Bleacher Report - Articles by Aditya Seth

Squad Depth at Juventus, Finally

Aditya Seth — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:53:55 -0400

The extensive transfer market conducted by the Juventus board has left many reeling this summer.

Four players have arrived on permanent deals, namely Diego, Felipe Melo, Fabio Cannavaro, and Fabio Grosso. Martin Caceres also arrives on loan, further strengthening a side that can now truly challenge for top honors.

This amounts to a near-complete overhaul of the squad, as each of the four permanent arrivals will undoubtedly take up a first-team spot. If the prayers of Juventus fans are answered, and Caceres wrestles away the right-back position from Grygera and Zebina, nearly half the starting team will have changed.

Coach Ciro Ferrara’s 4-3-1-2 formation leaves no doubt as to how the midfield will be deployed, with the first two matches of the season showing that this new brand of attacking football might very well prove to be the difference all Juventini were looking for.

At the back, of course, will be Gianluigi Buffon, the best goalkeeper in the world, now returning to the top of his game.

The defensive line ahead of him now boasts three of the starting defenders for the Italian national team.

At the right of defense will be one of Jonathan Zebina, Zdenek Grygera and Martin Caceres. While none of these names inspire great trust, Caceres is still an unknown quantity in Italy, and might very well find his feet in Italian football.

In the center of defense are three of Italy’s best—Giorgio Chiellini, Azzuri captain Cannavaro, and Nicola Legrottaglie—the latter being possibly the back-with-a-bang story of the decade.

No matter who starts in these positions, Juventus fans can rest assured that they will have the best defenders in Italy ahead of the best goalkeeper in the world.

Left back will now see Fabio Grosso make his debut after being signed by Juventus in the closing seconds of the transfer window. While some Juventini might miss Paolo de Ceglie, Ferrara’s trust in the youth system at Juventus indicates that he fully intends on giving the young lad his chance at glory.

Christian Molinaro, much to the relief of some fans, will now be hugging the bench, and will likely be sold in the near future.

In midfield, Claudio Marchisio is quickly making himself a name as the classiest young midfielder in Italy, and is already drawing comparisons with the likes of Marco Tardelli. Tiago seems to have revived his career as well, and has put in two comfortable, positive showings, though marred by a few fits of ‘Tiago-ness’ that fans have almost come to expect.

Completing the trio is Melo, on the back of an excellent season with rivals Fiorentina. Ahead of these players is Diego, the classy Brazilian trequartista, with the young, talented Sebastian Giovinco waiting in the wings.

The forward line is the only one to have stayed unchanged, and this comes as no surprise, given the quality of the four forwards that Juventus possess.

Names like Del Piero and Trezeguet are already etched into the annals of Calcio history, and the likes of Iaquinta and Amauri are doing everything they can to similarly achieve the status of legends in the Italian game.

An interesting point to ponder is what will become of the rest of the squad, to examine what is likely to be the coach’s vision for the Juventus squad over the following five years.

With some extremely talented players, some up-and-coming youngsters, and some who are unfortunately destined to leave Juventus without much fanfare, it will be interesting to see how Ciro Ferrara plans to prepare for the tough season ahead with the team competing in Serie A, the Champions League and the Coppa Italia.

While a bold statement to make, perhaps the most important of all the ‘backups’ is goalkeeper Alexander Manninger.

Deputizing for Buffon for large parts of last season, as well as the preseason, his performances were admirable to say the least. While he conceded a fair number of goals, he was not at fault for the majority, and made several world-class saves, proving that aside from the highly unlikely prospect of Iker Casillas, Manninger is the best backup that Juventini could hope for.

Ferrara’s defensive reinforcements include the aforementioned De Ceglie, Molinaro, Zebina and Grygera, as well as youngster Lorenzo Ariaudo, who put in a handful of promising performances last season.

With some of these players being quite versatile in terms of the roles they can play (some fans have even pondered the idea of turning Molinaro into a reverse-Zambrotta by turning him into a left-sided midfielder), Ferrara has the added advantage of being able to call up players from one of the best youth academies in the world, not just Italy.

Given that Ferrara once occupied the position of Youth System Chief at Juventus, he is intimately acquainted with the budding talent in that sector of the club.

Having stated from the very beginning that his priorities, in order, are the Champions League, then the Scudetto, Ferrara is therefore likely to use the Coppa Italia as a testing ground for future Juventus heroes.

Abdoulaye Bamba, native to the Ivory Coast and a part of the Juventus family since 2001, has put in stellar performances at right-back for the Primavera (youth) side, and will likely receive the chance this season to taste Serie A action.

Salvatore D’Elia is another name that will possibly be seen along the left flank of defense this year, though sparingly at best.

Among these defenders, it would be a fair bet to see either or both of a left back and a right back may leave during either the winter or summer transfer windows.

Given that Hasan Salihamidzic, a utility player capable of playing all positions, sometimes deputizes at right or left-back to some success, it would become evident that Juventus —far from last season’s dearth of such players—has an excess number of defensive wingers.

Ferrara’s formation certainly counts on these players to charge forward and provide crosses, but seven senior teamers and two youth players is too many.

Of these, it is likely that—providing a decent offer is found—it will be Molinaro and Zebina who depart the Stadio Olimpico permanently.

On the other hand, as there are only four center-backs available for what will be a grueling fixture list, the signing of a central defender seems likely, as none of the Primavera players are quite ready to step into the shoes of giants like Chiellini, Cannavaro and Legrottaglie.

As Juventus is wont to do, this central defender will likely be an Italian, with names both outlandish and unknown coming to mind. Alessio Secco, the Juventus transfer director, has come off a brilliant pre-season market, but with his previous ‘achievements’, it is a gamble as to whether his solution to this problem will be a piece of genius or a failure.

In midfield, Juventus are similarly overflowing with players, both talented and suspect. Tiago, while playing soundly in recent games, has been a hit-or-miss showman since he arrived at Juventus two seasons ago.

The ‘backups’ here include Christian Poulsen, Mauro Camoranesi, Momo Sissoko, Sebastian Giovinco and again, the versatile Salihamidzic.

While nominating Poulsen as the one to go is probably the logical choice, the Danish midfielder has made no secret of his desire to stay at Juventus and prove his worth.

Capable of sound displays from time to time, such as his performance in the first half of the season opener against Chievo Verona, Poulsen has been just as hit-or-miss as Tiago, though the Dane arguably had a better first season than the former Chelsea and Lyon midfielder.

With his dedication in training impressing Ferrara to the point of removing his name from the transfer list, Poulsen is unlikely to leave. A spirited player unwilling to compromise his career for a higher salary—and much loved by the fans due to his rift with Francesco Totti, Roma’s captain—Poulsen is determined to fight for his place.

His two appearances this season have shown signs that he can provide a positive impact on the team, and that Ferrara is willing to give him a chance.

So beloved is Giovinco to the Juventus faithful that even the mere idea of selling him would cause rioting in Turin. He is sure to be given many chances by Ferrara, who, unlike Ranieri before him, wants to play attacking football.

Juventus fans are drooling at the very idea of seeing the ‘Atomic Ant’ play alongside Diego: In fact, this is a very possible scenario.

A formation like a 4-2-3-1 in the latter stages of a match could see Melo and Sissoko playing in more defensive positions, with Giovinco, Diego and Camoranesi providing an absolutely lethal forward-midfield with Barcelona-like creativity, and the dominant force of one of Amauri, Iaquinta and Trezeguet leading the charge.

While questions still rise over whether Alessandro Del Piero and Diego are compatible on the pitch, it might be worthwhile to note that when the Captain and Giovinco shared the pitch a handful of times last season, there were only positives to be seen.

As Diego occupies a similar role to Giovinco’s, there might be no reason to worry, thus leaving the midfield in a very strong position.

The loss of Cristiano Zanetti was a big blow to the quality of the squad, leaving many fans still baffled as to the reason behind the transfer. With both the player and the club pointing fingers of blame at each other, it nevertheless remains that Juventus lost an extremely talented midfielder, one who would have fit into Ferrara’s formation in literally any midfield spot.

However, while a sense of gloom and despair set in following the transfer of Zanetti to fierce rivals Fiorentina, match-day 2’s performance against Roma reminded every Juventino that even though he was expensive, Felipe Melo is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Spirits are high again, and though most Juventini wish Zanetti the best of luck (as opposed to his Inter Milan namesake), they nonetheless hope he fails to perform in any game against their beloved Juventus.

The attacking force at Juventus is the only department apart from the goalkeepers who remained unchanged after the hectic summer transfers. Arguably the best set of forwards in Italy, and possibly even in Europe, the quartet of Del Piero, Trezeguet, Amauri and Iaquinta need no introduction.

While Trezeguet is only just returning to the first team after a whole season of being forced to the sidelines first by choosing to undergo surgery to both his knees, then being frozen out of the squad due to a ludicrously immature argument with Claudio Ranieri (now officially separated from his Juventus contract, and taking over from Luciano Spaletti at AS Roma), fans of Calcio know to be wary of Trezeguet.

After all, with the exception of last season, ‘Trez’ has terrorized defenses in Serie A for the last decade.

However, with rumors of Trezeguet having recently announced that he will leave Juventus at the end of the season, the team will likely look towards new opportunities to fill his space. Heading the list, after a summer of rumor after rumor, is Giuseppe Rossi of Villareal, a fantastic striker, and an Italian.

Other names include Goran Pandev, Luis Fabiano, Sergio Aguero, and a host of names each less likely than the other. In replacing Trezeguet, Juventus will have to search far and wide, for players in his mold are hard to come by.

An interesting option to consider is Porto’s star striker, Hulk. Despite the hilarity of his name, there is nothing amusing about his style of play, which melds strength, speed and an accurate rocket of a shot.

However, as Hulk recently signed a contract extension with a reputed 100 million Euro buy-out clause that extends until 2014, bringing the player to Turin will be difficult at best.

The player’s former club, Tokyo Verdy, owns half of his contract, and this might provide an inroad for Alessio Secco to avoid spending the ‘silly money’ that has been so rampant this past transfer window.

Regardless of the future wheeling and dealing on the transfer market, Juventus now possesses one of the most complete squads in club football. With every position from the goalkeeper to the forwards having plenty of reliable backups, Juve have assembled a team capable of seriously competing for every honor in the game.

Michel Platini, UEFA President and former Juventus legend, might have his dream of handing the ‘big-eared’ trophy to his old club. The club also stands to add not only another Coppa Italia to its collection, but also the long-awaited third star on their jerseys.

Why the Serie A Season is Already Decided

Aditya Seth — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:02:37 -0400

There has been a lot of debate about how exciting Serie A will be this season, with various comments about the transfer market successes of certain teams, preseason performances and other "obvious" indicators that point towards a hard-to-predict, excitement-filled season.

Unfortunately, this might simply be a pipe dream.

Preseason performances seem to show that Inter is the weakest of the three big Italian teams, but the season will be completely different. Milan will not put up much of a fight this year, there's simply far too much different about their team for them to completely flourish.

Of course, its entirely possible that Leonardo might just stumble across the recipe to success, but that's doubtful at best.

Lets not forget that he's a complete rookie. At least Ferrara has coaching experience under Lippi, but Leonardo is completely inexperienced.

There were actually doubts as to whether he would even get his coaching license in time for the new season—this is a big gamble by Milan, and as far as I'm concerned, it's just another part of their cost-cutting due to being massively in debt, as his salary is undoubtedly a mere fraction of Ancelotti's.

Juve have strengthened, no doubt, but not enough. Diego is an excellent player, and Melo is a good player, but neither of them filled the gaps that needed filling. A wing-back was needed, and Caceres isn't the solution to that problem. We've tried patching those holes with another "utility player", Brazzo (Salihamidzic), and that has hardly worked out brilliantly.

Cannavaro, aside from all accusations about his commitment to the Juventus cause, is over the hill. His best contribution in the preseason was his goal, not his defending. If Legrottaglie retains his starting spot, Juve will have a stronger defense.

The sale of Cristiano Zanetti is perhaps the most shocking part of the transfers, as Zanetti has proven time and time again that when the chips are down, he is one of the few players that can be counted on.

In the '07/'08 season, he was arguably the best passer in Italy, and alongside Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, the reason behind the amazing third place finish post-Calciopoli.

Inter, despite their poor preseason showing, have been the best operators in the transfer market. Milito is a guaranteed goalscorer, Thiago Motta is both defensively capable and offensively creative (I'd honestly say he's a better player than Melo), and Samuel Eto'o needs no introduction.

Losing Ibrahimovic would have been a big blow, but the arrivals of Milito and Eto'o will see Inter practically recreate Barca's 2008/09 striking partnership by subbing in Milito for Henri. There will be goals galore, and now that Juve have sold Zanetti, the Scudetto has been won by Inter before the season even started.

If Inter manage to buy a playmaker like Cassano or another fantasista-type player, this season will take place only to determine who occupies spots 2-20 in the Serie A table.

At this point, Juve's only hope is to see all four attackers hit a season-long streak of excellent form. Amauri needs to live up to his 20 million+ transfer fee—four months of excellent performances followed by five months of mediocrity cannot continue.

Iaquinta needs to be given more starting opportunities, Trezeguet needs to stop complaining and start performing like every Serie A fan knows he can, and Del Piero needs to figure out a way to co-exist with a trequartista.

The midfield must hold together well, and most importantly, learn to pass. Sissoko and Melo are hardly the best passers on earth, and need to be more patient when holding the ball and more careful when going in to tackles.

Passing is the only way in which Juve might have a chance at taking the Scudetto back. It seems odd to say it, but Juve's chances in the Champions League are much better than their chances in Serie A.

People have mentioned the Seven Sisters, but the fact remains that Inter is the only complete team in Serie A, and will continue to dominate. Juventus should have enough to finish second comfortably much like Roma did in the immediate post-Calciopoli years, but will not mount a serious challenge to Inter past week 30.

Fiorentina should take third place, and Milan might not even make it into Champions League qualification, as others like Palermo, Napoli, and Lazio will be doggedly on their heels all season long.

As a Juventus fan, the word "frustration" cannot begin to explain what I am feeling at the moment.

Until Zanetti was sold, I was confident that Juve would be able to give Inter a serious run for its money, but now with players like Tiago and Poulsen staying with us despite poor performances and players like Zanetti, who was a season-saving player, leaving, I can't help but feel that all hope is lost.

That third stella will have to wait one more season.

Juventus Summer Transfers: The Case For the Defense

Aditya Seth — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:03:46 -0400

The arrivals of Diego Ribas da Cunha and Fabio Cannavaro from Werder Bremen and Real Madrid respectively sent a terse message to Juventus fans and rivals alike: this time we're serious.

Much maligned transfer director Alessio Secco has been viewed equal parts as a joke or as a disaster, and indeed, his work up to the culmination of the last season did very little to defend his name.

It was quite a surprise, then, when Secco triumphantly closed the long-running Diego saga, and brought much-needed experience to the Juventus lineup in the form of Fabio Cannavaro.

For the first time in months, the spirits of Juventus fans were sky-high. Ciro Ferrara, a beloved former player, was now the coach. The last two games of the season were comfortable victories, in contrast to the two previous months where Juve had failed to win a single game.

Fans began to believe that finally, the management was serious about challenging for top honors in the coming season. After all, notoriously poor purchases such as Sergio Almiron were hardly the sort to topple Inter Milan from its position at the top of the table.

It was finally a bold purchase—no more "settling" for the lesser player. Unlike with the Xabi Alonso case last summer, the management didn't settle for another Cristian Poulsen, they agreed to pay the full value of an expensive player.

This was progress, the fans were sure.

A month and a half later, fans are frustrated. The transfer saga of Gaetano D'Agostino has put to shame the drama over the purchase (potential or actual) of Amauri, Xabi Alonso, Diego, and Rafael Van Der Vaart.

The "will he?/won't he?" drama ensued for the better part of two months, and in the end, has fallen through, with both Bianconeri clubs unable to see eye-to-eye over the player's value. Real Madrid, Juventus’ long-time European rivals and recent mega-spenders, are now linked with D’Agostino’s signature.

While some fans are impressed with Secco's toughness with Udinese patron Giampaolo Pozzo, others are aware of a very plain, yet very important fact: Juventus did not get the man to fit into Ciro Ferrara's 4-3-1-2 system as a central playmaker.

With Fiorentina’s Felipe Melo almost certain to arrive, the fact remains that the Brazilian will not play the role of the midfield orchestrator who spreads passes around the pitch.

Ciro Ferrara’s appointment was compared by many to the case of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, yet the fact remains that Ferrara’s Melo is nothing like Guardiola’s Xavi.

The bigger problem, however, is one that cannot suffer another hasty patch-job like Juve have been wont to do in the past two years. The central midfield regista position, the playmaker, can be covered for using Juve's current squad, though with some difficulty. The vulnerability, however, is in the defensive end of the pitch.

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is arguably the best in the world, despite a recent run of bad form. Yet, there were moments that recalled his pre-injury level of play, and there isn't a Juventus fan on Earth who would want to replace "Gigi".

His backup, Alexander Manninger, performed admirably during Buffon's absence, leaving fans assured that that is one position that needs no reinforcement.

At center back, Juve have Giorgio Chiellini, arguably Italy's best central defender. Originally a left back, Chiellini was first tried in a central role during his Italy Under-21 days, and then given the role again in the 2007-08 season by Claudio Ranieri, to great success.

His partnership with Nicola Legrottaglie, a re-emerging force in defence, has been nothing short of stunning over the past two seasons.

With the arrival of Fabio Cannavaro, a player whose impact will be unquestionably positive, Juve have further bolstered what very well might be the best central trio in Italy. Indeed, until Juve's spell of bad form towards the end of last season, Juventus was tied with Inter for the best defensive line in Italy.

This, however, is a very deceptive statement.

Ferrara's 4-3-1-2 system will involve a more centralized midfield, one without wingers. The onus of bringing the ball up the wings and crossing must therefore fall on the full backs, and this is where Juventus is lacking.

While his improvements have been clear to all, the name 'Cristian Molinaro' hardly inspires the sort of trust that Chiellini's does. A player whose best skill is his speed and determination, his dribbling and crossing often lets him, and the team, down.

While a year ago most Juventus fans would have wanted him packed on the first bus out of Turin, a sense of fondness for the player has grown lately.

The gulf in class between Molinaro's level and that which Juve need is shrinking, but at too slow a pace, and there are doubts as to whether the player will truly ever reach the level that the club needs in order to compete for the highest honors.

A comparison with Juve's domestic and international rivals does not shine favorably on the young Italian. AC Milan have Gianluca Zambrotta, Molinaro's far more successful predecessor at Juventus, and Inter Milan have the hugely impressive young Davide Santon.

Even Roma, unimpressive this season, have John Arne Riise, who—own goals aside—is still a class ahead of Molinaro. Internationally, comparing Molinaro to the likes of Patrice Evra, Gael Clichy, Ashley Cole, even Eric Abidal, is simply an exercise in futility.

With his rate of improvement and work ethic, however, Molinaro is clearly not the largest problem that Juve must solve. The slow, yet sure emergence of Paolo de Ceglie at left back will serve to alleviate Ciro Ferrara’s worries, and provide a fine competitive atmosphere in which both players will do their best to improve in order to warrant a starting position.

On the right side of defense, the immensely uninspiring duo of Zdenek Grygera and Jonathan Zebina are a bigger problem for Juve. It becomes clear just how impressive Juve’s defensive record last season was once it is taken into account that the team’s full backs are far behind the center backs in terms of quality.

At 29 and 31 respectively, Grygera and Zebina aren’t young players either, and rather than improving, seem to have become progressively worse over the past two seasons.

In order to compete at the highest level, it is important that Juve do not concede foolish goals. Even in outings against much smaller teams like BATE Borisov in the group stages of the Champions League last season, Juventus conceded goals through silly mistakes.

Similar showings against teams such as Chievo Verona, where Sergio Pellissier was almost criminally allowed to score a hat-trick against the Turin side, prove that change for the better must be made from the ground up.

At Juventus, that change must come in the form of new players for the right and left back positions. At left back, Juve have the young Paolo de Ceglie standing in the wings. Despite a few shaky performances, it is clear that great things can be expected from the young player. With Domenico Criscito’s return being ruled out for the time being, it is time for De Ceglie to make the step up, and take the starting position away from Molinaro.

At this point, however, neither player is quite at the standard required to play in Europe. The alternative, then, is Corinthians’ Brazilian left back Andre Santos. Already linked with the club, the 26-year-old has already claimed to be in favor of playing at Juventus. Valued at 6 million Euros by Corinthians, Juve would be buying a skilled player with national team pedigree, at a steal.

At right back, Juve’s best option would be Napoli’s Fabiano Santacroce, already well known to Juve fans due to his tough, clinical marking of David Trezeguet in the 2007-08 season’s fixture between the two clubs, to the point of visibly frustrating the experienced forward.

Also valued at 6 to 8 million Euros, Juventus have yet another chance to turn their summer transfers into a resounding success if they purchase this young star. With the arrival of Juan Carlo Zuniga at Napoli, Santacroce’s playing time will be limited, thus making an exit more likely. Versatile enough to be a sturdy option at center back as well, Santacroce is a necessity to revitalize a lacking Juventus defense.

Astute fans will notice, of course, that if these transfers are to be made, it would almost certainly rule out the arrival of the midfield maestro that Juventus have sorely needed. It therefore comes down to the very essentials, leaving the Juventus management with a tough choice to make: bolster the defense, or bring in the regista to cement the attack?

Certainly a very difficult decision to make, it will have an incredible impact on the team’s performance next season. The arrival of the defenders could very well turn the tide in Juve’s favor by restricting the number of goals conceded against the smaller clubs. The arrival of a midfielder could, on the other hand, drastically increase the number of goals scored, and assure more victories through that path.

With the arrival of Fiorentina’s Felipe Melo being a near certainty, it seems evident that the management has decided to pursue a more attacking style of play, leaving the defensive end largely untouched.

It must be said, however, that considering the fact that Juventus has what many consider to be the best set of attacking players in all of Italy, perhaps the wisest course of action would be to sacrifice the option of a midfielder in order to create a defensive line that can stand the test that will no doubt be posed in the Champions League.

As it stands, however, one thing is clear—the current Juventus squad, even with the arrivals of Diego and Cannavaro, cannot hope to do much better in the Champions League than they did last season.