Wow! Considering all that its actually impressive Juve is still comfortably in first place in both competitions. I don't get all the negativity in this thread.
So I am watching the game from last week. First gift everyone discussed was from Bonucci. Second gift from Alex Sandro. He was turned around on the play that lead to the cross. Clueless defender.
Unfortunately unless Marchisio plays 95% of our games, this team is gonna suffer. Plain and simple. We dont have anyone else that can step in to make the mid run smoothly. Maybe Pjanic can some day but it wont be this year. And we gotta get rid of the junk; hernanes, asamoah and sturaro. Once in a while theyll have a good game but no way theyll be consistent for more than 2 games in a row. I seriously hope they got their eye on a solid box to box mid this summer. I woulda felt better if they knew how to freakin sell but most likely were stuck with those players for a while On the positive side; this year it doesnt seem like any team is unbeatable. I just like to avoid Atletico in CL and perhaps Man City just cuz guardiola somehow knows how to get results in CL
Barcelona is better than both of them. I actually want to get Man City, because I honestly think we can beat them. Guardiola is ok but not that good, extremely lucky sometimes. His away record is horrible against good teams. City is not even as good as Pep's Bayern last year. I am confident we will beat them if we get City. Remember how we almost ripped Bayern apart but they came back because of Evra's mistake? Also don't forget that we were without: Chiellini, Marchisio, Dybala, and Mandzukic that game. I am confident we will beat City actually. Atletico and Barcelona are the teams we probably fear the most. While I think Barcelona is better, Atletico will cause us more problems due to playstyle and tactics. But its true, no team looks unbeatable this season. I really hope we can win the UCL, and I am convinced this is the season to really go for it. We have the players, and as long as we give 100% we are in. I remember in 2014-15, we barely made it through the group stage, and it was extremely uncomfortable for us, but the 3-0 win over Dortmund was a game changer for us, and after that we were a whole different team. If anyone told me we would reach the UCL final in December 2014, I would have replied "LOL what a great joke, and laughed." But we did make it, and I think we could have even beaten Barcelona if it wasn't for the bad refereeing, especially when Alves completely pushed Pogba to the ground, and nothing was given. At least a stop in play, if not a penalty, and since nothing was given, thats what lead the the counterattack for the second goal.
It's hard to know since many players haven't played very much yet. Pjaca has featured for less than 80 minutes. Dybala has been out for a while now. Marchisio only just got back. Plus there is a good chance that Juve will bring in a midfielder in less than a month. Let's see this goes. With that said, if Juve aren't finally healthy by March, they will have difficulty beating Atalanta/Torino/Roma never mind a CL opponent.
I would say we have the players on this team needed to make a run to the final four absolutely but not to win the CL. The do or die leg of this round of the CL is on March 14th so that gives this team 3 months from today to get in form and get healthy. Lemina will have been back with the club for a bit over a month after Africa Cup of Nations so we will have a good sub back on the bench and decently integrated back into the cup. That gives 3 months for Claudio to get back to health and regain form, also gives Dybala 3 months to find his form after missing most of this first half of season. That gives Rugani 3 months to find his empoli form in case Max calls his number. I think Barzagli is set to return in February so we very likely may see Rugani playing if even as a sub for him because a month to regain match fitness is not a lot, but with a shoulder injury... Barzagli is prob keeping light fitness on a elliptical machine or stationary bike. Gives 2 and hald months for any Winter transfers to integrate into this team such as maybe Witsel who would likely be used as a sub.
part 2 If all goes well, We should have just about all of the starting 11 from pre season playing together for a good month before the first leg and almost 2 months before the last leg.... Most of this team is used to playing together so the chemistry is already dormantly there, it just needs to be reignited. However, If we dont address the right wing back/fullback spot in January... we are going to have problems and could be upset vs Porto. Alves prob wont be back until the last month of season, Licht is a liability in Serie A and has been exposed and guilty for goals in Serie A, quality teams like Bayern, Real, Barca, will eat Licht for lunch with ease and he absolutely will be targeted and knowing him, he could even send us a man down with his temper. I think bringing in Darmian should be a priority for Juve this winter and fully support paying out the tail end for what has been a very marginal player at Manchester. People will rail me for that, But Darmian is fully integrated with BBC back line from his NT duties. He also plays very well for the NT and has never really looked out of place since he began starting for the NT. Hes out of form and been making mistakes, but this year has seen him placed in a very dysfunctional team with lineups that change more then Juves line ups have, he has been thrown in the fire this year and despite his mistakes, he keeps earning starts... He would do very well for us and our Right fullback situation needs to be addressed this winter or we will all be bitching when that side gets exposed in CL and the league alike. I dont see us bringing Lirola back because it would probaly really piss off Sassuolo who is flirting with relegation and also having that pipeline for us playing each year in Serie A is a priority otherwise our loan guys are being stunted by playing in lower leagues. Bringing in Darmian allows us a current young prospect capable of playing every day, allows us to retain Alves next year if we choose to, allows us to comfortably move on from Licht and allows Lirola to come in and be the Sandro equivalent to Darmian/Alves in the future.
He went down about a month ago, while at first he was predicted out for two months, they discovered that the injury later was not nearly as serious as feared. About 2 weeks ago, they announced he was recovering fast and really well. He took part in training today, and will likely make the bench for the Roma game at least.