Struggling with a faulty boot drive at home has severely cut into my Juventuz time for the past couple of weeks (man, I'll need a cigarette after this). But here's a match report before my disk panics again...
It was clear from the onset that Juve's game plan was to make Milan earn the points -- not to go for the jugular. We are just too good at that style of play for anyone else, IMO. What we need serious help on is taking a dominant, aggressive role in an elimination competition -- rather than trying to wear them out like a heavyweight fighter who can absorb 15 rounds of body blows.
Milan didn't come out swinging nearly as much as I expected them to -- or would expect them to. Part of that is because Juve got to play a comfortable game plan on their own pitch. But Milan seemed to lack a sense of urgency that Juve also lacked. But that will never do when you're 10 points down later in the season.
A deserved draw in the end. Neither squad seemed to want to risk losing, particularly after Gattuso's dismissal. Which made this about as exciting as last year's Rome derby that ended in a draw -- and was controvertial for the tifosi.
Milan did a great job in controlling the ball at midfield, IMO. Juve had a hard time holding on for more than a few passes, and Milan held on for what seemed like longer stretches and often seemed to be in the right place. Fortunately several well-timed tackles by Juve kept things from getting too dangerous.
Buffon - Not Super-Gigi yet, but now up to really damn good Gigi. Some of his out-of-goal dives for the ball were superb and thwarted a wayward Pippo. 7
Chiellini - Didn't add much offensively, but he didn't do anything that stupid defensively either -- which in a huge match like this is a definite step up. 6
Thuram - Destructive when involved in play. Pretty solid. 6.5
Canna - A couple of minor mistakes, but he proves regularly why he's the brightest star on defense at Juve ... and one of the best in all of Italy. 7
Zebina - Not too comfortable around the ball and handling. But no fatal mistakes and no ridiculous fouls. Which is a good day for him.
Emerson - The man I most trust with the ball at midfield these days. He kept the ball from getting too deep and was even effective going forward. MOM. 7.5
Vieira - A few sloppy passes and general uneventful game. Which is a step up what he's done before. Needs to work on ball control more. 5.5
Nedved - Good motion and generally some good choices for shots. Took a lot of key fouls for us. Decent. 6
Mutu - Some poor fouls, but otherwise a decent match for him. Could have done more with his ball control, and his defending was ugly but ultimately somewhat effective. 6
Zlatan - Really didn't add anything. I hope Capello's strategy to start with him is to continue to get him play to shake him out of his funk. But unfortunately that's not the only reason. 5
Trezeguet - Not a lot of balls his way, meaning a limited presence. I felt he could have been more/better involved in the upfield ball motion. 5.5
Subs:
Del Piero - The pace of our attack changed noticeably when he came on for Zlatan. No, I am not picking sides in this whole DP-Ibra b.s. Just starting the facts. We may have scored if he played the whole match. 6.5
Capello - Got the result he wanted, but he had to be incredibly lazy to get it. No creativity. No leadership. Just auto-pilot on this one. His choice to ultimately sub Zlatan for DP was the right choice, but Zlatan was a questionable choice for a starter to begin with. And I don't get the machinations of warming up Camo and, more strangely, Zalayeta along the touch line. What's this guy on? And no real subs in the second half showed how content he was to be lazy. 5
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