Juventus 1:1 Fiorentina
That was an exciting match that shouldn't have been so damn exciting. Viola went up first, Juventus could not crack Viola's broken and bleeding defense, Viola's problems got so bad that they had to send in Felipe, Juve got an equaliser on a fluke free kick by.... I don't know if I can say it....Pepe, Felipe the terrible defender got sent off, and even against 10 men, Juve could fling the ball at the hole over and over without getting it to go in. Artur was unholy good, but it wasn't just Artur's
Alena: Please, bb, it's just for a few hours, then we can leave.
He looked fucking miserable. Whatever meds he's on, they aren't working. *pats him*
Alena looked lovely, of course, because she is.
Marcostorari started in goal. He was blameless for Viola's goal, and aside from that, he had very little to do, as usual. That's not a bad thing. It's good to have a defense that stops the attack before the keeper has to engage, as long as your keeper manages to stay awake when something slips through.
Milos started on the right.
He put in a lot of effort, but didn't have the best of days.
He pushed forward plenty of times, especially in the first half, but every time he got close, Viola double-, triple-, or quadruple-teamed him. He ended up getting herded towards the touchline with no one to pass the ball to. Goal kick. Again.
It really sucked. I mean, it's a great strategy if you're defending him, assuming that putting all your guys out on the winger doesn't free someone in the box to receive a cross and take an open shot. It's sucks if you're Juve and can't get someone open in the box to receive the cross. And you can't get someone coming in from behind to take a pass going backward.
In theory, there's no reason why the right back can't come in to offer some help when the winger gets stymied.
plz to avert eyes from the underage pants problems
In practice, however, if your right back is Marco Motta, it ain't gonna work.
Marcolino gets a lot of criticism for his crap defending. I suppose Viola has been listening, because they sent most of their attack up their left, right at Krasic (who tends not to defend much) and Motta, who'd probably like to defend, but can't.
I won't say that he didn't try. He did. He tried.
I love Marcolino. But he is not up to the likes of Juan Manuel Vargas. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who wished for Sorensen instead. That boy can defend.
Marco's big contribution was to stick his foot out and deflect one of Vargas' crosses right into the goal. *facepalm*
Own goal. Nothing Marcostorari could do about it. After that, the whole stadium starting howling whenever Viola threatened anywhere near Motta.
Over on the left, Not Ciro fielded World Champion Fabio Grosso, Iconic Left Back. Or something like that from a long time ago.
Santana wasn't terribly successful, so I guess that means Grosso defended. I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy watching Motta and willing him not to fuck up.
You know, people notice the filenames you put on photos.
Anyway, I don't remember Grosso contributing much in attack.
Of Blacks fielded Claudio in the left midfield.
Um, he's looking a bit less haggard, maybe?
Whatever. Claudio had a handful of magnificent shots from the left.
None of them went in.
A couple of misses, and, of course, Artur happened.
I've been secretly in love with Artur ever since that bogus card in Champions League when Eduardo (late of Arsenal) took that atrocious dive and drew a penalty, but I don't think he got the memo on appropriate behavior against Juventus opponents.
Time to look at the middle.
Hooray for Giorgio! And his big band-aid.
he's only 17 no matter what his crotch says
Um, yeah. Gio defended.
You probably read that he signed a new contract this week and we are now stuck with him until 2015. Anyone here have a problem with that?
I used to mock Gamberini's hair, but he has normal hair now, and it isn't helping him much.
Gio's hair isn't right either. Is he trying to grow it longer on top?
Doesn't matter. Everyone hearts Gio.
Gio even got forward on attack and had some great shots. That did not go in.
I feel ya, bb. I was roaring too.
The only thing better than Gio and Gio and Leo together.
I love them.
Impressive hops there Gila.
Eep. Babacar is hogging all the attention. You need to work on your commanding presence, Leo. Gotta outshine the kiddos.
See now this illustrates the problem. I'm sure Leo is full of rawr, but the camera doesn't show his face very well. Stupid photographers.
Hmph. Gila's too good to put his ears through the little ear holes in his panty.
In front of Gio &hearts and Leo &hearts, the classic central midfielder duo of Melo-Aquilani started.
After a week of growing out, GFB's hair looks slightly less ridiculous.
I think maybe Donadel was a weensy bit late on this challenge.
thiiiiighs
This is exactly the same challenge as the other one, isn't it? Donadel is still late and Melo is still unconcerned.
Hey there, Mario Alberto.
Even Melo had a shot or two. That did not go in.
Albertino was there, I swear he was, but he didn't attract a lot of notice.
I've got one from the back....
...and one from the front. Albertino spent a good deal of time tracking back to cover on defense on the right, since Milos and Motta decided to suck at defense. He went out for Pepe. At first I thought that was a terrible sub, but then it occurred to me that it meant that Claudio could come into the center and let Pepe cover the left.
Up on top, Quags.
He was working the tongue.
And he did a little messing around with pretty much every Viola he could find.
Including some new kid. Speaking of the new kid, I call bullshit. The world was expecting Viola to field a crap defense full of losers because all the occasionally-decent defenders were either broken or suspended. No fair fooling everybody. Also, why hasn't Sinisa been giving the child more playing time, cos OMG.
Aw, he looks so fresh and unspoiled.
The kid, I mean. Not Quags. In this photo, the kid is a mighty oak, and Quags is a rotted-out chestnut that contains the secret entrance to Prince Humperdink's underground torture chamber.
Ahhh. Comotto. Thank you for not going to Lazio.
Capitano Donadel. Also defending on the Quagster.
And Gambit too. Quags had no peace neither day or night.
Still, though, he got open a few times, only to be ignored by his striking partner, who was feeling a bit selfish early on.
And he took some shots that did not go in. *pats him*
Awwww, it's Mr. D!
Yeah, he tried to save the world all by himself a couple of times and ended up shanking the ball while other zebras lurked unmarked in the goal mouth.
Other than that, he had a pretty decent match. He would have had a number of assists if any of his teammates could finish.
He might have had a goal or two, if he had been able to finish.
Geez, Marco D. Did you have to be everywhere?
Oh dear. There's that kid again, making Alessa look decrepit by comparison.
Also? Looking uncharacteristically pale.
He's old, but there's still some life in his eyes.
&hearts
Oh dear. Sweetie, the supershort hair doesn't work for you any more.
There. That's better.
I don't know what was up with him an D'Ago but dayum.
You'd think that they spent the whole afternoon together.
No fair, because D'Ago is not a defensive mid. He's an attacking player. Wiki says so. Therefore, he had no business defending on Ale all day. Boo.
grr
Whiner.
He can still jump. &hearts
Oh yeah. Took some shots. None went in.
So ADP went out early in the second half and Vincenzo came on.
He ran circles around Felipe the Terrible Defender, but he couldn't finish for shit, so it didn't matter.
You know who scored? Pepe. Pepe scored from a free kick out wide. Shocked the hell out of everyone.
It was a splendid goal.
It really was.
It's just so infuriating that Pepe so rarely delivers anything but crapola when he's capable of so much better.
He has stopped whining about not playing much. That's an encouraging sign. Let the football do your talking.
So there was a celebration and team ho Claudio was first in line.
But everyone else made it to thge party eventually, even Marcostorari.
*blink blink*
Wait. Do my eyes deceive me?
Holy shit it's Lanza! He's alive! And he has grown his hair back!
Back to Pepe. Good for him. You may proceed to powerslide.
I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face
But I've come through
I don't know how this happened because I'm not caught up on the other Serie A business, but Juve has somehow advanced to third in the table.
*?*
Next match is Wednesday at Lech Posnan, and then Sunday against Catania.
Oh yeah. I stole many of these photos from Martha's excellent, if embarrassingly partisan, Viola spam, so all credit to her. I'll go back to loving Viola next week.
1 comment:
Nice Hair Bow. All of them should wear hair ribbons like the little ladies league in San Diego does
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