Will our lack of depth haunt us in the future? (1 Viewer)

[dpforever]

Well, we shouldn't be worried much as everything is going well and things are rosy in Turin and around the Delle Alpi. The beautiful 'Old Lady' has shrugged all pre-season talk and pushed aside the younger sisters and 'favourites for the title' Inter and Milan to sit comfortably at the top of the Serie A table. Not only that, she is also doing well in Europe and have received a 100% grade up until now.

But, what worries me the most is our lack of depth. I think there is a big gap between our first team players and the bench warmers. And evenutally Capello would be forced to use the bench warmers either due to injuries and/or suspensions of first team players during the course of the season.

What would happen if (God forbid) Nedved got injured? Will Olivera fill in his boots nicely without us missing him? Will Legrottaglie or Montero play as good as Thuram or Cannavaro? Will Tacchinardi dictate our tempo like Emerson does? Will Pessotto be able to replace Zambrotta whenever needed?

I must admit that the team is coping well with Trezeguet and Del Piero's absense. But that was largerly due to Nedved's good form and scoring of goals as well as Ibrahimovic's nice intergration within the squad.

But let us compare the benches of the top 3 teams in Italy (Milan, Inter, and Juve):

Milan's bench: Dhorasoo, Rui Costa, Serginho, Ambrosini, Tomasson, Crespo.

Inter's bench: Emre, Davids, Van Der Meyde, Recoba, Martins, Cruz.

Juve's bench: Tacchinardi, Appiah, Olivera, Kapo, Ibrahimovic, Zalayeta.

I believe Inter has the strongest bench follwed by Milan and finally ours.

 

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[Elnur_E65]

This is how I look at it.

We lose more than one player in either attack, midfield or defense- we're in trouble. We lose just one player in one of the two- his absense will be felt but not as bad. We have 1 or 2 key players lost at the same time- we are ok.

Last year injuries (7 or 8) seriously geopordized Juve's ability to be competative. Milan got lucky that almost none of its key players were injured.

But this luck for Milan and unluck for Juventus will not necessarily be the case this season.

So, my view is that unless 4 or more starting lineup players are unavailable at the same time- we're in an "ok" shape.

 

[Bjerknes]

We've never had the most exciting benches in Europe before, and we usually get the job done. In the case of Inter, they have a very, almost excessively, strong bench, but those respective players sitting out can hardly be happy. Juventus only buys players we need, and I think we will just slip buy with enough this time around.

You want a solid core of players, but not too many top players that you can't fit on the bench. For instance the situation at Inter is not ideal if your a role player like Lamouchi was, and that over-spending doesn't neccessarly give you an edge on winning trophies. We also don't have a billionaire backing the Club, so we make do with what we have, and that's usually enough.

 

[MeRs0]

Hopefully we Treze`s injury was our first and last of our star players.
However, I do agree with you that our bench is not as good as Inter or Milan, but I think in all, we have the best morale. And morale is often more important than skills. Oliveira can easily replace Camoranesi, but Nedved is harder to replace. Tacchi got experience from way back, we shouldnt doubt him. Also Appiah, a star to be, his strength and stamina is cruical.
We shouldnt worry that much about this, if it happens I know Capello is the right one to clean it up and make the best of it.

 

[simpson-juvefan]

we may not have the players like Milan and Inter have but i am confident if needed players like Legrottaglie, kapo will show their worth!!!

they want to show that they are right to be at juventus, ok nobody can replace nedved or we would surely miss Cannavaro but i think this players will give their best for this games and we will be able to do well!!

 

[Desmond]

well obviously we can't expect world class players to be happy on the bech but i do think we could do with a couple more quality backup players.

if the team can be badly rocked by just two or three injuries it's pretty evident that we need better reserves.

as dpf correctly pointed out,it's the gap in quality that's the problem.we dhave enough reserve players,but quality-wise they're quite mediocre compared to other teams.

 

[KB824]

I'm more concerned with the fact that virtually none of our subs have goten any significant minutes.

Now, i understand Cappello's decision to wait and see what sort of cohesion he has in his backline, but after two months its pretty obvious that its a very strong unit. So now, maybe even tomorrow would be the time to give Legro and Tudor a chance to play. Its as if he is operating under the premise that the backline will remain injury free this season, and with the exception of Zambrotta, we all know thaqt its simply not true.

We don't know how good the depth is, they haven't had much of a chance to play.

 

[simpson-juvefan]

true, Sergio, but Tudor and Legro are not selected for the game, i don't know why!

 

[Desmond]

to capello,maybe it's still early months yet and he may want to keep this run of form going and hence avoid too much drastic change,especially at the back where the team has been formulated around this season.

 

[Freddy]

Well...to avoid lacking depth we should buy a player or two in January

 

[denco]

Excellent post Fahad, i like it someone with foresight, not the ones who just spout and then complain later when we start hitting probs

Did we or did we not start last season like a house on fire with everyone comparing our attack to Charles-sivola?

A few injuries and what happened, we got fooked

Our attack this season is actually worse than last season's in terms of quantity and please stop calling Oliveira and kapo as they are unproven

I find it very worrying that Camo is playing every minute without any alternative whatsoever

Here's hoping Thuram and Cannavaro stay injury free all season

In midfield, I just pray Emerson does not get injured as we would be screwed and back to the unimaginative midfiled of last season who could not cover at all the defence unlike the brilliant work Blasi and Emerson are doing

I am not that fooled by Nedved's heroics as apart from scoring he is not that impressive and I am sure Capello unlike Lippi can cope without him

 

[simpson-juvefan]

IMO we have more quality than last year, just look at Emerson and Cannavaro!!! IMO we don't need players, and if we need Capello would know it and would do something!!! i have great hope and believe in this team!

 

[swag]

Our bench hurt us last year. But we had an abnormal number of key injuries at one point, and many of our other starters played like ... well ... crap.

This is an excellent question. But just as important as the quality of the individual players on the bench is the team's ability for their bench to step up and make big plays when needed (e.g., Zalayeta, Blasi). In that regard, I think Juve's bench is looking at least as competitive as Inter's or Milan's.

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

++ [ originally posted by swag ] ++
Our bench hurt us last year. But we had an abnormal number of key injuries at one point, and many of our other starters played like ... well ... crap.

the fact that that happened last year and we still put ourself in the same possition this year

 

[suligodsilla]

No our bench is ok. I mean of course i would like to see better players, but it is pity when good players must wait till anybody is injured. Capello doesn't use the rotation principle like Rafa Benitez in Valencia, he has the first eleven and it is very hard for other player to come in the first eleven. And when good players doesn`t play it comes to bad atmosphere in Juve.

 

[Azzurri7]

++ [ originally posted by simpson-juvefan ] ++
we may not have the players like Milan and Inter have but i am confident if needed players like Legrottaglie, kapo will show their worth!!!

they want to show that they are right to be at juventus, ok nobody can replace nedved or we would surely miss Cannavaro but i think this players will give their best for this games and we will be able to do well!!

we got better , believe me

 

[Vinman]

This has been one of my fears so far, besides our offensive problems

If you take a look at Milan, Inter, and even Roma (who have been really disappointing), their depth is unquestionable. That can be a disadvantage also, as I see Davids ready to blow up from a lack of play. That could cause locker room problems

I fear that if we lose Nedved, Emerson, or Canna/Thuram, were up shit's creek.....

 

[Bartolino]

For me the big problem, is not in defense. With Montero, Legrottaglie & Iuliano whe have enough backups. Central midfield (Tacchinardi & Appiah) an attack the same(altough Trezegoal will be missed).

Big problem for me are the positions of right/left midfielder. Only serious players for that are Nedved and Camoranesi.(For me it's best to keep Zambrotta on left back)

Kapo???? Don't think he's a Juve player

Olivera??? Still has something to prove

Suggestions for transfers in januari? Maybe good young player who can play MR as well as ML.


(ps I know Nedved plays a lot in central midfield, free role let's say, but his starting position is normally ML)

 

[Adrian]

i think we have depth but just are not doing well enough to prepare them if they are called in. kapo and olivera can replace camoranesi, nedved, del piero if need be, but they havent been getting enough time so when the time comes for them to play, of course they wont play at their best.

 

[Eaglesnake_1]

We just need a good lateral back to reinforse Zambro and Zebina and probably another backup striker.our midfield and central defense are deep enough to sustain the serie a, the coppa and the CL. Of course, if suddenly many players get injured, we will be like Barsa now...