Disagreed there. I don't see what's so solid in his defensive game. He's rash when he should cover ground, he covers ground when he's supposed to make the tackle, his positioning is too shaky for a defender, isn't in synch with the other defenders (maybe understandable to an extent due to lack of playing time) and more.
To me, he's that sort of player who isn't good enough defensively to be a solid CB and isn't good enough offensively to be a solid fullback.
Agreed.
Would say he has enough going forward to be a fullback, but probably not enough to be an effective wingback.
Tuttosport have Maicosuel and Muriel as the ST and SS in their "probable" lineups. I hope that's accurate.
EDIT: Gazzetta have Pereyra/Muriel upfront.
If Di Natale isn't starting, Juve's defence needs to play very differently.
If Di Natale's there, the main threat is the ball over the top, so you'd look for Juve to play a bit deeper to try and close that space.
If Di Natale isn't playing, there isn't going to be the same threat in behind and the dangerous area is likely to be the space in front of the defence, rather than behind it.
That being the case, Juve ought to make of the security that the spare CB gives in order to really squeeze up and get tight to the forwards so that they don't have the time and space to get turned and started running at the defence.
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Also, given the much-publicised issues Juve are having down their left side, due to that side of the team being injured, is there any reason for Barzagli not to move across to play LCB?
Just a way to spread the first-choice players around a little.
Would also allow Caceres the easier role of playing CB behind the ever-reliable Lichtsteiner, who is likely to give him considerably better support than the LWB tends to give on the other side.