Mike7077 Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 December December 2: Juventus 4-3 Inter What an incredible match! This game had everything - goals, controversy, moments of brilliance. And it looked at one point as if we were going to let yet another two-goal lead slip. Felipe Melo's early sending-off certainly made our task a more difficult one. I thought the better side won it on the day, but both sides were in top form. I also enjoyed Ansaldi's first goal for us, a blistering long-range effort. The Argentinian right-back has been a great acquisition for £10m from Shakhtar Donetsk. December 8: Torino 0-3 Juventus This keeps up my record of winning every Turin derby I've been involved in. It was really rather easy. Torino were there for the taking and we may not get an easier three points on the road all season. December 11: Rapid Vienna 0-1 Juventus With qualification as group winners already secured, I named a squad combining fringe players and youngsters for the trip to the Austrian capital, including teenage wonderkid Calogero Colella and 19 year-old midfielder Alberto Baccarin, signed on a free in the summer after leaving Fiorentina, and both put in very good performances. The result was unimportant but you want to see what these players can do and I was delighted with what I got from them. NEWSFLASH A couple of newsflashes after the Inter match. Firstly, we have discovered who we'll face in the First Knockout Round of the Champions League. In truth, some good teams finished second in their group which meant an easy draw was not possible. In the end, we've come out of it okay, drawing Liverpool. They're not especially good compared to some other sides we could have drawn and I am very confident of progressing. In other news, 35 year-old Fabio Grosso has announced his retirement at the end of the season. He's played just twice this season, but I still see him as the immediate understudy to Ansaldi at right-back. He can still run and I would trust him if I have to call on him, so he'll be missed. December 16: Juventus 2-0 Atalanta We got the bare minimum that our dominance deserved here. Atalanta didn't really have any ideas about how to stop us and we probably should have torn them apart. Instead, we had to settle for a comfortable 2-0 win. December 22: Bologna 0-2 Juventus After a season in Serie B, Bologna are back in the top flight but their finding it hard going. I'm always happy when a win away comes without us having to break sweat. Most away matches, even against weaker teams, have nervy moments, but this was one of those where you knew from the outset you'd be celebrating come the end. We were good. Not remarkable, but good. 34 matches in the league without defeat... Serie A - Latest Standings Champions League Group B - Final Standings Monthly Reflection A cracking run of form has seen us get back to the top of the table and open up a little gap between ourselves and Inter. It was a really impressive month for us, one in which I saw us fight to the end to beat Inter, dominate sides from first to last, and also learned about a few players on the fringes of the first team. Can't really be anything but positive about December. Player of the Month Cristian Ansaldi: The right-back has been in excellent form. He defends solidly, but he also never seems to give the ball away. His passing is incisive and positive and he even chipped in with a goal that any player would be proud of this month. £10m looks an absolute snip for a player who might be becoming one of the world's best full-backs. Certainly a worthy replacement for Fabio Grosso. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elrithral Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 10 man win against Inter, lovely jubbly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 I'm mulling over ending this game. New patches always have this effect on me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elrithral Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I'll be sad to see it go, but i'll not feel so bad about starting a Juve save, so.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 The question is this. Would you follow another thread if it followed the same style as this? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elrithral Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalbeider Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I would, too. This and El's career are among the few ones I check daily. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 I think I might carry the career on actually. At least until I win the Champions League. It's been too much fun to throw away yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 January Transfer window time. But... nothing much happened. I've said it before - I don't bother signing players in January. Only thing worth mentioning is that Eidur Gudjohnsen has signed a pre-contract with OB of Denmark and will join them in the summer. He hasn't impressed me much since I signed him and rarely has the impact I want coming off the bench. Him leaving will allow me to focus more on helping Andrej Kramaric's career progress. January 13: Juventus 2-1 Bari Lots of home games in January, which means we have a good opportunity to take control of the title race. We begin with three points against Bari, but it was a really unconvincing display. Bari played well and it took a change to a very attacking tactical approach to get the three points. January 16: Juventus 4-1 Mantova Our defence of the cup began with a fairly standard win over Serie B side Mantova. I'm still annoyed that they scored. We shouldn't be conceding to sides like Mantova at home. Calogero Colella turned in another good performance. He'll be considered a member of the first team squad next season. Macheda's hat-trick was decent enough too. Roma in the quarters... January 20: Juventus 1-0 Salernitana I'm a bit worried now. Better opposition would have beaten us here. We did the bare minimum required to beat Salernitana and nothing more. Macheda continues to look the part and three points are in the bag, but there's little else to be positive about here. Really frustrating performance and Alvaro Negredo is starting to look bereft of confidence again. January 23: Juventus 0-1 Roma Make no mistake. Although I weakened the team ever so slightly, they should have been good enough to beat Roma. But we're officially in a slump now and have exited the cup. It's no great tragedy being knocked out but I like winning silverware so I'm disappointed. At least Colella continued his progress with a solid enough showing. Bang goes our unbeaten record. First one of the season in any competition and our first defeat at home for nearly two years. January 27: Juventus 0-0 Catania The problem is at the front end. We're about as potent as a 94 year-old man blind man in a brothel. We had the shots. All day we were firing them in. But the woodwork was as close as we got to scoring. Admittedly, some key players were missing through suspension, but this was poor. Catania have taken four points off us this season. January 30: Reggina 2-1 Juventus Oh dear. Maybe we didn't play well, but we looked like we might stumble over the line. But this match had a sting in the tail and Reggina walked away with the points. Things are going wrong. The only positive was Andrej Kramaric playing well in the absence of the suspended Diego. Serie A - Latest Standings Monthly Reflection With a month made up almost entirely of home games, I expected us to push on take real control of the title race. What I ended up with was one of the worst months I've had yet. Three games without a win by the end of the month and only Macheda scoring goals. We have a good lead still, but if Milan and Sampdoria win their games in hand and Inter keep their form up, it'll make things nervous for us. This could be an exciting title race, but that's mainly because we've lost form so desperately. Player of the Month Federico Macheda: The only player who bothered to turn up for January was Macheda. Even he wasn't brilliant. But he was the best of a bad bunch. Still only 21, I suspect Macheda might be the future of this team. He's starting to oust Amauri from the first team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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