Juventus vs Cagliari: Milos Krasic 1st goal-Happy Birthday!!

Fabio Quagliarella - ☆It's My Season 2011-2012☆ "New" HD

Where's Fabio???

Fabio Quagliarella is a talented player and Juventus bought him after a loan spell last season, and he was Juve's top scorer despite the fact that his season was cut short due to a horrific knee injury in January that meant his season was over. However this season the forward has only played in 1 game and that was as a substitute. After seeing him on the bench a couple of times, one would hope that he would get a chance to shine, but that wasn't the case.

Antonio Conte is spoilt for choice when it come to the attach with players like: Matri, Vucinic, Giaccherini, Elia, Ianquinta, Amauri, Toni and the evergreen Alessandro Del Piero, he does have a bit of a conundrum on his hands. Quagliarella is 28 years old, so not the youngest but he does have a flair for the unconventional goals which is always useful to have at your disposal. I'm also guessing that he wants to be included in Euro 2012 with the current Italy side, he can't exactly be in contention for a role in the Azzurri if he hasn't played a game all season.

It is still early in the season, and you can't blame Conte for playing Matri ahead of Fabio, Matri is in blistering form which can only be good for the team and Antonio may be slightly apprehensive about disturbing the equilibrium. Who knows, maybe we'll see a cameo next week against his former side Napoli. It would be sheer cruelty to let such a talented player waste away on the bench. Surely Juve aren't that cruel...Are they?

Inter vs Juventus

A game that had all the ingredients of being a good watch, it had drama, intrigue but above all good football by Juventus. Inter had spent the week before spreading doubt in the minds of referees, they has been moaning and complaining about how referees were to willing to give free kicks and penalties against them, and that doubt had grow in their minds and thus, Juve were denied a clear penalty just before half time when Inter keeper Luca Casstellazzi came running out the goal and brought down Claudio Marchisio, who has a flair for the dramatic goals. Not only that, but five Juve players got yellow cards, this was classic Inter behaviour, when it looks like they're losing they try to take down as many opposing players as they can, they will try anything from grabbing their face and going down to clearly antagonising the opposing player to get him sent off. But Inters childish behaviour doesn't stop at that, they whine to the referee when a decision doesn't go their way, so much so that Wesley Sneijder should have had two yellow by the end of the match, he was substitute late on probably for that reason and the youngster Ricky Alvarez was brought on, which did cause Juve some problems as by this point they were all exhausted!

The Old Lady could have been atleast 3 up before half time as they wasted opportunities again and again. The first goal came from Mirku Vucinic in the 12th minute, he had been in the right place when Alessandro Matri's shot was saved. It then took Inter till the 38th minute to get the equaliser and when he did the home fans went wild, and it was clear by Maicon's celebration what the goal had meant. But Inter were poor in defence, and if they want to win anything they have to take a look at this as it was becoming childsplay for Juve, but still Juve were not as decisive as they should be upfront. It didn't take Juve long however, as in the 33rd minute Marchisio put Juve infront yet again. He had been everywhere, running himself into the ground and working hard for the team. The 25 year old has really come into his prime but his still has a tendency to accumelate the cards, he had already had three this season and another would have seen him suspended for the game against Napoli.

Inter are in real trouble as they are dangerously close to the relegation zone and Juve have retained their place on the top, but only by two points, so I don't want to see complacency by my team as the other team from Milan are breathing down our neck!

Juventus v Fiorentina

A break neck start for Juventus, while they lost something in the second half. A narrow win that could have easily lead to another draw, which would've meant they dropped another 2 points but as fate would have it, they have regained top spot albeit by only 1 point but if Udinese lose against Napoli, they will once again have some breathing room.

Juve started off brightly with a shot from Simone Pepe on the seventh minute that forced Arthur Boruc to make his first save of the night. Pepe was by far the most hardworking and creative of the bunch, his tireless runs and his ability to get back to help the defence were inspirational. Yet for all his hard work it was not he who scored the first goal. It was Leonardo Bonucci, but it started from another little solider ; Claudio Marchisio. It was his shot on target that forced Boruc to parry the ball within the reach if Bonucci who was the first to react and opened the scoring for The Old Lady.

Juve were wasting an alarming amount of opportunities and should have been up by 2 goals before the break. Out of 21 shot only 14 were on target and only forced the keeper to save on 12 occasions. A statistic that should make the Bianconeri think about their cutting edge. More to the point, Mirku Vucinc was not exactly in sparkling form, out of 5 shots only three were on target and they were either tame or straight at the keeper making it almost an easy save. Juve should work on this as in the second half they paid for all their missed chances with an equaliser by La Viola in the 57th minute. This did cause a slight panic from Juve, which was scrappy to say the least! But Juve eventually found the rhythm and tempo from the first half and resulted in a goal from Alessandro Matri in the 65th minute, it was all due to the hard work and persistent play from Pepe, Pepe had five Fiorentina players around him but still managed to get the ball to Matri and Matri did what all great strikers do.. he banged it into the goal and Juve were once again in the lead.

With all three points collected, Juve can go into Saturday's game with Inter on a high... but they still have a lot to work on. I must say this is one of the better birthdays I have enjoyed. Thank you Juventus!