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Juventus pride bites the dust with slaughter by AS Roma
Milan, Feb 10: Crushed 4-0 by AS Roma and trailing Serie A leaders AC Milan by eight points, Juventus are asking themselves an unusual question -- what happened to our title-winning defence?
Milan, Feb 10: Crushed 4-0 by AS Roma and trailing Serie A leaders AC Milan by eight points, Juventus are asking themselves an unusual question -- what happened to our title-winning defence?
Marcello Lippi's side, winners of the past two Serie A titles, have had the tightest defence in Italy for each of the past four seasons.
But having conceded 25 goals so far in this campaign, they have the worst defensive record of any of the teams in the top eight.
After just 20 games of the season, Lippi's team have already conceded more goals than in their entire title-winning campaign in 2002.
At the Olympic Stadium on Sunday, Roma's Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano tortured the Juve defence throughout the game and their combination of invention and speed proved too much for the central defensive pairing of Nicola Legrottaglie and Paolo Montero to cope with.
Uruguayan Montero had a nightmare game, conceding the penalty shortly after the break which allowed Totti to put Roma 2-0 up and then minutes later getting himself sent off for a crude kick at Totti.
The 33-year-old's lack of pace was frequently exposed and his hot temper, always a problem, left his team 2-0 down and with ten men.
Legrottaglie, who joined Juve from Chievo in the close-season, has struggled to settle in and has never looked as comfortable as during his impressive performances in Verona and with Italy.
Bureau Report
Marcello Lippi's side, winners of the past two Serie A titles, have had the tightest defence in Italy for each of the past four seasons.
But having conceded 25 goals so far in this campaign, they have the worst defensive record of any of the teams in the top eight.
After just 20 games of the season, Lippi's team have already conceded more goals than in their entire title-winning campaign in 2002.
At the Olympic Stadium on Sunday, Roma's Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano tortured the Juve defence throughout the game and their combination of invention and speed proved too much for the central defensive pairing of Nicola Legrottaglie and Paolo Montero to cope with.
Uruguayan Montero had a nightmare game, conceding the penalty shortly after the break which allowed Totti to put Roma 2-0 up and then minutes later getting himself sent off for a crude kick at Totti.
The 33-year-old's lack of pace was frequently exposed and his hot temper, always a problem, left his team 2-0 down and with ten men.
Legrottaglie, who joined Juve from Chievo in the close-season, has struggled to settle in and has never looked as comfortable as during his impressive performances in Verona and with Italy.
Bureau Report