Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Atalanta

Fourteenth place. Not exactly where we thought Juventus would be in the Serie A table when the 25th day in October came rolling around and Max Allegri's squad was playing its second straight league opponent that wears nerazzurri.

Yeah, 14th place sure isn't what was in the cards back in late-August when this whole kicked off.

But it certainly is the case these days as Juventus' standing in the Serie A table is closer to the relegation zone than it is to the spots that would see them automatically qualify for a Champions League spot next season. They'd obviously like to change that, and so would just about everybody who has a rooting interest in today's visit from Atalanta to Juventus Stadium.

After a scoreless draw against Inter, many said Juve were on the right track despite just getting one point. Then after their scoreless draw against Borussia Monchengladbach midweek, the message was a little different. Fact is, two games and no goals later out of the international break and we're just as uncertain about this team as we were going into the two-week break. Maybe today they get a 3-0 win and we're all celebrating like pre-teens at a birthday party, but nobody really knows which Juventus will show up at any given point.

(I guess we could say that every game in every season, but it's especially true these days.)

So, will it be Good Juventus or Headdesk Juventus?

I think I know which one I want to see come a couple of hours from now. And I'm pretty sure I know what a lot of you will say, too. So let's hope Good Juventus — maybe even Competent Juventus — shows its face in front of the hometown crowd and getting three points out of a match actually becomes something we start to see a good amount of going forward. That sure would be nice.

Lineups

Juventus XI (4-3-1-2/4-3-3): Gianluigi Buffon; Simone Padoin, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Patrice Evra; Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio, Paul Pogba; Roberto Pereyra, Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala

Juventus bench: Neto, Emil Audero, Andrea Barzagli, Daniele Rugani, Alex Sandro, Mario Lemina, Stefano Sturaro, Hernanes, Kwadwo Asamoah, Juan Cuadrado, Simone Zaza, Álvaro Morata

Atalanta XI (4-3-3): Marco Sportiello; Gianpaolo Bellini, Rafael Toloi, Gabriel Paletta, Boukary Dramé; Alberto Grassi, Jasmin Kurtic, Marten De Roon; Maximiliano Moralez, Mauricio Pinilla, Marco D'Alessandro,

How to watch

TV: beIN Sports USA (United States); ESPN UK (United Kingdom); beIN Sports Canada (Canada); Sky Calcio 1, Premium Calcio (Italy)

Online: beIN Sports Connect (United States); beIN Sports Connect Canada (Canada); Sky Go Italia (Italy)

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live on Twitter. If you haven't already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.