Juve’s scudetto hopes have pretty much gone down the drain with a draw and a loss the past two games. (6 goals conceded). The blame game continues and this time around Buffon is keeping Ranieri company in the crosshairs. I read the goal article (here) and took it with a grain of salt although the article did bring up some solid points. An opposing point of view was posted via fox news (here) with the article also bringing up valid points.

With new transfer rumours surrounding Buffon, (Ribery-Buffon swap, Barcelona, Man United) it seems all too convenient that his form in question now but I really have to agree that Buffon has not been 100%. At least he’s not been what we expect of Buffon which is apparently god-like goal keeping.

So let’s talk, people.

Though I believe Gigi hasn’t been at his best I do believe he can get back to the top. I’m really not too worried. As a Juve fan I would hate to Buffon leave. I would love to watch him continue with Juve and ultimately retire while wearing the captains band.
But…..for the greater good, a mega-deal offer for Buffon could indeed help Juve make some needed changes. (I’m watching Barcelona-Bayern, Ribery just scored as calm as you could). Juve do have Manninger after all, who has proved he can handle the position.

In the end, I’m a firm believer in Buffon’s ability to maintain top class form up until the day he retires so I hope he’s planted firmly at camp Juve.

Now, what do you think?
What are your views on Buffon’s recent form, all this transfer ish, the possibility of trading Buffon. TELL ME.
I look forward to reading your comments in the next little while.

Sempre Juve

Buffon, since coming back from injury has been playing strong, albeit shaky at times, for Juve and he has expressed his excitement about being back in the CL. I have no reason to expect anything less than a rock solid performance from the #1 himself.

Petr Cech was glorious in last years CL and has been solid this year for Chelsea. Sure, some may say that he was the reason the Czech Republic were eliminated from the Euro’s but I personally believe it was one awful mistake and that he’s moved past it. I have a lot of respect for this man. I’m sure the sour taste of defeat still lingers in his mouth from last year. There’s no doubt he will be giving it his all.

All keepers out there should be watching this match.

For the rest of the teams, check out the Juve offside for a full write up.

Sempre Juve.

Buffon launched his new website earlier today I believe. You can check out a bunch of stuff there. The site itself is either buggy or my computer is just a whack piece of junk. Chances are it’s the latter.

Oh, and I read this on goal.com saying that Buffon told SkySports one of his birthday wishes is he hopes to receive a letter from Barack Obama saying he is Barack’s favourite goalkeeper.

I couldn’t find anything on sky sports regarding it but it’s possible I didn’t look hard enough.

Anyway, Happy 31st, Gigi.

Sempre Juve

Although he didn’t have much to do the entire game it was still good to see Buffon play a full 90 minutes. There were a couple instances in the first 15 minutes where he looked hesitant and there was a clear lack of communication but I will gladly chalk that up to him getting back into the groove. The rest of the match looked much better.

As for his confidence, I would say it was pretty high. Buffon was out playing this match. It’s not too often you’ll see Gigi take on an attacker but he was all about it this match. I watched him twice fake out an attacker then get the ball out which was great to watch.

In the end it was a good match for the #1 to really warm up with and get a taste of action. I imagine Ranieri will still proceed with caution but let’s hope 2009 brings good health.

Sempre Juve

“I think I’ll be back in the New Year. Right now I feel good and I’ve even started training with the other goalkeepers again”

I’m sorry for the lack of posting but I’m sure you all understand. It’s good to hear Buffon is back in training. Juve have been pretty strong but I can’t wait to see Gigi back between the sticks along with the return of Trez. Those are going to be some good times, I hope, though I can’t help but wonder if Buffon will get the starting position right away. Manninger has been pretty strong. He’s slipped up a few times (see previous entry), but overall I’d say he’s been real solid. I mean yeah, Buffon is the #1 but fair is fair, right? Will Gigi have to fight for his spot?

Maybe.
or
Maybe not.
Maybe he’ll just move over to city. hiyo)

Speaking of which, I’ve got to lay off all these new-year transfer rumours. I will admit I’ve been reading the articles but that’s really because the idea of it is pretty far out you know? But seriously, the media needs to calm down. It still gets annoying seeing it everywhere even though I’m a fan of the player.

I probably won’t post until the new year so you all have a safe and happy holidays/new year.

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

The “big” stories so far have been.

1) Buffon + apples makes for a good time

2) Manchester City’s # 1 Joe Hart will have to watch out because Buffon is on his way to blah blah blah blah. There have been a lot of Joe Hart headlines and they’ve been fun to read. “I’m not worried, people think now that we have all this money we’re going to buy the world. It doesn’t work like that.”

3) Buffon almost went to Milan. We kind of knew about this already but I guess he just set it straight.

4) Buffon dealt with depression about 5 years ago. Seriously. Read here. My take on it? “Doc, i’m just too good, football has become boring”

If that last one got you a little down you can roll on over to the Juve offside and watch ADP and Buffon get covered in paint.

——————–

What November 22 means to me. (Not Buffon related)

-Juventus vs Inter – What I feel to be one of the most anticipated matches of Serie A so far. This is going to be epic. We are on a 7 win streak and i’d love to make it 8.

-The day I start my new job. There’s a good chance I will miss this game but there will be many computers around me. I can only imagine how distracted I will be though.

-It’s my Birthday. I would love to just lounge at home in my sponge bob boxers, beer(s) in hand, and watch this game but due to umm life, that can’t happen.
Although!! I’ve been a pretty good guy this year, you know? I’m assuming my good karma will somehow make everything right this one day. Juve will win 8-0, Inter will be relegated that same day for being, well, for being inter and I will bump into that Italian show girl from the video here in the streets of Toronto, Canada and we’ll end up back at my place in a sweaty, tangled, mess of lust.

yup. Good karma.

–EDIT–

Well, we lost 1-0, Inter remained in Serie A and I didn’t even run into that show girl. My good karma pool was not emptied on the 22nd anniversary of my glorious birth which sucks but it will just have to keep collecting for a bigger match.

I would like to move on and look towards Sunday but I’m still upset at Manninger for his poor reaction to the goal. 2 things really stand out that bother me to no end although one of those things is in direct relation to the other so maybe it’s 1 thing with a footnote.

Before the ball even crossed the line, Manninger gave up. He saw an inter shirt to his right and instead of trying to make a stop he stood there and threw his head in disgust. The other thing is that the ball was remarkably close to him. Even if he couldn’t have made the save the fact remains that the ball rolled by 2 feet to his right and he stood there, not a real movement of any kind other than yelling.
I remember him saying he wanted to give Gigi a run for this money when he first arrived and I thought, “Fuck yeah, make him earn that #1 spot.” but now myself and, i’m sure, hundreds of thousands fellow supporters are wishing for the speedy but full recovery of Buffon.

Maybe some of you will say i’m being too harsh but as a keeper myself, again, obviously not at the same skill level, it really angers me. This was a huge game and Manninger dropped the ball. (hah)

FORZA JUVE!!

According to reliable sources this time, Juventus official website, “an ultrasound scan confirmed the diagnosis of a second-degree lesion”

Italy’s doctors: “it will take four weeks to heal. As soon as possible during these four weeks the player will begin physiotherapy coupled with a personal training regime, and will be able to gradually get back training with the team once he has fully recovered. He will be able to play official matches a few weeks after this.”

So we are looking at a return sometime in December assuming the healing process goes according to schedule. Now that’s he out for an extended period of time and I have no hopes to see him play soon, I’d rather see him take as much time as he needs to get back to 100%. If that means a January return, I’m cool with that. Hell, I’m even cool with February.

Honestly though, I was looking forward to the CL clash between Real Madrid and Juve. Casillas vs Buffon is always fun to watch.

On another note, I know if I was told to chill out for a month+ and happened to have a sexy wife i’d be taking full advantage of my opportunities.

Here’s to a speedy recovery and gettin it on.

But the fact still remains that he’s out for about 3 weeks according to reports. It’s not even his strained muscle that kept him out for the past week and a bit, It’s his damn back pains. The thing that took him out near the end of last season.

I’m sure some of you are saying, “well that sucks but at least we have Amelia.”
See, what scares me about this predicament is the lack of international experience on Amelia’s behalf. He has u-21 and Olympic experience, according to wikipedia, where italy did pretty good but I don’t think it can compare. Take Giovinco for example. Wicked player, played very well in the Olympics but he’s been a bit shy at camp Juve.
I think one of the things that makes Buffon such a great keeper is his ability to control his defenders the way a keeper should. It’s also the reason I partially believe Juve wouldn’t have tied against Calso and Sampdoria if he was playing. (Palermo was just a bit of a disaster, iv’e got nothing for that game.)
My worry is if Amelia will be able to really get his defence together, if he’ll hold that same power over them. We’ll have Cannavaro to help out, which is kind of nice to know, but the keeper is still largely responsible for keeping things together and yelling random swears at his defenders.

On top of all this, Camoranesi is out too for what channel4.com is saying to be “just 20 days”. Man, that’s like fucking 3 weeks too. Camo has been a little off lately but i’d still rather have the guy there on the bench then not have him at all.

We’ll have to just wait and see how things turn out. Lippi’s squad is looking alright for the most part. I’m definitely with Julian on the still-lack of Cassano. Shit is just straight messed up though he didn’t say he would never call on him. Hopefully “I want to see other players at the moment” is his way of saying, “i’m not completely bat-shit crazy”

Buffon is out for 10 days, at least that’s what were hoping, after suffering an muscular injury relatively early in the game against Cagliari. It sucks to hear but Gigi himself is confident in both his recovery and Alex Manninger’s ability to keep balls out and I would have to agree with him. Manninger looked pretty good.
I’m hoping when Buffon is back he continues to throw down. Have you guys been watching the games? He’s been practically flawless. He hasn’t been tested a whole lot but he’s never out of position when he has been forced into action he’s come up with some big saves.

But after all, this is why we love him. Here’s to a speedy recovery.

Anyway, I’ve got to run out and I just felt like posting this video. It’s from the Cyprus match it’s focus is on Buffon and Di Natale. If you missed the match you’ll get a good idea of why everyone has been praising Buffon for keeping Italy in this.

Hells yeah.