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When was the last time we could say that Juventus have as many players for a match as they do squad members currently on the mend and rehabbing injuries? Or, when we was the last time we could count on one hand how many players are going to be missing out on that days Juventus game?
Not many, to be honest with you. But this time is one of those occurrences where — regardless of the important of each absence — Juve don't have that many players missing out.
There are four players missing out on the Coppa Italia tonight. They are as follows:
- Claudio Marchisio (suspension)
- Álvaro Morata (suspension)
- Martin Caceres (injury)
- Romulo (injury)
As you can clearly see, two suspensions and two injuries. Nothing more, nothing less. Max Allegri has called up 23 players for the trip to the Olimpico and the Coppa Italia, and all of those players are healthy and ready to play if their name gets called.
But, as you can guess, the two players who are suspended are pretty important ones. An educated guess probably has Fernando Llorente stepping in for Morata to play alongside Carlos Tévez. It's the natural replacement. One good looking Spanish striker misses out, so we can just go and get another one who may be a little slow foot speed wise, but can put in a good shift when called up.
What to do in midfield with Marchisio suspended, well, that's a little different.
As much as we want to make it a player vs. player discussion, it's more of a formation vs. formation talk compared to pretty much anything else. At least that's what I think it is. But then again, I'm just some guy on the internet who thinks he knows stuff about how Juventus works.
Will the absence of Marchisio mean Allegri goes to a 3-5-2 formation with Andrea Barzagli reuniting with his fellow BBC defenders? Or will Allegri simply go to his bench, swap in Roberto Pereyra for Marchisio and stick with his base 4-3-1-2 formation just like he used against Real Madrid?
Simple decisions, right?
Well, that's why Max is over there leading Juventus to a potential double or — gasp! — treble and we're sitting here judging (or whatever you want to call it) his moves from afar. I think he's done a pretty darn good job so far, especially when it comes to selecting his squads based on who the opposition is and what the situation calls for.
It's gotten Juventus this far, and there's no reason why it can't continue to work as we hit the final four games of the season.
So, put on your Max Allegri "DAI DAI DAI!" t-shirt and matching hat and make some potential decisions. There's only so many more times we are going to be able to pretend we're Mad Max before the season comes to an end and we're debating about potential transfer targets. (Oh, wait. We're already doing that. Never mid.)