Serie A: Empoli vs Juventus [March 19, 2008] (9 Viewers)

[Turk_Bianconero]

Where have you been lately ?

hint

- The packet contained the ammunition and a letter directed at the Juventus board with threats and it was signed, “A group of Bianconeri fans”.

- Italian referee Mauro Bergonzi was sent into hiding by police after thugs tried to attack someone he looked like, the head of the country's referees' association has said.

 

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[Lion]

Turk is the man.

 

[Salvo]

hint

- The packet contained the ammunition and a letter directed at the Juventus board with threats and it was signed, “A group of Bianconeri fans”.

- Italian referee Mauro Bergonzi was sent into hiding by police after thugs tried to attack someone he looked like, the head of the country's referees' association has said.

turk your a crazy man

 

[sateeh]

The match against Empoli is just as important as the match against Inter.
I'd say it's even more important .
Even if we rest every single player in Empoli we may still easily lose the match vs Inter. Afterall, we're underdogs and we'll be playing against a team with 13-2-0 home record and a team that is a referee's pet.
But if we rest our best players in Empoli we may easily lose or draw that match also and end up with 0 or 1 points from these two matches.

That's why winning the 3 points in Empoli is a must and every point won at San Siro will be just a bonus.

Last week i talked about how easily we win points against the teams where we have players loaned : Siena-Empoli and Genoa.
Now we play against such a team again but i'm not sure if Empoli will let us win without even trying to pass the midfield (as it was in the first match in Turin). They are in very tricky situation and if they lose this match they'll be a step closer to serie B.

I know that for some of you beating Inter is the most important thing but for me 3 points are 3 points and the realist in me says that we mustn't concentrate on Inter and we must give 100% to win the 3 points in Empoli !

Same here but i think Alex should be rested and since Iaquinta has a boast of confidence he should suffice. The midfield and defense should be the unchanged though.

The main thing to me about the inter game is that we do not lose, and a fully fit alex would help in that as he looked a bit ragged towards the end of some of the recent games.

 

[Maher]

need to win this match and hope fiorentina loose points in napoli and milan loose points against sampdoria

 

[Dominic]

Great news !

Empoli are the only team in serie A with 3 strikers in the 25 men squad.
The first one is their top scorer Pozzi who is out for a while and who'll be out for a month or two due to an injury.
The second one is Luca Saudati who is a real pain in the ass for the defenders. I watched him twice against Milan where he was great. He even scored the winning goal at San Siro.

This leaves them with only one attacker.......... our Rey Volpato
And the other guy who plays in attack, as a support for the strikers is....... yes, our Seba Giovinco.

Pratalli is suspended and it's good news also because Pratalli was the substitute of their injured best defender, the right back Raggi, so now Empoli will have to improvise at the right back and put Antonini or Lino Marzoratti there, which will open a spot at the center back that will have to be filled with one of the reserve players.

Another important player from their midfield, Marianini is also out injured.

So, the scorers of 11 of Empoli's 23 goals are injured or suspended, plus they have problems in defense.

Good news finally !

Oh, and not to forget, due to the lack of defenders in Empoli, a sure starter in their defense is............. our Felice Piccolo

Not entirely correct Alen. Wether rightback Raggi or not was injured, had no bearing on centreback Pratalli playing. Under Malesani Marzoratti-Pratalli has been the first choise partnership in defence, with Pratalli out, Piccolo (who played a lot under the former Empoli coach) will slot in next to Marzoratti. Rigthback will probably go to Busce or Abate, the other one of the two slotting in on the right of midfield.

Marianini has played little since Malesani took over, due to Malesani making Giovinco an undisputed starter.

I expect Empoli to line-up something like:

Bassi
Abate/Busce Piccolo Marzoratti Tosto/Antonini
Abate/Busce Marchisio Budel
Vanucchi Giovinco
Volpato

Giovinco has been playing on the left of midfield in a flat 4 as well lately with only Vanucchi behind the striker. The more defensive Moro might be in the line-up for on of the more offensive players as well.

 

[RAMI-N]

Serie A Week 29 - 19/3/08 (19.30 UK)

Empoli - Juventus​

Stadio Castellani

A hat-trick of victories in February allowed Empoli to wrest themselves free from the relegation struggle, but four consecutive defeats in March sees them second from bottom ahead of Juventus’ visit to the Carlo Castellani.

Coach Alberto Malesani was given the dreaded vote of confidence from President Fabrizio Corsi after the Azzurri’s 4-1 defeat at Atalanta. The architect of Empoli’s first European adventure, Luigi Cagni, is muted to be on the verge of a return to the club’s bench as they continue to slide toward Serie B.

Empoli have conceded five on three occasions in their last 13 fixtures with Juventus, the last time being in December in the second leg of a Coppa Italia tie. The Azzurri will point out that they won the first leg of that tie at the Castellani, 2-1, thanks to goals from Ignazio Abate and Nicola Pozzi.

Unfortunately for Empoli, top scorer Pozzi is out for the rest of the season and the Tuscans have not beaten Juventus in Serie A since 1999. The question is, will the Bianconeri’s young stars Sebastian Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio, on-loan at Empoli, shine or submit in front of their patrons.

Giovinco has been spoken of as the Italian Youngster of Year and was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet at Atalanta on Sunday. The 21-year-old trequartista was Empoli’s only stand-out performer in a dispassionate and shambolic display in Bergamo. The Torino-born attacker has scored four times this season contributing to the League’s most goal-shy offence which will come up against Serie A’s third strongest defence on Wednesday.

Juventus appear to have put their bad-patch behind them after notching up two consecutive victories against fellow Serie B promotees Genoa and Napoli. The Bianconeri are still not at their best and were lucky to beat Napoli, who held their own for much of the game until Vincenzo Iaquinta’s last-minute strike granted Juve a priceless 1-0 victory.

Claudio Ranieri got his tactics all wrong at the beginning and had to make a series of changes throughout the match to placate the Partenopei. The Tinkerman began with an untested 3-4-1-2 formation which gave Napoli far too much space on the flanks, forcing Ranieri to revert to a more secure 4-3-3 system.

The win brought Juventus a step closer to Champions League football next year. The Bianconeri are now four points from fourth placed Fiorentina and eight points ahead of Milan.

Keep an eye on: Sebastian Giovinco (Empoli) – Some expect the 21-year-old Torinese to succeed Alessandro Del Piero on-returning to Juventus. Giovinco, who won everything domestically at youth level, is a fantasista capable of playing behind or wide of the strikers. Will he treat this game as a trial for Juve?

Last season: Not played

Form guide: Empoli (W L L L L) Juventus (L D L W W)

Empoli (probable): Bassi; Piccolo, Marzoratti, Pratali, Antonini; Busce, Marchisio, Budel, Giovinco; Vannucchi; Saudati

Juventus (probable): Buffon; Salihamidzic, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Grygera; Nocerino, Tiago, Sissoko, Nedved; Del Piero, Trezeguet

Ref: To follow...

 

[Amaurisimo]

after us, empoli plays against roma and than sampdoria.
it will be very rough match for everyone, lets keep pressure on roma and inter

 

[vimo]

we can't lose this one. But it's not gonna be easy, considering the squads empoli have to face, and their current ranking-situation, they are going to be fighting as hell. Not to underrate are our players. Volpato, Piccolo & Giovinco surely want to show skill and impress. That has to be taken into consideration; still i don't see how they can win against us. a 0-0 or so might be possible though. But i'm confident that we will determine the game, and win this one!

 

[Salvo]

we can't lose this one. But it's not gonna be easy, considering the squads empoli have to face, and their current ranking-situation, they are going to be fighting as hell. Not to underrate are our players. Volpato, Piccolo & Giovinco surely want to show skill and impress. That has to be taken into consideration; still i don't see how they can win against us. a 0-0 or so might be possible though. But i'm confident that we will determine the game, and win this one!

i think it will be a very tight game and could just finish like npoli did.

 

[Kosta]

i think it will be a very tight game and could just finish like npoli did.

My heart can't bare another game like the Napoli one.

 

[Alen]

Not entirely correct Alen. Wether rightback Raggi or not was injured, had no bearing on centreback Pratalli playing. Under Malesani Marzoratti-Pratalli has been the first choise partnership in defence, with Pratalli out, Piccolo (who played a lot under the former Empoli coach) will slot in next to Marzoratti. Rigthback will probably go to Busce or Abate, the other one of the two slotting in on the right of midfield.

Aaaaa, Antonini plays on the left side, yes.
Actually, this year there've been lots of rotations in Empoli's defense. Marzoratti, who always played RB played this season as a Cb.
Pratalli, even though a Cb, was a sub for Raggi in previous match so Piccolo had to play Rb, that's why i mixed everything in my previous post.
So now, as you said, they will have to put two midfielders on the right back spot. Actually, Busce and Abate are more like our Salihamidzic and they can play defense, but with another attacking minded fullback, Antonini, Empoli will have only two clear defenders in the squad.

The main point is still the same : Empoli's attack is much more impotent without Pozzi-Saudati, Empoli's best defender Raggi is out and 4/11 players in Empoli's starting XI are our youngsters

 

[Omair]

OK .. guys whoever is ready to do me a favor and keep me updated of this game's result .. Please PM me ..

I will be in an exam at that time .. thanks

 

[Salvo]

i dont think its on here in aus, at least not on rai. they are showing inter

 

[X Æ A-12]

I would line up a standard 4-4-2 formation. We need to test out this defense before we face Inter and see if it works well. Also the Tiago-Sissoko partnership has only been tested once and it deserves a second chance before the big match. The only player who should be rested in my opinion is Del Piero.

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

Zebina----Leggro--Stendardo---Chiellini

--------------Tiago-----Sissoko
Camo---------------------------------Nedved

-----------Iaquinta--------Trezeguet

 

[Stu]

^good formation.

 

[Azzurri7]

Ranieri hinted that he could rest Trezeguet and start with Iaquinta.

 

[RAMI-N]

Ranieri hinted that he could rest Trezeguet and start with Iaquinta.

Good... and then Trezegol could substitute Alex in the second half...I think Alex needs a bit of rest as well...

 

[Azzurri7]

I think If we'll be leading, Palladino will replace Alex in the 2nd half.

....and then Alex to torture the motha-fuckers

 

[Juve_Kosova]

Or
____________Buffon
Zebina Legrottaglie Chiellini Molinaro
Camoranesi Sissoko Tiago Nedved
________Iaquinta Del Piero

That the best formation imo..

And when we attack it can be a 4-2-3-1 with Camo and Neddy running forawrd, while DP could stay just behind IQ