Time to take out the garbage.

 

Marchisio will have a tough time in San Paolo.

 

Not an easy place to go and get a result but as long as we avoid defeat i'll be content. A loss would be doubly damaging obviously.

Although on the flipside stretching our advantage to 9 points...that would be huge. Not saying it guarantees anything but a significant step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, our record against the big teams this season has been abysmal.

 

Not an easy place to go and get a result

of course it's not. Imagine yourself playing in a stinky place filled with rotten garbage smell and gasping for air. :lala:

On a more serious note, I think it's the perfect time to meet them. They are lacking confidence after their Europa League exit and have gone 5 matches without a win.

Cavani's last goal was exactly 1 month ago and without him on top form Napoli will always struggle to score and win matches.

In those 6 matches that Cavani failed to score, Napoli failed to score in 4 of them. The goal scorers in the remaining 2 matches were Cannavaro, Campagnaro and Hamsik.

Napoli also lack the winning mentality. Whenever we drop points and give them the chance to close in they crack under pressure and drop points themselves too. This will be their last chance saloon to catch up and pressure doesn't get any bigger than this.

Since the beginning of February we have recovered from the usual post winter break January mini crisis. Apart from the Roma loss, we have registered 4 wins, scoring 10 goals in the process averaging 2.5 goals per game.

I don't think Conte will go for the draw, he will go for the kill and will target the 3 points.

 

If only it were a football match, then the grievances could stay on the pitch :/

Im not sure about the result, but I expect fallout. No one is serving a false ban or punishment at the moment so we will probably get a lot of flak for the refs decisions or for tampering with the weather or changing the laws of physics to give ourselves an advantage.

I figure this will go one of two ways. Napoli with either come out looking to fight and it will be a tough game. It may even get nasty if they are not getting a result from us. Or, napoli will come out looking FOR a fight, and rather than compete they will niggle and scrap and then accuse everyone of treason after the match.

Sigh, napoli were a lot less obnoxious before they were any good. I used to even count them in my favorites but i really dont like the current attitude, vandalism etc.

I wont predict a juve win. I think regardless of the scoreline everyone will come away from this match in a worse position than they went in. Whether that means injuries, accusations, bans or points lost, this match will have a negative effect on everyone involved.

I think a draw is the safest result

 

A draw would be fine with me.

 

Well that's true, but it's never a better time to attempt a revival, and try to get a win than when Juve's in town. You know what i mean? I think that goes especially for Napoli given their recent bitterness after the Super Coppa and what not.

I think they will be fired up for this game. They also know that if they can beat us they'll slash our lead to only 3 points, and now is as good a time as ever to try and make a Scudetto run.

Anyhow, we just have to go there and play our game. I don't think it's a decisive clash but it would be nice to safeguard our lead before our CL commitments restart.

 

If last season is any guidance, our form should be swiftly improving from March, which means that a victory against Napoli will most likely end the race. At the same time, I wouldn't be so over confident about our chances as the Perugia nightmare, notwithstanding the years that have passed, will always be in my memory.

 

We had no CL last season though, we will get more tired unless conte rotates more. I still don't believe he rotates enough...too many players with limited playing time.

 

We should never have played in Perugia, that was not a pitch that was fit to play a match on given all the rain.

But it is a valuable lesson, we got to give it everything until the right math is in place.

We can't take anything for granted, and taking our foot of the gas pedal is what worries me the most about our season.

 

So apparently Carew failed his medical at Inter :howler:

They should still sign him to keep Rocchi company.

I found this interesting:

Insigne's dream is to score against Juve.

Matri's dream is to score at Wembley.

Just goes to show the difference between the 2 clubs at the moment.

I'm not saying it will be a walk in the park, but I think we have a pretty good chance, especially if we play like we did in the 2nd half match of last season.

I disagree Nero.

I'm not buying into those football cliches. If this is match is not decisive then I don't know what it is. A 9 point gap at this stage of the season would be difficult to close, not impossible, but difficult. In case we happen to win Lo Scudetto we will look back to this match and say it was decisive in winning it. Likewise if Napoli win Lo Scudetto after beating us they will say this match was decisive in winning it.

 

What a shambles that they signed Rocchi and the guy is not even fit enough to be counted on. What's he been doing all this time? Hanging out at Burger King? Don't they have him on an exercise regime and diet?

There are still 11 rounds to go, dpf. Both Napoli and us still have big games ahead of us, i just don't think this will be a Scudetto decider. It'll definitely be a boost if we win and a setback if we lose, don't get me wrong. But I wouldn't say that as this game goes, so does the Scudetto.

Both teams can bounce back from a loss in this game, but obviously if we open up a 9 point gap at the top at this stage, we'll be looking like a good bet for the championship. But it's not a guarantee, as Nyuka's example illustrates, i believe we had something approaching a 9 point lead that season with fewer games to go and it all went up in smoke.

Even our healthy lead after the winter break was lost during that bad run of games during January.

I don't think it's down to one game, it's down to consistency throughout the rest of our remaining fixtures.

 

CdS front page headline: Don't send Rizzoli to Napoli-Juve!

Cannavaro saying the ref better not repeat what happened in Beijing.

I can't believe they are still bitching about Beijing. They were way too physical and deserved the sending offs. Marchisio didn't get a penalty and they abandon the medals ceremony.

 

We have a CL game next Wednesday, this game is Friday and the boys had 4 "rest" ( they still train) days. Unless Celtic put on a miracle performance, we are already in next round, i also red Celtic captain will not be able to recover in time and they have other injury doubts, so they wont come here strong either. What i am trying to say is, that we should act smart here and play the "right" team at a right time.

For example, given Quags is on the last in the picking order seems smart to play for example Anelka-Quags against Celtic. Another thing is the suspensions worries. Do the players who are 1 yellow away need to play or can they sit on bench or do they have to be part of squad anyway to make sure in the next round they will be able to play and wont risk missing say semi final in case we manage to make it that far.

 

I think we are on a right course though, we have won more games than last year till this point (actually i havent checked facts about this one, but surely we have).

 

Kind of cunts we are dealing with, Napoli fans blocking our teams hotel, so they cant come out and train. What kind of joke security do the police provide there? One thing to be be loud outside the hotel in the nights to disturb their sleep, but to physically block their exit? Wtf.

 

Napoli: De Sanctis; Cannavaro, Campagnaro, Britos; Maggio, Inler, Behrami, Zuniga; Hamsik, Pandev; Cavani
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio, Peluso; Giovinco, Vucinic

Is Asamoah not 100% yet? If not, Peluso is a good call. We've scored a few from set pieces against Napoli lately, and Peluso is good for set pieces.

Starting XI otherwise. Good to see as we haven't been able to field 10/11 starters in a while. No wins for us in San Paolo since 2000. Time to change that.

 

lol, is this the first time maradona's been in italy since he left as a player? no more tax troubles?

 

vucinic's header :howler:

looks like they'll be butchering us again

 

I expected early aggression from Napoli. They are much easier to handle once you are able to absorb their crazy early pressure, kind of like Celtic but with more quality.

 

first blood juve.wat a beast chellini is

 

Inler getting away with a lot already.

 

they're using the same foul tactic they used before against us, just less butchering this time. odd because it never worked before, and they're actually capable of playing better by focusing on playing ball.

ridic miss from vucinic btw.

 

Vucinic sucks. Bonucci sucks. Cavani should have had a straight red. Deliberate elbow in the face.

 

I thought Chiellini dived and facehugged again (he did it earlier after the slightest of touches), but this second time it was a elbow from Cavani and a clear red card. Which somehow turned into a yellow... Most likely because the referee didn't dare anything else.

 

a referee who is able to do his job in a game between Juve and Napoli has yet to be found...

 

Only in Italy do you see players get just a yellow for an off the ball intentional elbow. Napoli are in a lucky spell. The goal was very fortunate...and the matador should have seen red.

We have played well enough. Vucinic should have scored one of his two great chances...but as is more often the case than not, he was saved, then couldn't control the ball. same old problem. The arrival of Llorente cannot come soon enough!

Great to see chiellini back.vidal having a wonderful game...pirlo a little too expectant of the ref giving niggly fouls. Likely pogba will come on for vidal later, or for marchisio...claudio is doing fine, but not doing much.

 

Only in Italy

I must admit my weakness: for ugly that my country might be (and it is) these comments from foreign people who support clubs from my country (even Juventus!) start to annoy me.