Match Scouting Serie A

Scouting Report : Torino

February 22, 2014 - 10:17 am

venturaSomehow, Torino haven’t scored to Juventus in almost 12 years, since a goal by Benoit Cauet on February 24, 2002. They also haven’t won a Derby della Mole in almost 19 years, as their last victory over the Bianconeri dates back to April 9, 1995. But it’s also true that Torino haven’t performed so well in Serie A for a very long time.

Giampiero Ventura started to revisit his tactic in the second half of last season and this year he abandoned his beloved 4-2-4 for a more pragmatic and balanced 3-5-2. A path similar to the one taken by Conte back in the days. A successful one.

Torino are a very ordinate and solid team, they cover well the pitch, they have experience but also young talents. They are also driven by a particular fighting spirit, most of the players have a chip on their shoulder: Padelli was never considered good enough to be a starter, Bovo is a journeyman that never got the recognition he probably deserves, Darmian was dumped by Milan, Vives and Masiello have been labelled as bidoni for most of their career and El Kaddouri didn’t break out at Naples. Then, of course, Cerci and Immobile, a Roma and Fiorentina cast-off and a former Juventino who bears a grudge against his old team.

Now, they are the columns of Ventura’s well-oiled machine. Glik-Bovo (or Maksimovic) and Moretti in the back: they combine physicality and cleverness, they have also decent feet to start the actions without giving the ball away too much. In the midfield, Vives this year surprisingly became a serviceable playmaker and will be accompanied by the muscular Farnerud, a player whose cuts should not be overlooked (already 3 goals). Along with them, the Moroccan Omar El Kaddouri, an important tactical weapon since he can play also in a more advanced position, as a CAM, and knit the play between the two lines: he’s very creative and, despite not being particular fast, he knows where to run and how to dribble past the opponents.

cerciUpfront, of course, the driving force of Torino: Alessio Cerci and Ciro Immobile. They have a total of 24 goals: Immobile has 13, while Cerci has 11, but also 10 assists. Cerci is the real offensive playmaker of the team. He starts as a forward but when the defense is set, he usually slides toward the right flank, occupying his usual RW position. From there, he’s able to do everything: cut and shoot, lob it in for Immobile who is constantly trying to beat the offside trap, go to the bottom of the pitch and cross with both feet. He’s never been so efficient in his career.

Torino are 11th in the possession chart and 5th for shots conceded: they are a team that let the opponent play and then counter with two masters of this art like Cerci and Immobile. But they also have the sixth best defense: it’s a calculated risk. They have a super balanced record on the road: 4 W 4 D 4 L. In the last month, they had mixed results: a win over Atalanta with a questionable penalty call to say the least, a draw against Milan, a loss against Bologna at home, redeemed by a convincing road victory over Hellas Verona.

The first Derby of the season, as you may recall, was decided by a Pogba goal where Tevez was slightly offside in the build-up. Juventus were in a similar condition: not the best Juve of the season, not brilliant physically, but they attacked for most of the game, preventing Torino from creating dangers for Buffon. Torino will use that as an extra motivation.

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  • Avatar
    Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 22, 2014 at 10:48 am

    reports have Marchisio starting in place of Pirlo.

    First!

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      tpick February 23, 2014 at 1:04 am

      Marchisio has been playing well and this being a derby game means more to him than any of our midfielders.

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        Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 23, 2014 at 1:39 am

        and his wife being a supporter of torino, he ll love to have bragging rights in the household.

        plus i had an actual dream that i checked whoscored.com after church like i usually do and he scored 2 goals, so perhaps that was a good omen.

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          DutchJuve February 23, 2014 at 2:22 pm

          She supports Torino despite her husband playing for Juve????

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            Marc Dominic Zaroli February 23, 2014 at 7:13 pm

            If she’s a Torino supporter shes not gonna change just for that!

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    Marc Dominic Zaroli February 22, 2014 at 4:43 pm

    https://www.football-italia.net/45566/prandelli-rossi-balo-and-berardi

    Kinda unfair on berardi to say its too soon, especially considering verratti had no serie a experience yet was still called up (increasing his price and ruining our chances of signing him in the process)

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      Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 22, 2014 at 7:48 pm

      exactly what i was thinking. Prandelli is weird…

      where have you been? we need to get some unrelated content up in this bee-otch!! but just enough, so people dont get all judgey wudgey.

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        JosephVitale February 22, 2014 at 10:40 pm

        hes simply not ready. An 18 year old just coming to serie A wouldnt be ready. Sure he scored many goals including 4 against Milan but hes just not ready. I wouldnt even bring him back to juve next season. Theres too much hype on him and I think Gabbiadini would be a better addition.

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          Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 23, 2014 at 1:48 am

          but i dont think it ll be bad just to bring him along. yea hes 18 or 19, but age is just a number. wasnt muller 21 when he was the top goal scorer of the WC last time around? if Berardi ends up being one the top Italian goalscorers for serie a, i think its only fair he gets a call up regardless of age. plus whos his competition? obviously Balo and Rossi are going. the other top italian strikers/wingers are Immobile, Cerci, Toni, Gila, Gabba and possibly Pabos. im sure he could sneak his way in there

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          Marc Dominic Zaroli February 23, 2014 at 7:11 pm

          Pogba was put into the France squad with less games under his belt.. The fact is it’s highly unfair to rule him out of when he’s playing so well especially after including verratti in the provisional squad for the euros despite not playing a single game in serie a

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        Marc Dominic Zaroli February 23, 2014 at 7:14 pm

        I’ve been a busy man of late mr John, people can judge all they want as long as we enjoy our unrelated convos

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          Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 24, 2014 at 5:25 am

          i see , i see. im the exact opposite, i have all the time in the world and am doing absolutely nothing besides hang with friends and play football… but hey i think i deserve it after the stressful year i head yesteryear :p

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    DutchJuve February 22, 2014 at 7:37 pm

    Are we suppose to post in this one now?

    If so, Del Piero scored a penalty and gave an assist in a 2-0 win for Sydney today!

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    DutchJuve February 22, 2014 at 7:40 pm

    Also, still about Australia: Davids was there, representing Juve. He also met with Del Piero and apparently we will be playing against Del Piero in August. Juventus vs Australia’s All Star team.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk_Xvcmursg

    • Avatar
      Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 22, 2014 at 7:51 pm

      yes… i posted all that in one of the previous threads :p

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        DutchJuve February 22, 2014 at 9:41 pm

        There’s too much to follow evrything lol. I got it from a Juve group on facebook. Sorry to steal all the glory you could still have gotten with this 😀

        • Avatar
          Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 23, 2014 at 1:50 am

          its ok, people are probably just gonna ignore and be like ” oh nothing new here, John already posted that” :p

          EDIT: So you didnt see that pic i posted of Capitano and Davids… i posted it especially for you!!

          • Avatar
            DutchJuve February 23, 2014 at 2:21 pm

            🙁 I didn’t. Post it again! Well i did see them together in the video though.

          • Avatar
            Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 23, 2014 at 9:12 pm

            there you go

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    JuventusVidal February 22, 2014 at 9:22 pm

    torino president says that he will propose to renew the co-ownership of immobile in the summer or he will take it to the blind auction. fuck.

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      Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 23, 2014 at 1:57 am

      i really want Immobile back, but in my gut i feel one more year could do him well. right now hes in that stage where he has finally found form, we want that form to solidify and maybe one more year could do him very good vs him challenging Llorente for a starting spot.

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        JuventusVidal February 23, 2014 at 2:41 am

        He’s 24 though

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          Papilaya(John)™★★★ February 23, 2014 at 2:53 am

          yea thats what makes me really want him back. i dont want him to use up another year elsewhere.

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    dinodelfino February 23, 2014 at 2:06 pm

    Toro Toro vaffanculo Toro Toro vaffanculo

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    dinodelfino February 23, 2014 at 2:37 pm

    Forza Juve Vincere per noi!

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    dinodelfino February 23, 2014 at 4:05 pm

    Buffon,barzagli,bonucci,caceres,lichst,vidal,pirlo,pogba,asa,carlitos,llorente

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    dinodelfino February 23, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    JUVE JUVE JUVE JUVE