The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, Episode 95: Juventus slog through another weekend

Is it safe to say that Juventus hasn’t exactly saved its best for the last part of the season so far?

Because I feel like it’s safe to say that Juventus hasn’t exactly saved its best for the last part of the season so far.

That was very much the case on Saturday night, with Juventus putting forth one an absolute stinker of a performance in a 1-1 draw with Bologna. That same Bologna side that has had its own struggles — especially away from home in 2022 — over the last few months and is dealign with its manager being away from the club once again due to health reasons. But it was on this day that Bologna rolled into Allianz Stadium and looked completely comfortable with how they were playing as Juve had little to answers in how to turn the game around.

Oh, and Bologna played the final stretch of the game with nine men.

That’s not good, right? Yet, somehow, Juventus only got a stoppage-time equalizer to come away with a point in a game that they almost certainly deserved to lose.

So, as much as we hoped to talk about better things this weekend, that wasn’t happening.

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

• Takeaways from the weekend — including the fact that fourth kits might not be as bad as we might not think they are, how Max Allegri went incredibly far not to give Fabio Miretti playing time against Bologna and how difficult Allegri’s selection was Saturday night without so much of the squad’s spine out injured but how he should have kept it simple.
• Minimal talk about Juventus’ draw with Bologna.
• Why? Because that game was very bad. And instead our talk of the Bologna match spurred a discussion about how Juventus’ handling of young players coming through the academy and Under-23 team has not been the greatest.
• The decision by federal prosecutor’s office in Italy to drop all charges in the plusvalenza case involving Juventus, Napoli and other clubs. Juventus President Andrea Agnelli reportedly faced lengthy suspensions for their roles in the case.
• Twitter questions — including if Allegri playing a midfield of Adrien Rabiot, Danilo and Juan Cuadrado against Bologna proof that Agnelli doesn’t like Alessandro Del Piero, who made his long-awaited return to Allianz Stadium after 10 years and what Lapo Elkann’s Twitter fingers getting spicy after Saturday’s draw mean for Juve’s future.

You can listen to Episode 95 of the Old Lady Speaks here:

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