Juventus first game of the year against Parma isn’t necessarily one that Juventini around the world would want to remember. Juventus lost the game by 4 goals to 1 but the most worrying effect of this game was the loss of Fabio Qualiarella for the rest of the season. To make things worse, Juventus announced the signing of Luca Toni a few later. Beppe Marotta’s project didn’t seem to be heading in the right direction with this new acquisition.
This “project” has been the main reason Juventus have escaped wide-spread criticism but with the acquisition of Toni and the loss to Napoli where Amauri and Toni started as centre-forwards (You can read more about the game here), surely some criticism wouldn’t be too far off the corner. The return to winning ways has helped stave off any criticism.
The time difference between the announcement of Quagliarella’s injury and Luca Toni’s acquisition shows that it is unlikely Toni was brought in as a replacement for Quagliarella.
Bringing in Luca Toni was a big gamble but with the one game he has completed, he seems a big upgrade on Amauri who simply hasn’t repaid any kind of faith. With three centre-forwards, it is very likely one of Amauri or Iaquinta will be leaving.
Now to Qualiaqrella’s replacement, recent developments show that Juventus have moved to sign Antonio Floro Flores from Udinese on loan till the end of the season. His similarity to departed striker Quagliarella can’t be debated and clearly this is a move in the right direction. His goal record is poor but Quagliarella’s record wasn’t brilliant either till he moved to Juventus. It is also important to note that it wasn’t exactly Quagliarella’s duty to be the goal outlet for the side. He just happened to score them while the centre-forwards continued to disappoint.
One of the biggest messages coming out of the Old Lady is Juventus have to experience the feeling of winning trophies soon.Juventus have gone four years without winning a trophy and that trophy was the Serie B. A return of the winning mentality is important. Bearing in mind that Champions League qualification not the Scudetto is considered a must and a number of key players were cup-tied in the Europa League and generally, the competition is usually sacrificed for the League, one would suppose that the Coppa Italia is the competition being targeted by Juventus. Gigi Delneri sent out a strong side in the Coppa Italia against Catania and the side got the victory it deserved. Luca Toni was in the starting line-up but got injured. Luca Toni can be considered as the strongest prima punta this side currently has.
Luca Toni’s goal-scoring record in recent seasons has not been brilliant but surely, he will get more goals than Amauri (who seems to have developed a hatred for goals and half-intelligent performances) and Iaquinta (who for all his effort has simply lost it). The rest of the side would also have to contribute with a number of goals. If a system benefited Quagliarella, it is only reasonable to assume it would benefit Floro Flores who is a similar striker (though not as good) and there would be hope that he can follow in the footsteps of Quagliarella (after Delneri does his work) and improve his goal-to-games ratio. Del Piero will also chip in a few and Aquilani seemed to do the same yesterday against Bari. All these should be enough to qualify for the Champions League especially when you consider that failures at the back and some shocks have responsible for the terrible start to the year.
TO THE REST OF THE SIDE
MIDFIELD
The one man who seems to be leaving is Sissoko and it is believed that if a suitable deal comes in, he will move on. After his performance against Bari yesterday, it is sad to see such a player leave but with Melo having the first eleven spot and Sissoko not being good enough to bench Melo (The manager’s view from his team selection) but being good enough to start for a very good number of sides in Europe, Sissoko will have to move on to ensure his career isn’t spent playing second fiddle to a player he may or may not be better than.
All that glitters is Gold
It is a situation similar to Manchester United having both Roy Keane and Nicky Butt and everyone concerned will hope Sissoko can go on to have a good career. Even with his recent rant aimed at the club, he still put it a very impressive performance against Bari.
DEFENCE
Every Juventini would hope the rumours flying around about Nicola Legrottaglie are false because he is a very valuable back-up to the Bonucci-Chiellini defensive pairing. Frederik Sørensen has done a good job so far and the left side of defence is well covered with the pending return of Paolo De Ceglie who was impressive before his injury and the decent performances from Armand Traoré who was not as terrible as some would have you believe against Napoli. And Juventus definitely have the best goalkeeping department in the world with Buffon back and Storari as understudy though Storari may not be so willing to acquaint himself to this role.
OVERALL
Against Bari, Juventus had to rely on Del Piero to help them win. Though some see this as disturbing, it is encouraging to note that “Quagliarella’s back-up” hasn’t failed and Floro Flores is on the way to help out. It should only get better. The main objective is Champions League qualification and the fact that the Scudetto is definitely not out of reach is encouraging and putting out strong sides in the Coppa Italia will surely help them with their aim of winning the competition
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I wish I could share your optimism. What Marotta and co don’t seem to realize that missing out on CL will delay the “project” by another year. We cannot sign the world class players that we need if we’re not in Europe. Whatever plans they had for the upcoming summer needs to be done in this transfer window. Agnelli did promise we would be spending big in summer, why not use the money we want to spend in summer now and avoid another missed opportunity in the champions league. One more thing, while I do believe Juve should be as Italian as possible, the truth is that talented Italians are few and far between, its time to look elsewhere beyond the peninsula.
It takes some time to get used to Delneri’s system which is quite complex. It’s important new signings have time to train and gel with the rest of the squad and this can’t happen in January. And pushing the plan ahead would smack of desperation and that is definitely not the right message to send out (e.g. when everyone though Toni was Quagliarella’s replacement). If Quagliarella wasn’t injured, most of this talk wouldn’t have risen. Marotta’s project is one built upon clear reasoning and faith in that process would be a very good thing. Even Moggi recently said Juventus shouldn’t sign anyone which is odd considering previous comments attributed to him.
Perhaps he can “Compromise” away something else important to us