First half team seemed better, plus there are still s few positions to fill and players not playing tonight. Matuidi looked good for PSG.
I love seeing this pout sour puss face on Dani... enjoy your mediocore performances at a mediocre club.
Asamoah really worries me and so does Benatia, I kinda wish we had foresight to bring in Kolarov who is a good mix of offense and defense and totally acceptable quality for a backup. I have no clue what to about CB depth, but Rugani has to be above in the pecking order then Benatia. I really like what I have seen of Betancur so far. Kean impresses me up top. It seems like our weaknesses are basically are just depth spots. I think MDS will be capable this year... tho im being optimistic, he wont have to do much with Berna in front of him.
I don't want to overreact because of one half of a pre-season friendly, but at this point I wouldn't mind if we kept Kean from going out on loan and kept him as our back-up striker. But unfortunately, if he develops and starts to fulfill his potential, Fatty, his agent, is going to hold us for ransom.
De Sciglio was the best of a bad bunch. He was better in attack than in defense. Barzagli can play some games, but he isn't at the point in his career where Juve should be relying on him. He was part of the problem in all the goals allowed this preseason. The only CB that was looked good had been Chiellini. Benatia nearly allowed two goals all by himself. In this form, he is a big liability. Juve look very impressive in phases, but it was clear last year that the depth isn't good enough. Preseason hasn't shown any sign that this has changed.
Bentancur's distribution was very good. His cross field passes were on point. He could be very useful as a vice-Pjanic/Marchisio.
He's been making the most of his opportunities so far. Who knows man if he has a Pogba esque season he could take a starting place.
He will get his opportunities to start. Everyone that remains on the team will. As far as being a main starter, he would need to overcome Pjanic. I'm not sure they both could play together in a two man midfield. Bentancur did break up PSG's play in the first 25 minutes well though. Juve need at least one CM capable of disrupting the opponent's build up when they try to play through the middle. Too often Juve's good press is beaten and it forces everyone to retreat into the defensive block. Juve end up defending in front of their goal for too long.
is it just one more game vs roma and then we are done for preseason? Well we have the first team vs primavera game still to go when we get back.
If you go to the first post in this thread you'll see Juve's pre-season schedule. There's still another friendly to be played.
It's encouraging seeing Marchisio and Chiello in this form. If Marchisio can recapture his best days, we no longer have a problem in the MF. Regarding Bentacur, he shows promise, but I think he would be better suited on loan this season. Remember, he's only 20 years old.
Juve still need one more CM to allow Allegri to start three strong mids if he so chooses. Given that Juve will play every three days, Marchisio, Pjanic, and Khedira won't start the large majority of matches together because the risk to injury and fatigue is too high. Should a 4th quality CM arrive, Juve could would be well coveted. ---------------------Higuain -------Costa--------------Dybala ----Marchisio---Pjanic--Khedira Sandro----Chiellini--Rugani---RB
Actually, he played decently, at least live in the stadium. He played several very nice passes that Licht wouldn't have thought of or been able to make, and his crossing is a lot better than Lichts. He was working with the a poor central defense and Barzag just doesn't have the speed to cover on the flanks anymore, particularly when the other CB is a converted MF who doesn't know aha he is doing,. I think when he starts working with the first team he will prove quite useful if we can sort out the defensive spacing. Licht looked a bit better defending but that was largely because Cuadrado did a lot of work covering back on the flank which kept ADM at bay for most of the half he was on for. When Sturaro replaced him that stopped and left MdS on an island. Has Sturaro ever scored a goal for us? He gets himself into good positions but always seems to just miss the target. He is a bit of a wild man out there, all over the place which hurts positional disciple in a defense like ours. Rincon is a waste of space and another reason PSG had so much space in front of and behind the defense on the far post. He needs to go for whatever we can get for him and a real defensive CM brought in.
Claudio demanded that kick and then finished it with fury. He and Chiellio make strong bids for captains band.
Yeah but he was playing against Asamoah.. who has not made him look subpar? And despite that, his shots were blocked by a third stringer goalie. I just meant that I could see him the locker room getting all hyped about beating Juve, and then he has not effect on the game despite coming in while we field 2nd and third string guys.