Winter is Coming! Who's Coming and Who's Going...

I think its time to start the summer transfer thread

Wait, I totally got Farfan mixed up with someone else. I'm not too big on him either.

I like Astori, Montolivo and Kalou though. Malouda I'm afraid is past it and we have enough wingers. I also couldn't argue with Flamini for free for backup to Marchisio or Vidal. A midfield of Marchisio, Vidal, Pirlo, Montolivo, Flamini and Marrone sounds solid.

Flamini is making 4m a season.

Jojo - Matri
Hamsik - Marchisio
Vidal - Pirlo - Litch
Caceres - Chiello - Bonucci
- Superman -

Dante, great minds think alike i dont want Hamsik either

Don't worry guys the club is not buying any over priced players.

FYI, the Nazi spends more time in the offensive half then the back line.

Make it three!
With Padoin coming in, I'm wondering if we may see some 3-4-3 action at some point from Juve, as a way of playing without Pirlo... the centerback trio, Licht and Padoin as wingbacks, Marchisio and Vidal playing box-to-box in the middle, and a Vucinic-Matri-Pepe trident.
Or a 3-4-1-2 with Giac in the hole behind Matri-Quags, which might be better in terms of taking advantage of the wing service.
In either case, an intriguing look. I would love to see Conte go all Bielsa on the formations, I'm such a sucker for aggressive three-back sets. And he already has the team pressing the whole field in madcap Bielsa-like fashion, so it could work.
As I see it, the only squads really taking the "full-court press" tactics to the next level right now are Mourinho's Real, Dortmund under Klopp, and Juve (and Bielsa himself of course but at Bilbao he lacks a platform). And I think that this is probably the strategy that will, for somebody, finally unlock the Barca domination by undoing their possession game. Real's relentless pressing without Real's indiscipline (driven by their complex about Barca and their fundamentally flawed backline)... that is what will take Barca's scalp eventually, and hopefully Juve (or Dortmund) will do it in style in next year's CL.

He has his moments but overall he is a liability because he is so stupid and reckless.

What is it about Milan always wanting at least one player who can throw away matches and points singlehandedly? They had Gilardino and Kaladze for a while, then they got rid of them but along came Antonini and Flamini, now they went out and got Muntari, The Human Red Card. They may as well have asked Inter to throw in Chivu if they were that eager to self-destruct.

It's the type of business Marotta is best at, if Conte wants them he will surely get them.

I guess you can make it 4.

Now we're talking. This is exactly what I want. Total football Bielsa style.

clarification question,

did we or did we not get leali?

if not that would be a shame

go ahead and make it 5 ^

i think marotta did really well unloading and the bouy transfer is promising, for now at least.

the padoin transfer i'm torn, i see both sides. i TRUST conte, and he must see/know something that makes him want this player, and not for a quick fix but for a 5 year contract. at the same time, i see two scenarios, either he steps in front of marrone in chances, in which case it will stunt the use of a very promising player, who if we were willing to put back we could have had pazienza on the bench like the start of the season; or he is behind marrone in which case, at least for this season, we pay 5M for someone who likely will see VERY little time.

the money is not big, but like davey has pointed out these little fees could have been used for a bigger one. if we still will try for naingollan in the summer, then i would have to say im against this transfer business wise, although i don't know much about him as a player.

caceres cost us 10 because we will surely meet the clause. he is quality and he is versatile, but if he is NOT the starting LB but merely a reserve defender, then i would question how much more he is bringing than sorensen? 10M more for a player not used much? it depends on our use, although i suppose next year either way he will see much more time. i just hope we don't forget sorensen

boriello, although extremely cheap, i feel like we had a very similar player in iaquinta. but for the price its not an issue.

ultimately, i won't say marotta did a bad job, but how good it was can't be judged now. either way, you can't say we got worse and there is definitely the potential to have gotten better (especially with caceres).

That's completely not true. Iaquinta gets hurt just counting to ten. The guy spent enough time on a trainer's table to be considered the fabric on it.

That's exactly how I saw it. He either moves ahead of Marrone on the depth chart, thereby stunting his growth, or becomes the last choice central midfielder, in which case, I ask why even buy him for 5M? I don't know. Like others have said, maybe Conte sees something we don't. But, I really don't see where else he could be used because he has 2-3 people ahead of him in each spot on the depth chart.

Like Dante, I like Lichtsteiner in right back where he belongs. I think he has been in the offensive half more because we haven't had a complimentary left back who can push up and hammer in crosses from the left flank. Hopefully, Caceres' ball movement and crossing has improved so that he can compliment Lichtsteiner and the two of them can rotate in their runs forward, instead of it always coming from the right side.

I actually like Lichtsteiner as a RWB in a 3-5-2/5-3-2. I think he fits that mold very well.

I also think Caceres is here as a CB in the formation. I think this is what we could be seeing soon...

[LINEUP-3-5-2]Matri/Bor/Vuc, Quag/ADP, PDC/Esti, Marchisio/Giac, Pirlo/Padoin, Vid/Marr, Licht, Chiello, Barz, Caceres/Bonu, Buffon/Storari[/LINEUP-3-5-2]

I left Pepe and Krasic out of this because they aren't fit for this formation, but can be placed into the lineup if the formation changes to a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2/4-2-4.

^^But we have so many wingers, none of them are going to play? The 3-5-2 pretty much negates the need to use Pepe, Krasic, and Elia. While, at the same time, Estigarribia or De Ceglie would become a starter. I don't like that, we need to put the best 11 players on the field and Esti/PDC aren't of that group.

By the way, what is the deal with Leali? I am also curious. Did we sign him??

An introduction to 'star in the making' Ouasim Bouy - the Ajax teenager who joined Juventus on deadline day

I hope he develops correctly within our youth academy. We have had a very poor record of developing foreign youngsters in recent years.

3 men at the back and no wingers? aha sure. what we have most is wingers so now we dont use them? this 3 at the back crap isnt for us. and we're gonna waste away more talent and money on the bench? ridiculous

no, Leali is still a brescia player

utter crap

I think Conte is going to go with what he sees will give his team the best opportunity to win that given match, regardless if it's our best 11. It may simply be the best 11 that works for the formation he wants to use. If we play a good counter-attacking team, I think he'll play four at the back. If we play a defensively weak team, I think he'll play the 3-5-2. If we play a team like Milan, or Lazio, he may just play a 4-3-1-2. I don't think anyone knows, really. One thing I do think is that he'll stray from a single striker formation, so I think the days of Matri playing up top alone are all but finished.

What's utter crap about it? It's essentially the same lineup we played against Udinese.

Take a look at this article: Udinese 0-0 Juventus: Conte mirrors Guidolin’s tactics and creates a stalemate

It is an article written after our previous encounter with Udinese in December.

In that match, as well, Conte used Bonu, Barza and Chiello at the backline and Licht and Esti in the wingback roles. Perhaps, Conte uses the 3-5-2 formation against teams that play 3 in the back like Udinese. If you notice, he played the same formation against Napoli (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/match?id=327100&cc=5901) who also play three defenders.

thats why its utter crap. i dont like the 3-5-2, we didnt look good playing it