November: Hardest Month Yet
Juventus F.C. 5 - 1 Siena
Novemeber 3rd November 2012 – Serie A TIM – Juventus Stadium, Turin – Att. 37,873
Juventus starting XI (3-1-4-2) Buffon, Sakho, Chiellini, Bonucci, Pogba, Marchisio, Vidal, Asamoah, Lichsteiner, Vucinic, Cavani
Edinson Cavani (5,17) Claudio Marchisio (45,78) and Mirko Vucinic (64)
Subs Bertolacci and Giovinco
Claudio Marchisio (9.4)
A team like Siena, who are are at the bottom of the table should be the easiest match of the whole year, especially at home. With a strong line-up, we thrashed the Sicilians and managed to score 5 goals, in which 1 was ruled outside. However, it was strange to concede to a club like this, after we still haven't picked up the ball from the back of the net in the Champions League, which we did have a hard group.
Bayern München 0 - 0 Juventus F.C.
Tuesday 6th September 2012 – UEFA Champions League Group Stages – Allianz Arena, München – Att. 67,117
Juventus starting XI (3-1-4-2) Buffon, Sakho, Caceres, Bonucci, Pirlo, Marchisio, Bertolacci, Asamoah, Lichsteiner, Vucinic, Cavani
Subs Marrone, Pepe and Pogba
Leonardo Bonucci (8.0)
With playing the German giants away, it was frightening. The Bayern fans were more than our loyal fans and to be honest, I thought that our unbeaten run would come to an end. Fielding my strongest side available, we started out decently, with Pirlo constantly having to correct Vucinic's mistakes. However, we managed to take a point without conceding or scoring and with another point in the next two matches, we would qualify for the First Knockout Round of the UEFA Champions League.
Juventus 2 - 0 Atalanta
Sunday 18th November 2012 – Serie A TIM – Juventus Stadium, Turin – Att. 38,004
Juventus starting XI (3-1-4-2) Buffon, Sakho, Chiellini, Bonucci, Pirlo, Marchisio, Vidal, Asamoah, Lichsteiner, Vucinic, Cavani
Edinson Cavani (14) and Edinson Cavani (17)
Subs Bertolacci, Padoin and Pogba
Edinson Cavani (9.1)
This match was another easy one, and to be honest, we could bag a high scoring win at home to please the fans before we would depart to Braga. Starting out well by two quick fire goals by Cavani, the match slowly faded away, and the only high profile thing that happened in the second half was the dismissal of Carlos Carmona of Atalanta.
SC Braga 0 - 8 Juventus F.C.
Wednesday 21st November 2012 – UEFA Champions League Group Stages – Estadio Axa, Braga – Att. 27,369
Juventus starting XI (3-1-4-2) Buffon, Sakho, Chiellini, Bonucci, Pirlo, Marchisio, Bertolacci, Asamoah, Lichsteiner, Vucinic, Cavani
Mamadou Sakho (4,44,68,82) Andrea Pirlo (7) Andrea Bertolacci (20) Stephan Lichsteiner (35) and Mirko Vucinic (78)
Subs Giovinco, Marrone and Pogba
Mamadou Sakho (9.9)
With our recent hammering of Braga in the first fixture of the group stages at home, the players wanted more. Of course, I would've expected the same scoreline, but unfortunately for Braga, my players wanted more.. Especially Sakho. Mamadou Sakho played a pivotal role in this match, earning himself the Man of the Match and scoring 4 goals, which all came from corners. To add to that, Bertolacci and Lichsteiner scored some great goals, one that included passing the ball until Bertolacci had to tap the ball in. Then, when everything seemed calm for us, both Vucinic and Sakho hit them with a double barrel to confirm our continuance in this years edition of the UEFA Champions League stages.
Udinese 0 - 2 Juventus F.C.
Sunday 25th November 2012 – Serie A TIM – Fruilli, Genoa – Att. 28,909
Juventus starting XI (3-1-4-2) Buffon, Bonucci, Chiellini, Sakho, Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio, Asamoah, Isla, Vucinic, Cavani
Edinson Cavani (15) Mirko Vucinic (57)
Subs Isla, Pepe and Vidal
Claudio Marchisio (9.4)
One of the last matches of the month was against the ‘Zebrette’, who fortunately had Di Natale injured for our match. With Gigi not conceding in 240 minutes and with a youngster up instead, I didn’t have any doubts we were going to win the match.
Juventus 2 - 1 Lazio
Sunday 18th November 2012 – Serie A TIM – Juventus Stadium, Turin – Att. 38,004
Juventus starting XI (3-1-4-2) Buffon, Sakho, Chiellini, Bonucci, Pirlo, Marchisio, Vidal, Asamoah, Lichsteiner, Vucinic, Giovinco
Sebastian Giovinco (18) and Fabio Quagliarella (81)
Subs Quagliarella, Padoin and Pogba
A team that was falling short of expectations, being at 15th place, they needed a win, but they couldn't against the mighty Juve. They did break Buffon's clean sheet and gave us a harder match, but they do possess one of the best squad of the league. Whether their manager, Petkovic, uses his team well, is clearly not working.
Player of the Month
The player of the month is none other than our defensive player, Mamadou Sakho, who scored 4 goals 5 appearances. He saved us from dropping an extra point against Lazio, who were one of the hardest team to beat.
Player of a Worthy Mention
Our captain, Gigi Buffon, had completed over 240 minutes of not conceding, even against a strong Bayern side away. He made marvelous saves and saved two penalties this month. FORZA JUVE!