Juventus vs Livorno - Italian Serie A

As a request of one of my readers, I am now going to make the exra effort to add a little more focus to Italian soccer. I figured I would do this by previewing one of the two games that are to take place this weekend: Livrono vs. Juventus. With Juventus struggling in 5th in the Serie A and Livorno "cruising" at 16th, one would think this should be a lopsided game. However, I don't believe so. When you look closely at these two teams, there are few differences. Juventus only has four more wins that Livorno but is 11 places ahead of them in the Serie A; furthermore, both teams have concedded about the same number of goals in the current season with Livorno at 30 and Juventus at 30. But why I think Livorno could cause some damage here is because all the top teams in the Serie A have all only concedded approximately 20 goals, not 30. And a second reason why I think Livorno could beat Juventus is because Livorno, lately, has been doing very well. Just this past Sunday, they were able to gain a point out of their game with 2nd place AC Milan. This will certainly be a game to watch for those Serie A fans.

Juventus vs Livorno earlier this season.


Cleat of the post: Lotto Zhero Evolution Tre.

And the new manager of Juventus is...?

Manager, Ciro Ferrara, of Juventus has officially been fired. His replacement? Former AC Milan and Inter Milan manager, Alberto Zaccheroni. But the big question in all of this is why? There were numerous reasons for this decision by the club. Earlier in the season Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League. Then, Ferrara was unable to get positive results in the Serie A. And now to make it worse, on Thursday night they were knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Inter Milan in a 2-1 loss. Clearly, the path had been etched in early on in the season and changes were very much in demand. The club took action and put in Zaccheroni. Unfortunately, over the past few years Zaccheroni's performance has been much less that par.

However, the bigger news in all this is that Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has been suggested to take over the job after this season comes to an end. Benitez was interviewed prior to his Liverpool game this week but declined to discuss matters about this because he didn't want to, I quote, "lose my focus." Personally, this is the same kind of "beating around the bush" that Cristiano Ronaldo had way back when he was first linked to having a move to Spanish side Real Madrid. Obviously, only time will tell.


Cleat of the post: Umbro SX Valor II