Wow. While I agree with some of Vinman's commentary here, I gotta break ranks big time on some of the comments.
The team definitely came out sluggish from an NT hangover. The first half lacked energy and purposefulness. And I completely agree that Zala was the wrong choice to start -- over Boji or Palla for that matter. Throughout much the match, DP was setting up our best plays and there was no one around capable of finishing. Even an out-of-from Trez here would have been a godsend.
The second half was complete, relentless Juve pressure to find the one-up goal...which took some 30 minutes of play to finally get at that pace. And it came from Didi's two subs on the play: a corner from Palla to a breaking Biri with a great one-touch over the goalie.
As a result, this match was very much a model for the "Juventus Serie B Community Service"-type matches we sometimes have this season. We took what should have been an easy match and made it look a hell of a lot harder than it should have been. Happy for the three points on the road, of course. But we took too much energy to do what little we did. Capello would have not been pleased.
Buffon - 6 - Never really threatened much, and played his role well.
Zebina - 5 - This guy has had worse matches, but this was one of his poorer matches. Hacking defensive moves that earned him at least one yellow card and was verging on his second. When he got engaged in the offensive play he did little with the ball and squandered opportunities. Defensively he was decent on the wings, but when he had to fill centrally he mistimed tackles and headers and made a mess of things. A better opposing attack would have toasted him for at least one or two goals today -- Deschamps was wise to pull him, even if we needed more help up front for our first sub.
Chiellini - 6 - Generally efficient, but nothing special. Not challenged much, and didn't make many good plays either. Certainly nothing offensively.
Boumsong - 6 - He allowed his man to get by him once or maybe twice. But he showed great recovery in hunting down the guy with the ball. Overall, he was our best defender on the back line today. And some of his headers at the other end created some near chances.
Balzaretti - 5 - He has played so much better before. His crosses were weak. A couple of times his upfield passes went completely to the wrong team and almost cost us a counter-attack crisis here and there (we were lucky not to have been burned). Added little offensively.
Nedved - 6 - He was an engine, but not the engine that could. His assists could have been more accurate, and he forced a few shots in traffic that should have been kicked wide. But he was creating some chaos up front.
Giannichedda - 5 - Combined with Zanetti today, the core of our midfield was poor. Possession consisted of a good challenge to win the ball here and there, but a completely useless or errant pass to turn it over right away afterwards. Giannichedda embodied that. He was better in our own box as a defender than anything he contributed beyond our own box.
Zanetti - 5 - Like Giannichedda, he added nothing to our forward movement. Some bad tackling. Sloppy. Just sloppy.
Marchionni - 5.5 - He's played better matches by far. His crosses were weak, as was his decision-making when it came to passing targets. I couldn't help but get the sense of all the things Camo could have done in his place given the same situations he was in today. The best play he had all day was deciding to dribble into the box more, when he had space, which lead to the DP PK. His shot on goal was terrible, so it was fortunate he used Pescara's defensive packing to his advantage and caught an arm. Otherwise, he was never threatening in his crosses and assists, and he was even less threatening when attempting shots at goal.
Zalayeta - 5 - Completely non-threatening. We could have replaced him out there with a teddy bear on the pitch and done just about as well. His best moves were in forcing the ball forward, catching passes down the wing, and kicking them back to
someone else. Never seemed to break free, never seem to do anything constructive with his touches. Deadwood today.
Del Piero - 6.5 - Yes, he missed a PK. But he had to get my MOM. He was the only real force on the pitch today that was really generating anything of any real threat. It just throttled him that Pescara packed so many in the box and he had not a single finisher on the pitch to make use of his ball movement and maneuvers to create space.
Subs:
Birindelli - 6.5 - Beautiful one-touch goal. I thought bringing him in over Zebina was a wise move because Juve were proving that they could safely send their defensive wings forward and get involved in the play, and Zebina was not getting it done at all. Biri has been in better crossing form in recent months, but it was his finish that won it for us. Add that he wasn't going to hack his way to a red card like Zebina was about to, and it was a surprising early sub but a critical one nonetheless.
Palladino - 6 - When he came on, I could almost sense the difference in out offensive confidence. He controlled the ball far better than Zala and created a few chances.
Marchesio - NR - Not on long enough.
DD - 6 - Not one of his best coached matches by far. But we got the points on the road, and it was his two first subs that were responsible for the goal that finally broke the match open. His choice to start Zala was nonsensical at best. Leaving Boji on the bench today was irresponsible, really. But his choice to sub Biri for Zebina and Palla for Marchionni were both solid choices -- though the latter one should have been made earlier on.
This is what Stefano di Martino thinks of our players today:
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