He’s a clever player. He gets those little fouls and pulls that the referee doesn’t see and that’s why he’s won a World Cup, that’s why he’s one of the best defenders in the world.
But I really enjoyed it and thought I did well against him. I held the ball up well at times and made him work.
Our man’s right. Canavarro is one of the best defenders in the world and very impressive in the air for a guy who isn’t even 6ft tall. But Bobby gave him a really good game, battling for everything and making some intelligent runs that, with a bit more luck, could have bought greater rewards – especially in a much tighter second half.
This game also reminded what I didn’t like about the Italian footballing philosophy. Defending is an art form in Italy but at set plays they’ll stop you anyway they can. In the first leg alone, Zamora was kicked from pillar to post and Canavarro ruffled his hair cheekily in that way that people do when they know they committed a bad foul. At corners and free kicks, Juve defenders concentrated on blocking off Fulham attackers rather than watching the ball. One such incident denied Hangeland a goal as Legrottaglie yanked at his shirt, denying him the necessary leverage to head the ball into the far corner.
The thing that surprised me about the Juve defence was how slow and disorganised they were. Fulham had a lot of joy from crosses in the second period and a couple of quick breaks caused the home defence problems. With the Italians short of defenders and likely to have to play their third choice keeper, who helped them blow a 3-0 lead against rock bottom Siena on Sunday.
There’s no doubt Hodgson will go for it on Thursday, though I don’t he’ll throw caution to the wind from the first whistle. Bobby might just be the one smiling after this game.
Being part italian, I loved Cannavaro’s leadership and performances at the World cup in Germany 2006. However, It does irk me that he has gone down the same route as Marco Materazzi as increasingly compensating for diminishing skills with niggly fouls and underhand play.
The shame, for me, is that Canavarro is infinitely more talented than Materazzi ever was. I’ll be interested to see how he and, whoever lines up alongside him, copes with Bobby on Thursday.
Slow and disorganised? They weren’t fast, but how many saves did we force Manninger to make? I think they were well comfortable against us and we’ll need to do much more to get anything on Thursday.
Sorry, Rich, I saw it a bit differently. We got in behind the full-backs a few times in the second half and I fancy if Davies had not slipped at the vital moment and scored that early chance it might have been a different game. What I meant by disorganised was their particularly nervy defending at set plays, especially in the second period, which is something you don’t expect from the traditionally well-drilled Italian side.
I suppose the good news regarding the Juve defence is that Jonathan Zebina is likely to move to CB, which means no wonder goals, with Grygera going to RB. Grygera got torn apart at the weekend by a 30 yr old Maccarone, so Dempsey/Duff might get some joy on that side.
In the first leg Z-bird was flagged offside like 100 times. And many of them were questionable calls.
the juve-offside blog is lamenting all the injuries they’re having. should be interesting to see how this pans out.
I’m very excited about this match. Juves defense is a bit mucked up especially considering that their 3rd choice keeper is playing. It reminds me a little of when United came to the Cottage in December.
The same result would be perfect 🙂
However we mustn’t be too confident. Roy will know the sort of threat that they pose and preventing them from scoring will be very importent. Scoring an early goal and staying solid will be the key!