Juventus v AS Roma
Friendly– Sunday, 30th July – 21:00 GMT – Gillette Stadium
I’ll confess to not having watched any of the friendlies Juve have taken part in so far – The timings have been off and no matter how much i love the Bianconeri, 2.00am kick-off times are not going to entice me to tune in. Thankfully, the next match is at a far more respectable hour, starting at 9pm UK time, and the choice of opposition is far more apt.
From what I can gather, Allegri has stuck with the 4-2-3-1, using some fringe players in the starting XI in the games against Barcelona and PSG, with mixed results. A 2-1 loss to Barca was significant for little more than giving the boys a run out and watching Marchisio up-end Neymar; The win over PSG made for better viewing, considering Il Principino was back to his best, scoring 2 goals in the process, while young Moise Kean got a good run out and set up the second Juve goal.
It’s difficult to glean anything from this matches – they serve as a great opportunity for the new players to join the more established ones, but beyond that, the results mean little. I get the sense the entire US tour is more of a promotional exercise than anything else. The Juve social media account has done a fine job of pushing the brand out there while the players and ambassadors for the club have done their part as well.
Bernardeschi joined up with his teammates earlier this week and has been warmly welcomes while Douglas Costa was undergoing a personal training program that kept him out of the most recent game against PSG. The reports are good and he’s expected to play against Roma, but Allegri wasn’t sure if it would be in the first or second half.
Mattia De Sciglio played at right-back and some wayward passes aside, he gave a solid enough performance for the duration of the game. A lot of praise has been directed at Rodrigo Bentancur, especially by Allegri who has apparently been very taken by the young Uruguayan. There were some reports that the Mister would evaluate the player during the summer tour before deciding whether or not to keep him at Juve for the upcoming season. The initial reports seem good and he’s a wildcard of sorts – While all the attention has been on Costa and Bernardeschi as Juve’s ‘big’ summer signings, there’s always a chance that young Rodrigo might cause a surprise or two. Here’s hoping he gets at least 30 minutes in the centre of the pitch in this game.
Allegri has been really vocal about keeping the 4-2-3-1 intact for the upcoming season, and the players we’ve signed are directly in line with that. Incidentally, every signing this summer has, by all accounts, been a player that Allegri wanted which suggest the board and management are really backing him. That suggestion could be applied to the departure of Leo Bonucci as well, given the two reportedly clashed on numerous occasions last season.
Gigi Buffon should start with Daniele Rugani and Medhi Benatia as the CB pairing and Alex Sandro and De Sciglio as as the full-backs. Marchisio will like get a rest so we’ll see Miralem Pjanic and Sami Khedira in the 2-man mid, while Costa and Mari Mandzukic will play on the wings with Paulo Dybala just behind Gonzalo Higuain in attack.
4-2-3-1: Buffon; De Sciglio, Benatia, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic; Douglas Costa, Dybala, Mandzukic; Higuain.