By my standards, Bonucci should have never been signed because he had one good season at Bari, I've never liked him and never will, hes average. Barzagli was always a great player, he made a mistake in leaving for Germany and though I was skeptical when we bought him, he turned out to be a bargain.Giving him an extension last year was a huge mistake though. As for Chiello, I have no idea what you're on about, I've always liked him. Rugani isn't even 1/10th of any of them
He's played more than enough to know he'll never lead a defensive line. He can play as one of the two, but if he doesn't have someone like Chiello next to him he will continue to make silly mistakes. Nesta (the defender that he was being compared with when he was coming up, LOL) was captain of Lazio at 20 so don't give me that young by CB standards
There are a number of CB's that are younger than Rugani, and FAR better than him. He's 24, he's played almost 80 games for Juve, I don't know how many more games he needs in order to develop. Every time he makes a mistake there's part of the crowd that says, he needs more time, well he's been getting more time and he still hasn't proven himself. His defensive awareness is sorely lacking, he doesn't have the brains to be a top defender on a top team. He could be the starting CB at someone like Empoli, but he's not good enough to be Juve's starting CB.
The criticism of guys like Caceres and Rugani is well-warranted. That said, they are still collectively superior to the guys that Parma had playing. It amazes me how Allegri continues to skirt off blame-free when he has a vastly superior squad to anyone in Serie A and we get the type of results we have been getting of late. It's one thing to accept his shit brand of football THAT WE HAVE PLAYED ALL SEASON despite having talented players like Ronaldo, Dybala, Douglas Costa, Bernardeschi, Cancelo, etc. if we are getting results; not so much if we are losing to Atalanta and Young Boys and blowing big leads at home against Parma. If we don't get past Atletico Madrid, there's no reason we shouldn't be looking for a replacement for next season.
Rugani & Caceres were not the problem on Saturday. It was the lack of defending from Cancelo & Spinazolla, who were too busy playing wingers and not covering their flanks and all who played in midfield. The first goal, Spinazolla is running back instead of closing space, leaving all the time & space to make a perfect cross. Khedira is not covering the runner, Cancelo is watching from out wide instead of cutting in, so no marking on the header. Caceres & Rugani both had marks on that play. Goal two is again from the right flank, Spinazolla just observing and Pjanic lets the runner go through to make the cross. Caceres goes out towards the crosser. Khedira allows Gervinho to run through and Rugani is not quick enough to pick him up. Before criticizing Rugani for not getting there fast enough, he had to switch off his original mark. The third goal was a screw up by Mandzukic but Bentancur had the best view of Gervinho putting it away instead of picking him up. Defense is not played by two players. Even in the old 2-3-5 set up, players had to come back and defend. Our midfield and fullback were too soft on Saturday. That is why we gave away stupid goals.
It's a bit tough to blame Allegri for this one, especially with the defense, since that's was what was at his disposal. He can't force Rugani to play better than he is. The problem is Rugani just doesn't have the defensive intelligence to get himself in the right place. On Parma's second goal, there was no reason to allow the Parma player that much space in front of him, he should have closed him down, or better yet, not be on that side of him with the ball coming in from that location. On the third goal, yes, Mandzukic was not smart for crossing it back like that, but Rugani again let his man get the best of him. He gives them way too much room. Chiellini or Bonucci would close that man down, giving them no space. Rugani thinks he can defend from 3-4 feet away. He doesn't have the acumen for being a top defender, and I don't think he ever will. Juve scored 3 goals, with 2 more off the post. The offense and midfield did it's job this game. The defense, especially the two CB's were woeful all game. There was the one play where Parma sent a long ball towards the box and Caceres and Rugani were getting beat by Inglese. If he had better control, instead of letting it bounce inches behind him, he was clear on goal. The CB's got lucky on that play.
Not one Parma player would have started for Juve; not to mention we have an all-time player and a host of internationals. I have no sympathy for Allegri's alleged lack of defensive options. If Allegri perceives the defensive weaknesses of which you speak, he could have gone with a more cautious approach when we had a two-goal lead.
Still why repurchase Caceres? He wasn't even that great with Lazio. Heck, start an Italian born primavera player and give him experience. He couldn't do any worse than a 4.5 player rating.
I think Bruno Alves would have started over Caceres had we bought him instead. Other than that, I don't see many starting over our current squad. Juve were dominating Parma through most of the game, we've all seen what happens when they try to close up shop, it doesn't work and it especially wouldn't work with the two CB's we had. I was glad that the team didn't give up trying to score goals, a shame those two off the post didn't go in.
It doesn't make sense to close up shop against teams with superior talent, i.e., Bayern, Barca. I don't see this Parma side breaking us down and overcoming a two goal deficit the way they did.
But they did and that was with the limited chances they had, imagine if we gave them even more space and chances?
It doesn't make sense to close up shop period, against anyone. That shit doesn't work anymore, especially with how attack focused modern football is. Defenders these days SUCK DICK, you can't expect to hold out a 1 goal lead all game against anybody regardless of talent level.
Dial back to 2010/2011 when we lost to Parma 4-1 and look at the idiotic PK Chiellini gave away that game....he was 26 back then (older than Rugani is today) why is it that we can allow mistakes from him and remember Bonucci and how boneheaded he was..but with consistent playing time, they gained experience and got better idk how you can rate players like De Ligt or whoever else you have in mind being "better" than Rugani when they havent even played for us or any other big team yet. Its the same hype Rugani had or Caldara had....you just dont know until they play
First off, that was a dive by Crespo and should have never been a penalty and Chiellini was better then than Rugani is today. That day he also had a legit goal denied to him. I've been railing against Bonucci for a long time, always thought he was massively overrated, his spell at Milan proved it. He needs better players around him to cover for him. He's been involved with many of the goals we've given up this season as well.
We were not even near to closing up shop. If your fullbacks and midfielders are going to be lackadaisical when the other side has possession, shit like this happens. Just because a bunch of fools in the press put the blame on Rugani & Caceres, the real culprits were those on the flank and in front of our two center backs. One thing Rugani needs to learn, actually start doing, is taking charge in the back. He needs to yell at his mates and tell them where to be, who to mark. Look at the goals and see who were not marking.
I've never played defense in my life and I could have stopped Inglese from passing to Gervinho there. Rugani is average at best
See I played defense. A lot of it and I have played across the line but center back was my main position. Rugani's purpose was to make sure that Inglese did not put the ball across the goal line. His mates were responsible for covering his back, which they failed to do. Bentancur was ball watching instead of picking up Gervinho.
This is true but still, Cacares struggled. I'd rather they groom or stat a younger Italian defender as opposed to a broken down foreign retread.
I don't see one Italian defender besides the two Juventus already have being worthy of starting on this team but the kid from Ajax would take Bonucci's spot inside of a year. He is that good.
How do you expect Rugani to tell his teammates where to be when half the time he has no clue where to be??
Where was he off position? All three goals, he was marking someone else. On the second goal, he had to leave his mark because Khedira allowed Gervinho go through unmarked. There is nothing wrong with Rugani's positioning. Take a look at the goals instead of reading comments on Twitter.