The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, Episode 171: Juventus pass their Lazio test with flying colors

We were all wondering how Juventus would come out of the first international break of the season. That was mainly because that first fixture out of said international break was the first big test of the 2023-24 season, with Maurizio Sarri and Lazio rolling into Turin on the back of a win over reigning champions Napoli.

That first big test ... ah, man, it was passed.

Passed big time. Big, big time.

Juventus marked their return to the Allianz Stadium with one of their best performances of the Allegri 2.0 era, crushing Sarri and Lazio 3-1 to make quite a statement right out of the international break. The press was humming, the big-name strike partnership of Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa scored all three goals and the much-maligned midfield was far from the troublesome unit that it has been in many a big game over the years.

It was, without a doubt, a good time to be at the Allianz last Saturday afternoon.

The atmosphere met the performance. It was good times all around, folks. And that makes for happy podcasting. Oh boy does it make for happy podcasting.

On Episode 171 of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, we discuss:

• Takeaways from the week that was — including Juve’s international break was chaotic and the off-field issues could have distracted the team again ... but it didn’t, how possession continues to be a funny thing like it was against Lazio, and how there is an attitude difference in this season’s Juventus team and it’s most on display in goal celebrations.
• So, that win over Lazio ... pretty good!
• How significant of a chance — for the better! — this season has been so far and how Juve are getting it done on both ends of the field through their first four games.
• Not everything is totally great for Juventus right now, with Paul Pogba being provisionally suspended for failing a doping test and former captain Leonardo Bonucci reportedly suing the club for damages after being frozen out of the squad this summer.
• Social media question of the episode: Considering there were so many choices, who was the man of the match against Lazio?

You can listen to Episode 171 of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast on your preferred podcasting platform or through the player embedded below:

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