The only difference is that Pjanic finally has decided to step it up. No one held him back before. When we look good, the players are doing it naturally. When they try to do the work of the puppeteer, then they look bad. I know many here believe the coach should be a puppeteer, That takes away from the beauty of the game. Dybala's goal was from a broken play with Pjanic seeing him making the run. The winner by Higuain looked similar to the winner last season by Ronaldo. BTW, the pundits and Rocchi missed on the penalty call yesterday was not who touched the ball first with his hands, it was the high kick by Martinez that should have been called as de Ligt was protecting himself from that.
Some De Ligt excerpts from an interview with NU.nl for anyone who is interested. (translated from Dutch) --- Due to the sudden and long-term injury of Giorgio Chiellini, the stopper was quickly thrown in front of the lions by trainer Maurizio Sarri. He made mistakes against Napoli (4-3 victory) and Fiorentina (0-0), but slowly but surely began to win over the confidence of the Italian football audience. "The most important lesson I have learned so far at Juventus is that you have to have confidence," he tells NU.nl on Monday when asked. "In the beginning I was too preoccupied with not making any mistakes. Of course you should never focus on that. I have never played like that before. In the first few weeks the focus was too much on that." The Italian press is not always tender for De Ligt. For example, he would have been put on a special diet by Sarri to stay on weight. "Haha, that is really a wild story", De Ligt responds to that rumor. "No, I am not surprised anymore. Sometimes I think: why this again? I believe I played a good game for myself, but then apparently it is not good enough. But anyway, those are only opinions, it is important that I know for myself what I did right and wrong, and I know that very well. " Finally, De Ligt admits that Chiellini's injury has caused his first months at Juventus to turn out differently than previously thought. "Every player that comes to a new team needs the time to adjust and settle into his new team. With Chiellini and Bonucci Juventus already had two great defenders. The idea was to slowly phase me into the team. That has turned out differently. It is nice to get to play, but you are thrown in at the deep end. That is a very nice challenge for me", he concludes.
Like this kid, but I am missing his point. Needs to slowly work into the squad. Not sure how drawn our experience is better than immediate experience.
Berna appears to be this years Dybala. Sarri is trying to figure out where his skill set fits best. So far it isn't working that well. Cuadrado, a board punching bag, has saved our managements rear end, filling in at a place that was an obvious weakness before the season started. He is the best RB we have had since an on the boil Licht. Higuain should never have left. If he had stayed last year, this team would be a lot further along. Let's face facts. We DOMINATED that game. And we barely are starting to understand Sarriball. And Raboit and Ramsey have hardly played..... Rocchi clearly read the papers before that match. There was an article a couple of days ago showing Juve win very frequently when he is in charge and Inter rarely win. IMHO he bent over backwards to force us to WIN the game by giving Inter every benefit of the doubt, and nothing to us. Hopefully the ref assignor saw what happened and takes some action. That as a pitiful display from him yesterday. AND STILL WE WON!
When has Rocchi ever favored us? Some point to that wild match against Roma a few years back but he gave Roma so many chances. We were just the better side. As for Sarriball, the less, the better. When the players do their own thing, we get results. When we try to force Sarriball, that is when we give it up. Cuadrado is doing well but let's not exaggerate his effectiveness. Still sends a cross to an area, not to anyone particular. Hustles his ass off and as long as someone is keeping him in position (Bonucci hopefully), then he will do OK. It is not as if Inter has this stellar roster that we played against.
Anyway, here are the facts on Rocchi: ".....The Serie A Week 7 referees have been announced as Gianluca Rocchi will officiate the Derby d’Italia between Inter and Juventus. Rocchi is a man for the big occasion, having overseen the European Super Cup Final in 2017 and last season Europa League’s Final. The 47-year-old was also handed the 2013 Supercoppa between Juve and Lazio, as well as the Bianconeri’s Coppa Italia Final with Milan in 2016. The Old Lady have won 27 of their 35 games with Rocchi at the helm, compared to Inter’s haul of just 15 from 34. The VAR at San Siro will be Massimiliano Irrati, who was referee for the corresponding encounter in December 2018....." https://www.football-italia.net/144846/serie-week-7-referees
Maybe this is why Ramsey didn't play? https://www.calciomercato.com/en/news/juventus-ramsey-in-doubts-for-wales-due-to-fatigue-91954
Statistics are a liars favorite tool. During that period, how many games has Juve lost? In fact, not winning 8 games seems pretty high considering the success we have the last eight years.
I doubt these stats are particular to Rocchi. Juve have won most or nearly all of their matches regardless of who is officiating over these last ten years.
That's the first thing that came to mind. Could those figures be the case because Juve have just been a far superior side?
Its unfortunate there is an international break now as the team has been improving and this only slows that down. Hopefully we can keep the pace up, really curious to see where this team stands come December
This is the problem every year, as soon as leagues get rolling, there comes international break to ruin the progress. They really need to space these things out better.
After rewatching the Inter match and thinking about this run of games, Juve's flanks and midfield have been tremendous. Khedira, Matuidi, and Cuadrado are three players that are often criticized but at the moment are giving Juve great technical performances, physicality, and balance. The back line has been fantastic when pressed high by opponents. Bonucci and De ligt are both excellent passers while Cuadrado and Sandro are very hard to press. Cuadrado is actually better earlier in the build up than he is when making decisions in the final third. His passing from the RB spot into the forwards was fantastic vs Inter. Bravo so far!
Cuadrado has been our best player. He's given the team an option to Pjanic out of the back. I have been very critical of Pjanic since his first preseason, this season he's actually doing very well and Cuadrado is part of the reason. The other is Sarri who as told him to make vertical passes and play a Jorginho role.
De Ligt had a Juventus moment tonight for Oranje. Nearly lost us the game with a huge blunder at 0-0 in the 75th minute to put us behind in a hugely important qualifying game against Northern Ireland. Fortunately Oranje was able to score 3 goals in the last 10 minutes so we weren't punished, but damn. Unfortunate seeing him make these mistakes often the last few months, I hope for both of our sakes he irons it out soon at Juventus! He's such a good player with incredible upside (especially offensively) which is why he continues to put De Vrij and Ake on the bench, but he seems to be in a such a weird roll at the moment.
Hes alright going forward but on defense he doesnt offer much. At this age we should move past him At max he will have 1 more good year and we are sitting 4 younger players for him who will suffer or will ask to be sold. Most of them have hefty salaries
It sounds to me like those other midfielders need to step up their game in order to get more playing time over an old player who is "alright going forward but on defense he doesn't offer much". I think we would all prefer someone younger to step up and take over!