Skippy5

I have said it enough times in my life it is almost a mantra "win ugly, the game's already beautiful". This was an ugly win. We can now work to make things beautiful with Tudor. My very good friend is a Roma fan (he wears #16 - De Rossi - for our community club team), I hope we can improve on this performance through this week to beat the giallorossi or else it will cost me money as he is also our fine-master in our team. I do see good things coming in what we have shown today and with more work we should be able to achieve our goals.

I really want to get the retro 3rd goalkeeper shirt with ZOFF 82 (as that is my original strong connection to this club) and preferably in size large, but I think they are all sold out. However I keep getting this error message when I go to the shop. I've tried from both home computer and work, but I get the same message. I'm just wondering if there is any issue there? Please let me know, I'd appreciate your help with this.

I wish him all the very best for this great assignment, but I do feel the damage is so large that it can not be solved in a couple of months. Hopefully there is positive change that can be seen, but then with the horror show that is the Club World Cup there will be no off season to make necessary improvements for next season going forward. Grazie Igor for taking on this great challenge, you have cash in the bank with me.

8:45am Saturday morning in New Zealand. In a few months time I'll be up like this again to help with my community club's (Hornby United) kids teams, but today I should be down at our park to continue the efforts our committee has put in painting our very tired 50 year old changing rooms. I hope to get there by 11am, and in a good mood, to make these look good for all our players. Come on Juve make me happy today please!

If we're to purchase a defender from Empoli, then please let it be Libby Cacace. Yeah, left sided only, either fullback or wing back, but I said a few years ago when he was available (and very young) that he should have been targeted for playing in the Next Gen project. Now a regular starter, goal scorer and assist with Empoli he may cost a bit more, but well worth it. Also he's a New Zealander which will be great for the dressing room, maybe Juve could even adopt his former Kiwi club (Wellington Phoenix) as a sister club.

Yes, it could see us playing Man City in the play-off for the round of 16!

If we have to sell, then sell high, but do it soon so a replacement can be brought in quickly. I hear ManUr & Napp(ol)ies are sniffing around Lecce for Dorgu's signature - minimum of €40M being rumored before the club will talk. Once/if we sell, the price to replace will go up because any club selling knows we need a new player and have money to burn. The only way is to replace first or at least have a youth player to fill the place, neither of which I see at the moment.

With our win on the weekend (and still unbeaten in Serie A) and two crucial games in the Champions League (starting with today's match against Brugge) to get into the knock-out stages and Coppa Italia still available, where should Juventus finish the season? I'll put it here (and let's win everything is the first objective) that considering where we are now, and if the team can continue to develop and improve, I would be satisfied with 3rd in Serie A (I think Atalanta is catchable -6 points, but not Napoli or Inter) preferably still unbeaten, quarter-final of the Champions League with a good strong run of results (or some sketchy performances but through to the semi-final) and winning the Coppa Italia. As for the Club World Cup either win it or crash out early to concentrate on next season's Serie A. What do you hope to celebrate at the end of the season?

This is the best Juventus game I have watched for a long time. The team showed great desire from the first to the last whistle. Too many games we seam to phase in and out of playing the game, but today we continued to play through the entirety of the match. I was particularly impressed with Wes Mc as a make-shift right back as he played both attacking and defending situations very well. Overall the whole team did so much better and this now must be the base standard and the team should be striving to improve on this match. Well done lads!

Is this a done deal? I read it as a possibility this morning (NZ time Friday), but said €50 minimum. At this I (in my head - I was at work!) shouted at the computer screen that we should be charging the "financial cheats" double that. I will be very disappointed if we have let such a very good player (and definite Juve lad) go to SHCity for so little as €65 maximum. These deals with the Arabs of Manchester have not been kind to us in the past IMO. I do hope we keep hold of Andrea as I see him as a foundation that we can build our team on for many years to come. I'm not sure who else that can be said for.

I've not seen anything of Fullkrug or Kolo-Muani, but from what I have seen of Zirkzee in the EPL I would not take him. He seams to me to have a serious attitude problem, not willing to work for the team - but then he is one of many in this ManU(er) team that like this. As an example, last week against (another white & black team) Newcastle he was substituted in the first half (because the team needed to change shape), and instead of sitting on the bench with his team he went down the tunnel to the changing room only to come out after he was told by staff that he should be with his team. We don't need that in our squad!

I feel the second half was more assured (I did not yell abuse at the telly nearly as much as in the first half). We could have done more to score, but some credit to Monza's defense, but mostly we stayed in a good block to keep the game tight (Gati was my player only for the second half). One step at a time lads, a big game after Christmas that will help show what side of Europe we will be in next year. This is a crazy table, it is all so close at the top. Don't forget we won the league unbeaten with 15 draws!

Well, my t.v survived, and thanks to a couple of good moments Juve got a very undeserved point. As I've said many times before "win ugly, the game's already beautiful". This was not a win, but it was very ugly! When a team is pressed so hard they need to find the exit (there is always a way out from these situations) but we never found it in this game. We tried over and over again to play through the press and every time it did not work. (I don't like to talk against referees, but Bologna's game plan was evident from the start, the fouls they gave away when Juve tried to break should have been spotted by the ref as deliberate to brake up play and worthy of yellow cards.) We must be better, especially on Wednesday night. As bad as (Sh)ity are at the moment, they will be a big step up from Bologna. Come on Juve, we need to be better, we can be better, we are better than this performance!

WOW! Well thought and well written, thank-you. In reading this I could not help but think of something (and it points to your second scenario at the conclusion). That is like a broken house that is being fixed up for sale, Juve is being put on a level of stability that would be acceptable for another investor. In part I started following Juve (from New Zealand in the late 1980's!) because they are owned by ('car guys') the Agnelli's, but now after more than 35 years of following them, if Juve were owned by someone else I could only see it as a benefit to the club at this moment. Let the queue of the wealthy from the middle east form along Via Druento!

I'm so glad I got mine (authentic one without sponsor or personalisation). It really is a very beautiful shirt, just as good for wearing out to dinner as it is for the stadium. I only hope soon in future years we get a white and black first shirt of equal beauty, it's been too many years since we had a really good first shirt.

I neither agree or disagree. It is usual to have proved or earned this shirt, which I have not seen so much from the lad, but then if no other player wants it, why not let him have it? It is a heavier shirt than the others, he will either be dragged down by it or it will be his super armour to help him to become a great player for our club.

3rd shirt purchased just now. My first ever Juve shirt without customisation. I can't wait for it to arrive. I will be upset if I see a sponsor on this shirt when I receive it. I know it will cost me with my community football team every time I wear it (like we fine our Chelsea team mate for his un-sponsored shirt from last year), but I'm happy to pay for my teams that I love so much.

No, my team has a fine session each week after our games. Just a whole lot of fun where we give each other a hard time and the money of the fines goes to our end of season celebrations.

I really hope the third shirt is released before the sponsor, I would buy it un-personalized and as plain as possible. Although I know it will cost me from my own community team (I have a Chelsea fan with their unsponsored shirt from the start of last season and he has to pay fines every time he wears it). Also have to agree with this, I also have #5, but my nick-name is Skippy and there are many people who only know me as this, but obviously it is not my real name.

I love the Christmas Tree (4-3-2-1). The last boss used it a number of years ago (his first charge) for a few games with good affect. I also had it for my junior team back then too. The star on the top of my tree is now an angel in heaven taken far too soon. I love the Christmas Tree! (Yeah, I'm kind of crying now thinking of Josh.)

Now we just need to have the NZ All Whites football team to play the Azzurri (FIGC) at the stadium to make it completely All White & All Black as it always should be. Just to remind you one of the reasons I have followed Juve since 1988 is that they play in my nations two top international teams' colours.

This is the way society should be. Champions recognizing that we are all the same and that there are joys to be found in games without money. I remember as a kid having sporting heroes come to my school to teach us and they were not paid any more than our teachers, but they always had a great connection with us kids. I understand the modern social media, rapid communication connected era we are in, but I would love to see the superstars wanting and being able to do this type of work again. Edgar Davids is a true legend though!

I'm not sure if I'm right to ask this here (and apologies if I am wrong), but I am having difficulty with finding out what is happening with my purchase from the Club store. I purchased a number of items (this year's second shirt, shorts, socks (I am a Juve tragic!), ball and casual tee-shirt) during Black Friday sales, and although I received an e-mail confirming my purchase (and the money against my credit card), I have not had any confirmation of postal or tracking advice. I have e-mailed the Juventus Store and the Juventus Members Support e-mail addresses for over a week (and again apologies for some of my e-mails), but I have not heard anything back from them. Please note that as I have purchased a lot from the club store I was not too worried as I figured that this time of the year can be very busy, but to not have any information for over 2 weeks I needed to find out what was happening. I guess I would just like to know if anyone else is experiencing this (the club store have always been very good in my previous purchases), or if there are any people involved directly with the club (or the club store) that can tell me what is happening with my purchase. And again sorry to the moderators if this is not correct.

So the package arrived this afternoon, and now I need to update my profile!

I received an e-mail this morning to say "the package is on it's way" and the UPS website confirms this (package sent from 19th Dec). So all is good with the world again! Now I just have to wait 3 weeks for it to be delivered. I'm still not sure if it was being processed when I first e-mailed, or if the many e-mails sent after finally made it happen, but at least it's on it's way. I guess that since I've made such a fuss here I'll have to update my profile with the new shirt when it arrives!