Serie A, JUVENTUS-LAZIO, Sunday, 31-01-10

good job defensively! Diakite = Black Stam ! just amazing... everything else was pure trap - midline attackers everything. nice lob from Zarate for the goal and I was amazed that Mauri scored cause we all know what he is capable of doing :) let's hope next week we'll have our reinforcements on line!

El Weninho wrote:

But with Firmani-Baronio-Dabo-Mauri on the midfield, isn't one point against Juventus pretty good no matter the name of the manager?

Fully agreed.

1 point is always better than nothing. When will we like really win 2 games in a row?

1Point....That's it.

Good result but that was the only positive thing to take.

We were never really in the game and except a Mauri shot from 20 meters failed to produce anything in attack in the first hour.

Juve were certainly the better side but our defense allowed few real chances. The penalty was certainly non-existent, as Del Piero fell over himself (btw Diakhite still has a long way to go to Stam - it was his misjudgment allowed Del Piero to go ahead of him, even if the penalty wasn't his fault). At that moment I thought we'll gonna be robbed by the refs just like in the old Moggi times...

But when Rocchi came on it looked much better and we perfectly used the only real chance we had.

Thankfully we have some reinforcements to look forward to (Matuzalem, Meghni returning, Hitzlsperger joining). Although I don't think changing the whole midfield will solve all the problems. Our defence is still inconsistent, and as long as we don't have Floccari the attack sucks. Well at least while Cruz plays, Rocchi is on the bench and Zarate performs to like 50% of his ability (even if he made an assist today).

El Weninho wrote:

But with Firmani-Baronio-Dabo-Mauri on the midfield, isn't one point against Juventus pretty good no matter the name of the manager?

Point taken Weninho, but the approach was terrible. In the last 20 minutes after they scored we started playing at last and even created chances and half-chances. You simply can not play bunker defense in this century. Credit to our defense but we managed to keep a clean sheet mostly because we have a great keeper and they missed all of their shots from outside the box, namely Diego had a clear shot on goal and shot directly at Muslera, later he his the post, Candreva had his shots un-obstructed, Sissoko went through our defense like a hot knife through butter...
If the attitude and approach from the last 20 minutes was enforced at the start of the game then we might have lost, might have won or drew but we would not look like a provincial side battling for dear life.

At the start of the chat I made a joke listing our line-up by name and listing their lineup as "11 cheaters". Someone corrected me and said 12 cheaters (the ref). And it came true. I always held Del Piero as a champion of the sport but his diving today disgusted me, once the ref bought it (or wanted to buy it) and it was 1-0 (as Cash predicted in the chat that Juve will get a penalty). God damn cheaters. FUCK RUBENTUS!!!

FORZA LAZIO!! BALLARDINI VAFFANCULO!!

Sile wrote:

El Weninho wrote:

But with Firmani-Baronio-Dabo-Mauri on the midfield, isn't one point against Juventus pretty good no matter the name of the manager?

At the start of the chat I made a joke listing our line-up by name and listing their lineup as "11 cheaters". Someone corrected me and said 12 cheaters (the ref). And it came true. I always held Del Piero as a champion of the sport but his diving today disgusted me, once the ref bought it (or wanted to buy it) and it was 1-0 (as Cash predicted in the chat that Juve will get a penalty). God damn cheaters. FUCK RUBENTUS!!!

FORZA LAZIO!! BALLARDINI VAFFANCULO!!

To be fair to Del Piero for me it looked like just fell over by attempting a volley, not intentionally. But it was the ref that got it horribly wrong.

He attempted the dive earlier on on a challenge by Radu I believe it was. And that dive was intentional. The ref Saccani being blind/cheater is another story. Kolarov should have aimed for his head again just to set things straight, last time wasn't enough.

And being given the dubious penalty, taking it himself and then that explosive celebration was enough to disgust me thank you very much

Good away result. Performance not the greatest though. What saved us was Muslera once again and I thought our defense did quite well in most situations. Diakite, Radu and Stendardo are playing well together, Kolarov did well too. Our midfield was trap however (Baronio was alright and Firmani gave it his all - but Dabo and Mauri did not offer much) and our forwards were just as insufficient. I forgot Cruz was still on. Zarate tried some moves but really just ran into dark alleys and gave away the ball. I can't remember how many times I yelled at the TV telling Mauro to pass the fucking ball.

Only after Juvemerda's typical bullshit penalty kick did Lazio really start to press them and made some good chances. Too bad the team only did this in the last 20 minutes. Great assist by Zarate and a sweet as finish by Mauri - it was actually kind of funny seeing him bandaged up a few minutes later due to the celebration collision with Rocchi. Tommaso was very good when he came on, Lichtsteiner ran down as much as he could which we all love to see and Siviglia was solid at the back so the subs did their bit well IMO.

Hopefully this result lifts the team up for next weeks massive home clash with Catania. That is a MUST win match!

FORZA LAZIO!!!!!

Sile wrote:

And being given the dubious penalty, taking it himself and then that explosive celebration was enough to disgust me thank you very much

100% agree. I lost a lot of respect for Del Piero today.

del piero is always cheating when he can! remember a game against parma. they won 3:2 and del piero scored the last goal handling the ball henry-style. even the blind men saw it but the ref didn't.

we need more creativity and more self-confidence. we play like second grade scared chickens! we must learn how to stand our ground and put one hell of a fight for it. I remember some years ago (can't remember who the coach was) but juve didn't have a win over us in a long period of time. and I clearly remember how we used to press the when they cross the center. closed them down, didn't leave any space for them and we countered as hell. sometimes we won sometimes we drew, but never lost against them with this coach..

Quote :

we need more creativity and more self-confidence. we play like second grade scared chickens!

Usually we can't create even if we pour everyone forward, and when we somehow do create our strikers are ridiculously wasteful, so I think it made sense to play it safe tonight. The more the result stayed 0-0, the more rube were going to get nervous. Of course, the ref helped them but I think we most likely wouldn't have scored if it wasn't for the need to equalise so this didn't harm us much. That said, I want to kick Saccani until he pukes.

On the positive side Stendardo and Radu were very good, Stendardo totally pwned Amauri and Radu's speed and composure. With a midfield featuring Firmani, Dabo and Baronio for much of the game even one goal scored is a god-send.

"In all the years I've been working with Italian football I've never seen a cheaper penalty. Totally without reason from the judge. A big scandal, nothing less" -Per Jarle Heggelund, Norwegian commentator on TV last night.

I still can't belive it.

But a draw away to Juve is not really a bad result for us. The biggest problem again was our midfield.

Diakite has impressed me as a RB so far, he got as many freekicks from good spot against Juve and was almost only one who could bring the ball to the attacking zone, good job!

A draw against Juventus away is obviously not a bad result, but its highly irritating that they were awarded such a cheap penalty! Its sad that the judges can't resist to blow the whistle just because its a legend with a number ten shirt falling on his home ground.

Well altough there was no penalty at all it does seams like it is the right result... Rocchi must have a garanteed starting place in the team...

Sile wrote:

El Weninho wrote:

But with Firmani-Baronio-Dabo-Mauri on the midfield, isn't one point against Juventus pretty good no matter the name of the manager?

Point taken Weninho, but the approach was terrible. In the last 20 minutes after they scored we started playing at last and even created chances and half-chances. You simply can not play bunker defense in this century. Credit to our defense but we managed to keep a clean sheet mostly because we have a great keeper and they missed all of their shots from outside the box, namely Diego had a clear shot on goal and shot directly at Muslera, later he his the post, Candreva had his shots un-obstructed, Sissoko went through our defense like a hot knife through butter...
If the attitude and approach from the last 20 minutes was enforced at the start of the game then we might have lost, might have won or drew but we would not look like a provincial side battling for dear life.

At the start of the chat I made a joke listing our line-up by name and listing their lineup as "11 cheaters". Someone corrected me and said 12 cheaters (the ref). And it came true. I always held Del Piero as a champion of the sport but his diving today disgusted me, once the ref bought it (or wanted to buy it) and it was 1-0 (as Cash predicted in the chat that Juve will get a penalty). God damn cheaters. FUCK RUBENTUS!!!

FORZA LAZIO!! BALLARDINI VAFFANCULO!!

Fair enough about the approach Sile. I didn't like it either, but I can't say I'm surprised after seeing that our only options on the midfield were Dabo, Firmani and Baronio.

At some point I think that maybe it's best just to defend and hope for a point. To go on attack away against Juventus would have been an obvious own goal. Our starting eleven is not the same quality and our midfield failed completely giving support to our attackers. And without a midfield that manages both attacking and defending, I think it's a bit harch blaming the manager for prioritating defence.

Let's remember Juventus is top 6 while we're fighting to avoid relegation.

El Weninho wrote:

Sile wrote:

El Weninho wrote:

But with Firmani-Baronio-Dabo-Mauri on the midfield, isn't one point against Juventus pretty good no matter the name of the manager?

Point taken Weninho, but the approach was terrible. In the last 20 minutes after they scored we started playing at last and even created chances and half-chances. You simply can not play bunker defense in this century. Credit to our defense but we managed to keep a clean sheet mostly because we have a great keeper and they missed all of their shots from outside the box, namely Diego had a clear shot on goal and shot directly at Muslera, later he his the post, Candreva had his shots un-obstructed, Sissoko went through our defense like a hot knife through butter...
If the attitude and approach from the last 20 minutes was enforced at the start of the game then we might have lost, might have won or drew but we would not look like a provincial side battling for dear life.

At the start of the chat I made a joke listing our line-up by name and listing their lineup as "11 cheaters". Someone corrected me and said 12 cheaters (the ref). And it came true. I always held Del Piero as a champion of the sport but his diving today disgusted me, once the ref bought it (or wanted to buy it) and it was 1-0 (as Cash predicted in the chat that Juve will get a penalty). God damn cheaters. FUCK RUBENTUS!!!

FORZA LAZIO!! BALLARDINI VAFFANCULO!!

Fair enough about the approach Sile. I didn't like it either, but I can't say I'm surprised after seeing that our only options on the midfield were Dabo, Firmani and Baronio.

At some point I think that maybe it's best just to defend and hope for a point. To go on attack away against Juventus would have been an obvious own goal. Our starting eleven is not the same quality and our midfield failed completely giving support to our attackers. And without a midfield that manages both attacking and defending, I think it's a bit harch blaming the manager for prioritating defence.

Let's remember Juventus is top 6 while we're fighting to avoid relegation.

Yeah but Sile you have to understand that Balla has lost confidence in z players at his disposal so one point is like a win !for him !

For him maybe a point is a win, given his management of the players. But we sure as hell do not need a coach that thinks this way.

good result,great game of diakite-he impresed me,another game that nando is our best player.our defense looks more better with 4 players(very good game of all of them)than with 5 or 6 players.
another game that our midlle exist only in ballardini tactic papers.
zarate could be the worst man in the field but he create the space(always he was blocked by two players)so we need someone who will use that space,he s one asist(the great one)and we win a point.i will repaid again that he s not the selfish as somebody stil thinks that he is,he had good passes in our "middle contra attacks"but than the ball was lose of our players wich one do not knows how to keep the ball.
after rochhi in we was more danger than with cruz.
good spirit in last 20 min,even we create some half chances,but i will agree with sile and secret samadhi that balla sucks(once again)
1.our good result depends a lot of juve bad and non organised game
2.great saves of nando
3.one interesting point:whe we was stil losing by 1-0 he put two defense players(lichty and sivighla) and i rely thing that one great asist of zarate and goal of mauri cant save he s bad season

After seeing how we gave away 2 points to Chievo last week, this was never going to be a game where we would go for the three points. We could have punished juve, but we didnt go for it, and in the end we need to be happy we got a draw. But seeing how we could create a few attacks the last 20 minutes showed me, again, that we are not playing for wins these days, but for not losing. Hope this chances for the Catania game.
In any case, noone can be sad about "only" getting one point away to juve. They were always going to get a penalty or so; and given our situation we should be happy about the point in the end.