:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/43387332/458233674.0.jpg)
Juventus manager Max Allegri sat at the podium having already watched one of his midfielders, Claudio Marchisio, answer questions from the media. It was Mad Max's turn, and it was only a matter of time before he was asked the question pretty much everybody wanted to bring up before such an important European fixture.
"Max, who's in your starting lineup?"
#Allegri: "I couldn't possibly say who will play tomorrow, there's still one more training session to go." #JuveOlympiacos
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) November 3, 2014
That question and answer was followed up with a somewhat expected "Fernando Llorente or Álvaro Morata?" kind of deal, which pretty much garnered the same kind of answer from Allegri as the one above. These two things, of course, were said just about 24 hours ago, a little while before Allegri had the chance to evaluate his squad at one last training session.
Now that he's had the chance to look at his options, he's clearly got an idea of what things will look like. What that is, however, is something we're still waiting to find out about. But that's why we're here. Speculating is fun, ain't it?
And then there's these two things below, which started rolling across the interwebs over in Italy on Tuesday morning.
Possibile Juve (se Ogbonna ko): (4-3-1-2): Buffon Lichtsteiner Bonucci Chiellini Asamoah Vidal Pirlo Pogba Marchisio Morata Tevez
— Massimiliano Nerozzi (@MaxNerozzi) November 4, 2014
Anche @Gazzetta_it dice difesa a 4. 4-3-1-2. Attenti però ancora al ballottaggio #Morata-#Llorente #JuveOlympiacos pic.twitter.com/rqE9htI2qf
— Momblano Official (@MomblanOfficial) November 4, 2014
Well, considered me officially intrigued.
It might just be scuttlebutt from the Italian media at this point. Or it could be something that actually has some juice behind it. But because of Juventus' injuries in defense right now — Angelo Ogbonna is a doubt, both Andrea Barzagli and Martín Cáceres are both out injured and weren't called up — it could for Allegri to change things up formation-wise. Throw in the possibility that Simone Padoin (YES, PADOINHO!) may play at left wingback if Kwadwo Asamoah isn't completely fit and Allegri sticks with a 3-5-2, then there's just even more potential for lineup craziness to occur.
Then again, the way Juventus have played in Europe the last few years, it's been anything but "normal," so maybe this is just another sign that things are just completely unpredictable right now.
Either way, feel free to play the game. If there's one thing, it's that talking about Juventus using something other than a 3-5-2 formation really blows up a comment thread or two around these parts. So have at it, folks.
