Sunday 26 August 2012

Opening weekend!

And already full of controversies and unexpected going ons. It seems like an eternity since we saw some proper Italian football with decent commentators- unlike the bbc and itv teams during the Euros, who were annoying to say the least! Juventus got off to a 2-0 start against Parma, it may not have been the goal feast of last season when the beat Parma 4-1, it was still rather entertaining, in more ways then one!

The game did have one similarity to last season, Lichtsteiner scored the opener, and to think their were rumours that he might leave the Turin giant- absurd!
This was their first game without the great man that is Alessandro Del Piero, to be fair last season he didn't play an awful lot yet it was comforting to know he was on the bench. Juve were also with the imposing figure, that is Antonio Conte, his situation is rather "muddy", and it seems more like that he will be absent for 10 months.

The game started a little shacky and it was not a steller Juve performance, yet in the second half they grew in stature and started to really impose themselves on the game. In the first half Juve did get a penalty, which I have to admit, I wanted Vidal to miss... the over dramatic way that Stephen went down was slightly embarrassing. Arturo Vidal did miss it, so no controversy there, the controversy came in the second half when Pirlo took a free kick and certain people didn't believe it went over the line, well the new assistant beside the goal did, so that's all that counts.
Juve came out victorious, and as the many replays showed, it was a legitimate win that did cost the the loss of The "Atomic Ant", after what seemed like a nasty sprain.
 Milan were the complete opposite, as they went 1-0 down to newly promoted Sampdoria. Not a big shock, as they did just get rid of two of their best players in Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. It is a sad thing to watch, the once great Milan a shell of themselves, afterall you are only as good as your opponents. Yet I urge the Milan faithfuls to not fret, the transfer window is still open.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Hands off Stephen!!!

The transfer rumours are always hard to stomach for any fan, but this one is just ridiculous! Stephen Lichtsteiner to PSG/ Chelsea, PSG have already taken 3 rather big names from Serie A in Ibramovich, Thiago Silva and Lavezzi- are they not done yet?! It's not as though this has been a winning formula for them, PSG have draw their opening two games. They must realise that you can't just take all the best players, put them in one team and expect to win everything. Achieving a winning mentality take time and teamwork, not just a group of very talented individuals, just ask Brazil's Olympic football team, all the tricks and flicks don't guarantee trophies!

I expect this from PSG as they seem to have money falling from the sky, and I guess the media has something to do with it as well! But why are Juventus even entertaining the idea? He was a gem last season with his amazing runs up and down the right flank- at one point it actually seemed like he was going to collapse because he ran so much. Not only that, it was his passes and vision that helped Juve win and win undefeated last season. I'm sure they don't need the money, the new stadium should be helping out there, but not only that, he fit in with the group and the style of play with ease, how long do you think it will take for someone new to replicate what he did?! Another minor detail they seen to be forgetting.... They are going to be competing in the Champions League next season and they're going need a player like him, someone who is willing to run himself into the ground to ensure victory.
The Old Lady should do her best to keep him, but after they subbed him in the "friendly" against Milan, I fear the worst.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Juventus V Napoli- Supercoppa

A re match of the Cup final with a few changes, first of all no Del Piero ( sobs!), No Antonio Conte shouting instructions from the side and thirdly, they won, albeit in not the best fashion! This was alway goingto be a tense game and was further made difficult by the pouring rain, which helped and hindered the play, whatever your perspective.
The game took a while to get into a real rythm, but once they had it was Napoli that got the lead with a wonderful Edinson Cavani strike, Buffon stopped his first attempt but Cavani persisted, he could have done the easy thing and just gone down under Buffon's initial touch, he didn't, to every Juve fans relief yet the outcome was the same and Napoli were one up inside the Birdsnest Stadium. Juventus' new signing Asamoah proved to be a great buy when he equalled soon after. Goran Pandev then struck the ball before half time to make it 2-1 in favour of the boys in blue. The second half had a dose of bad luck for Napoli as Vucinic was deemed to be fouled, allthough it was diifcult to say, but the wet survace and the pouring rain may have helped sway the decision in Juves favour, and Arturo Vidal hit the ball with precision and power to make things level. Soon after Napoli were down to 10 men as Goran Pandev was deemed to say something worthy of a straight red. And then late on in the half Zuniga was given his marching orders after bringing down Giovinco, Napoli then had to play extra time with 9 men but not before Maggio nodded the ball into his  own net and gave Juve back the lead. Eventhough Napoli were down to nine men for the extra 30 minutes, they were still making it difficult for Juve. Yet they couldn't hold off the constant pressure from Juventus and an equsite pass from Marchisio was slotted home by Vucinic as Juve get the new season started by continuing the winning trend, yet this was a hollow victory of sorts, with Napoli being penalised so heavily.. one things for sure, when these two meet in the League we're sure to see fireworks!

Friday 10 August 2012

Outraged and deeply saddened.

Mario Monti has already raised taxes in Italy so much that everyday people are struggling to survive, then he proposed to put grotesque commercial bill boards on some of the country most glorious monuments e.g The Duomo in Milan, now he is actually going to sell off some  of the country's finest castles and palaces to try and sort thing out, things that people like him have caused in the first place!!! But none of those kinds of people will pay the price, NO it's going to be everyone else who suffers! For anyone who doesn't already know Mario Monti was a former banker who worked for Goldman & Sachs, one of the major banks that caused this crisis to begin with!! This guy is an economist not a politician, he can't run a country like a bank, you're not dealing with 1's and 0's you're dealing with people and the choices you make will impact the live of millions of people. Italy is such a beautiful country and part of the beauty comes from the fact that it's historical buildings are preserved for future generations to see, not sold to the HIGHEST BIDDER!! I would hate to return and see that the Pantheon is now sponsored by Mc Donalds! The country is so unique and has soo many treasures that we must protect at all cost. I also predict that Monti will triple the cost of public transports, entry to museums and food so that he can keep his plush mansions while everyone else suffers!
The people and the great traditions are of greater value than anything else... I fear for the beauties of Italia.

Carry on Conte...

It may look as though it's all doom and gloom for Juventus' next season, without their imposing and highly motivational Coach for 10 months!!! It may seem like that but we must not let this be an excuse for us. Let us not forget, he can appeal the ban, although it doesn't look promising, having Moggi as a character witness is far from a good move!!
Yet the rules state that Antonio Conte can train with his team up until matchday and can watch the game from the stands, so in actuality, how much are they going to miss him? I mean could you really hear what he was yelling from the sidelines? But I suppose all this negativity around the team can have a profound affect on the team Psyche. Part of me feels that Conte didn't really help himself when mid season he went on a rant about how everyone was against him, he might have made a few enemies, and the whole Scudetti argument- maybe it's just karma? Whatever it is, a team like Juve, with all their qualities and never say die attitude should be able to ride this storm and come out the other side even stronger.
FORZA JUVENTUS!!

Saturday 4 August 2012

Rome - 10 Things You Need To Know

Not again!

Anyone who is slightly interested in Italian football will have some idea of what is going on. But certain individuals who only read the headlines will think " Italian football and corruption, what's new?" not realisng it was lower league teams and the corruption they might think they know is a whole lot complicated and subjective, but they will just brandish the entire league as corrupt because, you know curruption doesn't occur anywhere else does it?!!
 Yet again betting charges and attempts to throw matches, but this time it's not the clubs but individual players, but as before it looks likely that Juventus will pay the price. Leonardo Bonucci, Simone Pepe and Antonio Conte are the main focus.
Bonucci is suspected of fixing a game whilst he was at Serie B team Bari, prosecutors have really got it in for the Juventus defender as it was proposed that he will serve a ban of 3 years and 6 months! Pepe on the other hand is accused of failing to report while he was at Udinese and may face a one year ban, still rather harsh considering the supposed crime, I'm sorry, but how can you even prove that the person knew about anything illegal, surely if he reports every suspicion he won't have any time left to do his job, which is being a professional footballer. Antonio Conte is suspected of failing to report match fixing when he was at Siena and has had his plea bargain of 3 months and a fine rejected, now don't get the wrong idea, this is not an admission of guilt because he has strongly denied doing any wrong doing, he just didn't want to go through a long drawn out trial, which now seems to be the case as he is infuriated with the judge's decision and wants to clear his name. But if he fails he may get a 15 month ban and that could only be bad news for Juventus. However, even if he does get banned he will still be able to train the team during the week, it may seem okay but you're forgetting how much he gives to the team and how inspirational he is to these lads, how else did they go the entire last season undefeated?
Yet a small part of me thinks that Juve brought this on themselves with the whole 30 Scudetto debate, they obviously annoyed someone!