A New Era – Juventus 2010/11

After a truly uninspired season that included elimination from the Champions & Europa Leagues, defeats to Bari, Udinese and…Fulham and, of course, a pathetic 7th place, I’ve finally decided to start posting on the blog again !

Why you may ask ? The answer is simple: Change. There’s an air of change at the club that’s been missing since Calciopoli and long before our season of purgatory in Serie B. The change I speak of has not been confined to a switch in management, a new directorship or the emergence of Andrea Agnelli as club president – It seems to be at the very root of the club, and at every level upwards:

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The new formation ~ 4-3-1-2

We’ve seen two friendly matches so far and preseason seems to be going well. Ciro Ferrara said from the outset that he wants to use a different formation to accomodate newly arrived Diego, and so far, he’s been good for his word, fielding a 4-3-1-2 formation. With Diego still carrying a knock and Giovinco recovering from nose surgery, Del piero has been called to fill the ‘trequartista’ role behind the two strikers, even though Alex has confirmed this is not his preferred position.

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In the centre…

Following on from the previous post, I have to admit the only part of the Juventus squad that worries me (and does seem to lack in depth), is the centre of defence. Last season we had a host of defenders including recent departures Olof Mellberg and Dario Kneverplayedamatchovic. Having sold Mellberg and returned Dario, that leaves us with a central defence of Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Lorenzo Ariaudo and Nicola Legrottaglie.

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Blues for a left back

With the big deals done, Juventus look set to back off from the transfer market and start planning their 2009/10 scudetto campaign. The club have spent almost £45 million and all of that had gone on just 2 players – Brazilian fantasista Diego and his fellow countryman, Felipe Melo. Now I can’t argue with the spending or the players we’ve bought, but surely there are at least 3 important areas the management have overlooked ?

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