These judges gave better ratings than I did

4- Dreadful. Consistently producing horror shows and generally completely incompetent.
4.5- Poor.
5- Subpar. Never impressing, and while not terrible, never playing well either.
5.5- Mediocre. Not something a player should be pleased with.
6- Decent.
6.5- Solid. Putting in consistently good shifts, though not exemplary.
7- Excellent. Playing well typically, and capable of brilliance.
7.5- Outstanding. Consistently winning MOTM awards.
8- Phenomenal.
9- Legendary.

Injuries don’t directly factor, as that has weighed enough on their performances as is. So without further ado, the Juventus Pagelle for season 2009-2010.

SuperrrrrrrGigi!!!

KEEPERS
GIANLUIGI BUFFON- 7: An odd season from Gigi. Due to injuries last season, people wondered if Buffon’s days were numbered. At the beginning of the season, he showed them when healthy, he is still the worlds best. Unfortunately, Gigi incurred his seasonal length injury, as a meniscus problem kept him out for 1-2 months. It seemed he recovered well enough, but was struck again with injury in late February, a strain to the right thigh keeping him out for 6 weeks. It seemed he’d be well enough for the World Cup, but a substitution in the last game against Milan was worrying, and it occurred against as a back problem caused him to substitute out of the first World Cup game against Paraguay, and miss the rest. Sadly, the Lippi-Buffon reunion did not go well. He’s due to undergo surgery on his back which will keep him out until January…one wonders if Buffon will ever be healthy. One other note- in the game against Roma, towards the end Buffon came flying out and took out Riise, earning himself a straight red card. Some players might storm off in the tunnel angry or disappointed, but Gigi walked over to the bench to embrace Manninger and wish him luck.
BEST MOMENT: For Italy, it was no doubt the wondersave against Bulgaria that defies all physics and logic. For Juventus, his two games against Maccabi were just chock full of brilliant saves.

“Why in God’s name am I here in America?”

ALEX MANNINGER- 6: As Buffon took his annual 3-month sabbatical, Manninger once again got his chance to shine. He wasn’t quite up to the standard as last year, he looked uncharacteristically nervy in a few games, but a fairly capable showing. If he gets relegated to position of 3rd-choice keeper with Storari’s arrival, he’ll be the best third-string keeper in the history of Juventus.
BEST MOMENT: Terrific save on an (offside) Gilardino when Juve was up 1-0 in Firenze.

Playing his role as Vice-Seredova

ANTONIO CHIMENTI- 4.5: Last year, I said his best moment was “never setting foot on the pitch.” Wish I could have said the same this year. Chimenti played a couple games when Buffon and Manninger were both out, and they were awful. 3 goals conceded against Siena, 4 goals conceded against Fulham, and then the Samp game…oh, the Samp game. Chimenti actually had a good game, then Cassano tried an ambitious volley which he inexplicably punched into his own net. Afterwords, Samp was peppering him with some (excellent) long-range shots, and he saved them very well, but it wasn’t enough.
BEST MOMENT: At least the guy cares somewhat about Juve and/or his personal performances, which is more than I can say for at least 1/2 of the team this year. After conceding Cassano’s wondergoal, he was so angry that he punched a table in the locker room, fracturing his hand in the process and ending his season.

DEFENDERS

Giorgio of the Jungle celebrating a goal

GIORGIO CHIELLINI- 7.5: One of the few bright spots in our defense this year, Giorgio was typical Giorgio. Our defense conceded the most goals in a single league campaign in Juve’s 100+ year history, but Chiellini wasn’t responsible. In fact, he was one of the few things keeping it from being even worse. Constantly had to be cleaning up and covering for his muppet-ish clowns otherwise known as defensive teammates, but one defender isn’t enough. Looks like he’s properly getting the contract and defensive teammates that he deserves. I do have to mention he scored 4 goals in 32 games, Amauri scored 5 in 30. Had it not been for Iaquinta offside-ly poaching a Chiellini header, he’d have matched Amauri. A center-back. Almost matching a center forward. God, it’s been a shitty year.
BEST MOMENT: I am a big fan of his goal against Sampdoria, way back in Fall when it was #1 v. #2 in the table, a huge match. Despite being a CB, he goes far up, starts the move with a nice sliding pace to Amauri, and continues his run and taps it in. At the time when he started running into the box I was thinking “What on earth are you doing, Giorgio?”

“Hmmm, maybe I should have signed with Albinoleffe”

FABIO CANNAVARO- 4.5: He had an excellent start to the campaign that would easily merit a 6.5, and closed out the season equally, perhaps trying to keep Lippi’s attention. For the 6+ months in between though, he was garbage. Too slow, tactically out of position, he looked vulnerable every goddamn game. Notably roasted by Alessandro Matri against Cagliari, there were numerous incidents where he simply lost his man and watched as they rounded Buffon/Manninger and tapped in. Was the only natural CB available for the away game at Fulham, got bitched off the ball in the 10th minute for Zamora’s goal, and then 15 minutes later got himself sent off, which led to the complete disaster that was Salihamidzic-Grygera-Zebina-Grosso protecting Chimenti. Awful, awful season, and he never should have come back. Equally poor at the World Cup, unfortunately.
BEST MOMENT: Cannavaro scored one goal this season, and in true traitor fashion, it was against his newly ex-club in preseason, Real Madrid in the Peace Cup. Poetic.

Class act, giving credit to Diego for the goal.

NICOLA LEGROTTAGLIE- 6.5: I said all last summer that Legrottaglie-Chiellini was the ideal CB partnership, and after Fabio’s brief flame into form, it turned out to be so. Datasport, an excellent source for player ratings, mentioned in winter “Cannavaro is no longer at Legrottaglie’s level.” I am convinced that he’s got haters because of his past, but fact is, he’s been excellent the last 3 years. Started out the season shaky, probably because he wasn’t playing much and bringing in Cannavaro (who replaced in him in 2004) was a very public bitchslap from the management, but he grew into form. After September, he was pretty solid and the biggest difference for me was the Fulham games. The first, our CB partnership was Legro-Canna, and the second, it was Zebina-Canna. Canna wasn’t great in either game, and as the Fulham Offside put it-

One nugget of information I’ve noticed little mention of is the absence of Juventus defender Nicola Legrottaglie. Last week he manhandled Bobby Zamora. Thankfully for us he was suspended last night and Bobby managed to have a field day — even before Fabio Cannavaro was sent off.

Also of very important note. Nicola Legrottaglie did not miss ONE game through injury this entire season. You read that correctly. I’m a huge fan of his of course, but between his decent record last year, his un-injuredness (it’s a word) and his leadership, he deserves to stay. Storari, Motta, and Lanzafame have all explicitly identified Legrottaglie as one who has welcomed them into the team, Motta said he has helped him defensively. Guy would be a great youth team coach when he retires, I think.

BEST MOMENT: Probably the first Fulham game, where he scored a nice thumping header inside the first 10minutes and it looked like everything would go well. And it did, Fulham had virtually no effort on goal and their only goal was a horribly deflected lucky shot. About a month before that, he scored another nice header against Livorno. (Which I predicted- “Amauri should take lessons on set piece headers from Legrottaglie”, about 15 minutes before the goal) Also of note- both of those goals come from perfect set pieces from Diego.

“Oh God, he got by me! Time to rugby tackle him!!”

ZDENEK GRYGERA- 4: God, it was an awful season for Grygera. He probably deserves a 4.5 in that he wasn’t completely dreadful in every game, but he gets -.5 for being comically bad in a couple. Notably Palermo and Siena, where he singlehandedly doomed our team, with horrendous backpasses and generally getting schooled by Maccarone, who now plays for Palermo. Please, if he stays, do not field him against Maccalermo. Should he stay? He certainly hasn’t played to deserve it, but I’d rather sell Grosso and Zebina first, who are older, have higher salaries, and are equally worthless. There’s so much rebuilding going on this season that Grygera might get spared. Or maybe not, Ajax and Bologna have been linked with him.
BEST MOMENT: It’s probably telling that I’ve chosen a pre-season friendly incident (again, Real Madrid) for both Grygera and Cannavaro. Best no doubt goes to a horrendous potential knee-breaking tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo, a month after Perez shelled out 90million euros for him. Bosman > 90million euro crocked player.

World Cup bringing the inner Paolo Montero out in Martin

MARTIN CACERES- 6.5: Considering his age, and the fact that he came from a league not known for defending, Martin did very well. His first month or so was very shaky, he was frequently caught out of position at RB and beaten defensively. (see Kolorav’s effort back in September) But he quickly grew into Serie A, and by November, was an undisputed starter at RB. That month, in the Derby d’Italia, he was named MOTM has his defensive tackles and never-say-die attitude kept Inter at bay. He’s young, he’s Uruguayan, and he wasn’t owned by Juve, but he showed the Juventus spirit like an Italian veteran, some of his tackles reminded me of Tacchinardi rushing back in defense. He developed some solid defensive skills, but he was no slouch offensively. Pacey, with decent technical skills and an eye for a good cross, he set up many goals from the right flank. See Camo’s best moment where his cross provided Camo’s goal against Maccabi, or Fabio Grosso where he perfectly ran onto a pass from Poulsen and volley-crossed it pinpoint to Fabio. Or the game against Genoa, where he received a throw-in, beat two Genoa defenders and then put in a delicious cross to Amauri, who actually converted it. I am very, very disappointed that we won’t be signing him. He’s very young, already has decent Serie A/Juve experiment, why not sign him and convert him or Motta into a left-back, alla Zambrotta? Wherever he ends up, I wish him well.
BEST MOMENT: Caceres had some excellent games this season, I wish someone made a compilation of his performance against Inter, but it goes to his first and only goal at Juve, in his first ever Serie A start. It was against Lazio, in September, and Juventus struggled to break them down, until Martin scored. Ironically, it was a relatively poor performance from Caceres, he was beaten by Kolarov more than once and caught out of position. But the goal won us 3 points.

Swap Eto’o for a figurative Juventus bank account, and this is what has been happening the last three years.

JONATHAN ZEBINA- 4.5: One of my least favorite players to ever wear the Juventus jersey, as regular readers will well know. Zebina wasn’t completely awful this season, he wasn’t injured for 4 months like in 07-08 and 08-09, so that’s an improvement. But he just is simply inadequate, as he’s always been. Offensively, he contributes something nice one in every 20 games, and in doing so, leaves large gaps at the back. Better than Grygera or Grosso this season, but that doesn’t say much. Especially when you’re making 2.5 million a year, making more than Chiellini and furthermore, the best paid defender on the team. Unbelievable. Thankfully, he looks certain to leave, as Marotta/Delneri are giving him a free transfer in exchange for “getting the hell outta here.”
BEST MOMENT: Zebina did have two good moments this year, a nice dribble/shot that turned into an assist for Trezeguet against Bologna, and then the Fulham game. Oh, the Fulham game. In the first, he scored a brilliant, brilliant goal, his 2nd ever for Juventus that literally left me laughing in tears. (and Bettega, from the video) In the return leg at Craven Cottage, when he played terrible, got sent off, and gave the middle finger to the Juventus fans. Another words, normal service resumed.

“Why does anyone ever let me play club football??”

FABIO GROSSO- 4: Oh, Fabio. Though I was a naysayer on the last mercato, saying Felipe Melo and Cannavaro was the wrong pick when most thought they were smart signings, I was TOTALLY wrong on Fabio. I’ve been advocating his signing since two summers ago, I though he’d be a great left-back for 2-3 years, solve our issues. I knew he was not that great of a club player, but at worst, I thought he’d be a moderate upgrade on Molinaro. In all seriousness, he was worse than Molinaro’s performances in 08-09. With Molinaro, we got pace, decent defending, and utterly garbage offense. With Grosso, he was a slow, and didn’t really contribute much on offense either, his crosses were an improvement, but not by much. And while he was drifting up the field, he constantly was leaving massive gaps at the back that were frequently exploited on counter-attacks. Beaten often by his man (I remember a goal we conceded I believe against Atalanta, where he just simply got schooled) it was a terrible, terrible season, and Secco gave him a 3-year contract. He hasn’t improved, either. Delneri likes his wingers attacking and his fullbacks defensive, which doesn’t play into Grosso’s hands, Tuttosport ran a report on players progress thus far in training and Grosso was definitely in the negative bucket. Could be experimented as a left-winger, but there’s really no point.
BEST MOMENT: Two nice goals this season that won the game for us. The first was just odd, our flanks were generally rubbish this season, and this was a goal scored between our two fullbacks against Udinese. (Nice pass from Poulsen there) The second was the match-winning goal in Firenze, where he chipped it in from a very tight angle to beat Frey.

Nooo! YOU. SHALL. NOT. PASSSS”

PAOLO DE CEGLIE- 5.5: A middling campaign from the young left-back, who put in some good games, and some average ones. Typically good offensively, his crosses are excellent, and occasionally lost his man for a goal. I think this kid has some serious potential, Zambrotta was much older when he was converted to a fullback (and was iffy for the firt season) and De Ceglie has the offensive capability to be a great fullback. He just needs some confidence from the coach, and some personal tutoring on defense. It may be happening, in Tuttosport’s report of early training notes, they stated that “De Ceglie no longer appears timid” and that Delneri’s instructions seem to have calmed him. Noted that his crossing has been good, he’s pacey as usual, but also that his defense reporting, though it left the report warning that “it remains to be seen against top-level strikers.” Hoping this kid has a breakout season, I like him. And so should the ladies.
BEST MOMENT: Nothing really jumps out, kind of like his personality in general. A nice combination with Del Piero against Ajax let to a perfect cross from De Ceglie, and a goal headed in by Amauri.

Molinaro in something not black-and-white striped. Hooray!

CRISTIAN MOLINARO- 4.5: It was clear from day one that Molinaro would be leaving, as both De Ceglie and Grosso were preferred to him at left-back. This snub definitely hurt his performance, he was alright last year but the confidence was shot, and he played like garbage.
BEST MOMENT: Molinaro, not exactly the most technical of players, attempted an ambitious backheel. It did not succeed.

MIDFIELDERS

DIEGO- 6.5: I’ve made my opinion clear on Diego many times, and that is that Diego had a relatively successful in his debut season in Serie A. It’s totally ludicrous to me that he’s been labelled one of the flops of the season, and in the worst Serie A XI of the season. I have one very, very simple argument. Go watch all the goals we scored this season, and you’ll see Diego’s brilliance. He has an important hand in something like 40% of the goals (probably almost 50% if you consider the games he was absent for), and while he didn’t score as much as we hoped…he was massively influential. He actually has 1 more goal and assist (as well as two goals in the Coppa Italia) over Sneidjer in 7 more games, and was fouled almost three times as many times as Sneidjer.

Yet Sneidjer is hailed as one of the best players in the world. Don’t get me wrong, Sneidjer deserves all the accolades he got, but the difference between Diego and Sneidjer is simple. Juventus sucked, and Inter won a lot. Mostly due to the difference in defenses, of course. Had the opposite transfers happened, Sneidjer would have been labelled a flop and Diego a champion. Thankfully, it seems Gigi Delneri has seen his talent shine in training and reversed his previous anti-Diego stance. Looks like we might be playing a 4-4-1-1.
BEST MOMENT: No doubt, his wonderful performance against Roma where he banged in two beautiful goals. Close second would be where he completely faked out Frey and slotted it in against Fiorentina.

A goal that will long live in our memories.

CLAUDIO MARCHISIO- 6.5: A consistent year from Marchisio. He had a few tremendous games, plenty of satisfactory ones, and very few poor ones. For a young player, consistency is sometimes rare, just more signs of his tremendous maturity. Delneri has said he plans to build Juventus around Marchisio, excellent news. Was always a first-choice player, whether as a left-winger or central midfielder. Played three games in March when suffering from the flu, picking up a MOTM award in one of them. You can’t not love this guy.
BEST MOMENT: The highlight of the entire season. Juventus v. Inter, against a team who cannot seem to play one player from Italy. Our homegrown player, born and bred in Torino, wearing the Juventus jersey for the 16th year of the last 17, and scores a delicious game-winning chip...schooling experienced players Walter Samuel and Julio Cesar in the process.

HASAN SALIHAMIDZIC- 5: To be honest, I remember VERY little of Salihamidzic from this season, which considering how the season went, maybe isn’t bad. I mean, I know he played, but I just can’t really remember anything. The little I do remember was noting that Salihamidzic cannot play as a central-midfielder, only as a winger. Camo could adapt to playing in the 4-3-1-2, so Ferrara gave Brazzo a shot at it, but he just had very little impact when positioned there.
BEST MOMENT: Sometimes I think he missed his true calling to be a Pippo Inzaghi-style striker. He seems to just pop up at the right time and score, like he did against Parma and Catania.

I can’t decide which one of these players I hate more.

FELIPE MELO- 4.5: You don’t win the Bidone d’Oro for nothing. Although at the time it was a little ridiculous to give him the award, he evidently promised the radio sponsors that he would do everything in his power to merit it. He was the wrong choice for Juventus from day one, as he simply did not fit into our transfer needs. Melo started the season brightly enough, indeed the team did as a whole, but as the season progressed, like Cannavaro, his season went to utter garbage. Every game highlighted his inadequacy, as he wasn’t technically skilled enough to play as deep as he did, and when he was shielding the defense, he often gave away the ball in a dangerous position. It got to a point where we were guaranteed an awful performance from him, and more than likely he was going to receive a card for a poor tackle. Unlike Cannavaro, he never got out of his dreadful form, and finished the season in outright war with the Juventus fans. Against Siena, he infamously shouted at the fans to “shut the f*** up” after being jeered for attempting to dribble out of defense. At least unlike Zebina, he didn’t try and play the race card. If Melo is played correctly, he can be a strong component of the team, and in a 4-4-2 where his passing abilities are less needed and he’s given the ability to roam, he’ll be better. However, he has literally burnt every bridge with the fans and I would much prefer to see him sold. Unfortunately, singlehandedly knocking Brazil out of the World Cup seems to have dampened any remaining interest. He’s too emotional of a player.
BEST MOMENT: Felipe Melo scored an excellent header against Atalanta, and then ran under the (empty) Curva to ask forgiveness for the Siena debacle. As Juve commentator Claudio Zuliani said, “finally, he did something good!” A nice gesture, but the fans weren’t there to see it.

I hope to see these two Argies with us still next year.

MAURO CAMORANESI- 6: Mauro’s season was interrupted by far too many injuries, which is becoming more and more common for him. And the frustration of the godawful season got to him, as he started to become a walking red card later in the season. It is suggested that he was the player who told Zaccheroni upon his arrival “I am here, but don’t count on me” but there’s no way of knowing for sure. That said, when Camo plays, he’s still excellent, and that’s the reason I’d like to keep him for the last year of his contract. (That, and he played in Serie B) He had a period, not surprisingly uninterrupted by injury, back in October where he was in tremendous form, scoring two goals against Atalanta and then one against Maccabi.
BEST MOMENT: His goal against Maccabi set us up for qualification to the round of 16, before the Bayern/Lyon disasters. Then there was the Atalanta game, where he was just all over the place.

“Yo Giorgio, watch where you’re puttin your foot!”

CHRISTIAN POULSEN- 6: An improved season for Poulsen, who is very understated in his role, but effective nonetheless. As Felipe Melo’s season imploded, Poulsen slowly got more and more chances to play, and grew into the team. He’s not a flashy player, but he effectively protected the backline, and has an eye occasionally for a brilliant pass. (see Grosso’s goal against Udinese) The Dane continued to improve into the winter (just like home?), even picking up a MOTM award or two, before breaking his fibula against Napoli in the Coppa Italia. He was out for about 6 weeks, and by the time he got back, the whole team had given up. Not anywhere near his Liga form, where he was considered one of the best in the league, but an improved season. Hopefully he has an impact next year.
BEST MOMENT: Can’t really think of one. Didn’t score any goals, and had a very quiet role in the team.

Gio has tremendous talent. He just needs someone who believes in him.

SEBASTIAN GIOVINCO- 5.5: Definitely a step down from last year, but can you blame the kid? He got FIVE league starts all season, which is just absolutely absurd. FIVE. Molinaro basically did the same, and he was 3rd choice and sent on loan for the 2nd half of the year!! Frankly, him leaving makes no sense to me, but when it comes to Gio, nothing that makes sense seems to happen. Marotta likes young Italian players, and Delneri likes pacey attacking wingers. (and wanted him at Sampdoria this January, ended up with Guberti) So while it makes perfect sense that he would get a lot of playing time at LM in the new regime, it doesn’t look likely. I want the kid to go to Bari, my sympathies aside, it’s an attacking team, and Ventura has a great record with young players. And he’s promised to build the team around him. Under Ranieri, Gio shoulda played more but played “enough”, starting 10 matches and having important cameos in 10 more league ones, he also took part in 4 CL games. This year it should have been a further step forward, but it’s been one giant leap backward, and his development has certainly stalled. He needs to play, and if he can’t at Juve, time for him to leave.
BEST MOMENT: In the 4-2-3-1 he flourished, playing excellent against Sampdoria and Atalanta where where racked up 5 goals in both games, with Gio getting some assists. Despite losing the game, against Napoli, he scored his only goal, had another opportunity, and had an excellent pass to Diego on the flanks that opened Napoli up.

Strangely, after this tackle got Sissoko sent off, Javier Zanetti didn’t run to the referee. Previously, he said he would demand the game be suspended if there was any racism, but Interista racism is acceptable I guess…

MOHAMED SISSOKO- 5: Very much a year to forget for Sissoko as well. It wasn’t really his fault though, he didn’t have enough consistent games to nobody’s fault. He started the season injured from breaking his foot against Torino in March 2009, didn’t return until October this year. Three weeks later, strained his thigh, spent another month out until December, and then went to the African Cup of Nations, then came back and was out for another 6 weeks due to reaggravating his muscle strain. Then in February he was out for a while with an inflamed tendon, you get the idea, shit just continued. Finally, Sissoko gets healthy, and in a terrible tragedy, both of his in-laws were killed in a car accident. Bad enough situation, except as Zaccheroni revealed in June, Sissoko ended up having to take care of 4-5 of his siblings-in-law, who were still under 18. Between injuries and this tragedy, his mind was never really focused this season and he didn’t play particularly well in the few games he made it for.
BEST MOMENT: There really wasn’t one, but I can tell you what his best moment wasn’t: getting sent off early in the Derby d’Italia in Milan, which pretty much doomed our team after a pretty positive start.

Those stripes look nice on you, Tiago. Keep ‘em.

TIAGO- 5: Played well the first few weeks, and it seemed Ferrara was getting the best out of Tiago in the 3-man midfield. As the season went to shit, Tiago just started completely disappearing in games. Fed up, the management finally offed him on loan to Atletico Madrid for the spring, and negotiations are on-going with Atletico due to his rather high salary demands. Juventus gave him permission to skip on our training camp to stay looking for a casa in Madrid, so he’s finally gone for all intents and purposes. And Marotta also got rid of Almiron this summer, not bad.
BEST MOMENT: Getting the HELL out in January, after failed attempts in the past to loan him to Marseille, Atletico, Sporting, Fiorentina, Tottenham, etc….

ANTONIO CANDREVA- 6: Not bad, Antonio. You made the jump from Serie B to Juventus and an Azzurri call-up all in one year. Here’s the thing about Candreva, he has the talent to play for Juventus, he just came at the wrong time. The team was in free fall, and he isn’t good enough to singlehandedly turn the team around. A versatile, creative player, he did have a bad habit of disappearing from the game in the 2nd half, but his versatility was excellent, playing as a attacking midfielder, a creative central midfielder, what have you. I wish we had seen him experimented as a regista, but it didn’t happen. Good player, but not worth 8.5mil for co-ownership.
BEST MOMENT: He kind of has a girly shot, but his goal against Bologna was excellently placed. Had a nice clever through ball for Diego against Fiorentina.

STRIKERS

“I’M A BALD DOUCHEBAG WHO CAN NEVER COMPARE TO YOU!!!”

ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO- 6: It took Alessandro a LONG time to get into form, and I mean a LONG time. This was the first time ever he hadn’t scored a goal in the Fall portion of the season, and given how much he fell off in Spring of last year, he didn’t score many goals in calendar year 2009. Not really his fault for this season, he was pretty much injured the whole time, he had a back problem during preseason training and was out until September, then after returning to the bench for the 2nd game against Roma, mysteriously disappeared again until October, where he played 10 minutes against Bologna. Reaggravated the injury and was out until December, so he played 10minutes in the first 14 games of the season, give or take. Once he started to play though, Del Piero rounded into form. Excellent performances against Ajax, Lazio, Genoa, etc, he finally found his scoring boots around February. Creative and deadly as usual, he racked up his 300th and 301st goal against Siena this year. Looks set to still have an important role under Delneri, though perhaps not as starter.
BEST MOMENT: As Diego Maradona says, “I am convinced that Del Piero never really grows old.” He had some beautiful goals this season. My personal favorite was against Genoa, where he tackles Criscito to maintain possession of the ball, dribbles around a bit, passes to Diego who makes a wonderful backheel, and Del Piero finishes. Brilliant volley to score against Roma, as well as the above volley and 301st goal against Siena.

DAVID TREZEGUET- 6.5: At the beginning of the season, a lot of people said Trezeguet was past it. He came off a crap season due to double knee surgery and disagreements with Ranieri, and was supposedly on the market last summer. I said it before, and I’ll say it again- Like Inzaghi or Del Piero, Trezeguet’s talent won’t ever die, because it is relatively independent of physical condition. Unlike his friend Thierry Henry, who based a lot of his ability on his acceleration (not just that, but that was an important part of his game) and thus declined rapidly, Trez is a poacher, and thus his talent will remain. It was no surprise then, that once he started playing, he started scoring. The first came against Lazio. The first few weeks of the season were filled with optimism, Amauri and Iaquinta were playing well, and Trezeguet had been forgotten on the bench. In a “cry for help” he said he was planning to leave Turin at the end of the year, which perhaps wasn’t the most professional thing to say, but he had been forgotten. Ferrara responded accordingly by giving him a substitute performance against Lazio, and he scored. A crap goal, but it’s a goal. It justified a few more games though, and sure enough, he started scoring. Though like everyone else, his season was disrupted by injury, he scored 10 goals in 18 starts by the end of the season. Not bad. I’m hoping, like Camo, for him to finish his contract at Juventus this season and get the farewell he deserves. He’s talked about possibly rejoining his best friend Thierry in NY, and that would be a fearsome attack for RBNY.
BEST MOMENT: His goal against Atalanta tied Omar Sivori for the 4th greatest goalscorer in Juventus history and the greatest foreign goalscorer, and he ended up surpassing him. Tremendous game against Bari back in December, where he not only scored but in very un-Trez-like style, provided several golden assists for teammates. Trez scored some amazing volleys in Europe this year, against Bayern Munich and then an even more ridiculous one against Fulham at home. Another favorite of mine is the Napoli game (See the Giovinco Best Moment) where Grygera floats in a nice teasing cross, and Trez in SUPER poacher style, just nails it in. Brilliant.

VINCENZO IAQUINTA- 5.5: This could have been Vincenzo’s year, given that Lippi put an extraordinary amount of faith in him, but sadly, as it seems for his entire Juve career, injuries have disrupted his growth. When Vinnie is unencumbered by physical problems (and eventually gets in form), he is one of the best strikers in Italy. Unfortunately, we’ve seen that in 3-4 month spurts here and there and then he gets injured. This year he was out for 100+ straight days after knee meniscus surgery, taking longer than Marchisio and Buffon combined, who had the same injury. Believe it or not, but he was out for 100+ days, played 1/2 the amount of games Amauri did, and scored 1 more goal in the league than him. Incredible.
BEST MOMENT: No doubt, his MOTM game against Bari in the spring. Scored an excellent goal from a tight angle and then followed up with a nice tap-in later in the game.

Playing in a league where he probably belongs.

AMAURI- 4: Goddddawful. Just terrible. He started the season out in good form, but as the goals were denied with by the post, or super Sorrentino/Julio Sergio saves, his confidence plummeted. And then some. Looked too slow and static up top, couldn’t score with his feet or head, Amauri was awful. And to compound it, he was always seen bitching and whining, often at his teammates. Needs to work on sprinting, playing with the ball at his feet, playing with his face forward, aka learning how to be a striker. 4-4-2 and Delneri may suit him better, but he’s got a LONG ways to go to earning back the fans love. 5 goals in the league, he was outscored by Iaquinta and nearly Chiellini, of all people. And it’d be one thing if he scored once a month, but 4 of his goals came in a one week span
BEST MOMENT: The Genoa goal (see Caceres section) was pretty nice, a solid header with two defenders marking him, but it definitely goes to the Ajax game, in Amsterdam. Before the game in the press conference, Martin Jol identified Amauri as the biggest threat to his team. Juventini laughed. Evidently Jol either knows his team really well, or can predict the future, because Amauri scored a double. (Thanks to some brilliant work from Alessandro Del Piero) Juventini were confused. Jol was angry.

MICHELE PAOLUCCI- s.v.: What a waste of 6 months for the kid.
BEST MOMENT: Giving Blanc and co the finger.

MANAGEMENT:

FERRARA- 4.5: The squad was poorly built, and he had an injury crisis of biblical proportions. That said, he really didn’t seem to be able to get the team to be playing his vision. Ultimately, his inexperience was his downfall- when the team got stuck in a bad rut, he was unable to get us out. Sampdoria got stuck in a bad free fall last January as well, but Delneri tactically got his taem out of it, let’s hope he can show the same balls and brains at Juve.
ZACCHERONI- 5: Poor Zac, he was screwed from the start. He inherited a squad ravaged by injury, and with confidence levels in the team as low as humanly possible. Zac tried, he had some good ideas, and at one point, the team’s confidence appeared to have returned and we were playing decent footy. In one week, that was irreparably destroyed, and he can thank Grygera for most of it. Against Siena, having gone up 3-0 in 10 minutes, we proceeded to concede 3. Confidence plummeted. Then we traveled to Fulham, and in the perfect storm of injuries, suspensions, questionable refereeing decisions, etc, we got mauled 4-1. There was no turning back point after that.
SECCO- 3.5: Diego was a great signing, although not entirely necessary. Melo is a good player, but was the wrong buy from day one. Grosso and Cannavaro were both old, cheap, and far too over-the-hill to play at Juve. The only necessary and excellent signing he made was Caceres, except it was only on loan. Candreva was alright, but one player isn’t going to fix things. Paolucci’s development was set back an entire year because of an unnecessary, stupid, and panicked recall.
AGRICOLA- 0: ‘Nuff said.

From Ciro Ferrara’s interview with the Gazzetta from 6 weeks ago…

At the beginning, you were often compared to Guardiola, but it doesn’t seem that the comparison holds. The Catalan [Guardiola] didn’t coach his old teammates.
At the end, to have to coach some friends was a problem. I always chose with the head, not with the heart, but I wasn’t always understood.

Before accepting Laporta’s offer [President of Barcelona], Guardiola made the precondition of selling Ronaldinho and Deco because they had “conditioned” the locker room, they had too much influence. Were you tempted to do the same with Del Piero?
It’s unthinkable for Del Piero to be sold. Ronaldinho played for Barcelona for 5 years, Ale represents far longer at Juventus. There’s a relationship, there is a great history. But he always wants to play, and at times it becomes a problem. It could be the same next year.

Del Piero was asked to respond.

“I believe that that interview was done at a particularly emotional moment,” Del Piero said. “I am not saying that to justify Ferrara’s comments, but I believe it was like that. Certainly none of us at Juventus feel like donkeys.” When asked if he did want to play all the time, Del Piero said: “The problem is if a player doesn’t want to play.

“A player must do everything – obviously only on the pitch – to be a started. But I never asked anyone to start regularly. I only asked to be looked at without prejudice and that I be treated equal with the others. It’s my way of thinking and of seeing the situation. If a player deserves to play, whether he be 18 or 36, he should play, because the best players should be on the pitch. The fundamental thing is that the team wins. I have always behaved correctly in the dressing room. For my part, there has always been maximum openness and the utmost desire to do well.”

Tiebreak?

Alberto Zaccheroni, speaking to Il Giornale:

How did it end this way?
The turning point was Siena, 3-0 after a few minutes, then Grygera lost Maccarone and the team collapsed, then we went to London and there was the disaster against Fulham. In a team, you need quality, legs, and if there weren’t, and lastly, a calm head, and after Siena that didn’t exist anymore. We were there without Iaquinta, Amauri, Buffon, Chiellini, Sissoko, Marchisio, and maybe I forgot someone, whereas Fulham had few absences. In general, the first half was solid, and then the second we disappeared. Thankfully, we at least had Del Piero.

Why Del Piero?
“He doesn’t have the strength he used to, but he was the only who consistently put the ball in the net. I used him sparingly, I substituted him, I put him on the bench, he always followed my instructions. He doesn’t have 90minutes left, but he remains one of the best. And with him, I never had any misunderstandings, not even that time of the Marchisio substitution that I didn’t do. They wrote that he was like Totti, that he decided himself the coaching decisions. But even in this situation, we had the same ideas.”

Delneri’s brief thoughts on Del Piero’s role in the team- (Aka, not a mascot like Materazzi)

“Del Piero is a champion. He is a player, not a director. He has his age, but his technical qualities aren’t up for debate. He will be dealt with like all the others. He will play if he is in form.”

I know some people here think Del Piero has too much influence in the locker room, but I think he has the right amount. In a time when our management and coaching has been relatively inexperienced and/or gutless, we needed a leader. However, Del Piero is a very humble guy. I don’t believe for one second that he was demanding to play…only that he wanted to play whenever possible, and yes, there’s a big difference. Perhaps it was simply Ferrara’s inexperience that perceived him to think Alex was pressuring him.

Will he be starting every game this year? No. But he represents something fundamental at Juventus, and even at age 35, he has the desire AND talent to play.

Criscito can’t handle the Camo

Criscito, to the Genoa official website:

“It’s a beautiful sensation to feel part of Genoa completely. It’s an honor, and at the same time, an increased responsibility. I will give my best to repay the faith of my president and of the team, which made a large investment. I will return from vacation more dependable than ever, of this you can be certain. In recent days, I’ve been in Napoli, with my family and my relatives. What am I doing? Tonight, for example, I’m going to see my cousin in a dance. Later, I will be going with my wife for some days to Bora Bora, in Polynesia. Now that everything is finished, I can say that it was what I wanted. I had to say certain phrases half-and-half during the last few weeks, but those who knew me well knew that my desire was to continue to wear the Genoa jersey.”

Man……I can’t believe I didn’t get signed!

Candreva, to TuttoMercatoWeb:

You won’t remain at Juventus, are you a bit disappointed? To be part of a big club is always pleasing, but the option for co-ownership has ended, they made other choices. Now, we’ll see. For now, I am the property of Udinese, I wait for news, we’ll see. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a big team like Juventus? I’m sorry, but never say never.”

Last year Juventus played a poor season, what didn’t work? There were some injuries, and even if that is not an alibi, the year was not one of the best. It can happen, but Juventus will experience a rebirth. There are great players and great champions, and a great coach has arrived who did very well at Sampdoria.”

So there you have it. Criscito, who grew up in the Juve youth academy, seemingly slams the door on ever returning, whereas Candreva, an admitted fan of Roma, leaves it cracked. Which player would you rather see back at Juve?

While their sons were off hustling in training, Alfredo Criscito and Giuseppe Iaquinta played some foosball

At least one Iaquinta got some goals in South Africa!

Ciro Ferrara, speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport:

The situation at Juve had precedence over mine, in the fear of disrupting the environment, I wasn’t able to speak freely. It was better to be silent.

The numbers say that after your sacking, Juventus didn’t improve.

Zac admitted the same thing, who in my regards, was correct. I’m not fixated on statistics, the situation is different month by month. But there exists one certain fact: it wasn’t all my fault.

Who do you send this message to? To the club? The fans? To the players who after your sacking spoke a bit too much?

I have no malice in regard to Juventus or its fans/people, because 16 great years cannot be forgotten because of 6 months. Last week I rescinded my contract, because I want to return to work as a coach, not because I wanted to leave Torino. Having said this, in the days after my sacking I read statements that hurt me. Players are made that way, but phrases like “now, we’re training well” or “Zac finally makes us work on tactics” as if I hadn’t spent hours on the pitch explaining formations and plans…let’s say that my successor was more prepared. The players who got a worse average number of points with him are really donkeys.”

Let’s return to your management. What faults do you recognize?

In general, I don’t want alibis, I feel responsible for the failure. The good start and subsequent rain of praises in some way made the tension dip. At first I was very demanding and things went smoothly. Then I softened a little. Unconsciously, I must have thought that the difficulty was behind me. You can see the inexperience of which I am accused there.

At the beginning, you were often compared to Guardiola, but it doesn’t seem that the comparison holds. The Catalan [Guardiola] didn’t coach his old teammates.

At the end, to have to coach some friends was a problem. I always chose with the head, not with the heart, but I wasn’t always understood.

Before accepting Laporta’s offer [President of Barcelona], Guardiola made the precondition of selling Ronaldinho and Deco because they had “conditioned” the locker room, they had too much influence. Were you tempted to do the same with Del Piero?

It’s unthinkable for Del Piero to be sold. Ronaldinho played for Barcelona for 5 years, Ale represents far longer at Juventus. There’s a relationship, there is a great history. But he always wants to play, and at times it becomes a problem. It could be the same next year.

Felipe Melo, a Juventus quality player, or no?

“He has the quality, but he needs to learn to make himself liked by his teammates. He is anything but a bad guy, but he trained with a lot of arrogance and made many angry, and if someone disrespects others on the field, you notice.”

Will Diego be kept, or offloaded?

“Absolutely kept. He is a good player, and he trains hard and very conscientious. He needs two strikers, who move forward deep because his strength is the pass; unfortunately the tendency of those I had was to come to him. This is why he wasn’t explosive.”

But on the mercato, you didn’t have a voice?

“The call from Juventus [to coach] came all of a sudden. Cannavaro and Diego were already signed, but I had no problems with them. I got along well with them. Grosso I wanted, and I say this because it offended me to read that Lippi had built this team, as if I was merely holding the seat warm for him to come a year later”

Lippi should have returned as a Director General?

A more plausible hypothesis. But he wouldn’t have made the squad selection.

It is always said that among the management, it was missing a concrete “man of the pitch.” A fair criticism?

“The complex period of after-calciopoli wasn’t all wasted, immediately back in Serie A, then the Champion’s League, and 2nd place. It went badly this season, and many of us have paid the consequences. The authority of a football man is missed during moments of crisis, when the management is talking to the squad in a sharp tone, and the players you could read in their faces, them thinking, “Who the hell are you to tell me what I must do?”

Zaccheroni, speaking to Il Giornale:

If he remained at Juventus, Alberto Zaccheroni would have been the only coach in Serie A who had won a Scudetto. Him and Mourinho, now both are gone.

“He is someone who always needs to have an enemy, but then he gets offensive and that’s not something I appreciate. Tactically, he’s not very good. I sent a few coaches to study him at Riscone, during a training camp of Inter. Every night they called me and said,” Mister, we went, but we’re not learning anything here. Now that he realised Inter would’ve won even without him, he has chosen to leave. President Massimo Moratti had always told me his dream Coach was Fabio Capello.” But at Madrid, Mourinho will do well. No one knows like him how to motivate the players.

He left calcio, but you…

I wouldn’t have kept myself on, without 4th place. However, everything was all done, they asked me to renew my contract, I said I didn’t have time, too much work, 14 games in 42 games and more than half the players injured or carrying injuries while playing.

How did it end this way?

The turning point was Siena, 3-0 after a few minutes, then Grygera lost Maccarone and the team collapsed, then we went to London and there was the disaster against Fulham. In a team, you need quality, legs, and if there weren’t, and lastly, a calm head, and after Siena that didn’t exist anymore. We were there without Iaquinta, Amauri, Buffon, Chiellini, Sissoko, Marchisio, and maybe I forgot someone, whereas Fulham had few absences. In general, the first half was solid, and then the second we disappeared. Thankfully, we at least had Del Piero.

Why Del Piero?

“He doesn’t have the strength he used to, but he was the only who consistently put the ball in the net. I used him sparingly, I substituted him, I put him on the bench, he always followed my instructions. He doesn’t have 90minutes left, but he remains one of the best. And with him, I never had any misunderstandings, not even that time of the Marchisio substitution that I didn’t do. They wrote that he was like Totti, that he decided himself the coaching decisions. But even in this situation, we had the same ideas.”

And with the others?

“I was welcomed and wished well by all, they knew in what conditions I was working. Blanc is underestimated, even if he had put a team together of great quality. Felipe Melo was exceptional, during training one on one, no one wanted to mark him, he has an atomic physical strength. Sissoko went through everything, he lived a tragedy, it ended up that he had to take to care of 6 of his wife’s younger siblings, psychologically he was destroyed. Buffon suggested me as coach of the Nazionale, Diego is a world-class player who wasn’t able to adapt to Serie A. He will leave Juventus. When Del Neri arrived at Porto he said: “Diego? A great talent, but he will not play with me.”

So everyone with the coach…

Except for one. He came to me and said, “Mister, I am here but don’t count on me.”

And now?

“Juventus is building a great team. Also because Giraudo, even if he’s living in London, continues to run the assets of the Agnellis. (notably Umbero, father of Andrea) Juventus will be the primary antagonist to Inter.

WHERE THEY AGREE:
-Injuries predetermined the season
-Diego is a great player

WHERE THEY DISAGREE:
-Felipe Melo in training: Ferrara says he disrespected his teammates and was arrogant, Zaccheroni says he was a model professional and worked hard
-Diego’s Problems, and Future: Ferrara indicates the team wasn’t built properly with him, which I am in full agreement with. Zaccheroni says he didn’t adapt properly to Serie A. Ferrara says Diego must stay, Zaccheroni doesn’t opine on it, merely stating that he will be sold.
-Del Piero’s role in the team: Ferrara says he did occasionally cause problems by his desire to play, Zaccheroni said he was a perfect professional and never challenges his coaching role

So there’s a lot of questions these two bring up, one thing to consider is their history. Zaccheroni is an experienced coach, and thus perhaps never had issues with Felipe Melo or Del Piero in terms of authority, which might explain why Ferrara did. Overall, I understand Ferrara’s anger, I think it is curious, in an interview last summer he said he never really wanted to be a coach, but now it looks like he’s certain to continue. I also think Zaccheroni conducted his interview with class, despite questionable player selections, I think Zac is a decent coach and could do very well with a mid-table/EL team.

And lastly……WHO was that player who refused to work with Zac? People on VecchiaSignora.com generally have agreed that it was Camoranesi. I figure we can rule out Del Piero, Felipe Melo, Buffon, Sissoko, and Diego, who he spoke well of. People generally agree it’s unlikely to be Cannavaro and Trezeguet, given their demeanor and playing time under Zac. (Although it could be Canna, given that he knew Juve wouldn’t sign him longer, and he was preferred by Lippi/Ferrara.) That leaves a few others, and some have nominated players who didn’t play much under Zac. Not sure that could be it though, given that I assume the player mentioned it to start with, so I don’t think it’d be someone who didn’t play much under Zac.

Plenty to discuss in the two interviews. Thoughts?

If You Haven’t Noticed, Our Team Kinda Sucks: First, institutionally, Juventus have incredible problems. The team was not built correctly to use a trequartista, during much of the season we have been playing with rubbish fullbacks, two defensive midfielders, and two static prima puntas. That doesn’t work. The team wasn’t properly built for the 4-3-1-2. Second of all, Diego is coming in from a foreign league to a badly struggling club. Difficult to make a real impact.

Diego Has Been Plenty Effective:

We just don’t notice how solid Diego has been because our team sucks so bad. Naturally, despite Juve’s failings this year, Diego was expected to waltz in and score Kaka-style goals. Unrealistic, but the Roma game set up high expectations. I have no doubt given a better lineup, Diego will be more prolific in scoring goals.

Diego has been labeled as a major failure in recent weeks, but it wasn’t really until yesterday that I realized how great he has been. While looking through the video of all Juventus goals from this season, I noticed how omnipresent Diego has been. I went through the videos and counted up how many goals Diego assisted, scored, or was involved in and calculated it against the total. Turns out he’s directly influenced 45% of Juve’s goals from this season. Not bad for someone coming in from a different league, particularly when you consider that Diego hasn’t played every game, whether due to injury (see last fall) or being rested. Counting the games he missed, it probably boosts it to somewhere around 55% or so, another words, he directly caused a goal more than every other game. Look at the second video, how often his set piece, cross, or accurate pass opened the game up and led to a goal.

He’s been barreled down a bit.

Nnahoj gave another great reason why Diego doesn’t deserve to be labeled a flop, in simpler statistics-

Sneijder
24 games, 4 goals, 6 assists

Diego
33 games, 5 goals, 7 assists (Coppa Italia goals v. Inter and Napoli as well)

While watching Juve games this season I always used to think that Diego was probably the most fouled player in the league. According to ESPN Soccernet, he was fouled 103 times in Serie A this season. Sneijder was fouled 38 times, by the way.

Has Diego played better than Sneidjer? Probably not. But given the simple numbers, it seems pretty clear that both have been protagonists for their club, and Inter’s success means Sneidjer is the “transfer of the season” and Juve’s miserable season has meant that Diego is the “Flop of Serie A.” Maybe it has something to do with Inter’s defense being rock solid (Lucio, Samuel, Chivu, Maicon, etc.) and Juve’s being piss-poor, conceding more than Atalanta?

So why is Diego considered such a flop? Simple- He’s not scoring as much as he did in the Bundesliga, Juve’s season has been piss poor, and the Roma game got everyone’s expectations very high. However……the numbers don’t support it, and I feel bad that Diego has taken so much criticism. Despite being jeered and criticized, Diego has never reacted badly to the tifosi and has played his heart out for the team this year. He doesn’t deserve the criticism, he deserves a reinforced squad and the support of the fans.

First thing I noted from this video was how often Diego was involved in the goals. Flop? I think not. He might not have lit Serie A on fire…but he produced.

Great. As if we needed another reason not to watch this game.

22 called-up for last championship match

For the match on Saturday against Milan, the last of the 2009/10 championship, Alberto Zaccheroni called-up 22 players. Sissoko, Grygera, Giovinco and Chimenti will stay in Turin. All the others are available.

1 Buffon
2 Caceres
3 Chiellini
4 Felipe Melo
5 Cannavaro
6 Grosso
7 Salihamidzic
8 Marchisio
9 Iaquinta
10 Del Piero
11 Amauri
13 Manninger
15 Zebina
16 Camoranesi
17 Trezeguet
18 Poulsen
26 Candreva
27 Paolucci
28 Diego
29 De Ceglie
33 Legrottaglie
44 Piccolo

Milan also call up 22 players

For the last match on the Milan bench, (as announced today during a press conference), Leonardo called-up 22 players. Amongst the rossoneri unavailable is suspended player Flamini as well as Bonera, Kaladze, Ambrosini and Beckham.

This is the complete list as published on the website www.acmilan.com: Abbiati, Dida, Abate, Antonini, Favalli, Jankulovski, Nesta, Oddo, Romagnoli, Thiago Silva, Onyewu, Zambrotta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Adiyiah, Borriello, Huntelaar, Inzaghi, Mancini, Pato, Ronaldinho.

• By the looks of the call-ups, Zaccheroni isn’t going to go with our primavera for the last match of the year. Way to go loser. Pack your bags along with Secco (and Leo) and get the fuck out of here.

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!