled a defender to win a corner and the commentator was like ” and Gio actually won the ball to win a corner” :p
Yeah gio has looked like the gio of Parma these last 2 games he’s played, I’d like to see him getting a bit more playing time in the league too
Hey Belgian, you enjoying these adverts? Just so.. Bad!
Sucks bigtime 😛
The jokes are killing me
is there one about some show called “cosmos”?
Maybe, idk I try not to take anything in from them
if there is, i think we do have the same stream… btw that show is pretty badass!
Of juve’s past 35 games in european competitions, juve have lost only twice at home. Both losses came to bayern munich
Another run by Chiellini lol
What the heck Chiellini?!
Lol gonzalo just pulled a busquets
Osvaldo shouldve come off. He’s been having a terrible game
Isla was playing way better when he was being called ila
Marchisio playing second striker?
What skill Marchisio
i missed it 🙁
It was beautiful
Oh boy the more I think about it the more I think you missed out
Oh man, you should really feel bad missing that
why you rub in my face?
Oh man if you’d seen it you wouldn’t even have been so bothered at their goal such was the beauty of it
Ooooh, I’ll be dreaming if it tonight, over and over.. Boy oh boy
Here.
https://gfycat.com/FocusedKindheartedGavial
Fucking unbelievable.
terrible marking
Caceres just f*cking left him!
yea i know
This is why he shouldn’t be allowed to play CB! He’s too unreliable
drop dead (not literally), bonnuci has been guilty of this too. Caceres was very good except this part, and you would expect Ogbonna to give him cover since Gomes is making a run towards the middle.
Deserved.
Oh okay just to make us feel better.. Padoin
PADOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!! Padoin will save us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
actually, his only goal for juve came against fiore in the 5-0 trashing
Game is 1-1. Lets bring on padoin. Fucking hell
Padoin time…… que the music.
this is why you dont stop attacking after 20 mins
Exactly.
No no this was a master stroke, Fiorentina just weren’t expecting us to allow them to come back into the game, we have them right where we want them..
Padoin with a first touch that would make zidane look like fool
So is 1-1 the result we were going for?
Fuck Ogbonna. So overrated… Never had faith in him.
He’s played well tonight..
1. Countless useless fouls
2. Fail marking Gomez
3. Countless misplaced passes
Just stick to a youth player Conte…
how many are you counting of 1) and 3)? 2) wasnt his fault.
Gomez was Caceres his man…
Caceres is more on the right. Ogbonna was center and Gomez is their only striker, making him take the responsibility.
Are you serious right now? Caceres just let Gomez run past him and completely ignored him, ogbonna should be commended for getting as close as he did
But in the end Caceres was helping out Ogbonna by covering his ass. Watch it again:
Caceres prob stayed to the right in hopes of saving it if it rolls by into the goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Vr5j3dHsM
Shocking how you send a link which cuts off the part in which caceres left his man.. Fact remains that that goal was caceres fault because he left his man, ogbonna was running back so there’s no way that caceres should be passing on a man to him when his back is turned, that was just amateur by caceres and the goal was down to his mistake.
But it wasn’t his man originally. That’s the point. Caceres saw Ogbonna coming back to the position he was supposed to be in and moved away to stop a potential rolling ball. Ogbonna wasn’t fast enough and didn’t read the pass properly so he ended up behind.
Yes it was, the have 2 forwards, the centre defender drops off and is the spare man. If Gomez was ogbonnas man then there is literally no reason for caceres to be on the pitch. After caceres lost his man he went to the back post for that event but it was caceres inability to track his man that caused that goal, 100%.
It’s the complete opposite of what you’re saying when there’s only one forward. At that point in the game, Gomez was playing alone up front. Chiellini and Caceres should have been the spares. Not Ogbonna.
It’s like saying that was also Chiellini’s fault for not being there at all as he wasn’t a spare. Ogbonna failure to read the pass, go back fast enough, and mark ultimately led to the goal.
If you watched it you’ll notice that caceres completely left him, Gomez came in from the right which is caceres area. Gomez was 100% caceres man in that situation and that will be the case no matter how much you argue it I’m afriad. Ogbonna wasn’t at fault for the goal, caceres was.
Fact stays that Caceres was with him at the time and just let him pass. Positions are important, but it’s a teamsport and if one player isn’t on his position, which i don’t even know if Ogbonna was or not, the player who is there should cover for him. They all played CB so they all should be able to fill in for eachother. You can maybe blame Ogbonna for not keeping to his position the whole match long, which you can blame any player for, but the goal is on Caceres.
And we shouldn’t forget how much class Gomez is. He took that ball like a beast and finished it in a way a true striker would.
This this this this. He’s been injured and then out of form for basically the entire season. He is just now starting to return to form. Unfortunate for us.
1) hasn’t made a single foul
2) that was caceres fail
3) 97% pass accuracy
You realise ogbonna is the black guy at the black right?
exactly the result i DIDNT want
Osvaldo has been flop of the match. Shame gio is a poor finisher. He deserved a goal.
Yeah he just couldn’t get into the game, shame he’d been doing well so far. Yeah gio deserved more, not sure why he was taken off over osvaldo
He’s been playing against a midtable turkish team. Thats hardly a tough opponent. And even there, he blew hot and cold. Not worth the hype. And yea, with llorente, we shouldve definitely kept gio
He’s looked dangerous enough coming on against other teams too though, he’s never been a player to be involved for the full 90 but he can pop up with a goal at any moment and is doing well and even improving his work rate.
He only looked dangerous against hellas verona. And that could happen because they had never played against him and he had never played for us so they werent tactically prepared.
In a 2 game tie a 1-0 lead is not fucking enough. Why won’t Conte understand this? Now we might just be screwed. We’ll need our top game next week.
Juve played ridiculous. The first 20minutes they dominated. The 2nd half ball possession was fiorenta’s and even when it was 1-1 Juve were pinned back for the last 10min of the game. Ridiculous stupid subs, playing a lone striker when you’re 1-0 up. Juve got sloppy, hate that
Juve could be out of the europa league. Never searching for that 2nd goal. Fuck that playing for the 1-0 in a 2-game tie. Stupid silly amateur mistakes by conte.
Well, something to play for in Firenze next week. Kinda glad this game ended 1-1, we needed that wake up call.
This is Juve in non-serie a action, so there is really no waking up. The second leg at Trapzonspor was an anomaly.
the first leg was in turkey no?
Yup
This really looks like the Champions League Juventus. The worst kind there is. I don’t know if its Conte or the players. And Padoin comes on after we have just been scored so that he caaaaan…???
Leme finish that.
Padoin comes on after we have just been scored so that he caaaaan….. come on.
Best way to finish it imo. He doesn’t do more than just come on, you know.
Yo Padoin will get us a hat trick next time. I mean, it’s only because he’s unlucky that he’s not scoring.
.
We’re doomed.
One of our best chances came from a padoin cross
I didn’t see that, but you have to admit that most of our chances came while Padoin was on the bench so…lol
Padoin hasn’t been bad recently, he just isn’t the player I want to see coming on when we need a goal.
Beat crowns of the game by a long shot! Oh no I agree I wasn’t thinking ‘damn bring padoin on we need a goal’ by any stretch of the imagination but I do feel the abuse he gets is unfair. He does what is asked of him, just conte brings him on at times we need someone else.
Conte has admitted to giving priority to the league so yeah
I thought he wanted to win the EL, and that priority to the league stuff blows me. We have 31 league titles and only 2 CLs. I could live without a serie a title for 2 seasons and trade it for a CL trophy.
Exactly
he does. its just that serie a comes before El
typical conte – he over estimates his competition in serie a. he’s got a mammoth lead in the league, priority right now should be given to europe as it’s crazy right now to think that they don’t have the league locked up.
Yeah especially since we had most of the big teams and have an 11(14) point lead with 11games remaining.. And we play goddamn Genoa, play a full B team there for all I care, this game should have been a win. Now we’ll have to chase a goal and Fiorentina will do anything to exploit that
conte is a donkey sometimes – he still thinks it 1997 when Serie A as actually a prominent league – When is this buffoon gonna realize that EUROPE is the priority, not these shitty meaningless scudetti.
Anyway, Vidal MOM by far.
We didn’t play bad; it’s just that their goalie and the post saved them multiple times. I think that it should have been 3-1.
”We didn’t play bad; it’s just that their goalie and the post saved them multiple times.”
The well know Juve syndrome
We’re on the right track hahaha
Fucking Draw Neri, he would’ve been fine with this 1-1.
But you gotta admit, this game was different from the other draws or losses we’ve had. We actually created good chances that were unlucky not to be goals.
I’m sorry to say but Conte shows his inability In Europe again. Subs were just awfull…
I wouldn’t say they were awful but they added nothing to the team bar a fresh set of legs
If you play a lone striker when you’re 1-0 up and defend and give almost all of the possession to fiorentina when playing at home and then when it’s 1-1 and you get Padoin in. Well, awful imo..
Marchisio pushed up as an attacking mid though so it packed up the midfield with the intention of keeping possession without the defensive intent
The thing that bothers me the most is that they slowed down after that 1-0 and now they got their asses handed to them. Juve shouldn’t be playing like that, especially not in their own stadium.
yea i think the intention was there, but the execution wasnt
who wouldve you put in? keep in my mind that Tevez is injured
was quags on the list? pogba much earlier?
Everyone in midfield was playing well and pogba has been playing bad lately so that would have been an inexplicable move, quags wasn’t on the bench I don’t think
I would move Marchisio up front and put Pobga in his spot after taking of Osvaldo
thats what he did
well damn, I guess Conte got his tactics from playing fifa manager too hahaha
Hahaha wow
Has nothing to do with fifa so wtf?
He has played gio on the left in i believe the first game against trabz. And he played marchisio on the right also this season a couple of times. So it’s not something completely new..
keep your panties on. You probably didnt read the the little discussion between John and me. I suggested doing something I would have done in fifa, and John confirmed that Conte had done the exact same thing, hence the Fifa manager reference. It was a joke.
Juve shouldn’t be playing with a lone striker when they’re 1-0 up and playing in their own stadium. This is Juve ffs, not some small ass team. Or they kept playing their 3-5-2 or grow some balls and play a 4-3-3 with Marchisio-Osvaldo(Llorente)-Giovinco. Marchisio already played a couple of times on the right upfront. Conte tried to play safe and got what was coming. Now chances are big that we’ll get knocked out of this competition.
Just hate the fact (and it not the first time) that Juve are happy after that 1-0 and they could score more but the tempo slows down, they start playing differently. Un-fuckin-believable
yea im not fine with it either. at least go for a 2 nd and keep possession, not defend like a small team
why? you don’t think we can beat fiorentina on their home ground 1-0? Please.
quags was dropped for osvaldo
Llorente shouldve started, Osvaldo shouldve been rested for this weekends game since its an easier game. Lichtsteiner at about 65′. Osvaldo for Gio at some point after 70′.
We were playing a Serie A side today, it shouldn’t matter what the game is called.
But you gotta admit, Matri won this game for them 😛
i dont blame Conte for the subs, but wtf is up with the slowing down the tempo after a goal thing? i dont know if its Conte or the players and Conte just being fine with it, but its not acceptable. i understand the players are tired, but can they at least keep possession?
padoin over lichtsteiner? isla needs to learn how to pass.
thats true, but 1/3 bad subs isnt horrible and it almost paid off.
lazy attitude won the game
but we drew :p
shhhh 😛 fiorentina wins this, they have the advantage
ahh i didnt know who you were talking about :p
at least we have this:
Going down to the caceres ogbonna debate, it was 50-50 imo. Defending 101, you never let a player run into the box an leave him. Caceres saw that ogbonna was getting to the ball and just stopped. Ogbonna on the other hand just let the ball go past him instead of clearing it which is something you never do unless you are 100% sure the gk is right behind you or its going out for a goal kick and there is no one else close to the ball. Two lapses in judgement+a world class striker (albeit one off form) is bound to lead to a goal
i cant blame obgonna. had he tried to kick the ball away, many things couldve have gone wrong cuz he wouldve had to stretch his leg awkwardly while he was still turning his head.
He was watching it all the way but made the mistake of thinking no one was behind him and let the ball go through at the last moment. Im not too disappointed. When was the last time caceres and ogbonna played together? Their understanding of each other will grow
yea he was ball watching a bit and was overly casual but tbf that ball came out of no where and he was already ahead of Gomez at the time the ball was played
i really hope we add more players to our roster. we need another Cm, at least two wingers and some reinforcements at the back. we need players for at least 2 comps next year and we cant risk having players tired like this. it wont work. open up the wallets Agnelli
we have these players you speak of already – they just never play.
the players im speaking of are at the caliber of Kroos and Di Maria. Caceres showedd why i often feel nervous when hes at the back. he makes many mistakes and he finally paid for one today. he can be solid, but i prefer him higher up the pitch. Isla has not been confident up until trabz and he even mentioned it in an interview a day or 2 ago.
plus we could really use a proper lb if we plan on using a 4 man backline.
btw still wondering, why didn’t bonucci play?
Just Conte rotating, I guess. He didn’t play on Sunday either, did he?
maybe Obgonna impressed more in training?
Bonucci struggles against big target men like drogba and gomez.
but Gomez is a poacher and Bonucci does very well against poachers.
Matri started though, Bonucci has Matri in his pocket anyday. And he’s just way better than Caceres and Ogbonna
new thread yo!