The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, Episode 126: Positives, negatives from Juve’s first half

We’re in the World Cup break and suddenly the only thing related to the Juventus men to talk about is a transfer rumor here and there or what the 11 Bianconeri players in Qatar are up to as the games get underway.

What does that mean?

Well, it’s time to look back on a few things that have happened over the first three months of the 2022-23 season.

There have been plenty of not-so-good things to take place over these opening months. But, because Juventus won their last six Serie A fixtures heading into the World Cup break, all isn’t as gloomy as it was come September and October. All is not lost, right? The Champions League is no longer something to have on the schedule this season and that is very much a target that has failed to be met, but Juve’s getting up to third place in Serie A before the World Cup break arrived was a big deal knowing just how poor this season began.

So, all is not lost.

It might have looked that way when the last pre-World Cup break international window arrived. But now as we sit here in the actual World Cup break, Juventus is actually in the top four and we can actually be relatively OK with how they’ve played over their winning streak.

On this week’s episode of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, we discuss:

• There are no takeaways this week! Because, unless you count Italy’s two friendlies, there were no games to discuss! (Gotta love Italy playing a meaningless friendly on the same day of the opening day of the World Cup, by the way.)
• We don’t know if you’ve heard, but Juventus went into the World Cup break on a six-game domestic winning streak. Because of that, we decided to start out with some positivity.
• What were some of the positives from the first half of the season?
• The kids — most notably Nicolo Fagioli and Fabio Miretti — have been doing pretty well.
• Juventus’ defense has played surprisingly well. So much so that they’ve allowed just seven goals all season — four of those coming in two games — and have the best defense in the league. They went into the World Cup break with six straight shutouts.
• Danilo is good. Bremer is good. Alex Sandro ... also fairly good lately, too?!
• And then the not-so-good stuff from the 2022-23 season. Yes, the Champions League might have been mentioned. Same goes for all those damn injuries Juve’s had this year.
• There’s also how Max Allegri has managed for much of the season — which was not great.
• Twitter questions — including if it’s time to truly move on from Leonardo Bonucci and if Danilo should become a full-time center back with how well he’s played there this season, allowing Juventus to focus on signing a new fullback or two.

You can listen to Episode 126 of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast here:

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