[Serie A] Parma vs. Juventus (23 Viewers)
- Thread starter GRK
- Start date
Tough game, as nerve wrecking as they come.
We had it tough in the first half specifically. Despite us domination possesion, Parma was the more dangerous side and had the best of chances. Thus they scored early on. We had trouble getting into the match and we looked very stale. Especially upfront we had trouble getting into the game, Zalayeta and Trezeguet upfront was too one-dimensional. Even Vieira and even more so Camoranesi didn't do too well in the first half. Camo had a yellow card, seemed annoyed and made mistakes. Though luckily Camoranesi turned it all around and scored a moral boosting wonder-goal at the stroke of half time.
Capello made a smart substitution, bringing on Emerson in the second half. Immediately the midfield balance was shifted in our favour. Vieira and Camoranesi looked much better as well. We played with a lot more width than in the first half with Camoranesi and Mutu actively troubling Parma. Though the difference in the end, was also Zlatan's entrance. After some abysmal first touches early on, a touch of class by Zlatan gave Vieira an easy chance to convert. The game was in the bag.
The defence looked good overall. I was glad to see Thuram back, despite Kovac performing well too. Pessotto wasn't crap at all(Swag), he was very active and made some excellent interceptions. Though Pesso might've been at fault when Parma scored, as I think he should've been marking Delvecchio. Zambrotta was Zambrotta and looked very involved in both defence and attack. Had a great cross for a Camo header in the second half.
The midfield looked quite shabby in the first half. Vieira slow with his decisions, Mutu trying too hard, Giannichedda not involved enough and Camoranesi making many mistakes. Second half was a different story all together though, as Vieira was penetrative, Emerson smart, Mutu lively and Camoranesi dangerous. Nedved specialy, though he simply is such an attacking presence.
Upfront it wasn't impressive. Trez, not involved and missed some good chances. Zalayeta tried, but couldn't make an impression. Luckily Zlatan, opposite to my expectation, was important.
All in all, we did well to fight back from 1-0 down and to recover from a bad first half.
I'm starting to like Capello's 4-4-2, as when it's used correctly it offers much width, which in turn gives more room for Vieira's runs. Talking about Vieira, he seems to be the box to box player and Emerson purely defensive. At the start of the season, I would've expected it the other way around.
If Capello is going to use Mutu on the left regularly, i'm convinced he'll get better and better. Though Nedved shouldn't be counted out yetl, he could be used rotatingly with Mutu. Mutu in midfield might be the best option anyway, as we lack wing cover otherwise and we have plenty of strikers.
We should be alright against Inter next week.
Any comments?
We had it tough in the first half specifically. Despite us domination possesion, Parma was the more dangerous side and had the best of chances. Thus they scored early on. We had trouble getting into the match and we looked very stale. Especially upfront we had trouble getting into the game, Zalayeta and Trezeguet upfront was too one-dimensional. Even Vieira and even more so Camoranesi didn't do too well in the first half. Camo had a yellow card, seemed annoyed and made mistakes. Though luckily Camoranesi turned it all around and scored a moral boosting wonder-goal at the stroke of half time.
Capello made a smart substitution, bringing on Emerson in the second half. Immediately the midfield balance was shifted in our favour. Vieira and Camoranesi looked much better as well. We played with a lot more width than in the first half with Camoranesi and Mutu actively troubling Parma. Though the difference in the end, was also Zlatan's entrance. After some abysmal first touches early on, a touch of class by Zlatan gave Vieira an easy chance to convert. The game was in the bag.
The defence looked good overall. I was glad to see Thuram back, despite Kovac performing well too. Pessotto wasn't crap at all(Swag), he was very active and made some excellent interceptions. Though Pesso might've been at fault when Parma scored, as I think he should've been marking Delvecchio. Zambrotta was Zambrotta and looked very involved in both defence and attack. Had a great cross for a Camo header in the second half.
The midfield looked quite shabby in the first half. Vieira slow with his decisions, Mutu trying too hard, Giannichedda not involved enough and Camoranesi making many mistakes. Second half was a different story all together though, as Vieira was penetrative, Emerson smart, Mutu lively and Camoranesi dangerous. Nedved specialy, though he simply is such an attacking presence.
Upfront it wasn't impressive. Trez, not involved and missed some good chances. Zalayeta tried, but couldn't make an impression. Luckily Zlatan, opposite to my expectation, was important.
All in all, we did well to fight back from 1-0 down and to recover from a bad first half.
I'm starting to like Capello's 4-4-2, as when it's used correctly it offers much width, which in turn gives more room for Vieira's runs. Talking about Vieira, he seems to be the box to box player and Emerson purely defensive. At the start of the season, I would've expected it the other way around.
If Capello is going to use Mutu on the left regularly, i'm convinced he'll get better and better. Though Nedved shouldn't be counted out yetl, he could be used rotatingly with Mutu. Mutu in midfield might be the best option anyway, as we lack wing cover otherwise and we have plenty of strikers.
We should be alright against Inter next week.
Any comments?
AFTER A TERRIBLE match against Udinese on Wednesday I was expecting some changes in our lineup, and Capello provided those changes. After the first 15 minutes of this match, I thought we were going to have another horrible performance ahead of of us. There is always something that does not go quite right out on the pitch...this time it was our defense and our insistence on underating Parma. The latter played a great match today, however I believe we still deserved to win.
The first half was rather lackluster and mostly involved miscues and mistakes in midfield and especially defense. Thuram came back from injury and clearly did not look with it for the first few minutes of the match, and Giannichedda and Pessotto were the main reasons for Parma causing us problems at the start of the match. You have to hand it to Parma for coming out to play against us, as we struggled to contain Morfeo breaking through midfield. In attack the only player who looked lively was Mutu who won us a lot of free kicks and troubled the Parma defense with his mazing runs.
Thankfully in the second half Capello substituted Giannichedda and put Emerson next to Vieira in midfield, and the difference was as clear as night and day...we owned the midfield in the second half, and that won us the match. Morfeo was totally shut down by Emerson and Parma could no longer create any chances against us...Giannichedda was clearly the weakest link today and I don't think he is a reliable substitute for our midfield.
The trident attack started this match and I'm not sure why Zalayeta was given the start...with Del Piero or Ibrahimovic up top instead we have caused Parma more problems going forward. But in the first half we were too busy making up for mistakes in midfield to fully benefit from the trident attack...thankfully things became much more under control in the second 45. I think it was a good decision to experiment with the trident and play Mutu out wide, however fielding Giannichedda and perhaps Pessotto will cost us in the future.
All in all I'm happy with the win because Parma gave us the toughest performance of the season thus far...and we met the challenge. We still need to improve everywhere, though.
Abbiati punched the ball away instead of catching it a few times, and the guy once again looks too shakey for my comforts.
Pessotto was quite poor as Bresciano and Morfeo gave him a hard time at the back....although he made a few supporting runs up the flank.
Thuram was obviously a little cold after being out with injury as he made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, especially running into Cannavaro and not picking up Delvecchio in the first half.
Cannavaro was not entirely solid either.
Zambrotta was decent and made some usual nice runs down the flank...I liked his passion when he tackled Morfeo from behind after the latter should have been booked for not giving Mutu ten yards.
Camoranesi was absolutely horrible in the first half before he scored his great goal, not clicking with his passing game. In the second half he improved greatly and started to become more involved.
Gainnichedda might deny space to the opposition in midfield however his tackling and decision making is extremely poor. He does not add much to the team and with him playing Vieira was not able to attack as much...problem solved when Emerson entered.
Vieira was solid once again today and he continues to be our best player by some margin.
Emerson is obviously twice the player Giannichedda is...when he came on Vieira could actually roam forward more and our midfield was finally secure.
Mutu was our best attacker in the first half and caused Parma lots of problems with his runs...IMO he deserves to start in front of Nedved from now on...no question.
Zalayeta made a couple nice runs, one of which playing the ball across the goal mouth, however apart from that he was average.
Trezeguet was average as well and did not have many opportunities to do what he does best.
Ibrahimovic started the match on the bench and this was a good decision by Capello...as soon as he stepped on the pitch he dribbled around two defenders and looked as hungry as ever. Zlatan certainly improved tonight as the match went on and he actually added a lot to our attack...hopefully he will continue to improve.
Nedved came on for Mutu and looked poor once again, unfornately. I am very worried about his play and I have to say he is not doing much to warrant his spot on the pitch.
The first half was rather lackluster and mostly involved miscues and mistakes in midfield and especially defense. Thuram came back from injury and clearly did not look with it for the first few minutes of the match, and Giannichedda and Pessotto were the main reasons for Parma causing us problems at the start of the match. You have to hand it to Parma for coming out to play against us, as we struggled to contain Morfeo breaking through midfield. In attack the only player who looked lively was Mutu who won us a lot of free kicks and troubled the Parma defense with his mazing runs.
Thankfully in the second half Capello substituted Giannichedda and put Emerson next to Vieira in midfield, and the difference was as clear as night and day...we owned the midfield in the second half, and that won us the match. Morfeo was totally shut down by Emerson and Parma could no longer create any chances against us...Giannichedda was clearly the weakest link today and I don't think he is a reliable substitute for our midfield.
The trident attack started this match and I'm not sure why Zalayeta was given the start...with Del Piero or Ibrahimovic up top instead we have caused Parma more problems going forward. But in the first half we were too busy making up for mistakes in midfield to fully benefit from the trident attack...thankfully things became much more under control in the second 45. I think it was a good decision to experiment with the trident and play Mutu out wide, however fielding Giannichedda and perhaps Pessotto will cost us in the future.
All in all I'm happy with the win because Parma gave us the toughest performance of the season thus far...and we met the challenge. We still need to improve everywhere, though.
Abbiati punched the ball away instead of catching it a few times, and the guy once again looks too shakey for my comforts.
Pessotto was quite poor as Bresciano and Morfeo gave him a hard time at the back....although he made a few supporting runs up the flank.
Thuram was obviously a little cold after being out with injury as he made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, especially running into Cannavaro and not picking up Delvecchio in the first half.
Cannavaro was not entirely solid either.
Zambrotta was decent and made some usual nice runs down the flank...I liked his passion when he tackled Morfeo from behind after the latter should have been booked for not giving Mutu ten yards.
Camoranesi was absolutely horrible in the first half before he scored his great goal, not clicking with his passing game. In the second half he improved greatly and started to become more involved.
Gainnichedda might deny space to the opposition in midfield however his tackling and decision making is extremely poor. He does not add much to the team and with him playing Vieira was not able to attack as much...problem solved when Emerson entered.
Vieira was solid once again today and he continues to be our best player by some margin.
Emerson is obviously twice the player Giannichedda is...when he came on Vieira could actually roam forward more and our midfield was finally secure.
Mutu was our best attacker in the first half and caused Parma lots of problems with his runs...IMO he deserves to start in front of Nedved from now on...no question.
Zalayeta made a couple nice runs, one of which playing the ball across the goal mouth, however apart from that he was average.
Trezeguet was average as well and did not have many opportunities to do what he does best.
Ibrahimovic started the match on the bench and this was a good decision by Capello...as soon as he stepped on the pitch he dribbled around two defenders and looked as hungry as ever. Zlatan certainly improved tonight as the match went on and he actually added a lot to our attack...hopefully he will continue to improve.
Nedved came on for Mutu and looked poor once again, unfornately. I am very worried about his play and I have to say he is not doing much to warrant his spot on the pitch.
You also said that Zlatan has to do something out of this world to get a positive review from me and that isn't true. Everyone makes mistakes and has bad games, I know that, but can't I criticise someone when they play poorly? I think I'm allowed to do that. When Del Piero doesn't play well people on here want his head so I don't think that a little constructive criticism with regards to Zlatan and all Juve players in general is a problem.
Nice post, Dominic.
Agreed that Mutu's continued use could hopefully give us options during those stretches of Nedved's questionable form that come more often than I care for.
But I still was scared out of my pants whenever Pessotto got near the ball. He seemed shaky more often than not in his decisions and in his clearances.
I also didn't think he was effective at all as our first half captain. And there was too much confusion in the back line coverage in the first half ... I have to attribute this to his captainship at least partially.
Agreed that Mutu's continued use could hopefully give us options during those stretches of Nedved's questionable form that come more often than I care for.
But I still was scared out of my pants whenever Pessotto got near the ball. He seemed shaky more often than not in his decisions and in his clearances.
I also didn't think he was effective at all as our first half captain. And there was too much confusion in the back line coverage in the first half ... I have to attribute this to his captainship at least partially.
Well, like thay say "Give Cecsar whats is from Cesar"... Capello actually did a good job tonigth, I agree with most of what Andy said.
A few points for this match:
1- Ibra: Great! Finally I see a non selfish Ibrahimovic, and what a Joy it was, he own Parma defence when he enter the field, great assist for the goal, great driblin and made some great passing. Now I hope he can find his scoring back.
2- Mutu: Well he try hard, he did some good runs, he was awfulñ taking freakicks, and made some bad passing, but, like some have said, he needs more games to find his exelent form.
3- Viera: This guy is AMAZING!!
4- I agree, Gianicheda and Pessoto were the weak links in our first half.
5- Capello: I have been critical of his desitions, and tonigth he finally did what he had to do, he rotate the team, and thu substitutions that he made were very good in timing.
6- Emerson: aaaaaaahhh what a diference when he came in.
A few points for this match:
1- Ibra: Great! Finally I see a non selfish Ibrahimovic, and what a Joy it was, he own Parma defence when he enter the field, great assist for the goal, great driblin and made some great passing. Now I hope he can find his scoring back.
2- Mutu: Well he try hard, he did some good runs, he was awfulñ taking freakicks, and made some bad passing, but, like some have said, he needs more games to find his exelent form.
3- Viera: This guy is AMAZING!!
4- I agree, Gianicheda and Pessoto were the weak links in our first half.
5- Capello: I have been critical of his desitions, and tonigth he finally did what he had to do, he rotate the team, and thu substitutions that he made were very good in timing.
6- Emerson: aaaaaaahhh what a diference when he came in.
Dominic and Andy, finally you aboth agreed on a match report. I thank you both for a good read and for providing the big picture.
I made some comments about the game, it seems that Vieira is our best player so far and that is obvious. I think he's been our best purchase since Nedved.
I never looked down on Zlatan as I trus the talent in this guy. He seemed out of form lately but he certainly does have a presence and he makes a difference.
Another thing about Zlatan is humility. He needed it, he needed to stay on the bench and see how is it like to sit there. This paid off and he looked more active than ever.
We made some comments about Emerson and that Vieira is outshining him. It is true that Vieira is being better, probably because he's scoring and running more forward, but today Emerson's value in the middle was brightly highlighted.
About the back line, Kovac was outstanding but incliuding Thuram in this game is not a bad idea as it warms him up and now we can say we have substitutes.
I made some comments about the game, it seems that Vieira is our best player so far and that is obvious. I think he's been our best purchase since Nedved.
I never looked down on Zlatan as I trus the talent in this guy. He seemed out of form lately but he certainly does have a presence and he makes a difference.
Another thing about Zlatan is humility. He needed it, he needed to stay on the bench and see how is it like to sit there. This paid off and he looked more active than ever.
We made some comments about Emerson and that Vieira is outshining him. It is true that Vieira is being better, probably because he's scoring and running more forward, but today Emerson's value in the middle was brightly highlighted.
About the back line, Kovac was outstanding but incliuding Thuram in this game is not a bad idea as it warms him up and now we can say we have substitutes.
Thanks.
True. Though one thing, that I did not like that much about Mutu as midfielder was his lack of shooting or coming into shooting positions. As shooting seemed to be one of his strengths in the past.
Can't say that I shared the scary feeling about Pessotto. Though I agree, that he didn't perform as a captain. We did look messy in the back line the first half. In general our team's organisation didn't look good in the firt half. Though luckily ref Pieri seemed to whistle for a freekick in favour of the defensive team during each corner kick, so we weren't caught out at the back.
True. Though one thing, that I did not like that much about Mutu as midfielder was his lack of shooting or coming into shooting positions. As shooting seemed to be one of his strengths in the past.
Can't say that I shared the scary feeling about Pessotto. Though I agree, that he didn't perform as a captain. We did look messy in the back line the first half. In general our team's organisation didn't look good in the firt half. Though luckily ref Pieri seemed to whistle for a freekick in favour of the defensive team during each corner kick, so we weren't caught out at the back.