OK, here's my take on the match -- not having read anything else in this thread yet today.
Juve dominated. Clearly. I saw an article on Juventus.com where DD commented how his players of experience made the real difference, and that's exactly what I was thinking watching the game. The Juve players with experience really stepped up -- Del Piero, Nedved, CZanetti, Trez ... all were pretty stellar.
The first minute goal was miserably avoidable. The defense simply gave up on the play and started heading upfield when even I could tell the ball was not going out and Bari were fighting to keep it in play. Now Giannichedda and Piccolo in central defense is going to be a very soft play no matter what. But that absence of attentiveness was just inexcusable.
Fortunately, the team suffered through a number of missed chances afterwards in the first half and kept up the pace to finally delivery knock-out blows.
Yes, I'm concerned about our defense. But given the CBs we had to field today, my expectations are not terribly high at the moment...
Mirante - 5.5 - One nice fingertip save. But otherwise I didn't feel like he really was a concern for Bari's attack.
Birindelli - 6 - Decent outing, but nothing too special.
Piccolo - 5.5 - Shaky first start in our CB role, but it's not like I was expecting stellar work either.
Giannichedda - 5.5 - I fault him most for the first goal, given how he gave up in pursuit on the play while his mark was headed in the opposite direction. But he did make a couple of nice clearances and headers towards the end.
Balzaretti - 7 - He had a fantastic game. He was always heads-up in the opposite way we completely collapsed in the first minute. He caught Bari's defense by great surprise a couple of times -- though it wasn't his fault we didn't score on those opportunities. Some real nice interventions and passes to send the ball the other way. But to add to his impressive game, he got the crap beat out of him day and he kept coming back up for more: he took a direct kick to the face and also got entangled in a serious collision.
Camoranesi - 5 - I generally felt he had a weak outing and added little to our attack. His crosses were off. I was calling for DD to sub him for Marchionni in the second half. Five minutes later, that's exactly what happened.
Paro - 6.5 - Paro almost had a complete competent game today. He won us a lot of balls, he showed great pursuit, and he made some clever and accurate passes to send the play in the other direction. He's starting to become a rock back there. The only thing that marred his record from my giving him a 7 was his set piece coverage that lead to Bari's second goal. The Bari player in front of him already had a marker on his opposite side, inside of the ball trajectory, and he completely lapsed at looking to see if there was someone unmarked on the far side -- which there was.
Zanetti - 7 - Very good pursuit. Very good control. He really influenced our possession today. I don't recall him playing this well at Inter, even if this is Serie B.
Nedved - 8 - Did this guy have five weeks rest??! It looked like he hadn't missed a beat with all his suspension time off. We are completely a different team out there with him on the pitch. Despite his two great goals, I almost gave him MOM. But he was certainly our most valuable player in terms of how his presence influenced the overall play of the game.
Del Piero - 8.5 - No, I am not trying to win graces of the Delpie FC set. Sure, he was a sentimental favorite for his 500th. But damn, what a complete game. He was involved either directly or indirectly in all the goals. From his sublime low cross through traffic to hit a one-touch Trez, to his playing essentially a stationary basketball pick to free Nedved on the left for Neddy's first goal, to his one clean finish off Marchionni (a Marchionni assist he set up with a nice challenge in the box, btw), to perhaps his most impressive play of the day -- the fantastic three-touch assist to Nedved.
Marchionni on the right wing sends the ball in the box with DP heading towards goal. He controls it with his right heel, deflecting it out to his left step, deflecting it forward to his right foot for an outside-the-foot direct pass to a charging Nedved for the score. The defender could only just stand and watch as his three-point assist flickered on the run in an instant. My MOM for multiple reasons.
Trezeguet - 6.5 - He may not have chalked up a lot of goals besides our first today, but his one-touches were clever and on target. A couple of times unfortunately right to the goalie, and sometimes in front of goal with the goalie heading down with unfortunate timing. But Trez's one-touch finishing was on today -- even if it didn't get reflected as much on the scoreline.
Subs:
Marchionni - 6.5 - Made a definite improvement over Camo's ineffective play today. Great, controlled assist to Del Piero, and he did a nice job picking out Del Piero on the run to set up Nedved's last goal.
Marchisio - 6 - Not much play time today, but helped with some headers and defensive stops.
Bojinov - NR - Not on long enough to make an impact.
Deschamps - 6.5 - Other than the team's lackadaisical attitude on defense to start the match, the team was ready to win and dominated. He made the perfect sub in Marchionni for Camo just as the need was becoming apparent.
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