Midweek football, ladies and gentlemen. But it's not exactly like last week's midweek football.
It's Serie A, not the Champions League. It's Cesena, not Malmö. We don't even get cool characters over one of the letters this week, which is a good thing considering how much I had to write "Malmö" in the build up to last week's midweek football. So in that sense, being back in Italy for some midweek football isn't so bad.
Either way, we've reached the meat of the season's first flurry of games. A couple days off, then another game, a couple days off, then another game. Rinse and repeat. Until the next international break, it's going to be the same old thing.
Match Preview
So now as we enter Juventus' fourth game in a span of 12 days, the short recovery period isn't new to any of us now. There's no alternating between domestic and European football like there will be next week, but there's still 90 or so minutes to play (and try to keep a perfect record).
Basically, let the games keep coming. Oh, and the wins, too. And the clean sheets! Yeah, those three things all make a whole lot of sense to me.
Starting lineups for both teams will be posted RIGHT HERE when they become available. "To Padoin or not to Padon, that is the question." Or something like that. Let us wait and see if Max Allegri actually does do some squad rotation. Maybe we'll get our "long awaited" Simone Padoin start, maybe we won't. Now that it seems as though he's not the human victory cigar as in previous season. Poor Simone.
UPDATE: LINEUPS ARE IN!
Juventus XI (3-5-2): Buffon; Ogbonna, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Marchisio, Pereyra, Evra; Giovinco, Llorente
Juventus bench: Rubinho, Volpe, Romulo, Padoin, Pogba, Pepe, Asamoah, Mattiello, Morata, Tevez, Coman
Cesena XI (3-5-2): Leali; Krajnc, Lucchini, Capelli; Perico, Giorgi, Cascione, Mazzotta, Renzetti; Defrel; Marilungo