New year, old Juve. Waiting for the “new” one, the one that will officially be born on January 18th when the new BoD will be elected e Gianluca Ferrero he will take over the office of president from Andrea Agnelli. Meanwhile, however, the first without the president of the last 12 black and white years has spun away in the sign of tradition and of the coach who is closest to him: the 1-0 in Cremona, exaltation of the cheerful “short muzzle”.dusts off the validity of the old saying “first don’t take them”. And with yesterday’s Juventus victories in a row rose to 7, all without conceding goals: the last goals conceded in the league date back to 8 October (2-0 at San Siro against Milan), from there came 21 points, with 13 goals to his credit (four 1-0 wins against Turin, Lecce, Verona and Cremonese, one 2-0 against Inter, one 3-0 against Lazio and one 4-0 against Empoli). Juve aren’t beautiful, they play a football that doesn’t please the eye but is tremendously concrete (and with that bit of luck that always helps): cheerful to the core, best defense for detachment (7 goals conceded, six less than the first pursuers Lazio and Napoli) which compensates for a decidedly less prolific attack than their opponents for the title (25 goals scored against 37 for Napoli, 35 for Inter and 31 for Milan). It should be enough? We’ll see, in the meantime though 11 clean sheets in 16 games championship (European record shared with Barcelona, in Serie A Napoli is at 6, Inter at 5 and Milan at 4) are ensuring a team decimated by injuries a ranking that leaves the road to the top open, especially thinking about when Allegri will be able to make up for the many absentees. So far, come on, Max has trusted the youngsters who will be the Juve of tomorrow – the one of the post Agnelli years – but to continue the race with Naples, Milan and Inter, the Juventus coach needs the tops that the old president has given him made available. Within a couple of weeks – so Allegri himself assured – many, if not all, should return. Di Maria’s return is expected against Udinesefor example, followed by Bonucci, Cuadrado e Vlakhoviceven if the pubalgia leaves no room for certain predictions. Pogba is on the road to recovery, but the many months away from the fields cannot fail to weigh on the Frenchman’s legs, so it is reasonable to expect a gradual return. For now, though, carry on with whoever is there. And the don’t take them first at the moment it is more than enough.
