Result wise, we got off to a good start. Not so much what we saw on the pitch. Hopefully that improves this month. After the international break, we have two tricky fixtures away against Fiorentina & Atlético de Madrid with the start of the CL. The remainder of the schedule looks good on paper. We will see. Serie A 15 Sep - at Fiorentina 22 Sep - Verona 25 Sep - at Brescia 29 Sep - SPAL UEFA Champions League 18 Sep - at Atlético de Madrid
Our CL group is tricky IMHO, because of the arrangement of the fixtures. We start on the road and end on the road with a late trip to Russia. Atleti was definitely treated like the Pot 1 team in that group, and IMHO are a much improved team offensively to any Atleti team we have seen recently. We can't afford to drop points to the 2 non-name brand squads this time around..
I think endish of October in Russia is a lot better than December in Russia. The schedule doesn't look too bad really. All in all, I'd say Juve got a pretty good group compared to what they could have gotten.
Just so you know guys, deLigt started off horribly for Oranje and for Ajax when he was 17. The first NT match he played he was easily worst man on the pitch. He then turned it around quite quickly. I am 100% sure he will do the same with Juve
I have no doubts on deLigt long term. My problem is he is a replacement for Bonucci, not Chiellio. Playing him with BonBon is not the kind of defense that will shut out Serie A squad. They are too similar.
People think all CBs are the same. They aren't, as you well know. Bonucci is best as essentially a sweeper in a 3 back system. That gives him a free role to clean things up and to push forward. At that, he is quite good. Man marking is not his strength. MdL is more similar to him than he is to Chiellio who is a ferocious marking defender. Problem we have is, in a 2 CB system, both have to be able to mark people, not just clean up. Benatia was a better man marker than BonBon is as is Demiral, who I think could be Giorgio's replacement.
When we had the BBC, Barzagli & Chiellini did the dirty work. Bonucci just need to pick up the loose pieces. One positive making de Ligt play the marker role is that it should improve him in the long run. Let's just hope that the errors are minimum. I also have more faith in Rugani than most as a marking back. I know many are high on Demiral but he is not ready for CL ball.
Heading to the Airport for my honeymoon, we moved things around a bit so we will be in Florence for the Juventus match! My first match in Europe! We can't wait, any recommendations on what we should check out while in Florence? Fino alla fine! Forza Juve!
You have to visit il Duomo. Wonderful art in the Cathedral. I remember stopping there on my way to the Artemio Franchi for the WC match between USA and Austria. This cute gal from New Jersey in a short skirt with great legs walking around checking the art. Since she had a guide book, I kind of used that excuse to talk it up with her. To be honest, I remember more of her gams than the art.
Uffizi Gallery. A bazillion gelato parlors. Just cruising around the city is enough. The bridges across the Arno. Check out all the references on buildings/places to things in Dante's Divine Comedy.
I watched the Finland match this evening. What a side with no imagination. Anyway, Sarri should take note of how Mancini pretty much played with a 3-back system, similar to how Allegri used Barzagli as a right back.
Over what time period? He is clearly a good enough player. He played very well vs Germany and Estonia for The Netherlands the last few days. In the Estonia game he had a wonderful assist and one of the highest player ratings. It's worth remembering that he keeps De Vrij (one of the best CB's in Italy) and Ake (one of the best CB's in England) on the bench. Clearly he is good enough as a player, he just needs to get used to the way of defending at Juve. Lots of talk in the Netherlands in recent months about how different the role and action of a defender are in Italy vs other teams/countries. Some talk in the Netherlands of De Ligt making the wrong decision because he chose a team/system that does not fit to his strengths. With that being said I think the Italians are obviously legends at defending so in time I think it can make De Ligt even better than he otherwise would have been. Fair enough, I don't know enough about Bonucci to comment on this. But that would make sense, sometimes certain partnerships just work better than others. But if I look at Ajax the combo of Blind and De Ligt worked very well together and if anything De Ligt was the aggressive man marker and Blind was the positional player. Just look at how De Ligt dominated Ronaldo in previous meetings.
He's a good enough player sure, but he isn't ready to start for this team yet that much is clear. He shouldn't be thrown into the fire like he was against Napoli, its going to hurt his development if he makes these high profile errors continuously. The Italian media are harsh when it comes to defensive errors, he needs more time to be eased into the lineup. Until he learns the ropes I don't think he should be starting, but unfortunately Chiello being out and de Ligt costing 75ME doesn't really leave many options. Demiral is currently a better fit alongside Bonucci and he's also got serie A experience, unfortunately I not only don't see him starting, I also don't think he's ready to be thrown into the fire either. Not an easy choice for Sarri, all I know is if de Ligt is going to start he needs to bring his A game now, not later.
Fair enough. Definitely unfortunate for you guys that Chillieni got injured right at the start of the season. I hope both backup CB's get accustomed quickly. I have a feeling both Demiral and De Ligt will step up in the coming months, I really do.
A MdL/Chiellio pairing would be fine. Prolly more than fine. But pair him with Bonucci, and it is a different kettle of fish. Pair him with Demiral, and is prolly pretty good to. Maybe even Rugani who is a better marker than Bonucci is. I was one of the main proponents of adding MdL. I think he has a very bright future here as we transition to a younger squad, but his role is the BonBon role and right now I am not sure he is the best pairing with Leo.
#FiorentinaJuve, ecco i convocati bianconeri! ⚫️⚪️ #FinoAllaFine pic.twitter.com/PR95sY9XyI— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) September 13, 2019 No surprises
IF you are still connected- Trattoria Sostanza 25 R Via del Porcellano was recommended to us by restaurateur in Virginia who said it was famous for chicken cooked in butter and fagioli al ulcilleto (white beans with sage and tomato sauce) we ate there and just about fainted the food was so good. A friendly place with good food was Trattoria Da I Matti (the 2 fools??) 331 Borgo S, Lorenzo. I found that like Paris there is no bad food in Florence