Ranieri and Old Lady come to town:Juventus Preview
By dixon9
February 25 2009
Back to the glamorous European nights again - on this ocassion with the “Old Lady” coming to town. This match is important for two reasons; a chance to make further headway in a major competition that we have a reasonable chance of winning thereby putting a completely different complexion on our season, and of course, the return of the much loved Claudio Ranieri.
"I'm very curious to see how the fans respond to me this time when I come with Juventus," said Ranieri.
"Everywhere in the world when Chelsea fans are around they come up to me and say 'I miss you, you did a great job."
"All the pressure, the pain, the stress and the disappointment of that season was worth it. For the love of the fans, the real love I saw in the eyes of the people when I was walking off the pitch at Stamford Bridge that afternoon."
Ranieri was such an affable character that his presence stemmed a tide of media and oppo fan vitriol directed towards Chelsea once Abramovich bought the club. Of course, many would say that’s because we weren’t successful under the Italian – and they probably have a point – but we mustn’t forget that he did leave the club with a lot of the groundwork already prepared for the “special one” when he took over the reigns in his “I’ll show you how to do it!” style.
Lampard has already doffed his cap to Ranieri during yesterdays pre-match press conference and there’s no doubt that the now Juventus manager will receive a more than just a warm welcome on his return to Stamford Bridge.
Hiddink on Ranieri
New temporary manager Guus Hiddink has never actually crossed swords with Ranieri.
"I met Claudio once or twice - he is a very decent and accessible person. That's the only thing I can say about him,” said the Dutchman.
"Juventus have had their difficult recent past but they have come back into Serie A and are dominating, which is good. They are impressive in Europe with players who have played many years over there. So there is a lot of respect there.”
"It's very personal as to how Claudio might react. Of course when you have been sacked you want to go there and win, that's part of football.
"But the players are not involved in those relations as much as you think.
"Against Juventus it can go either way - at this level it's decided on small details. But we want to win."
Ranieri on Scolari´s dismissal
This will be Hiddink´s second match in charge after Scolari was dismissed and has presented Ranieri with a degree of uncertainty about what Chelsea he could have expected to encounter when he first heard the news:
"We could have done without this change," said Ranieri at the time.
"Now the players will have an excuse and I, who had studied Scolari's team by memory, will have to start from the beginning. It will be another Chelsea and I will only have two weeks to get to know it."
“I was very surprised to hear about Scolari. Maybe it wasn’t a great first season, but it was still a shock. I don’t know if it’s a good way to run a club, but as an Italian I cannot condemn Chelsea. This is our history in Italy. If you don’t win, change, change, change.
Old Lady with old guard
On to team news, it’s highly likely that Ranieri may rely on an old trusted Juve weapon in attack - Alessandro Del Piero.
Del Piero was on of the few that didn’t jump ship in the summer of 2006 when Juventus were relegated to Serie B due to the match-fixing scandals after 13 years in Italy’s top flight. Senior directors had been in “frequent and improper contact with referees” and subsequently had two of their titles confiscated.
Fabio Cannavaro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira were among those who left but Del Piero´s decision to stay has made him even more of a hero to Juve fans.
Although now 34 he was top scorer of Serie A players last season and still takes a dangerous free-kick – he has already scored six so far this season so our defence will have to be on the look-out for swimming pool antics around the edge of the area.
Del Piero´s current form is apparently as imperious as ever and we must not forget the manner in which Del Piero helped dispatch Real Madrid with two goals during the group stage last November which also resulted in the Bernabeu crowd giving the forward a standing ovation.
Del Piero could be partnered by former Chelsea target Amuari – Serie A´s white Drogba, although this will depend on how defensive Ranieri plays it for this leg at Stamford Bridge.
David Trezeguet has recovered from a knee injury and Chelsea old boy Tiago may link up with ex-Liverpool’s Mohamed Sissoko in midfield.
Juventus do have an old guard of players that have or are just recovering from injury. Paulo Nedved, winger Mauro Camoranesi and Cristiano Zanetti’s could all be available.
A new combination
Chelsea of course have the recently invigorated strike partnership of Drogba and Anelka deployed in what could be argued is a switching 4-4-3 to 4-4-2 formation.
Hiddink puts more emphasis on players supporting their team-mates rather than forming rigid formations leaving both Drogba and Anelka to switch or combine at will.
"With Nico coming in off the left side and floating in, he is dangerous. He can pick the ball up and hurt people, so all of a sudden we have options.” said Lampard.
Our full-backs have had their leash shortened since Hiddink has taken the helm although with the return of the rapid Ashley Cole don’t be surprised if the left-sided forward has more licence to push forward.
Mancienne recently revealed that the defence is under instructions for the opposite full-back to drop back when the other pushes forward so don’t be surprised if Bosingwa falls back more to help shore-up the defence in the event of any Juventus break.
Drogba has been revitalised since being awarded a spot in the starting line-up and is determined to make up for the disappointment of Moscow last season:
“My desire is greater than ever to win it. We lost two semi-finals and a final.
“It has been a difficult competition for us. Moscow is very difficult to forget, I still think about it.
“The saddest part for me is the fans. They deserve to win the Champions League and this year we have to play the same way to get to the final but this time bring the trophy back to the Bridge.
“I would love to travel back in time and not be sent off in Moscow. If I was on the pitch I would have taken a penalty. I love taking penalties but sometimes you have to accept this is life.”
Deco has a minor hamstring tear so will not feature tonight whilst Ricardo Carvalho is “on the brink of a return” but will probably be saved for the weekend and Michael Essien is still a few weeks away from first team action.Sentiment but not sympathy
I hope Ranieri does receive a fitting welcome on his return – even a standing ovation – but that afterwards we get on with the job of inflicting the maximum damage possible. As Cech said:
'There will be a lot of emotion, but we need to forget about all this and go through. We play at home first and want to go to the second leg in the best position we can.
Possible line-up:
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:02:25:17:23:57 by dixon9.
The man was an immaculate gentleman and got on with his job once the 'death bell' tolled. How he got through that season when Mr A took over, well credit to him!!
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On me toes shortly
there should be some more pics in the next day or two
COME ON CHELSEA
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.