The Serie A leaders' old guard are proving to be every bit as pivotal to the team's success as any of the younger players
As his team-mates sprinted off towards the far end of the Stadio Olimpico, Andrea Pirlo turned and ran in the opposite direction. OK, maybe he hobbled. The point is that while most of Juventus's players were busy congratulating Simone Pepe for opening (and closing, as it would turn out) the scoring in their game against Lazio, Pirlo had identified the true hero of the hour. Well, that or he had simply reflected on the pain shooting through his right knee and taken a view that Gigi Buffon was nearer.
Either way, while most eyes were trained on Pepe's pretend putter, two of the greatest Italian footballers of the last decade (and then some) shared an embrace. The goal would not have been possible were it not for Buffon, who barely a minute earlier had burst off his line to block a goalbound effort from Tommaso Rocchi as it left the striker's boot. But equally the whole game might have gone very differently were it not for Pirlo soldiering on through an injury suffered only two days earlier.
No individuals are afforded undue precedence in Antonio Conte's new world order at Juventus, and yet each of Buffon and Pirlo has played a remarkable role. Buffon, after a year of constant back problems which gave rise at one point to the suggestion that he might no longer be the best keeper on the club's books, is fit again and playing at an exceptional level. Pirlo, after managing just 17 Serie A appearances all season for Milan last year, has not missed a single minute of Juventus's first 11 fixtures this campaign.
The speed with which Pirlo has become indispensable to Conte is remarkable. There were suggestions when he arrived from Milan in the summer that his signing had not been sought by the manager, that greater dynamism was required to function in his preferred 4-2-4. Conte responded by saying that "great players will always find space", but wound up creating room on Pirlo's behalf as he gradually reshaped his team into a variation on a 4-3-3.
On Saturday the manager could not bring himself to do without his key orchestrator despite the midfielder's already modest mobility being exacerbated by the bandaged knee. Such faith was almost rewarded with another goal, Pirlo's delicious dipping free-kick requiring a wonderful save from Federico Marchetti. Indeed, were it not for excellent goalkeeping at both ends, this is a game that might easily not have finished 1-0 but 4-3.
Not that Juventus will be worried about that. This was the start of an intimidating run of fixtures for the Bianconeri, one that will see them travel to Napoli on Tuesday and then Roma and Udinese before the winter break. To leave this fixture ? against the team that had started the day level with them at the top of Serie A ? with all three points represents a huge boost.
With a game in hand on most of the division, Juve now lead Serie A by a point, and are six better off than at the corresponding stage last season. They are also unbeaten after 11 games for the first time since 1997. Not that you will hear anybody getting ahead of themselves in Turin, with Conte doing his utmost to quell any premature title talk. "A word that he struggles to say as much as Fonzie does 'sorry' in Happy Days," writes Marco Ansaldo in La Stampa.
"Talking about the Scudetto after 11 games is the stuff of madmen," concurred Buffon, not that it was ever going to stop the papers from doing so. "So now what are we supposed to talk about, Antonio?" grumbles GB Olivero in Gazzetta dello Sport. "Given that talking about the weather gets boring after a while, the Christmas movies still aren't out yet, and everybody already knows about the share prices, finding something else to discuss is getting a bit difficult."
He could have simply turned his attention to another team who looked pretty in pink this weekend (albeit a slightly less fluorescent shade than Juve's bold away strip). Victory over Fiorentina on Sunday improved Palermo's home record this season to an impressive: played six, won six, scored 16. Of course, that is rather offset by their away record: played six, won zero, scored zero.
It had been an emotional return to the city for Delio Rossi, taking charge of just his second league game with the club following his appointment to replace Sinisa Mihajlovic earlier this month. Rossi, who managed Palermo for the best part of two seasons before finally losing patience with the tantrums and whimsy of the team president, Maurizio Zamparini, once joked he had three homes ? Palermo's stadium, their training ground, and the hotel where he lived in the city. He would turn out for post-game press conferences at the former in his slippers.
He was welcomed back with a reception of such warmth it almost moved him to tears, the crowd retaining great affection for a manager who broke all manner of club records, though by the end if he felt like weeping it may have been out of frustration. His team succeeded in outplaying their opponents for large stretches but Palermo held firm and ? despite playing for the second week running without a true striker ? punctured them twice when they did break out.
Palermo have long tended to produce better results at home than away, but the disparity this season has been freakish. The club's early season fixture list has included some particularly tricky trips ? they have already travelled to Juventus, Udinese, Milan, Lazio and Roma ? but the suspicion is that such uneven form is also a by-product of the team's relative inexperience. Going into Sunday's game, the average age of players used by Palermo this season was lower (25.7) than that of any other Serie A side.
The manager, Devis Mangia, too, is new to the role ? having stepped up from youth team coach when the club fired Stefano Pioli in August. For a man learning on the job he has shown impressive confidence, and the decision to drop the struggling Mauro Cetto and move Giulio Migliaccio back to central defence this weekend, in particular, was vindicated by the performance.
But his biggest difficulty, as with any other manager the club has had, is likely in the longer term not to be with the players but Zamparini. "He's doing well, he reminds me of [Delio] Rossi," parped the president last week. Given how things worked out for the former, that might simultaneously have been the greatest and worst thing he could hear.
Talking points
? Less than a week after Marek Hamsik's wife Martina had her car stolen at gunpoint, the girlfriend of his Napoli team-mate Ezequiel Lavezzi ? Yanina Screpante ? was mugged by a man wielding a pistol at the weekend. Understandably upset after being relieved of a golden Rolex that Lavezzi had given her as a gift, she took to Twitter and turned her anger on the entire city. "They say Argentina is not safe, but Naples is a shit city, they stole my watch threatening me with a gun," she tweeted, before following up with a threat: "I don't care, if this happens to me again I'll take Pocho away from here."
This prompted an angry reaction from many in Naples, who accused her of unfairly stereotyping the city. Chief among her critics was the Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis. "In a climate of recession I think you should not go around with a Rolex on your arm," he declared, in gloriously unsympathetic style. "Things like this could happen in any city in the world. Dear Yanina, I am sorry, it is reasonable that you should take fright, but maybe you are not yet Neapolitan enough. At times you can think you are untouchable just because you are Lavezzi's other half." By the end of the day Screpante had come out with an apology, saying she had been afraid but "could never talk ill of a city this beautiful". Even though she did.
? Milan and Udinese lead the group snapping at Juve's heels, and both impressed this weekend, with the latter 2-0 victors over Roma on Friday night and the former clobbering Chievo on Sunday. Milan's victory was notable not only for the scoreline but for Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring his 100th and 101st goals in Serie A ? arriving at his century in style with an expertly measured chip from the edge of the box, before adding one more from the spot. Afterwards Ibra spared a thought, too, for Antonio Cassano, whose future following his mini-stroke looks increasingly uncertain as reports of a Milan move for Carlos Tevez gain traction. "For me nobody can replace Cassano because he is a great player," said Ibrahimovic. "But whoever arrives, arrives ? that's for the directors to worry about."
? The bad news for Roma this weekend was not limited to their defeat in Udine, as reports emerged on Sunday that the club had suspended the striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo for hitting Erik Lamela in the wake of the game, apparently over a missed pass. Reports of the set-to vary, describing anything from a heavy slap to a full-blown punch, but most at the club considered the matter to have been put to bed when Osvaldo later apologised. Instead, when they arrived for training on Sunday, the squad was informed by Luis Enrique of the suspension.
The scuffle follows an interesting interview given by Osvaldo last week, in which he confessed to not liking football, insisted he was not a metrosexual ? "Look, I have hair everywhere and I never think about cutting it" ? but perhaps most significantly said he wasn't too interested in local rivalries. "I am not a Roma fan and so I have nothing against Lazio," he said ? and while such a comment might be harmless enough really, it must be set in the context of a team going through a particular transition ? where many fans feel the new ownership are specifically trying to take Roma away from the Romanisti. For a player about whom ? despite his recent goals ? much scepticism remains, it was a risky thing to say. Though plainly not as ill thought through as his apparent attack on a team-mate.
Results: Atalanta 1-1 Napoli, Cagliari 1-1 Bologna, Cesena 2-0 Genoa, Lazio 0-1 Juventus, Lecce 0-1 Catania, Milan 4-0 Chievo, Novara 2-1 Parma, Palermo 2-0 Fiorentina, Siena 0-1 Inter, Udinese 2-0 Roma
Watch Serie A video highlights
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/nov/28/serie-a-blog-paolo-bandini
Israel Idonije Ricky Jean Francois Peria Jerry Antonio Johnson
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