Calcio Debate: Del Piero – Trezeguet & Great Forward

On Sunday evening Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet once again showed just how outstanding their forward partnership is by sharing another three goals between them. Carlo Garganese asks where the Juve-duo rank with some of the great Serie A partnerships of the past…

Anyone who saw David Trezeguet’s second goal against Livorno a couple of nights ago will surely have stood up and applauded the telepathic link-up play between the Frenchman and strike-partner Alessandro Del Piero.

Since the year 2000 when Trezeguet first joined Juve, the pair have been terrorising opposition defences, scoring goals galore virtually every season.

The level of consistency over a period of nearly eight years is something quite extraordinary. Below is the total of combined goals scored by Trez and Del every season from 2000.

2000/01: 24

2001/02: 53

2002/03: 36

2003/04: 36

2004/05: 31

2005/06: 49

2006/07: 38

2007/08 (so far): 23

In total, according to the figures above, Del Piero and Trezeguet have hit 290 goals between them.

When you consider that Filippo Inzaghi was first-choice for large portions of Trezeguet’s first season, while Del Piero was often substitute or substituted during Fabio Capello’s time in charge, then this accumulation is even more impressive.

Then of course there are injuries to consider, as well as the fact that Trezeguet doesn’t take penalties, although of course this is perhaps countered by the fact that Del Piero does.

Many have always doubted whether Del Piero and Trezeguet were really made to be a partnership. Neither is renowned for their physical strength, nor for their ability to hold up the ball, or most importantly for their pace.

Some top strikers have also joined Juventus over the past eight years, probably to give Juve an extra dimension in this sense.

The likes of Marco Di Vaio, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and most recently Vincenzo Iaquinta have all threatened to lead to the downfall of one of the pair.

Di Vaio had an excellent start to his career in Turin in 2002, but soon fell off the radar as it became obvious that he was no match for either of Trezeguet or Del Piero.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined in 2004 and soon became a favourite of Fabio Capello, who clearly preferred the Swede to Del Piero.

Although Ibra was outstanding in his first season, scoring 15 Serie A goals, everyone will remember that he couldn’t hit a barn door in his second campaign, netting just seven times.

Meanwhile Del Piero, who as mentioned above was often used as a substitute (or substituted early in the second half), still managed to score just one less than Ibrahimovic in the latter’s first season (in fact two more if you include Champions League goals), while in 2005/06 he hit the back of the net 20 times in total. Trezeguet meanwhile smashed in 45 during these two years.
This sequence has continued this current campaign. Vincenzo Iaquinta was brought in from Udinese and in truth has made an excellent start to his Juve career. The 28-year-old even dislodged Del Piero as a first-choice starter for a while.

However it soon became clear once again that Iaquinta could not match the [goalscoring] consistency of Del Piero and Trezeguet, and it was only a matter of time until the old partnership was resumed.

At the age of 33 and 30 respectively, the duo are still going very strong, and have already hit 23 goals between them this season, particularly impressive when you consider how weak and embarrassingly uncreative Juventus’ midfield currently is.

At times it is true that Del Piero and Trezeguet do not seem like they are well-suited to each other and a lack of pace can be a problem in some games.

However statistics do not lie and when the partnership is finally broken up for good, the pair will surely go down as one of Serie A’s great deadly duo’s.

Some Great Duo’s From The Past (note these are not necessarily both centre-forwards. They could be two players, like Michel Platini and Paolo Rossi, who just had an outstanding understanding together)

Andriy Shevchenko & Filippo Inzaghi (Milan)

Alessandro Del Piero & Filippo Inzaghi (Juventus)

Giuseppe Signori & Pierluigi Casiraghi (Lazio)

Fabrizio Ravanelli & Gianluca Vialli (Juventus)

Gabriel Batistuta & Francesco Baiano (Fiorentina)

Marco Van Basten & Daniele Massaro (Milan)

Roberto Mancini & Gianluca Vialli (Sampdoria)

Diego Maradona & Careca (Napoli)

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge & Alessandro Altobelli (Inter)

Michel Platini & Paolo Rossi (Juventus)

Francesco Graziani & Paolo Pulici (Torino)

Roberto Bettega & Roberto Boninsegna (Juventus)

Angelo Sormani & Pierino Prati (Milan)

Omar Sivori & John Charles (Juventus)

Calcio Debate: Signing Sissoko A Huge Mistake For Juve

It is common knowledge that Juventus are on the market for a top-class centre midfielder during this month’s transfer window.

This has led to a host of big names being linked to the club, including the likes of Diego, Rafael Van der Vaart and Javier Mascherano.

Ultimately though it seems that the Old Lady have plumped for Liverpool battler Momo Sissoko. “The negotiations with Juve are close to conclusion. I can confirm that there are advanced negotiations between the Bianconeri and my agents.” the player told RMC a couple of days ago.

The 22-year-old Sissoko seems to have this mythical reputation, particularly in Italy, as the “new Patrick Vieira”. In reality nothing could be further from the truth.

The Malian is quite possibly the most over-rated player currently in circulation. He can’t pass, he can’t tackle without getting booked, he has poor technique and his shooting is abysmal as exemplified by the fact he has only scored two goals in his entire career.

The only attributes that Sissoko has in his locker are physical – he has excellent stamina and can run all day long. However does this make him a good player?

Most certainly not, as if this was the case then Olympic athletes would combine football with their track & field careers.

Admittedly at the age of 22, Sissoko is still very young and there is still a lot of time for him to improve. He may surprise me and suddenly develop an ability to pass, tackle, shoot, and control a ball. If he does I hold my hands up and apologise, however I just cannot for the life of me understand why Juventus would be prepared to pay the reported €15m for the player.

Juventus director of sport Alessio Secco had a disastrous transfer campaign last summer, and I am really beginning to doubt his competence at his job.

The Bianconeri splashed out €22m on Tiago Mendes and Sergio Almiron, a huge amount of money on two players that were never going to be a title-winning or Champions League-winning centre-midfield partnership.

Surely it would have been better to spend that money on one guaranteed world-class midfielder?

His other signings from last summer have also failed to shine. Jorge Andrade was awful in the opening weeks of the season before his serious knee injury, while Zdenek Grygera and Hasan Salihamidzic have hardly set the world on fire.

The only new players this season that have impressed are Antonio Nocerino and Vincenzo Iaquinta, and it may surprise you to know that neither of these were Secco’s signings.

They were in fact former transfer guru Luciano Moggi’s players. Iaquinta was tracked by Lucky Luciano for a number of years, while Nocerino joined the Juve youth-system six years ago before being sent out on loan and co-ownership deals.

Indeed the real reason Juventus are performing so well this season is everything to do with Moggi and nothing to do with Secco.

It is the likes of Trezeguet, Chiellini and Buffon who have been protagonists, while even the brilliant crop of youth players that includes likely future Italy internationals such as Sebastian Giovinco, Claudio Marchisio and Domenico Criscito was Moggi’s work.

The imminent signing of Momo Sissoko appears to me only a continuation of the disastrous transfer policy of Secco.