Hello everyone, I apologize for not posting in the forums for a while, but I've been very busy in the last few months. Although I've been following the forum regularly without posting.
Anyways, about the match, Sampdoria have been in good form recently (which seems to be the case with any team we play against), and they are coming to Turin with high hopes of getting a positive result.
Juve, on the other hand, have been a bit off after the break, a last-minute equalizer against Catania and a late winner against Empoli certainly isn't something to be proud of. Our attacking line has certainly been impressive in the Empoli game, but losing Chiellini for a month is certainly a huge blow to our defence.
The expected formation should be something like this:
---------------------------Buffon-----------------------
------Birindelli----Grygera-------Legro----Molinaro--
------Marchionni-----Sali-------Zanetti-----Nedved--
----------------Iaquinta------------Trezeguet---------
Given our defensive problems and the fact that we only have one natural DM, I don't see how we can play a 4-3-3, since that would leave our defence without much cover, something Sampdoria would certainly take advantage of.
Regarding Salihamidzic, I believe he has the work-rate and versitality that would enable him to play in a centeral midfield position temporarily. Another thing we would gain by playing Salihamidzic is that if things aren't going well for us, the formation in midfield can easily change to this:
-------------------------Zanetti---------------
------Marchionni------------------------Sali--
-------------------------Nedved--------------
I would also like to give Almiron a chance later on in the game, maybe he learned a thing or two watching Juve's players from the bench.
Although everyone has been attacking an insulting Grygera after his embarassing display against Empoli, I believe he's going to have a good game against Sampdoria. The whole defence was disasterous that day, so with Belardi, Boumsong, and Molinaro all being out of position, I wouldn't blame him if he got confused and had no idea whom to cover.
Iaquinta should start ahead of Del Piero in this match, as he was one of our best players against Empoli. Del Piero can come later on and save most of his energy for the Inter match.
Belluci's pace could cause us problems, so let's hope our defenders have perform the offside trap well enough.
Prediction: Juve 2 - 0 Sampdoria