Juventus v Chievo
Serie A Week 3 – Saturday, 12th September – 19:45 CET – Juventus Stadium
Juventus
After the worst start in Juventus’ history, they had not lost the first two games of the season since 1912, when the Italian league was not called Serie A yet, redemption is necessary as a surprisingly fiery Chievo Verona visit Turin. Despite the zero in the standing, there are reasons to be optimistic, first of all the furious reactions in ten men against Roma that was almost enough to produce a tie.
The last day of the transfer market window brought Mario Lemina and Hernanes and, also thanks to the return of Claudio Marchisio, we go from no options in the midfield to plenty of alternatives. As the coach stated, the group is complete and the season starts now.
Even if he was not the player we pursued the most, Hernanes is a quality reinforcement, he has proved with Lazio that he can be a difference maker in Serie A and had a nice end of his 2014/2015 campaign with Inter. More importantly, it might not be a sexy acquisition, but Hernanes is a full-fledged trequartista who fits in perfectly, has a knack for scoring from outside the box, is very creative, can easily glide past his man and is an excellent free kick taker. Had he been five years younger, we would be being parading in San Carlo square. It is a patch after the Draxler fiasco, but it is a good one. As Giuseppe Marotta admitted, he likes to buy players who have Serie A experience and there are not many option in that role: Franco Vazquez, Marek Hamsik and Riccardo Saponara, all reported Juve targets at some point, turned out to be either not for sale or too expensive.
The final additions mean that we are not going to see 3-5-2 from the start anytime soon. It is not a knock on the scheme as I do not think there is any formation that ultimately makes you win, but, more often than not, the approach we used with 3-5-2 was too passive. With Massimiliano Allegri at the helm, we have never seen the Contian 3-3-4 with the two wing-backs constantly on the opponent’s final third. It is ok though, every coach is a master of his own tactics, Allegri was smart in easing the transition last season, but now it is 4-3-1-2 time.
Sami Khedira remains out, while Kwadwo Asamoah has resumed practicing with the rest of group last week, but it is probably too early to ask him to contribute. Patrice Evra is suspended, so Alex Sandro will make his debut in black and white. Allegri announced that Andrea Barzagli will start, so probably Giorgio Chiellini will get some pre-emptive rest ahead of the Etihad clash. The midfield should be composed by Paul Pogba, Claudio Marchisio and probably Stefano Sturaro. Hernanes is slated to start in the hole as Roberto Pereyra has returned from international duties only on Friday. Alvaro Morata has been slowed down by the flu during the week, but he should be in starting XI, if not Mario Mandzukic is ready to take his place in the attack with Paulo Dybala.
Probable lineup:
4-3-1-2: Buffon; Lichsteiner, Barzagli, Bonucci, Alex Sandro; Sturaro, Marchisio, Pogba; Hernanes; Dybala, Morata.
Injuries:
Khedira (thigh), Asamoah (knee).
Suspended:
Evra, Rubinho.
Chievo
Chievo Verona have had a stunning start: a comeback win against Empoli on the road and a battering of Lazio. The most surprising part is that they have scored seven goals in two match after being dismal in that aspect last season. The credit goes to the strikes, Alberto Paloschi and in particular Riccardo Meggiorini are on fire, to Rolando Maran, who has always been an offensive minded coach, and to the management who has added some useful weapons.
Lucas Castro, Paul-José Mpoku and Simone Pepe are set to contribute greatly in their scheme: a very pragmatic, almost old-fashioned, 4-4-2 that exploits brilliantly the wing game and can easily turn into a diamond formation as Valter Birsa can play as no. 10 and Castro as box-to-box midfielder. Massimo Gobbi is a boring purchase, but he fills a hole at LB left by the departure of Ervin Zukanovic, who was the only valuable player who departed from their relatively successful last season’s campaign, when they easily avoided relegation and finished in 14th position with 43 points.
Seeing the first two matches, you would have never guessed that this team, which all in all is not that different from last season’s version, scored only 28 goals in 2014/2015. They have already tallied ¼ of that in 180 minutes. If Maran could maintain the same defensive balance, clearly their strongest suit as they conceded only 41 goals in the previous year, better than the fourth-placed Fiorentina, he would have built a team that could go really far. Even when the performances of the strikers will inevitably regress to normalcy – I do not expect Meggiorini to dish a falling back-heel volley assist every week – Chievo will remain one of stoutest low-table team and one of the toughest to score against.
Chievo’s defense is hard to attack because of Dario Dainelli and Alessandro Gamberini’s quiet leadership, Bostjan Cesar’s physical presence and the work rate of the fullbacks Nicolas Frey and Gobbi. Scoring early will be the main task for Juventus, so they can avoid getting frustrated, panicking, attacking recklessly and conceding on a defensive lapse. This is what cost them the Udinese game.
Maran has some problems only in the midfield: the nominal starters are out both as Mariano Izco will miss a good chuck of the season because of an ACL tear, while Ivan Radovanovic is dealing with a knee sprain. In the last match, the coach picked Nicola Rigoni, who played at Cittadella in Serie B last season, over Anders Christiansen to play alongside Perparim Hetemaj in the middle. In the deadline day, they have added the experienced Giampiero Pinzi from Udinese, so he could be a viable option in a big game, where a rookie could be a little rattled.
The reports say that Maran intends to confirm the lineup that pounded Lazio, which means that Gamberini should play over Dainelli, who had some problems in the preseason, while Castro, Valter Birsa and Meggiorini should win the battle with Mpoku, Pepe and Sergio Pellissier for the starting jobs on the flanks and in the attack.
Probable lineup:
4-4-2: Bizzarri; Frey, Gamberini, Cesar, Gobbi; Castro, Rigoni, Hetemaj, Birsa; Meggiorini, Paloschi.
Injuries:
Izco (knee), Radovanovic (knee).
Suspended:
None
Formation
Probable lineup looks good, wouldn’t mind seeing this Lemina kid get a run out. I think Hernanes will surprise people, especially with a much better team around him.
Hope Morata and Dybala start and that Rugani gets a chance. Excited to see Sandro start and for the love of god no padoin pls
Fuck yeah buffon caceres barzagli Bonucci Sandro marchisio sturaro pogba Hernanes morata and Dybala start
Finally not with 3 at THE back
things you dont hear every day. or every year. or decade. or century.
any good quality streams?
wow wtf
bloody hell come on juve!!!!!
I am officially worried.
I am officially with you on that
Hardly any reaction to be seen after the goal
Let’s play a game of hangman . I’ll give you the first letter/symbol.
#
_____________
J?
Nope
E?
Good
next one L
I already won
You just took the last pleasure away from me during this game, you bastard!
Haha sorry :p It wasn’t a hard guess.
L is correct
it’s relegation for real? xD
No but good guess tho lol
next an A?
Very goo
is the word real in it? :p
So far we’re at #Alle r
m?
Try again lol
im pissed lol and confused at this juve team.i will leave it till the others to guess lol.
r, as in relegation?
Yes
Rly? 😀
Yes the word isn’t relegation tho
Oh -.- So we have ELR now. Would you put them in the right order for us?
Its #Alle r
is there an O in it? There must be more vowels :p
You’re pretty good at this
You just always ask common vowels first, that gives a somewhat clearer idea of what you’re looking for 😛
So what do we have now?
#Alle r O
there is a space between the r and o?:p
No space, a letter belongs there. Keep in mind this is a hashtag, as in #ForzaJuve
U? I can’t imagine a word starting with R that doesnt have a vowel next, though I’m tired and frustrated as fuck right now xD
You’re getting very close, don’t give up. It’s now #Alle r Ou
Could you type it all out with – for the missing characters, i’m too tired for this xD
Ok fine lol #AllegriOut
Looool okay I didn’t expect that one, I was looking at it as Alle “something”
is it me or are the players are on totally different wavelengths when it comes to passes in the attacking third?
Come on for fucks sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sandro is making good actions but he’s reckless.
Zaza is looking calm, he probably thinks he might get a chance today with the attack being so horrible. Probably not though.
Padoin has a better chance of being subbed in most likely, even as striker cause you know, he’s flexible
True i’m suprised he hasn’t been subbed in for Buffon yet on a bad day for Gigi.
we are terrible. We didnt even have any chances. Somebody please tell me whats going on?
Chances: Pereyra’s shot after the missheader from a Chievo defender, terrible shot. Marchisio’s shot from outside the box, didn’t hit it well. I think that’s all we had and we’re not dealing well with them.
okay marchisio is now out. that baffles me. well if he aint fit, then i guess
Buffon keeping us in it…
HOW DOES THAT NOT GO IN?!! 3shots in 5seconds ffs
Can you fucking believe this?????
My god they just scored another, even if it is cancelled, we are getting outplayed by fucking Chievo
and next match is against Manchester City….. We are gonna get raped
With some luck Aguero, Silva and that third guy, forgot which one, will still be injured. Then we’ll lose less hard I guess?
yeah maybe they only score 3 or 4 goals against us
Wow this match should be 2 or 3-0 now.
Penalty!! Now don’t fuckin miss it
FINALLY
Dybalaaaaaaa
A penalty saves us a point. Great job Juve…………….
The underdogs equalize!!!
Against the champions.
We won 1 point. We were lucky with that penalty.
shit. i dont wanna celebrate a fucking draw. we lost in my opinion
What a shit performance. Outplayed by fucking Chievo, I can’t believe what i’m typing
Time for a party, we got out first point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fucking crap.
Shit game. I really thought things would improve in this match. Very lucky that we drew.
Welp time to go to work….
Have fun.
Probably won’t lol
Holy shit worst start ever… Wtf is wrong with Juve? Allegri? Formation? Tevez? Pirlo? Vidal?
Its just a virus. On tuesday we will win
Hopefully dude. Same shit is happening to Chelsea too
All we can say, atleast we aren’t the only ones in deep shit.
No tevez, no vidal. and nobody to replace them.
I think we’ll have a season like Dortmund did last year.
So we’ll be great in the Champions League group stage and lose to Juventus in the 2nd round?
I bet we beat Juventus, they look awful this season.
You guys are too pessimistic. This juve has more potential than last year’s. There are more creative outlets than simply tevez and pirlo. Granted a goal scorer like tevez will be missed this season but I think the rest of the team will chip in to make tevez’s numbers from last season. Getting back to the match I always thought that barzagli may not have the legs to play in a back 4 and that sandro (defensively) may need time to gel in this back four. Carceres as always is a horrible replacement for lichsteiner ’cause offensively he slows down the attack and spends too much time holding the ball when he has space to run with it and his defensive positioning is poor. The defence was a bit shakier than usual but that was possibly also down to nerves. Could have done better with set piece marking (Allegri?). The midfield still lacks the grinta it had last year and this may be juve’s undoing this season. Hopefully, lemina steps up as I don’t think sturaro or pereyra have vidal’s presence. In the first half, without pogba the lack of midfield physical strength was obvious but his introduction greatly improved this. Cuadrado and hernanes may potentially be the very important to juve as they give juve more play making options than last year (along with pereyra and dybala). They both must start whenever fit. Attack was the worst of all 3. Morata has still got to rediscover his poacher instinct from last season where his movement was sublime. Dybala does not have the physical strength to play upfront and although he is technically more gifted than giovinco I see him going down the giovinco/coman way (of little use to us). Mandzukic is slow, poor at hold up play and may only be of use aerially (I don’t think he is going to be much better than llorente was). If I were Allegri, I would probably be worried about this more than anything else. There are no fall back options in this department. It is still a bit early but at least this juve was more positive than the ones in weeks 1 and 2.