b&w & read all over 
07-05-2024 17:58
07-05-2024 17:58
Manu’s Grab Bag: Another One
Will this team win another game this season?
It’s a fair question. They have all of two wins in their last 14 (!!!) league matches and with only three games left in Serie A this season, so who knows if we see them pick up three points in the season again.
You know the story by now. Juventus played an uneven game with some pretty good stretches and some horrid ones. They wasted chances, made some saves on their own end, stumbled and bumbled into a 1-1 draw against Roma on Sunday night that was relatively fair given how the game transpired and the fact this two teams are more even than you would think in terms of talent and tactical acumen. More dropped points. Wash, rinse, repeat.
How many games this year could you describe this way? Over/Under is 10.5 matches.
Let’s cook.
Offensive Player of the Week: Federico Chiesa
It’s now back-to-back awards for my boy Chiesa, who I’m sure read my criticisms of him all season and decided to show what was up on these last couple of games. Kudos to me for lighting a fire under him.
And I will stand on my take that overall this has been a disappointing season from everyones favorite Italian winger but these types of performances are the gas that keeps the fire going of the “Chiesa has best player of the league” potential.
Roma just didn’t have a guy on the field that could keep up with Chiesa. There was no dribble he couldn’t make and he made several passes that should have ended with a more positive outcome than they did based on quality alone. His assist was hand delivered for Gleison Bremer, and he overall looked like the best player on the field for either side.
With hopefully a new approach in tactics next season and perhaps better injury luck, there’s still a chance that Chiesa can look like this more often than not and become the guy we all thought he could be after the Euro 2021. Out of all the baffling things that have ailed this team during this horrific stretch, it is their complete inability to play two consistently good halves of football in one game that is right up there at the top of the list.
Very similarly than last week’s draw against AC Milan, Juventus played 45 minutes of pretty formidable football that resembled the team that once looked like it could challenge for the title. They also looked every bit the shambolic terrible team that has graced our screens in the last three months for the rest of the game.
I don’t know if this is up to coaching, on-field leadership, emotional immaturity from a young team or — most likely — a combination of all, but it really is one of the most worrisome trends of the second half of the season that they seem completely unable to put a solid 90 minutes together at a time.
I’ve seen a lot of very flawed teams in my time, Juventus or otherwise, but I don’t think I ever recall a squad that can have diametrically opposite performances in one single match with so much regularity.
Whatever changes come next season, this is probably one of the biggest changes they need to make moving forward.
Loser: Me, every time I have to watch Paulo Dybala play for AS Roma.
I still hate that Paulo Dybala is not a Juventus player.
I’m sorry, I will continue to say it until I’m blue in the face and either Dybala retires or I die whatever happens first.
Football, at its core, is entertainment and a huge part of it actually being entertaining is watching a team that you like to watch. And a part of having a team that you like to watch is having fun players to root for and I’m sorry this team might be many things but it is very devoid of that.
Sure Chiesa is fun when he’s on and Dusan Vlahovic can be enjoyable here and there. It’s always fun to watch Bremer pocket opposing strikers, but other than Vlahovic’s knack for free kicks this team is probably at an all time low of moments that make you guffaw when watching a game.
(Very proud of myself for using the word guffaw in a sentence. Very thesaurus worthy. AP English word, that one.)
And you could say whatever you want about a guy like Dybala, but goddamn he was always so fun and interesting and enjoyable to watch with the football even at his worst he always had at least one moment of play that made you chuckle in disbelief at the skill that it takes to make something like that happen.
Also, he has 16 goals and 10 assists in 37 appearances this season. The 26 goal involvements would lead Juventus comfortably — and they let him go for nothing.
I hope Maurizio Arrivabene always has to wait double the allotted time for whatever good or service he requires at that moment. That’s going to be 45 minutes for an Uber for the rest of eternity, Mr. Arrivabene, Bond villain looking ass dude.
Parting Shot of the Week
One game. Just win one game over an already relegated team who currently employs Guillermo Ochoa — the most washed keeper who is still the starter for the national team for reasons unknown — and has a seahorse as a crest at home. It shouldn’t be too hard, right? RIGHT?
Hopefully they can accomplish that gigantic task so they can be in the best disposition possible as they have one very last chance to salvage this season in the Coppa Italia final.
Four more games. I can see the finish line.
See you Sunday.
It’s a fair question. They have all of two wins in their last 14 (!!!) league matches and with only three games left in Serie A this season, so who knows if we see them pick up three points in the season again.
You know the story by now. Juventus played an uneven game with some pretty good stretches and some horrid ones. They wasted chances, made some saves on their own end, stumbled and bumbled into a 1-1 draw against Roma on Sunday night that was relatively fair given how the game transpired and the fact this two teams are more even than you would think in terms of talent and tactical acumen. More dropped points. Wash, rinse, repeat.
How many games this year could you describe this way? Over/Under is 10.5 matches.
Let’s cook.
Offensive Player of the Week: Federico Chiesa
It’s now back-to-back awards for my boy Chiesa, who I’m sure read my criticisms of him all season and decided to show what was up on these last couple of games. Kudos to me for lighting a fire under him.
And I will stand on my take that overall this has been a disappointing season from everyones favorite Italian winger but these types of performances are the gas that keeps the fire going of the “Chiesa has best player of the league” potential.
Roma just didn’t have a guy on the field that could keep up with Chiesa. There was no dribble he couldn’t make and he made several passes that should have ended with a more positive outcome than they did based on quality alone. His assist was hand delivered for Gleison Bremer, and he overall looked like the best player on the field for either side.
With hopefully a new approach in tactics next season and perhaps better injury luck, there’s still a chance that Chiesa can look like this more often than not and become the guy we all thought he could be after the Euro 2021. Out of all the baffling things that have ailed this team during this horrific stretch, it is their complete inability to play two consistently good halves of football in one game that is right up there at the top of the list.
Very similarly than last week’s draw against AC Milan, Juventus played 45 minutes of pretty formidable football that resembled the team that once looked like it could challenge for the title. They also looked every bit the shambolic terrible team that has graced our screens in the last three months for the rest of the game.
I don’t know if this is up to coaching, on-field leadership, emotional immaturity from a young team or — most likely — a combination of all, but it really is one of the most worrisome trends of the second half of the season that they seem completely unable to put a solid 90 minutes together at a time.
I’ve seen a lot of very flawed teams in my time, Juventus or otherwise, but I don’t think I ever recall a squad that can have diametrically opposite performances in one single match with so much regularity.
Whatever changes come next season, this is probably one of the biggest changes they need to make moving forward.
Loser: Me, every time I have to watch Paulo Dybala play for AS Roma.
I still hate that Paulo Dybala is not a Juventus player.
I’m sorry, I will continue to say it until I’m blue in the face and either Dybala retires or I die whatever happens first.
Football, at its core, is entertainment and a huge part of it actually being entertaining is watching a team that you like to watch. And a part of having a team that you like to watch is having fun players to root for and I’m sorry this team might be many things but it is very devoid of that.
Sure Chiesa is fun when he’s on and Dusan Vlahovic can be enjoyable here and there. It’s always fun to watch Bremer pocket opposing strikers, but other than Vlahovic’s knack for free kicks this team is probably at an all time low of moments that make you guffaw when watching a game.
(Very proud of myself for using the word guffaw in a sentence. Very thesaurus worthy. AP English word, that one.)
And you could say whatever you want about a guy like Dybala, but goddamn he was always so fun and interesting and enjoyable to watch with the football even at his worst he always had at least one moment of play that made you chuckle in disbelief at the skill that it takes to make something like that happen.
Also, he has 16 goals and 10 assists in 37 appearances this season. The 26 goal involvements would lead Juventus comfortably — and they let him go for nothing.
I hope Maurizio Arrivabene always has to wait double the allotted time for whatever good or service he requires at that moment. That’s going to be 45 minutes for an Uber for the rest of eternity, Mr. Arrivabene, Bond villain looking ass dude.
Parting Shot of the Week
One game. Just win one game over an already relegated team who currently employs Guillermo Ochoa — the most washed keeper who is still the starter for the national team for reasons unknown — and has a seahorse as a crest at home. It shouldn’t be too hard, right? RIGHT?
Hopefully they can accomplish that gigantic task so they can be in the best disposition possible as they have one very last chance to salvage this season in the Coppa Italia final.
Four more games. I can see the finish line.
See you Sunday.