As usual, the summer transfer market brought up a lot of questions come deadline day, with clubs and fans either feeling confident of the season ahead or wondering what the next move would be.
Juventus fell into the latter of the two categories, after the losses of Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal and most notably Andrea Pirlo.
They brought in Hernanes from rivals Inter in an attempt to re-strengthen the midfield but fans had doubts once he signed.
Massimiliano Allegri didn’t give him much of an appearance against Genoa on Sunday afternoon as he came on with about 15 minutes to play to substitute young debutant Mario Lemina, to whom an honourable mention should go to after his impressive start in a Bianconeri shirt.
The main man of the 90 minutes, though, was Paul Pogba. The Frenchman was named from the start in midfield and made the space left behind by Pirlo in the middle of the park look so small it was practically non-existent.
Although not a convincing display by the reigning Serie A champions, a 2-0 win came courtesy of an own goal and a penalty, meaning they left with what they so desperately wanted and needed after a stuttering start to the season.
They have Pogba to thank for the victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Firstly, the 22-year-old had a vital part to play in both goals, with the first coming through a shot of his which rebounded off the crossbar onto the Genoa keeper and into the net, and the second through a penalty he scored.
Secondly, overall, he has adapted very well to his role in midfield. His general relaxed nature can be seen in his penalty take; although Genoa are not the fiercest of rivals, a normal player would feel nerves when stepping up to the spot in a league game, especially given the team’s results over the past weeks.
Pogba, however, calmly fired the ball home from 12 yards with a high level of swagger and low level of speed.
That secured the points, it secured their first victory of the campaign and secured the belief that they could actually record a historic fifth-straight Scudetto this term.
The former Manchester United man had gone down with flu and recovered just in time for kick-off, but any after effects were not noticeable.
He seemed confident on the ball and wasn’t afraid to try his luck from range from a set piece.
Perhaps too confident was Pogba, however, as he did lose possession on one occasion on the edge of his own penalty area which allowed a Diego Perotti cross, but fortunately nothing came of it.
Provided that silly mistakes like that are not a regular occurrence throughout the season, all current worries about the absence of the bearded master Pirlo will soon be washed away and, come the middle of May next year, a new season-winning name will be on everybody’s lips.
Hahaha! Paul Pogba perfectly replaces Pirlo????!!!! NEVER! Pirlo seems to be the missing part to make Juventus a team with possibilities to win the Scuddeto fo the fifth time.