Juventus players on international duty Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Simone Zaza (all Italy), Daniele Rugani (Italy U21), Paul Pogba (France), Patrice Evra (France), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia), Mario Lemina (Gabon), Paulo Dybala (Argentina), Roberto Pereyra (Argentina), Juan Cuadrado (Colombia), Martin Caceres (Uruguay). http://www.juventus.com/en/news/news/2015/fifteen-bianconeri-in-international-action.php
damn France still dependent on Evra. lol and people complained when Azzuri relied on Pirlo last 3-4 yrs
In his current form, he is the best France have. He is still a world class left back which is amazing at his age.
what happened to clichy, kurzawa and the other guys? forgot their names, i thought they had a few. Its true that he's on good form but surely its not helping their future if they keep playing him.
Evra is better than Clichy. Evra is a champion and a leader. Two coaches are making the decision to play him over two highly rated young LBs. It says something. Evra is underrated. Top top left back!
I'm happy to see so many of our players being called up to their respective camps. Especially Paolo, Roberto P, and Alvaro. Those are all very strong squads they are heading into. With that in mind. I hope they all remain healthy and preferably don't play too much lol.
Pogba ankle scare for France By Football Italia staff Paul Pogba is at risk for France’s friendly against Armenia tomorrow due to a sprained ankle. According to L’Equipe, Juventus doctors have asked for information regarding the midfielder’s condition. He had been expected to start on Thursday in the international friendly test for Les Bleus. However, Pogba is in doubt after suffering a slight ankle sprain during training.
And things get worse...Alvaro Morata was stretchered off in the 32nd minute with an apparent leg injury...
Spanish media reporting Morata likely suffered a fracture to his fibula— David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) October 9, 2015
Thankfully, Morata doesn't have a fracture and is listed as a 2 week injury. Mandz should be back and will most likely lead the line against Shinter
We don't need another forward. We still have Zaza and Dybala plus Mandzukic is supposed to be back after the break. There are also a few Primavera guys that we can bring in. Dybala can lead the line if need be.
Well Morata himself said hes working to be ready on Sunday, so I don't think we should worry too much
This just makes my point. Right now we have 2 forwards for this team healthy. MAYBE we will have mandzu and Morata back, but we don't know that. That is thin.
Thin by what standard? Juve have three and maybe four starting caliber forwards where even the best teams have 2(especially if they only use one forward regularly). If Benzema, Suarez, Higuain, Dzeko, Icardi, Diego Costa, Giroud, Martial, Aguero go down then their respective teams would need to either move a starter capable of playing as a CF into that position (Messi, Ronaldo etc), change the formation, or put in a vastly inferior backup. The best Juve would do is get a Matri-type back here to be their 5th forward. At that point, Zaza should be given those minutes rather than have to split time even more.
If you are happy with Dybala and Zaza as your only healthy strikers, fine. I would like another option too.
If that option is a Matri-type, then yes I am more than happy with Dybala and Zaza. Most clubs don't even have more than two quality players that can play as a CF. Juve have four, although Dybala is more of a support forward who can lead the line as well. Unlike most major European clubs, Juve play two CF so it does require extra reserves relative to the clubs that only start a sole striker in most of their encounters. With that said, if Juve needed to they could field 5 midfielders and one forward if three of the four forward options were hurt simultaneously. It's just that this possibility is remote (knock on wood!).
Problem is, I am still not sold on Zaza as a 'quality" option. To me he IS our Matri this time around, so we still need another main striker, esp, as you note, if we are playing 2 which we have been for quite while now. The obvious solution is to bring in Berardi at the break if he is healthy. Mandzu has had injury problems off and on during his career, so in my mind we really only have 2 reliable strikers in Morata and Dybala. That makes our roster thin to me.
It's very difficult to find a striker that is proven to be better than Zaza without spending a great deal. Moreover, almost all clubs don't carry super quality 4th or 5th strikers for that matter. Who backs up Benzema unless it's Ronaldo or a change of formation? The same can be said of Barca with Suarez. Dzeko at Roma, Totti? After Icardi, Bacca, Higuain? Behind an injury prone Diego Costa, Chelsea have Loic Remy and Falcao. United have Martial and Rooney. Arsenal have Girouid and ?. City have Aguero and Bony. Are Remy, Bony, and Rooney better than Zaza? Name a 5th striker that you would want Juve to bring in. I agree that Zaza isn't proven, but instead of bringing in another body for the sake of it, I'd rather he be given those minutes to prove his worth especially considering there isn't a lot of quality out there. If Zaza can't do it then perhaps Allegri can play a 4-3-3 with Pereyra, Dybala, and Cuadrado for when the injury bug hits the forwards hard.
We had 2 that we sold and "loaned". I would have preferred keeping one of them, preferably the loanee, but you could make a case for Nando also since he liked it here, knew the system and would be a replacement for an oft injured Mandzu. And BTW, I like either of them better than Zaza. He may prove me wrong (hope he does) but to me HE is the Matri and one of the other 2 should have been the 4th striker.