How Does Juve Stack Up In Europe (1 Viewer)

[Catenaccio]

I mean on paper.

Lets look....the favourites for this years UCL would be:

Real Madrid (as always)
ManU
Juve
Milan
Bayern
Arsenal?

Well lets look at Real Madrid first and we can deal with the others later on in this thread.

Real Madrid (with Beckham they return to 4-4-2):

-------------------Cassilas-----------------

Salgado---Hierro?---Helguera---Carlos

Beckham---Makelele---Zidane---Figo (assuming he plays left)
---------------------------Raul--------------
--------------Ronaldo----------------------

Juve:

------------------Buffon-------------------

Thuram---Legro---Montero---Zambro

-------------Tacch---Davids------------- (assuming Davids stays)

----Miccoli/Camo---Nedved-------------
-----------------------------------DP-------
-------------------Trez---------------------

OK, there is little doubt that we are superior defensively (unless Real make a big swoop for a new central defender). Juve's midfield is more hard working or utility like but this year with the introduction of Miccoli, I feel that we are more likely to sacrifice some solidity in favour of flair from a tactical point of view.

I prefer Raul and Ronaldo to Del Piero & Trezeguet. On his day, Del Piero is better than Raul but he is rarely on his day these days.

So i think its an even match. Because Real Madrid's defence lack pace, I would almost be tempted to use Di Vaio instead of Trez.

OK, one more....ManU

--------------------Barthez-------------------

Neville---Ferdinand---Silvestre---Oshea

Solskaer-----Keane----Veron-----Giggs
--------------------Scholes-------------------

----------------Van Nistelrooy--------------

On paper, they are nothing special apart from Giggs & Ruud but the team works really hard and the back 4 (except perhaps Oshea) don't move much meaning that the entire midfield attacks. On the break they can be deadly because you usually get 4 players in the box in a split second. Juve struggles to beat this team and i think part of the reason is that our fullbacks do a lot of attacking and we always get caught on the break by their wingers and Ruud just seems to know where they are going to feed him the ball.

I really think we are a better team than ManU but we would have to be on full alert when we play them.

Anyway....I know this topic is premature but I just can't wait for the UCL so we can kick some serious but...especially ManU.

Any thoughts?

 

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[Zizou]

Hey mate check the latest news....Utd sold Veron to Chelsea

So unless they buy a quality player in midfield, they are in theory not even a top 3 pretendent. Especially if RvN is missing due to injury or suspension.

Also, when you think about it, in these past 10 years, Utd only arrived to the CL final once and people always think they're a dead sure that they will make it to the top 2. Slighty over rated, though they are a quality team.

 

[dpforever]

I think we should look for Bayern Munich this year .. they've signed Makaay and with Elber they would form a formidable partnership .. Like us, Bayern are balanced in all departments .. they have a neat midfield with Ze Roberto (Wow, had an amazing match last week), Ballak, Diesler and Hargreaves .. their defense is also strong with Kuffor and Kovac and they are guarded by Kahn ..

 

[JuveCampione]

yeah Bayern are top contenders this year. Makaay + Elber is a deady partnership. they signed Demichelish to add depth to their defense and they always have Kahn to count on.
they have wiinners mentality.. so they could win it this year

 

[Alessandro]

Forget Arsenal, remember about Barcelona....

 

[dpforever]

++ [ originally posted by Alessandro ] ++
Forget Arsenal, remember about Barcelona....

Barca have zero chances in winning the Champions League ..








That's because they ain't participating in it .. they are in for the UEFA Cup though

 

[mikhail]

They're not even in the UEFA Cup. They're in nothing this season. They're my tip for la Liga this season though - will be very hungry and determined.

 

[Dragon]

didnt hierro leave real madrid?

 

[Espectro]

Yep

 

[mikhail]

Yes, he retired. They've got a replacement though, I think.

 

[Signor]

No they have got nothin' till now.

 

[Espectro]

Hierro didn't retire, and Real haven't buy a replacement

 

[JuveCampione]

++ [ originally posted by mikhail ] ++
They're not even in the UEFA Cup.

yes they are

 

[sutnop]

I understand how people can think Veron is still in Man U since he hasn't passed the medical or anything to Chelsea yet

but Hierro
come on Catenaccio they fired him in mid June and its August now...

If you look at Madrids back four its
R Carlos- Pavon - Helguera - Salgado
Geremi has been also sold to Chelsea which pretty much cancels out a great utility player (who good perhaps do a better job then Salgado definsivley as right full back)
to add to that they are left totally vurenerable to injuries and suspensions since they lost any sub players that could come into defense (Geremi, Ivan Campo and even Flavio Conceciao who sometimes could play in D)
Meaning they are basically left with crappy youth players if someone gets injured, lets say Helguera gets injured this would leave Real Madrid with a Defensive line up that is comparable to Udineses...
Also Beckham is more there for commercial reasons then for Footballing...
Queriroz is officially a great coach according to Man U
Unofficaly he was disliked by a large portion of the managers and the players at Man U

If he couldn't keep Man U nice schoolboys happy how is he even going to manage to keep the divas and judas's of Real Content?

I can't imagine any respectable football Journalists or magazines seeing them as favourites for the trophy apart from some tabloids...

It would be a great surprise to me if Real Made it even to the semi's since they have a weaker team this year then the past season....

 

[Slagathor]

++ [ originally posted by Edgar Davids ] ++
yes they are

True, Oded.

Here's the full list:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/clubs/index.html

 

[sutnop]

If I had to pick some favourties I would apart from Juve (ofcourse) say
Bayern as dpforever pointed out altough I think they already showed last year that their defense is lacking...

and Inter who have a great Defense
A strengthend midfield and the most versatile attack in the world (Recoba, Crespo, Vieri and Martins all represent the best of different qualities)

But Inter also has a History that speaks against them...

 

[Trezeguet_FC]

yeah inter are LOADED a great goal keeper, and solid defense, creative midfeild and an attack that cant be matched by any team. but they dont know how to use it.

 

[Trezeguet_FC]

thats going to be a good uefa cup: barca, roma, valencia, parma and other pretty good teams...

 

[Adrian]

Real:

1. with hierro gone and Milito not joining in the end, it leaves Pavon and Cesar who has returned to the club. so once again, they have a poor defence and that will cause them trouble.

2. They have no good back up for Makelele. F.Conceicao doesnt seem to do the job and they cant sacrifice Helguera to play there as they have no quality back ups for him at the back.

3. Added Becks to the team which isnt bad at all i suppose.

Man U:

1. Veron was sold today to Chelsea i believe. so now on top of solving the beckham loss, they have to solve the veron loss as well. And lets face it, they were two creative players for them.

2. still lack experience and depth in defence.

3. If RVN gets injured, they will have to shut the doors at Old Trafford because they have no back up for him at all.

Milan:

1. strengthened their main concern which was there defence.

2. although fixing the full back positions, they still lack quality back up for nesta-maldini.

Inter:

1. improved their midfield by buying quality wingers.

Juve:

1. fixed midfield depth and forward depth with the additions of maresca, appiah and miccoli.

2. Also added Legrottaglie which was very much needed for the centre of defence.

Bayern:

1. Stilll waiting for the confirmation of Makaay according to sources on Soccerage. but if its 100% done, then they have a very good team.

2. not sure about back ups for major players such as Ballack, Dieslar, Ze Roberto etc...


Overall, i dont think Real Madrid are the strongest as a unit. they definately boast an awesome midfield and attack, but their defence isnt as strong as the other teams. Milan will be strong again no doubt, and as a unit, they can only get better i suppose as they havent made big changes.

Man Utd with the loss of becks and veron and having no back ups for key players such as Ruud, does make them look a bit more shakey than the other big teams. Bayern will be strong and will want to redeem their early exit from last season.

Inter look solid and very balanced and now with wingers, they to me look like the surpise packet who could win more than one trophy.

Juve to me can be the strongest out of them all. they improved their squad more than any other team. Its just a matter of hungar now and i think we have it. Once the team gels in Lippis new formation, it is very attacking and is able to play great football like others in europe.

i seriously believe that juve must concentrate and win the CL next season, otherwise there will be huge changes come this time next season.

we match up fine against the rest.

 

[Majed]

I think Lippi should stick to the 4-3-1-2.

the 4-2-3-1 is mostly for counter-attacking football and that's not how juve play. we did it all wrong in the first half vs. Milan. we were attacking and trying to keep possesion with a counter-attacking lineup.