Juventus 1 - Torino 0: Initial reaction and random observations

Short-attention-span writing and reading as I'm still trying to comprehend what hour of the morning it is after Juventus' win over Torino in this season's first edition of the Derby della Mole.

• Man of the Match: Paul Pogba. The discussion starts and ends right here. Got the game-winning goal, played a nearly flawless second half against Torino, and did so while playing all three spots in the center of the midfield. He went from playing in front of the defense a la Andrea Pirlo, to swapping positions with Arturo Vidal, to then switching for a few minutes with Claudio Marchisio, and then back to sitting in front of the back three. That takes a lot, no matter who you are. Once again, this 20-year-old kid played like a 10-year veteran in a hard-fought derby victory. Just another day in the life of Paul Pogba, I guess. Or at least it seems that way.
  
  
• Torino didn't have a shot on target. Gigi Buffon is back to stealing checks.
  
  
• In all seriousness, though, the Juventus defense really played a very good game, especially Giorgio Chiellini. Sure, Toro weren't ever close to being consistently dangerous when they actually did attack instead of looking totally stagnant, but when Buffon doesn't have to even try and make a save on a shot on goal over the course of 90 minutes, you know you're doing something right.
  

  Torino havent scored a goal against Juventus since the 23rd of February in 2002. 11 years of pain and counting.

  — Mina Rzouki (@Minarzouki) September 29, 2013

  
  
• Yellow card, huh? Come on, Ciro. You're better than that. (At least I think so.)
  
  
• You guys see Carlos Tevez defending in the last few minutes before Fabio Quagliarella replaced him in the final minute of the second half? You should have, because he was working his tail off. And that was after he was getting absolutely beat up by almost everybody in a Torino jersey.
  
  
• Grinding out a result in a derby. That's so Juventus.
  
  
• Contrary to popular belief, Sebastian Giovinco wasn't all that bad. WhoScored says he was one of Juventus' least effective players, but I feel pretty safe in saying that Giovinco was better than Tevez in the first 45 minutes of the game. Obviously Carlitos got more involved in a lot of aspects in the second half, but sometimes the doom and gloom surrounding a certain Atomic Ant isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
  
  
• Juventus' next four opponents: Galatasaray, Milan, Fiorentina, Real Madrid. For a month that has a two-week international break thrown right into the middle of it, that's certainly one heck of a slate of games that are on deck.