Lichsteiner spends more time poaching than our strikers. So should Conte spend the rest of the season in the tribuna?
Same side, same problem. DeCeglie let his mark turn the ball back and a Chievo player ran through and put in a nice shot. He has no sense of positioning as a defender.
Gk: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli), Marchetti (Lazio), Sirigu (Paris St. Germain); D: Abate (Milan), Astori (Cagliari), Barzagli (Juventus), Gastaldello (Sampdoria), Peluso (Juventus), Ranocchia (Inter), Santon (Newcastle); M: Candreva (Lazio), De Rossi (Roma), Diamanti (Bologna), Florenzi (Roma), Giaccherini (Juventus), Montolivo (Milan), Nocerino (Milan), Pirlo (Juventus), Verratti (Pars St. Germain); F: Balotelli (Milan), El Shaarawy (Milan), Gilardino (Bologna), Giovinco (Juventus), Osvaldo (Roma) WTF is this ? We have three important games coming up.
With almost half the first XI missing through injury and suspension, Conte once again absent from the sidelines and our opponents enjoying a praiseworthy season of mid-table certainty, the away fixture with Chievo looked tricky, but also perhaps, what we needed in order to recover momentum in time for a tricky and potentially decisive run of matches in February. Any team would struggle with regular starters Marchisio, Chiellini, Bonucci, Asamoah, Vucinic all unavailable, but whilst we did at times struggle in the respectable, hard earned 1-2 victory, the general sense of control of proceedings was present almost throughout. Other than a patch after the interval when our play became disjointed and the flying donkeycoks went for the jugular. Player ratings- Buffon. Couldn’t do much about the goal, made several classy saves ,marshalled the defence like an elder statesman, commanded his area well enough and showed brilliant enthusiasm and spirit when we scored our goals. No question that the juve fire still burns brightly in his soul. 7/10. Caceres. I prefer Martin as a CB and thought he acquitted himself with maturity and competence over the course of the ninety minutes. Rarely caught out for pace or in the air, kept his distribution simple. Solid. 6.5/10 Barzagli. . The big man needed to step up a gear with two new defensive partners, both of whom need an older, calmer head around them. Andrea was everywhere, uncompromising in the aerial battles, calm and resolute in the tackle, constantly reading the play intelligently. He continues to be one of my favourite signings of the last few years. He offers assurance of quality. Especially pleasing to see him perform so majestically without Bonucci and Chiellini, and also make that wonderful run up the right flank and find himself in the area…7/10. Marrone. I remain unconvinced by Conte’s clairvoyance regarding Luca’s future as a CB. He is young, and will need time to adjust to a new position. His tackling and covering were fine, positioning as larval as you would expect for a regista. It’s a definite advantage to have him in the backline when Bonucci, our other ball playing defender, is absent. Still…for an unexperienced Serie A player, he was as reliable as an established defender in Caceres, so he deserves a pat on the back. Promising 6.5/10. Lichsteiner. I can’t see a future in this team for Isla, in a RWB position, whilst Lichsteiner remains at the club. The swiss nazi is more powerful, stronger, has greater tenacity in the tackle, covers more naturally and his engine is remarkable. No doubt he would be a better player as a RB in a back four, but even in the wingback role he is a phenomenal player. I don’t know of any RB I would prefer, at least in Italy. He battled hard, took his goal beautifully, continued to get into attacking positions throughout the game. Admittedly, his final ball can often be poor, it’s a small price to pay for the huge positives he brings to the team. We rarely suffer on the right flank when he plays. 7.5/10. De ceglie. Paolino managed to put several of his trademark dangerous crosses into the box, spent next to zero time defending, found himself the wrong side of his man in the Chievo move leading up to their goal, produced no good tackles, got booked needlessly, proved once again that whatever position he is asked to play he will steadfastly remain in the final third on the flank, as a left winger or left wing forward. He looks clueless, his passing is cringe worthy, he has next to no ability to take a player on, his shooting is woeful. Perhaps I am mistaken in thinking he was expected to play at LWB. If so, the team looked a pretty odd shape…lopsided 4-3-3????? No, we were playing 3-5-2, it just de ceglie who changes the formation as soon as he steps foot on the field. I am long past the stage of cringing at his name even on the bench, let alone in the starting XI, and any game we win with him in the starting Xi must be considered a mighty success. For all his running and determination and 1-3 useful crosses into the box (which are NEVER directed at anyone in particular), he is not now, has never been, will never be a left wing back of enough common sense to be worthy of our squad, let alone starting eleven. Clueless…a constant liability. He looks even worse when we have Lichsteiner on the opposite flank. The major problem with De ceglie’s complete absence of positional sense and inability to tackle, cover, head is that other players have to make up for his deficiencies…Pogba and Marrone had to play 1.5 positions each. If he was supposed to start at left wing, he would earn a 5. As a wing back, 3/10. A good athlete, but never a footballer. Too much time has now passed without even a hint of improvement. Feed him to the pigs… Pirlo. Looking back to near his best. Well protected and supported by Pogba and Vidal. Showed his class on the ball repeatedly, making himself available, acting as a fulcrum for everything positive we did, and also covering in front of the defence with authority and intelligent positioning. An average game by Pirlo’s standard still marks him out as a cut above the rest with the ball at his feet. It’s good to see him back to full fitness. 7/10. Vidal. The best I have seen of Arturo for a week or three, much of which was down to Lichsteiner’s solid showing as well as a fit again Pirlo supported by Pogba. His delicate lofted through ball for Matri’s opener was world class, with his hustling, stamina, passing and energy wonderful to behold for the entirety of his performance. He was enjoying himself…7/10. Pogba. The Frenchman’s task was made all the more tougher by having to make up for de ceglie’s defensive amnesia. Less of an offensive threat than in previous weeks, but nonetheless a very solid display. He is growing in confidence and technique, learning well from his peers, developing a blossoming link with Pirlo to whom he clearly shows a respectful deference. Tidy, great in the challenge and supreme in the air. Whilst his positioning may need some work, it’s too harsh to criticize given the different roles he is asked to play. Essentially, we can’t ask much more of a 19 year old. 7/10. Matri. Still a way off full match sharpness and marshalled carefully by the well drilled Chievo rear-guard. His goal was a delight, both the run and finish, which should do his confidence the world of good. Doesn’t appear to mesh well with Giovinco, but then again who does??? I’d certainly rather see him start alongside the little imp than Mirko in his place, for his shooting is superior and work rate much higher. He also makes runs that don’t come naturally to Mirko and Giovinco, the kind of runs creative players love to pick out with delicate through balls.…7/10. Giovinco. Smart assist for Lichsteiner’s goal, stretched the opposition defence leaving gaps for our midfield to exploit, showed good tenacity and a desire to stay on his feet. A few clever touches, but rarely looked like finding the net via his own boots, yet again squandering a couple of chances which begged for better technique. 6.5/10. SUBS- Quags. Was given a fair amount of time to make an impact but sadly produced very little. If January rumours of his sale had any substance to them, his mind may well be less focused than it needs to be if he is to spearhead a charge for a first team spot. I don’t think his heart is in the Juve cause and a Summer move beckons. 6/10. Isla and Padoin. A handful of minutes was not enough for Isla to carve his name into the records for this match, and like Padoin, he looks less apart of the team, cohesion wise, than any other player on show. Conclusion. We started positively, controlled the pace of the game, and dominated the first half. Heading into the break two goals to the good I expected a resurgent Chievo to appear when the ref blew for secondo tempo and the charge of the flying donkeys did indeed unsettle us. We missed Conte in the changing rooms and once the goal went in, through a mixture of poor defending and a well taken snapshot, there was an air of concern in our ranks. Thankfully, the likes of Pirlo, Vidal, Barzagli, Lichsteiner and Pogba continued to control large areas of the field, calming the storm and dropping the pace of the game back to a level where we were organized and superior. And we really should have made the game safe long before the final whistle blew… We didn’t play particularly well, were missing as many as five first team players, yet were in the driving seat for the majority of the game, scored two brilliantly taken goals, suffered no new injuries and showed good squad depth against a team coming off a brilliant away victory over Lazio. We will need to raise our game considerably over the coming weeks, with a home tie against Fiorentina, and two tricky away games versus Celtic and Roma all to come in the next fortnight. Many positives to take out of a winning performance in a tough fixture. With Anelka in the squad, and Matri seemingly returning to a state in which his confidence is growing, our future in the striking department suddenly looks brighter. I just hope that Conte noticed the importance of having a prima punta on the field, of having a player who instinctively makes runs into the box, between defenders. We look far more dangerous with Matri and Giovinco, than with Mirko and Giovinco, for our opponents don’t need to deal with runs into the box other than from our midfielders. Creative and Creative isn’t as potent as Creative and Finisher. We are more predictable without a prima punta, as are most teams…other than Barca. MOM- Andrea Barzagli. Lacking two of the strongest defenders in Italy, he stepped up a gear and lead by example.
I agree with most of what you said here. Except for some details: Isla is a completely different player then the Nazi. He's more of a defensive Pepe so to speak. When hes back to 100% he will challenge for that left side. Marrone for me is the best ball playing CB we have. He's looking better in that position every game. He's looked good in the midfield as well. De Ceglie did not look that bad today, overall he did well. Maybe we can get sell him soon. If we started Giakk there it would be better. Caceres needs more starts as a CB or a LCB. He looks very solid there. Regarding the striker situation, we got to see the rare Matri/Quags combo. I liked it and if they got to play together more often I think we could see more goals. Especially with Giakk and/or Pepe on the wings.