Juventus' Champions League Campaign 2018/19

6 points from YB
4-6 points from United
4-6 points from Valencia

As long as we get 4 from the big teams then we win the groups comfortably. Cool to get Valencia away done at the start.

juve is good enough
hope the luck is on our side
and i think we can win ucl this season

We are back on Wednesday!

Away at Valencia so one of the hardest fixtures. We just need to not lose, I think we'll win.

I think Max will play 3 midfielders and Mandzukic to try to secure a result in a "safe" way. Dumbass Costa made that ridiculous show that will get him banned in Serie A, and probably also benched by Max in CL. De Sciglio was supposed to play today vs Sassuolo but got injured during the warm up, so Cancelo will likely start again at Valencia.

What I think:

Szczesny; Alex, Chiellini, Bonucci, Cancelo; Matuidi, Pjanic, Khedira; Ronaldo, Mandzukic, Bernardeschi

Dybala could play for Khedira as well and setup with the 4-2-3-1.

Top game from the team. 10 men away in the CL and came out with a 2-0 win.

Some thoughts:

Chiellini and Bonucci were flawless in the center. Feels great to have this connection again. Chiellini was a giant and Bonucci was key to moving the ball around.

Cancelo had looked great but also looked vulnerable in defense in the league. Luckily that vulnerability didn't come up today and he beasted. Looks confident and skillful. Very encouraging start to his Juve career.

Szczesny and Pjanic with the cool heads at both ends of the penalties giving the team certainty.

Bernardeschi getting absolutely everything right. Never stopped running and always made the right decisions. When we had 11 he was driving the attack, when we needed to keep the ball or defend, he was always there.

Matuidi looks refreshed this season. Actually useful and dependable so far.

Alex, Mandzukic and Can were good but not as exceptional as the rest. Khedira obviously was irrelevant.

Strangest game tonight. How is it possible we lost that.

Impeccable match for most of the game from most of the team, then come Khedira and Cuadrado. Both of those even did well before the final third but jesus christ how did they screw up the last moves so badly.

Worst of all though, Szczesny. He has not been good enough this season. What was that today? he fell for Mata's feint on the free kick and clowned around for the second goal instead of doing anything. 100% the GK should never let that second goal occur. He looked better last season in the games he played.

Even though our attack is stacked, it let us down today.

I don’t fault Dybala for hitting the crossbar.

I will fault Cuadrado for not even hitting the target from 6-8 yards out. I will fault him for cutting the ball back to pjanic instead of trying to find Dybala or shooting himself because it was legitimately the worst of the three options he had- the fact that he moved the ball away from goal when he was that close sums it up.

1-0 is never safe but like you said, Szczesny didn’t help. Maybe I don’t fault him on the free kick but what on earth was that contact on the 2-1? Atrocious.

Dybala didn't score but was great today. Can't fault him. He did everything right and got unlucky with hitting the post.

Cuadrado, on top of those incidents you mentioned, screwed up moves by just taking way too long to release the ball a few times. Even if I like him, I have to say he has to do better towards the goal. Had we had any of our other forwards, they would have buried the game in his position. Mario, Costa and Bernardeschi would have put us 3-0 had they been in Cuadrado's place.

Szczesny come on. It was a pretty inconsequential game that we could draw with no consequence and the free kick was clever, so I would have given him a pass if the game had ended then. But the second one he just decided to do nothing, never should have occurred.

Perin needs to be tried. Szczesny was better last season when his position couldn't be taken for granted. I'm afraid that since he was promised to be #1 this season then his playing time might be unconditional. Needs to wake up.

Couldn't watch this match, by reading your posts it seems we dominated and got screwed in last minutes. Will make an opinion after extended highlights.

I didn't notice Szczesny's poor form this season, of course he isn't Buffon but he made some important saves. That said, it's true we concede more goals than usual. Do you guys think it's time to start Perin in the show

Warrior wrote:Couldn't watch this match, by reading your posts it seems we dominated and got screwed in last minutes. Will make an opinion after extended highlights.

It was absolute, we should have scored more but finishing let us down. It's a game that made no sense to not win, let alone lose. Then in the last 5 minutes a mix of bad luck, the team assuming the game was over before it actually finished, and Szczesny.

Warrior wrote:I didn't notice Szczesny's poor form this season, of course he isn't Buffon but he made some important saves. That said, it's true we concede more goals than usual. Do you guys think it's time to start Perin in the show

It's not that he has been terrible before today but he hasn't inspired much confidence, its the minimum. He hasn't been an added value, does the minimum and barely makes saves while we concede more goals. A quick check on Whoscored just now shows he is the GK in Serie A that saves the least amount of shots. Of course that's partly a merit of the team since we dominate more than others, but once it gets to Szczesny then it seems we can only expect the basics.

Perin should be tried more as he looks better, but for the sake of commitment to Szczesny he probably shouldn't be benched after this match. It should probably be done less dramatically. To give him confidence and a chance.

I’d be ok with Perin vs Milan tbh.

We shouldn’t reward the players of this match. I’m good with not seeing Cuadrado for a little while

Mandzukic is back and the Dybala and Ronaldo were good so I imagine those 3 start, Berna and Costa should be back for the bench too.

I'd love to see Perin vs Milan as well but I don't think it will happen. If Higuain is in the match he is bound to cause us problems.

rincon wrote:
Perin should be tried more as he looks better, but for the sake of commitment to Szczesny he probably shouldn't be benched after this match. It should probably be done less dramatically. To give him confidence and a chance.

Yes i agree with that

What i want to avoid at all cost is juggling between the two keepers after each bad performance. That was my #1 fear when we signed a second keeper of decent level.

What i like about the team this year: any possession can turn into a scoring chance. The opponent must always work hard and lose energy to get the ball, even when it seems it will go off bounds we are fast enough to get it back in play. Our attacking patterns are numerous and hard to predict. Never take a break and versatility are the keys.

Ronaldo's assist, mamma mia, what a perfect pass !! And Mandzukic seems in the ZONE, happy with his role, they complement each other damn well.

To be fair, i have a good feeling. 2018-2019 will be a great season, and despite some weakness we got a solid team. No more NT interruptions for many months so i can finally embrace it.

^Agree with all that.

Mandzukic is really in the zone. The front 3 were great, Ronaldo is a GOAT and Dybala is beasting.

Cuadrado was weak defensively in a couple of situations but good otherwise.

Cancelo was sharp all the way until the last decision. Anyway great attacking moves for a fullback.

Everyone was pretty great, Valencia was only allowed 1 shot on target and it was a corner. They even played a good game.

Cuadrado we saw his defensive limits: he got completely shifted by Guedes, took the ball back, then he bring it deep in Valencia's zone. His speed (with the ball) is what make him useful at this position. To me he is more a RM than RB. Can be a good RWB if we play 3 at the back.

Szczesny look solid on that header, great reflex save. With GKs it's a thin line between challenging him to do better and ruin his confidence. I trust Max on that.

A word on Ronaldo: i appreciate him so far. Even as a person, never thought i would say this. Probably because as Juve fan i depend on him and he doesn't disappoint, we're all in the same boat expecting a Champions League title. The eager to succeed is contagious. He takes his role at Juventus seriously which i didn't expect.

Lots of good things going this season:

-Ronaldo: just an unreal impact on our team. I can't say I'm shocked, I knew he would score goals but I definitely underrated the impact he would have on the entirety of the team.

-Mandzukic: the player benefiting most from Ronaldo

-Dybala: slow start but now we're seeing it. He's becoming a more mature, complete player.

-Bentancur: what an improvement from his first season to now, Max is forced due to injury to his son Khedira but he covers a lot of space, presses well, he's a useful player next to Pjanic and I'm glad for it.

-Cancelo: quite simply, he is the Alex Sandro of the right side. Adds a dimension to our attack. He can be a bit foolish defensively and he makes some Cuadrado-esque decisions going forwards at times but he's the real deal, I'm glad we invested here and that it's paying off because some were skeptical.

-Bonucci: masks our midfield deficiencies, he's such a capable passer and leader on the field (despite being quite the cuck outside of it).

-Alex Sandro: resurgence after a down year, glad for it. So much better defensively than he was one he joined Juventus and still every bit as deadly going forward.

Yeah bros, I'm thinking its our year



we are a team of sheer will and determination

1st of group H

possible opponents in round of 16:
Atletico
Tottenham
Liverpool
Schalke
Ajax
OL

As i said in previous years, if we want to lift the trophy we must be ready to have the toughest possible road. My choice would be Juve vs Ajax tho, not only is it the easiest draw on paper but also a prestigious match-up. Ajax always have some promising youngsters so it would be an opportunity to update my knowledge about them.

Juve vs Spurs could be fun as well.

Hey guys. I see the forum is inactive for some time now but what do you think of our defeat vs. Atletico?

Atletico definitely was the strongest opponent we could have got but I think we got outsmarted thanks to Allegri's defensive approach.

He chose to start with De Sciglio and Bentancur who both had a really bad game.We had better options sitting on the bench like Emre Can & of course Cancelo.

Our right wing was completely useless. Not only Bentancur and De Sciglio weren't contributing but Dybala also seemed confused constantly changing from right wing to center midfield.

Honestly I don't think we are going through. Knowing Atletico they will put an ultra defensive performance next game and play physically. They will miss some players due to yellow cards but we'll need to go all-in from the start hoping we'll have all our players in good shape and mostly our attackers. We need Costa & Bernardeschi to be ready.

Nice to see you post again

I count this as a very bad performance, i blame the players AND the coach for being slow to react. What's the point to sub Bernardeschi and Cancelo at 80th minute ? We're playing away, it was 0-0 at half time and we need a goal.

The starting line-up was decent as we need to calm them down in their stadium, but Allegri had the bizarre strategy of playing safe all game long. I don't think taking off MDS for Bernardeschi/Cancelo at half time would lead to a worst result than 0-2. I'm fine with not playing Douglas.

It seems such a promising team earlier this season, our players were sharp and they played in a more clever way. For the return leg i wish Allegri has an agressive strategy.

MANDZUKIC-RONALDO-DYBALA
MATUIDI-PJANIC-BERNARDESCHI
SANDRO-CHIELLINI-BONUCCI-CANCELO

please

Our play from the wings was inexistent , especially from the right. Hopefully we'll have Cancelo,Costa & Bernardeschi in form to deal with that. I think Sandro will not play due to yellow cards

I wanna see us go all in from the start and get an early goal.

______RONALDO - MANDZUKIC

___COSTA - DYBALA/BERNARDESCHI

___________MATUIDI - PJANIC

SPINA - CHIELLINI - BONUCCI - CANCELO

________________SZCZESNY

I'd like to see this lineup ^