The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, Episode 145: Is the Europa League Juve’s only hope?

Things are getting quite interesting — and that’s not necessarily a good thing at this stage of the game.

On one hand, Juventus holds a slim lead over Sporting heading into the second leg of their Europa League quarterfinal matchup this coming Thursday. But on the other hand, Juventus’ form against domestic opposition has left a lot to be desired of late, with Max Allegri’s squad suffering their third loss in their last five Serie A games on Sunday against Sassuolo. It was a drab affair, with the same kind of issues we saw against Lazio a week earlier show their face again.

So, when it comes to something we didn’t imagine ourselves saying before the season, at least there’s the Europa League?

Ah, yes! The Europa League!

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

• Takeaways from the week that was — how some of us never want to see Leandro Paredes play for Juventus the rest of the season, how Danilo has become a secret midfielder of sorts during the last couple of games, and the schedule crunch is very much on for Juventus and how Sunday’s loss to Sassuolo (as well as other Serie A teams who are still alive in Europe) started to show some cracks.
• Thoughts on Thursday’s win over Sporting in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals.
• Thoughts on Sunday’s loss to Sassuolo that served as the latest hit to Juventus’ chances of finishing in the top four if the 15-point penalty is to remain.
• Twitter questions — including the form of Filip Kostic, why Juventus don’t press higher and take advantage of the pace of the center backs, #DeZerbi in if it’s #AllegriOut, and what are our predictions for the next few games on all three fronts.

You can listen to Episode 145 of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast here:

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