Juventus 2018-19 Serie A & Coppa Italia

JUVENTUS VS BAYERN MUNICH – WEDNESDAY, 25 JULY - LINCOLN FINANCIAL FIELD
JUVENTUS VS BENFICA – SATURDAY, 28 JULY – RED BULL ARENA
JUVENTUS VS MLS ALL STARS- WEDNESDAY, 1 AUGUST- MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM
JUVENTUS VS REAL MADRID – SATURDAY, 4 AUGUST – FEDEX FIELD

RIP Sturaro?

Sturaro remains in peak regular season form, not really a need for him but it would have been nice for the North American fans to be able to see him play

Maybe were hiding him because of the praise the English press have put on him, we don't want them to find out the truth

Today is the first preseason friendly. I think this one will be a particularly bad preseason. WC + US tour + Allegri's slow start. I see is it a slow slow build up, as we usually see with Max.

Here is the lineup (for now at least) vs Bayern.

Juventus (4-3-3): Perin; De Sciglio, Barzagli, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Can, Pjanic, Marchisio; Cancelo, Favilli, Bernardeschi

Marchisio

Were back boys

2-0 against Bayern with Favilli scoring both goals

Quick notes:

-Marchisio-Pjanic-Can is probably as good as a midfield as we'll hope to see this season
-We started with Chiellini-Rugani in defence and then Barzagli-Caldara in the second half. I hope these are two prominent defensive pairings we see this season (hint-hint at the transfer market)
-Bernardeschi and Marchisio look rather fit which is nice to see, especially for Marchisio
-Cancelo should be a hit at Juve, very much so like Cuadrado
-Perin looked legit, he made a couple top saves in the first half. He looks confident

Our midfield as of today is not as bad as people think. Can will be a revelation this year and Pjanic is world class. Bentancur is a star in the making and Matuidi is a very reliable and durable DM. Marchisio could probably start on many teams and he still has quality, even off the bench. Khedira is good for 15-20 games a year and could be much better coming off the bench.

Sure I'd like to add another midfielder like a Pogba or a Sergej, but at the end of the day we can still win the CL without that player.

A player like a Lorenzo Pellegrini would be a good fit with Juve. Get rid of Sturaro and add Pellegrini and our midfield will be more than good enough to win the treble.

Sounds good gigi, doesn't work

We all know that Khedira has naked pictures of Allegri, assuring that his name is the first name on the team sheet each week

Matuidi not only is not a DM, he's not much of a good player these days. He's good for about 1 good showing in every 5-6 games

Marchisio clearly took the last piece of cake from the dessert table at the last team function and Allegri is punishing him for the rest of his career

Emre Can could be the saving grace of this midfield but really it comes down t Pjanic doing God's work for the third straight season

That's a very tough close

Milan (A), Fiorentina (A), Inter, Torino (A), Roma, Atalanta (A), Sampdoria

jesus that is terrible. Napoli's closing is a joke.

Chievo, Atalanta (A), Frosinone, Cagliari (A), SPAL, Inter (A), Bologna

Damn i wish no injuries/misform during that streak of games. The "very easy" followed by "very hard" schedule is an obvious double-edged sword.

To be honest Serie A is a secondary target this season so consistency will be the key. On paper Juve is the superior team but it means nothing without some established approach and strategies that work every time, Allegri got 3½ months to find out. And i have faith, currently i predict us champions by a large margin.

Luca wrote:Sounds good gigi, doesn't work

We all know that Khedira has naked pictures of Allegri, assuring that his name is the first name on the team sheet each week

Matuidi not only is not a DM, he's not much of a good player these days. He's good for about 1 good showing in every 5-6 games

Marchisio clearly took the last piece of cake from the dessert table at the last team function and Allegri is punishing him for the rest of his career

Emre Can could be the saving grace of this midfield but really it comes down t Pjanic doing God's work for the third straight season

This is so depressing...

juve_gigi wrote:

Luca wrote:Sounds good gigi, doesn't work

We all know that Khedira has naked pictures of Allegri, assuring that his name is the first name on the team sheet each week

Matuidi not only is not a DM, he's not much of a good player these days. He's good for about 1 good showing in every 5-6 games

Marchisio clearly took the last piece of cake from the dessert table at the last team function and Allegri is punishing him for the rest of his career

Emre Can could be the saving grace of this midfield but really it comes down t Pjanic doing God's work for the third straight season

This is so depressing...

Why? It's not that bad, without Pjanic, our midfield is quite poor but with him it automatically becomes quite solid because that's what it is. Khedira, Matuidi are solid players, above average that do their job. Bentancur has potential, Marchisio was world class and Pjanic is world class. Emre Can is a question mark but might be a good fit, we clearly thought very highly of his profile because we pursued him for nearly a year.

The only shit player in our midfield is Sturaro and on his best day, he's a non-factor because he won't be playing anyways.

Luca wrote:

juve_gigi wrote:

Luca wrote:Sounds good gigi, doesn't work

We all know that Khedira has naked pictures of Allegri, assuring that his name is the first name on the team sheet each week

Matuidi not only is not a DM, he's not much of a good player these days. He's good for about 1 good showing in every 5-6 games

Marchisio clearly took the last piece of cake from the dessert table at the last team function and Allegri is punishing him for the rest of his career

Emre Can could be the saving grace of this midfield but really it comes down t Pjanic doing God's work for the third straight season

This is so depressing...

Why? It's not that bad, without Pjanic, our midfield is quite poor but with him it automatically becomes quite solid because that's what it is. Khedira, Matuidi are solid players, above average that do their job. Bentancur has potential, Marchisio was world class and Pjanic is world class. Emre Can is a question mark but might be a good fit, we clearly thought very highly of his profile because we pursued him for nearly a year.

The only shit player in our midfield is Sturaro and on his best day, he's a non-factor because he won't be playing anyways.

I was mostly referring to the thought of Khedira having compromising naked pictures of Allegri at a Berlusconi bunga bunga party that would still make him a regular starter...

It's my own creation because it helps me rationalize Khedira starting all these games over Marchisio/Bentancur

Khedira used to be a Galaticos.  His reputation precedes him really...

I'm pretty sure Ronaldo is telling Allegri to keep Khedira around as they had so much chemistry together back in Madrid.

Khedira is a CM who can go for headers which is really good when you have forwards like Dybala so you compensate for the strength

however when you have fowards like Ronaldo, Higuain, Mandzukic you no longer worry about headers and you fill other qualities in midfield like stamina, pace, creativity

right now

Benfica should be fitter and ready since they are playing CL qualifiers.

Can't watch this one sadly.

Not missing too much brother

0-0 at half time

-Cancelo very involved again. He looks like he could slot right into our team and have an immediate impact and like he's building off that second half of the season form at Inter
-Chiellini-Caldara this game, last game it was Chiellini-Rugani in the first half and Barzagli-Caldara for the second half, we could have the reverse here
-Bernardeschi being the only first team attacker is quite clear

1-1 [4-2 win on penalties] vs. Benfica

Two fantastic goals so I'll post them:

Grimaldo free kick: https://www.clippituser.tv/c/qvapyv
Clemenza 'Bernardeschi' equalizer: https://www.clippituser.tv/c/kaezyn

Tons of changes in the second half, Rugani, Barzagli, Benatia, Alex Sandro, De Sciglio, Emre Can, Perin all played from the first team

Overall...good warm up game
Benfica looked better team in the first half although we got the best chance of the half through Marchisio about 4 minutes in.

Second half, we were clearly the better team. BenfIca held their own and we did squander a couple of chances...
Clemenza was a beauty to watch, very involved.
Fagioli was very impressive. I didn't miss Pjanic. He was very composed throughout the regulation time and even in the penalty. Looking out for these two guys.

Saw the extended highlights. Good to see Clemenza. I remember his hype in our youth teams and then the injury that set him back for a long time. He had a good season in Serie B from what I can tell.

He is/was the kind of player that would have greatly benefited from a Juve B team.

Fagioli is the new hype. Such a bad name though.

No hype for me off these preseason matches. If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's that preseason is meaningless. With that being said, it is always nice to see the youth players shine on any stage.

Right now, I'm most hype for Cancelo, Can and Caldara** very exciting profiles