2008-09 Serie A stats

Games / Minutes: 31 / 2369
Goals: 13
Shots / off target / saved: 125 / 43 / 29
Assists / Completed: 61 / 9
Crosses / Successful: 147 / 52
Passes / Successful: 784 / 612
Interceptions / Successful: 100 / 46
Tackles / Won: 2 / 1
Balls stolen: 10
Challenges / Won: 15 / 11
Offsides: 22
Fouls: 49
Fouls suffered: 99
Cautions: 2
Expulsions: 0

Blog: Waiting for Godot



Juventus have put Alex Del Piero’s contract renewal on hold for now, a delay Dave Taylor feels is disrespectful to the flag bearer

Alessandro Del Piero’s contract expires in 2010 and reports suggest that Juventus are dragging their feet in renewing it. Sporting director Alessio Secco’s reasoning is that they are too busy reinforcing their squad and it will only be sorted out after the summer’s wheeling and dealing.

It’s a stance which shows a distinct lack of respect. The club’s reluctance in not handing the captain the new deal which he deserves can be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ageing legs.

Del Piero is not just one of Juventus’ all-time greats, he is a living legend of Serie A and as a consequence it is unpardonable to put him on the back burner like this. Il Capitano is up there on the same pedestal as 90s icons like Roberto Baggio, Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Gianluca Vialli, Gabriel Batistuta and Zinedine Zidane. He is loved and worshipped worldwide and countless people follow calcio thanks to his sublime brilliance.

One of the last true fantasisti still around, for many he symbolises the unconquerable spirit of La Vecchia Signora. For the record, Ale has scored 262 goals for the club and is still counting. He has also helped Juve win seven Scudetti [including those erased by Calciopoli], the Champions League, one European Super Cup, four Italian Super Cups, one Coppa Italia and an Intercontinental Cup, following his arrival from Padova in 1993. He is also the Bianconeri’s all-time appearance leader.

Secco is taking ADP’s loyalty for granted and doubtlessly many clubs would be prepared to exploit the situation. Del Piero has always been tempted by a move to Spain and the Chinese or the Americans would certainly give him a massive final payday to remember.

Certainly with the likes of Sebastian Giovinco and the arrival of Diego his place is no longer guaranteed, but who has been the outfit’s top scorer for the last two years? Who almost single-handedly brought down Real Madrid last season? And who is the club’s top assist man season after season?

So please, Mr Secco, stop playing dangerous games, drop everything and sign up Del Piero on the reduced salary terms which he is willing to accept. He didn’t jump ship when Juve were demoted and the Old Lady must now recognise the fact that he isn’t just a player, he is a symbol of Juventinitá. Sign him up, sign him up now.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_ita...blogs/dt31.html

Del Piero: My Juventus future



Alessandro Del Piero celebrates his contract extension by looking forward to “at least two more” successful years at Juventus.

The captain penned a new deal tying him to the club until June 30 2011 and held a Press conference at the Pinzolo training ground.

“I had been waiting for this for a while and wanted it very much,” he said. “Negotiations were very quick, as we immediately reached an agreement.

“I am happy at Juventus and we are competitive. I want to keep playing for as long as I can and I’m certain that for at least two more years I will be at the top level.”

Del Piero is a hero to the fans and stuck with Juve even after their demotion to Serie B, winning back-to-back Capocannoniere titles.

Now he hopes the Bianconeri can take that final step and win the Scudetto after bringing in Diego, Felipe Melo and Fabio Cannavaro.

“This squad has immense quality. In a one-off game we can beat anybody, so the next step will be to lead the rest of the pack throughout a group phase, a championship or a Cup tournament.

“We made huge sacrifices to strengthen the side and are the second top investors in the market after Real Madrid. That is fact.”

There were fears Cannavaro would be drummed out of the club after returning from Real Madrid amid controversy, but the defender begun pre-season training without incident.

“It is down to him to win back the faith of the fans with a great season. I don’t think he’ll have problems, as he is a real champion and has the total support of all his teammates.”

If Del Piero is still a focal point for Juventus, the same cannot be said of Italy, as he has not been called to the Nazionale under Marcello Lippi’s second reign.

“I have not spoken to Lippi yet,” confessed Alex. “It would be wonderful to go to the World Cup and defend the title we won in 2006, especially as being there would mean I’d had a great season with Juve.

“We’ll have to wait and see what Lippi’s choices are.”

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul17m.html

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Good that the club has tied him down, whilst he is still doing it he is worth a contract because of that and his image at the club.

Del Piero is fronting the Italian version of PES 2010, along with international face Messi.

Del Piero will be out for another month

Hes Back

Yeah he is, I'll post the match thread up soon.

did he dive for that penalty? came up on skysports news and looked like a dive? fucking cheating cunt

If it was it would be the first time he has blatantly cheated like that in his career. Going down easy is one thing, but it doesn't take a visible contact to go down there because of stride and momentum. Either way, when Del Piero's stride changes it is initially outside of the area, so it shouldn't have been a penalty. The referee can't see that though. If Sokratis did clip him it was accidental, just a run across strides. The way Del Piero reacted strongly rather than a hopeful glance says more for me than the video, he is certainly not a cheat.

He said:

“It was a clear foul, there was no sneakiness involved at all. There were no complaints on the field at the time, everything was alright.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3SShxmcg0 0:35

Watching Del Piero's face says more for me, he is surprised at the contact rather than the passive wide-mouthed look you get when players go down like they have been shot. Either way, it was a lucky decision.

so in short he dived to get the needed 3 points, should be banned for that.

So in short, you didn't bother reading my post?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTs2L-aWAKM

If you look at it on 21" his toe clearly stubs the boot of Inler. It doesn't mean that it is a penalty, but you can from his fall it is a trip, you don't have to be an expert on motion. If you look at 15" you can clearly see Inler lift his boot up, but whatever. We can be here all day.

I even made you a pretty picture:



I'm not saying he is the sort of player who never goes down from contact, he is a flair player who takes a lot of kicks, but if we are talking about what was considered blatant cheating with no contact against Genoa then I have to contest it.

dont bother with pretty pictures he cheated lol

Yeah it looked like the reaction of a cheat to be fair, incredulity.

yh acted the way fakeboy does when he tries cheating at times...

Hmmm yeah, Del Piero and Ronaldo, great comparison. I know it is slow on here but seriously, bollocks.

Like I said, contact and outside of the area. It doesn't have to be a massive contact on these incidents. Del Piero was actually shaping to either shoot or drag the ball back, pretty imaginative of him to kick his own leg just as Sokratis caught his stride.

Why do I get roped into these threads? Oh yeah, because I don't have anything better to do on a Monday morning.

He's definitely been caught. Outside the area but wasn't a dive as you can see his right leg change angle due to the contact.

The other example he looks for it, he expects a challenge that doesn't come and was already on his way down and his foot goes to the defender's foot to ensure there's a contact, that was more cheatingf or me....but the recent one he's definitely caught.

On Inler, it's like he is expecting a big flick from Inler - as he is an expert a drawing a foul - but instead Inler restrains himself and only just lifts his foot up as Del Piero is already going to ground, and he ends up stubbing his toe. Del Piero's reaction says it all, there was contact but in the situation not enough to give a penalty and it wasn't anyway so....

An image that says so much

445 games
269 goals

4.4.5 must be the scores they gave him for cheating..

Surely he would get higher than that, this is God in football form!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Del_Piero

yet he dived and cheated before...

Obviously, which is why he got the award!

He had some family at the game yesterday:







His wife is the sister of Nicola Amoruso, so if this lad doesn't have some footballing ability in the future I'll be amazed

Well he won a different one, but it was for sportsmanship....he might have been crazy but you can't say he was a cheat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpy4pw7sdm8

From a neutral perspective, it doesn't look like he blatantly cheated but you can easily tell that he definitely made up his mind to fall as soon as he received contact.

Zac hails Alex the great

Alberto Zaccheroni has welcomed the return of the real Alessandro Del Piero after his performance against Ajax last night.

The talismanic Juventus captain won rave reviews from the tactician after his impressive performance at the Amsterdam Arena.

“Del Piero had a great game,” said Zaccheroni after the crucial 2-1 win. “He was extraordinary for his lucidity, substance and dynamism.”

Del Piero had a hand in both of Amauri’s towering headers just days after himself netting a brace against Genoa.

“He took responsibility for his team,” continued Zac, whose Juve record now reads two wins and two draws from four games. “I’ve not seen him play like that for some time.”

Adding even more credibility to his performance is that the veteran is now approaching his 36th birthday.

“I may be 35-and-a-half-years-old, but I don’t feel that old,” said the club legend. “I feel in good shape and I want to continue for as long as possible.

“I also thank Coach Zaccheroni for his kind words after the match, but it is right to also praise my teammates for their marvellous display this evening.”

Del Piero is currently contracted to the Old Lady until June 2011.

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He's just different class. I think we would be having a very different season if Alex had been fit from the start until December, he is that important. Every year he is top in goals and assists, and a very important leader, one of the most influential players in the game.

Don't speak ill of the Lord!

While I agree he's a class player, I feel as if his presence in the team is in some ways holding Juve back.

To compare him to Raul's situation at RM might be harsh, but sooner or later he will need to be offloaded for a player of the future.

Raul holds Madrid back, but Del Piero absolutely dredges Juve out of the gutter time and again. He is looking really sharp again now as well, he has a new personal fitness coach and seems to have an extra yard of pace back as well as better strength.

If you look at Juve games with and without Del Piero you will see a massive difference in terms of results, statistically he is always a team leader, so whilst that is the case I don't know why he would be replaced. He needs an alternative as he can't play every game, but of course, everything comes to an end eventually.

It's not harsh, it's damn right ridiculous, no offense

How's that ridiculous, you telling me you have forgotten some of those horrible corners DP took at WC2006? He's past it.

The only point I think Ricky has is that it is sad we have to rely on a 35 year old to keep us competitive, no matter how good he is.

I'm pretty sure this summer that the board will bring in a vice-Del Piero for the longer term, it's becoming bloody obvious that no-one has faith in Giovinco now. He is very talented but would be better elsewhere, he'll go in the summer

300th and 301st career goals for Ale at the weekend, 6 goals in 874 minutes this season now.

Del Piero asks for training camp

Juventus captain Ale Del Piero has asked Alberto Zaccheroni if the team can have a training camp where the players will stay at Vinovo all week.

The Bianconeri lost 1-0 to Sampdoria last night and currently lie sixth in Serie A, two points adrift of the Champions League places.

Speaking after the game, Del Piero said: “We have asked if we can go in ritiro to pass a little time between ourselves and rediscover physical and mental energy.

“It has been a devastating week, from the match against Siena and the knock out from the Europa League to Cassano's goal on an evening where the strengths of the two sides were equal until that moment.

“We have suffered an ugly blow. There are nine games left and we can't make any more mistakes.

“It's a shame. We were getting back to our old selves with Zac.

“In seven days we have ruined a month and a half's work,” he concluded.

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It's not rocket science is it. We were doing well with most of the players back from fitness.

Amauri, Buffon (and Manninger), Chiellini go out with injuries and then we go 3-3, 1-4 and 0-1.

Strange but true, he always seems to do better with his white boots

Del Piero hits back at Ferrara

Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero has hit back at Ciro Ferrara after his former team-mate and Coach criticised him in an interview last month.

Ferrara told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he thought Del Piero was a difficult character to deal with in the dressing room because he always wanted to play.

He also called the players 'donkeys' after they failed to turn their season around under Alberto Zaccheroni.

“I believe that that interview was done at a particularly emotional moment,” Del Piero said.

“I am not saying that to justify Ferrara's comments, but I believe it was like that. Certainly none of us at Juventus feel like donkeys.”

When asked if he did want to play all the time, Del Piero said: “The problem is if a player doesn't want to play.

“A player must do everything - obviously only on the pitch - to be a started. But I never asked anyone to start regularly. I only asked to be looked at without prejudice and that I be treated equal with the others. It's my way of thinking and of seeing the situation.

“If a player deserves to play, whether he be 18 or 36, he should play, because the best players should be on the pitch. The fundamental thing is that the team wins. I have always behaved correctly in the dressing room. For my part, there has always been maximum openness and the utmost desire to do well.”

Del Piero then turned his attention to the season ahead.

“We don't have particular objectives,” he said. “The only objective is to get to the end of the season proud of what we have done.

“We must concentrate on getting back to being Juve. In my opinion, this has to be the focal point of our season.”

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This is the only problem with Del Piero, he always pushes to play and some coaches don't react well to it. Capello for one just abandoned him, Ferrara is actually his friend so those are strange comments, but when he plays he can change the game, that much is simple. Next season, maybe it'll be a different story with Diego playing at SS, Delneri says they can't play together.

The freekick master: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OK4UGAl_Lw

WOW!!!!! That is insane! That has to be at least 35 yards? Truly the master, arguably even better than Baggio.

And look at the crowd as well, Juve can go anywhere in Italy and sell out, the funny/sad thing is that if they had played this match at home though they probably would have played in front of a couple thousand.

Yeah the noise was great in Modena, it's pretty sad how everywhere else they go it is packed but in Turin it is about 70% full even at the Olimpico. I think the new stadium will sell out to begin with, just from interest, but after that it will be a mission to keep locals going rather than watching on tv. The novelty factor gets many to these 'away' games.