Crisis club Juve hoping to bounce back

February 6, 2010


The Serie A title race will most likely take a back seat for the foreseable future after Inter Milan opened up an eight-point lead over bitter neighbours AC Milan.

Inter’s victory in the Milan derby two weeks ago despite playing more than two-thirds of the match with a numerical disadvantage seems to have settled the title question.

But there is still much to play for in Serie A and many issues to be resolved.

Not least there is the Juventus situation.

They are the biggest and most decorated team in Italy with 27 titles to their name and they began the season expecting to wrest back the Serie A crown from Inter.

Indeed many pundits, including Italy coach Marcello Lippi, tipped them to bring to an end Inter’s four-year reign.

But now they are a club in turmoil, knocked out of both the Champions League and Coppa Italia and out of the title race, down in fifth place – they trail Inter by 15 points having played a game more.

Their recent form is abysmal and reads more like a relegation candidate than a title contender – three wins, a draw and nine defeats in their last 13.

Ciro Ferrara paid for that run with his job and has been replaced by Alberto Zaccheroni but first game failed to yield a victory as it finished 1-1 at home to lowly Lazio.

They have a tricky away tie against Livorno on Saturday in a match that holds some significance due to how their first clash earlier in the season affected their campaign.

Juve began the season with four straight league wins, the fourth of which was a 2-0 home success over Livorno.

However, they were dominated in the second half and had goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to thank for coming away with the three points.

And that game heralded the beginning of Juve’s troubles as other teams took heart from their difficulties in overcoming the minnows and started to exploit their failings.

And now this is a team desperate to rediscover itself with Zaccheroni even mulling a switch to a back three to try to shore up a leaky defence – only seven teams in the 20-team league have conceded more goals than Juve.

Juve’s other problem is that the two teams liable to deny them a place in next season’s Champions League are the two most in-form in the league.

Since a difficult start under coach Claudio Ranieri and losing three in a row in October, AS Roma have been on an incredible run, winning 14 and drawing three of their last 17 games in all competitions.

They have stormed up from just above the relegation zone to level on points with second-placed AC Milan.

But their trip to Fiorentina on Sunday will be as tough a test as they’ve faced on this run.

Napoli are fourth and four points ahead of Juve. Since losing to Roma in October, a match that saw Roberto Donadoni fired and replaced by Walter Mazzarri, they are unbeaten in Serie A.

Eight wins and seven draws later they have proved defensively sound and difficult to beat – they haven’t conceded a goal in six matches.

They travel to Udinese on Sunday looking to continue this run.

Milan have a tricky away trip to Bologna as they hope to bounce back from their last two disappointing results, the defeat at Inter followed by a home draw with Livorno.

They had been the form team in Serie A until then but will have to continue for the moment without injured pair Alexandre Pato and Andrea Pirlo, although Gianluca Zambrotta should make his return.

Inter’s clash on paper looks straight-forward at home to Cagliari but the Sardinians have proved tricky opponents this season and beat Juventus 2-0 back in November.

Fixtures:

Saturday

Livorno v Juventus, Palermo v Parma

Sunday

Atalanta v Bari, Bologna v AC Milan, Fiorentina v AS Roma, Genoa v Chievo, Inter Milan v Cagliari, Lazio v Catania, Siena v Sampdoria, Udinese v Napoli

ROME (AFP)

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‘Gentile set to replace Ferrara’

January 29, 2010


It looks like Juventus have found a new coach. Claudio Gentile has accepted an offer to replace Ciro Ferrara after tonight’s Coppa Italia match against Internazionale, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The Italian sports paper reports that Gentile left his home in Como yesterday morning for a two-hour meeting with director Roberto Bettega in Turin.

They discussed technical and tactical aspects of the team as well as the club’s current economic situation. Gentile’s criticism of Juventus in recent months was also conveniently forgotten.

It’s reported that Juve turned to Gentile after Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni refused to return to Turin for a third stint in charge of the Bianconeri.

La Gazzetta dello Sport understands that Juventus have offered Gentile €250,000 for four months work plus bonuses for success in the Europa League and qualification for the Champions League.

Gentile’s last job was as coach of Italy’s Under-21’s. He has never coached a club side before.

The length of prospective contract suggests Juve wants to make a big name appointment in the summer with Rafael Benitez or Marcello Lippi at the top of the list.

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Toni sends out reminder to Lippi

January 18, 2010


Italy’s forgotten man Luca Toni scored a brace in AS Roma’s 3-0 defeat of Genoa to send out a timely reminder to national team boss Marcello Lippi.

Toni has hardly featured since Lippi returned to the Italy helm 18 months ago after Roberto Donadoni was fired as his team crashed out in the quarter-finals of the European Championships.

This season has been particularly poor for Toni who failed to impress Bayern Munich coach Luis van Gaal and found himself out of favour.

But a loan move to the Italian capital has transformed him.

And two goals from Mirko Vucinic crosses will surely have made Lippi sit up and take notice.

“Lippi knows what I can do for the national team, I’ve already had a lot of satisfaction from wearing that shirt,” said the World Cup winner from 2006 under Lippi.

“I know that the better I do with Roma the more chance I’ll have of returning to the national team.

“For me right now it’s important to score many goals to keep Roma heading upwards.”

His new coach Claudio Ranieri, who wasted no time in starting him despite his lack of recent match-time, paid tribute to the forward’s strength in the air.

“He was a player we needed, he’s good with his head,” said Ranieri.

Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Taddei has also been impressed with the team’s new acquisition.

“He’s a great centre forward who scores important goals. He’s a target up front for everyone on the team.

“He wins all the high balls and earns many free-kicks.”

ROME (AFP)

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Troubled times for Turin teams

January 12, 2010


There are two major footballing hotbeds in Italy, located fairly close to each other in the north west of the country but while one city is flying, the other is in crisis.

In Milan Inter are top of the league and bidding for a fifth straight Serie A title with AC emerging as their closest, and perhaps only serious title challengers.

Both are through to the Champions League knock-out stages and face mouth-watering clashes in February against Manchester United and Chelsea.

But just 130km down the road, Turin is in turmoil.

Juventus are the most decorated club in Italian football having won 27 scudetto crowns and twice lifted Europe’s premier trophy.

They are a team with a rich history that has boasted some of the sport’s greats such as Gaetano Scirea, Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Michael Laudrup, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane and Alessandro Del Piero.

They have also been coached by two of Italy’s best ever in Giovanni Trapattoni and Marcello Lippi.

And while for most teams sitting third in Serie A at the halfway stage would be considered a fine achievement, for Juve it is all part of their current crisis.

It’s not just that ‘The Old Lady of Turin’ are third, they are 12 points behind Inter, have just been humiliated 3-0 at home by AC Milan and last month crashed out of the Champions League group stages following successive defeats to Bordeaux (2-0) and at home to Bayern Munich (4-1).

They have lost six of their last eight matches in all competitions and as well as those last three defeats were beaten 2-1 at home by Catania, who at the time were propping up Serie A.

What’s more, Juve have often been lucky this season, not least when goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made a string of excellent saves to earn them a fortunate 2-0 win over lowly Livorno, the most shot-shy team in the league.

Buffon has been Juve’s second best player this season, closely behind centre-back Giorgio Chiellini, which says it all about the team’s forward line.

Expensive Brazilian summer recruits Felipe Melo and Diego have been largely disappointing and Felipe Melo is only in the team because of injury problems to fellow defensive midfielders Mohamed Sissoko and Christian Poulsen.

Diego, the creative catalyst supposed to fire Juve to the title, started brightly but has since lost his way in a team that struggles to get forward, let alone threaten their opponents’ goal.

And now that top scorer David Trezeguet and Buffon are both injured, they look impotent up front and vulnerable at the back.

And that despite ususally boasting four of Italy’s back five.

The return of Fabio Cannavaro has been far from a success as time seems to have finally caught up with the former World Player of the Year, who was nowhere to be seen on any of Milan’s three goals on Sunday.

And then there is rookie coach Ciro Ferrara whose tactical selections continually come under question as he seems unsure of what system to play to best accomodate the players he has.

His days in the Juve hotseat look increasingly numbered.

And he won’t have been helped by the jeers his team received during Sunday’s game or the clashes between fans and police outside the ground.

But while Juve are in trouble by their own usually high standards, their problems pale into insignificance compared to Torino’s.

The club who dominated Italian football in the 1940s, winning five straight titles until a plane crash wiped out almost their entire team, are in serious freefall.

Unlike Manchester United, who suffered a similar fate a decade later, Torino have never recovered from that tragedy and have lived in Juve’s shadow ever since.

But this season has been particularly traumatic following last season’s relegation to Serie B.

Torino are the epitome of the instability that dogs many Italian teams and have just made their ninth coaching change in the last four years and four months.

Stefano Colantuono has replaced Mario Beretta, who lasted only five matches having taken over from Colantuono, who began the season in the hot-seat.

Of those nine coaching changes, Colantuono is not alone in having been recalled as Walter Novellino was given two stints and Gianni De Biasi three.

Colantuono is the 20th change over the last decade and the team who sat sixth and in a Serie B play-off place when he was fired, have dropped to 11th and four points out of the play-off picture.

But according to the ousted Beretta, Torino’s biggest problems aren’t even on the field, with La Gazzetta dello Sport describing him as more pyschologist and fireman than coach during his beleaguered 33 days in charge.

“The truth is that here, it’s not the coaches who are the problem,” said Beretta.

ROME (AFP)

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Totti keen on World Cup spot

January 2, 2010


Italian veteran Francesco Totti has declared himself ready to play for his country in the World Cup if coach Marcello Lippi asks him to do so.

“If Lippi comes calling and if I am in good form and the squad needs me, I will go and I think that will please the younger ones,” the Roma striker told the Repubblica newspaper.

Totti played under Lippi in Italy’s 2006 World Cup triumph and he said that he had great respect for the coach.

The 33-year-old, who has played with Roma since 1993, resisting all big money attempts to lure him away, said that he felt he could play for a further five years during which he wanted to win another Italian league title with the club.

ROME (AFP)

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Lippi rules out Juve return

December 22, 2009


Marcello Lippi won’t return to Juventus after the World Cup in South Africa. The Italy coach has been linked with a return to his former club next season, but now he has ended speculations.

Italian media reported that Lippi would return to Juve after the World Cup, on the bench or on the board of directors. Now, the 61-year-old tactician has stated that he will not be involved with the Bianconeri in any shape or form. He also backed his former pupil and current Juve coach Ciro Ferrara, who is under fire following a run of three successive defeats.

“After the World Cup, I will not return to Juventus,” Lippi stated to Sky Sports 24. “I am not a puppet of the team.

“I have simply given some tips to the directors, saying that Ferrara is an excellent coach, and endorsing Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Grosso as good acquisitions.

“Ciro has made some errors, but that is because of his age, but he has the right personality and charisma to do really well.

“He also has some clear ideas,” Lippi added.

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Toni announces Italy return, van Gaal gives blessing

December 8, 2009


Bayern Munich’s Italian striker Luca Toni has claimed he will be returning to Italy while his coach insisted he would not try to stop him.

Toni moved to the Bavarian giants in 2006 after winning the World Cup with Italy in Germany.

But after three successful seasons he has found himself left out in the cold by new coach Louis van Gaal for most of this campaign and his repeated outbursts against his coach have seen him left in limbo.

But in an interview to be published on Wednesday in Chi magazine, Toni affirmed that he is coming home, presumably during January’s transfer window.

“I miss everything about my country: the fans, my friends, my mummy. I don’t yet know which team I will play for but I’m sure I’ll be coming back to Italy,” he said.

“I’ve made some mistakes here in Germany and I regret them. Those mistakes have cost me my place at the World Cup in South Africa, even if I still hold some hope that (Italy coach Marcello) Lippi will call me.

“But whatever happens, I won’t let myself be beaten down, my desire to play is still strong.

“I’ll only stop playing when I no longer feel any emotion on the pitch, which is not yet the case.”

Toni, who was the top scorer in the German Bundesliga in 2007-08, admitted to having problems with his coach — he has already been hit with a 25,000-euro fine for one outburst.

Van Gaal, for his part, said ahead of Bayern’s clash with Juventus on Tuesday that he has nothing against seeing the back of Toni.

“I’ve already said it a couple of weeks ago and I’ll repeat it so you can all hear it directly from my mouth, I think a player should respond according to the club’s needs,” said the Dutchman.

“Hence when you are part of a club you should act in that club’s interests but when a player doesnt want to do so, I’ll do nothing to convince him to stay.”

ROME (AFP)

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Lippi wary of taking group too easily

December 5, 2009


Italy coach Marcello Lippi sounded a warning to celebrating Italians after the reigning world champions were on Friday given what looked an easy draw in the World Cup.

Italy were grouped alongside debutants Slovakia, outsiders New Zealand and South Americans Paraguay in Group F.

But while that looks to be one of the weakest pools in the whole draw, Lippi warned that it would be dangerous to start thinking along those lines.

“The more you think a group will be easy the more difficult it becomes,” he said.

“Paraguay were top of the South American qualifying group for a long time before being overtaken by Brazil at the end.

“Slovakia are improving, they have players we know well, also some who play in Italy and they beat some good teams to get here.

“I’m neither satisfied nor upset. We will start to assess our opponents and their characteristics.

“They are all difficult opponents but then we will also cast an eye on the (possible) second round and quarter-final (opponents).”

However, while Lippi urged caution, Italian pundits were less reserved in their reactions.

On Sky Sport’s live televised coverage of the draw their commentators openly laughed and celebrated as each of Italy’s opponents was read out.

And former Chelsea manager and now TV pundit Gianluca Vialli said this was a group from which Italy should expect to progress.

“It’s a very manageable group but these are teams who will be going to the World Cup expecting to play three matches whereas Italy are going there hoping to play seven games, so we have to be very careful,” he said.

Slovakia actually topped a qualifying group including Slovenia, Poland and Czech Republic while Paraguay were only pipped by Brazil in South American qualifying.

New Zealand’s Oceania campaign was simple but then they had to negotiate a tricky two-legged play-off against Bahrain.

Paraguay are expected to be Italy’s toughest opponents with Brazil coach Dunga, who lifted the World Cup as a player in 1994 in the United States when Italy were beaten on penalties in the final, told the reigning champions to watch out.

“Italy’s group is not easy, Paraguay are a very solid team. They did very well during qualification, Italy will have to be careful,” he told Rai TV.

Italy begin their campaign against Paraguay in Cape Town on June 14 and the South Americans’ Argentine coach Gerardo Martino admitted that would be his team’s toughest encounter.

“Playing the first match against the reigning champions will of course be difficult but we’re confident that we will be well prepared enough to put up a fight not only in this match the also the others,” he said.

Underdogs New Zealand gave Italy a fright in a pre-Confederations Cup friendly in Pretoria a year ago before going down 4-3 and assistant coach Brian Turner says that has given them belief.

“We took a lot of confidence out of that game. We took the game to Italy but at the end of the day Italy were still too good, they’re a football power,” he said.

“But we’re delighted with the group we’re in and we’re delighted to be with Italy.”

ROME (AFP)

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Italy handed easy draw

December 5, 2009


Italy enjoyed a nice draw as they were placed in a group with Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand.

The World Champions will start the defence of their title against Paraguay on June 14 in Cape Town. The South Americans have only played Italy once, back in 1998. La Squadra Azurra won that match 3-1 thanks to a goal from Paolo Maldini and a bullet from Francesco Moriero.

Italy boss Marcello Lippi can refer to this June’s friendly match against New Zealand (4-3 win) to prevent his men from underestimating the All Whites. Italy locks horns with New Zealand on June 20 in Nelspruit.

Perhaps the most intriguing game in Group F will take place in Johannesburg on June 24 when Italy face Slovakia who will be driven by Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik. Bout countries meet each other for the second time in history, their first match took place in 1998 when the Azzurri won 3-0 in Catania thanks to goals from Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti.

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Ghana wants to offer Balotelli WC spot

December 3, 2009


So far, he has failed to grab a spot in the Italy national team but Mario Balotelli might still play on the World Cup in South Africa. Ghana coach Milan Rajevac has told La Gazzetta Dello Sport he wants to persuade the youngster to chose for his parents’ native country.

Balotelli was born nineteen years ago in Italy to Ghanaian immigrants and is currently representing the Azzurri at Under-21 level. However, he isn’t a regular starter for his club Inter Milan and therefore he hasn’t received a call up from Italy boss Marcello Lippi. Balotelli has insisted he remains committed to his ‘adoptive’ country, but hinted last summer that he would consider the opportunity of making his World Cup bow with Ghana.

Rajevac is desperate to include the 19-year-old in his squad for next summer’s World Cup finals. “After the World Cup draw I’ll go to Europe. I have a series of meetings planned with my players in the European (domestic) championship and my intention is to speak with Balotelli,” Rajevac told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“And I plan to speak to Balotelli. I have discussed it with the President and the Vice President of the Ghanaian Football Association and they have given me the green light.

“My plan is to go to Bologna and meet with our captain, Stephen Appiah, and have him accompany me to Milan to see Mario and (Sulley) Muntari.

“I am happy with the strikers I have, but Balotelli’s qualities are extraordinary. He is very, very good.”

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