At this level the penalty miss was still inexcusable.
Especially considering that his actual game from an offside.
... And of all the people - Pandev is helping us get the result we need.
Pirlo is having a hooooorible game by the way. The penalty was his fault. Besides that he has lost the ball twice now in his own half to a very dangerous attack.
(11-29-2011, 09:31 PM)fLame Wrote: [ -> ]At this level the penalty miss was still inexcusable. Especially considering that his actual game from an offside.
... And of all the people - Pandev is helping us get the result we need.
Pirlo is having a hooooorible game by the way. The penalty was his fault. Besides that he has lost the ball twice now in his own half to a very dangerous attack.
Pirlo is shockingly bad. It's as if he still think he's a Milanista
Both teams playing with tons of passion and the stadium is vibrating. Really good Game... I can't wait to play these two teams again.. and I can't wait for Derby della Madonina!
By the Way Flame, Hamsik scored a Penalty, (It's not his fault his teammates ran in the box). It's very tough to score a 2nd time. THen he scored a header and hasn't been so bad. He's full of energy.
Pirlo was MOM.
He caused the first penalty, and gave away ball at least twice in dangerous areas. Napoli's second goal had to thank him for failure to clear the ball.
On the penalty retake, I think it was BS. First, it wasn't outrageously bad; most referees would allow the goal; secondly, both Napoli and Juventus players entered the box earlier so the goal should stand (unless I misinterpret the rule); thirdly, when Hamsik re-took it, a Juventus player (I think it is Vidal) once again entered the box early, which means that Hamsik should re-take it if he misses it (which was the case), and the goal would stand if he made it (not the case).
Anyway, 2-0 is not too bad; I wish we were playing Juventus right now!!
And this where Hamsik's missed penalty would have counted, huh?
Conclusions from the game -
Napoli really has a scary attack
Juventus are a strong title contender. They are extremely solid this season. If we don't step our game up, we can forget about the title.
at the end of the day, a draw may be the best. Napoli can forget about the title (they are a very good team), and we are within one game's distance with Jube.
It must be fatigue. Napoli's second half performance was much inferior. If not for Pandev's individual brilliance, Napoli might lose the game.
(11-29-2011, 10:50 PM)xudong Wrote: [ -> ]at the end of the day, a draw may be the best. Napoli can forget about the title (they are a very good team), and we are within one game's distance with Jube.
It must be fatigue. Napoli's second half performance was much inferior. If not for Pandev's individual brilliance, Napoli might lose the game.
Pandev scored two great goals, but his cohesion with the team wasn't nearly as good as Cavani's. I think if Cavani was there, Napoli would look much more fluent in attack.
Thing is when Napoli notched the speed up, they were totally all over Juve. But teh stupid 3 defender tactic came back to taunt them.
Kudos to Juve anyway for showing character and for a strong display.
I agree. Speed (perhaps more importantly, constant and tireless movement) is so essential in football games these days. They were visibly tired which explained them being dominated in the second half.
Napoli's defense at times looked so shaky. Maggio was nowhere can be found when Vidal assisted Matri with his first goal. The second goal was similar to some extent. The third one, Pepe got lucky that 4 defenders couldn't handle him and the deflection of course. After 3-3, I believe that Matri was found once again in the box with a good scoring chance (similar to his first goal), except that this time he was blocked for his first attempt, and when he was trying for the second (he still looked dangerous), Chiellini marched forward and blasted the ball wide.
and that was not his first wasted chance in this game. What a relief.
(11-29-2011, 10:59 PM)fLame Wrote: [ -> ] (11-29-2011, 10:50 PM)xudong Wrote: [ -> ]at the end of the day, a draw may be the best. Napoli can forget about the title (they are a very good team), and we are within one game's distance with Jube.
It must be fatigue. Napoli's second half performance was much inferior. If not for Pandev's individual brilliance, Napoli might lose the game.
Pandev scored two great goals, but his cohesion with the team wasn't nearly as good as Cavani's. I think if Cavani was there, Napoli would look much more fluent in attack.
Thing is when Napoli notched the speed up, they were totally all over Juve. But teh stupid 3 defender tactic came back to taunt them.
Kudos to Juve anyway for showing character and for a strong display.
But they achieved what they did with this 3-4-3. It's pretty balanced too since their two wide players (Zuniga on the left and Maggio on the right) have their shares of defending too. It's just that they don't have a squad deep enough to compete on two competitions. And Mazzari's decision to take Pandev out at 3-1 was questionable too IMO. Perhaps he wanted to defend at the expense of losing a reference point up front. Pandev's lack of movement can be so annoying sometimes but he was on fire last night. Instead it's obvious Lavezzi was tired. This guy is even poorer than Pato when it comes to decide whether to dribble or not. And Juve's Lichsteiner was visibly panting in the final ten minutes. I would take Lavezzi out and send Mascara in if I were Mazzari. Mascara has good ground skill that can be helpful to retain the ball possession, deliver killer pass, or even score (he scored several beautiful goals in the past with Catania). But by taking Pandev out, Napoli let Juve take the initiative.
I agree about Juve though. They're not that technical, but they have that die-another-day attitude that reminds us of Conte on his heyday as a player.They have a large squad and without having to play in Europe they can do better than what Napoli did last season: challenging for the scudetto almost until the end of the season. They still need a vice Pirlo since they depend on him more than we did in the past (Vidal, Pepe are more of physical and movement than technical flair IMO). They should cash in on or trade Amauri and/or Iaquinta to get a quality midfielder in January and we'll have a serious contender.
(11-30-2011, 10:08 AM)Nalx Wrote: [ -> ]But they achieved what they did with this 3-4-3. It's pretty balanced too since their two wide players (Zuniga on the left and Maggio on the right) have their shares of defending too. It's just that they don't have a squad deep enough to compete on two competitions.
Yes, but they lost the points due to the RB position being left uncovered time and time again. Fatigue is probably also to blame, but Juve scored 2 and could have scored 2 more from that area.
Mazzari should have told someone to drop in as a fourth defender, imho.
(11-30-2011, 10:08 AM)Nalx Wrote: [ -> ] (11-29-2011, 10:59 PM)fLame Wrote: [ -> ]Pandev scored two great goals, but his cohesion with the team wasn't nearly as good as Cavani's. I think if Cavani was there, Napoli would look much more fluent in attack.
Thing is when Napoli notched the speed up, they were totally all over Juve. But teh stupid 3 defender tactic came back to taunt them.
Kudos to Juve anyway for showing character and for a strong display.
But they achieved what they did with this 3-4-3. It's pretty balanced too since their two wide players (Zuniga on the left and Maggio on the right) have their shares of defending too. It's just that they don't have a squad deep enough to compete on two competitions. And Mazzari's decision to take Pandev out at 3-1 was questionable too IMO. Perhaps he wanted to defend at the expense of losing a reference point up front. Pandev's lack of movement can be so annoying sometimes but he was on fire last night. Instead it's obvious Lavezzi was tired. This guy is even poorer than Pato when it comes to decide whether to dribble or not. And Juve's Lichsteiner was visibly panting in the final ten minutes. I would take Lavezzi out and send Mascara in if I were Mazzari. Mascara has good ground skill that can be helpful to retain the ball possession, deliver killer pass, or even score (he scored several beautiful goals in the past with Catania). But by taking Pandev out, Napoli let Juve take the initiative.
I agree about Juve though. They're not that technical, but they have that die-another-day attitude that reminds us of Conte on his heyday as a player.They have a large squad and without having to play in Europe they can do better than what Napoli did last season: challenging for the scudetto almost until the end of the season. They still need a vice Pirlo since they depend on him more than we did in the past (Vidal, Pepe are more of physical and movement than technical flair IMO). They should cash in on or trade Amauri and/or Iaquinta to get a quality midfielder in January and we'll have a serious contender.
I think that was the turning point of the game. I was laughing at Pandev for his really lousy diving earlier but he turned around and scored two goals. Starting the second half, Napoli already looked tired and Jube was already surging attacks, but Pandev scored against the flow of the game which was demoralizing for Jube. He should've definitely stayed on; instead, he was taken off. Psychologically, Jube immediately turned the tide. Napoli became totally toothless and it was also a signal for Jube to throw in everything. And they did. In the end, it was Napoli who should feel lucky to even get away with one point.