While the result is most important, I'm still not altogether satisfied. A second goal would have been nice, so that I wasn't sweating the win up until the bitter end. A moment of brilliance by Amauri (helped by some shaky goalkeeping), otherwise we'd have drawn again, or maybe worse.
Juventus must be deep enough to play every three days... Injuries are obviously a huge issue right now, but that's life. Quite frankly, our strikers had not gotten great service for a ridiculously long time, our fullbacks are completely unconvincing, and I am not particularly comfortable with Mellberg playing very many minutes anywhere. As long as Chiellini and Legro are healthy, we're ok in the middle... but you absolutely cannot count on that. January needs to be a month of quality transactions, both buying and selling. We need to start the process of selling off anyone who is questionable as a backup, and isn't one of our promising youths.
Tiago, Marchionni, first and then the excess fullback(s) once their replacements are secured. We currently have one potential future left back (DC) and 3 back up fullbacks filling our ranks. So we basically have 4 back up fullbacks filling our ranks right now. DC should definitely be starting, given our current personnel.
It's also abundantly clear that a long term plan of playing Seba wide on the left of a 4-4-2 is pretty ridiculous. Hopefully our management knew this all of the times they were claiming that he was Pavel's replacement... because in this 4-4-2 formation, at least for my money, he just doesn't fit the bill. He needs to be in an advanced position. Personally, I like Seba up front on the left of a 4-3-3 (like with the U-21), where he can use his speed, but also has the freedom to cut into the middle/underneath the other strikers, and feed them those pinpoint passes. This kid's touch passes around the box are unreal.
On a positive note, I liked that Ranieri didn't sit on the lead today and introduced attacking players as the game went on. I didn't like DC as a midfielder, and I do think that he should be starting instead of Molinaro (who was pretty decent today, actually), at LB.
Our management needs all the information and help they can get, to make solid, informed decisions in January - we need some continuity. We should probably start by grabbing the best available defender. Basically all positions need upgrading, and we have got to start purchasing some proven commodities... which will almost certainly mean serious dollars being spent in January and the Summer.