It came as only vague surprise to find the latest former player to visit Continassa linked with a job at the club. And now it appears employed by the club. With Simone Padoin rejoining the ranks as part of Max’s coaching staff.
Whilst there is some sentimental value attached, given the player spent 4 years in black and white and was noted for his professionalism, utility, no frills but determined approach…there is also growing concern that we are becoming an old boy’s club at management level. A hoped for meritocracy thwarted by nepotism.
What experience as a coach does Padoin bring to Juve, or more appropriately, as a collaborator? What skills has he demonstrated to the management to convince them he has shown elsewhere firm evidence of what they expect him to bring to Juve?
Similar worry abounds for Cherubini. Who may well have proven very loyal, very professional in his former roles in charge of the Youth sector, and playing some closer connection to Paratici more recently, but to place him in the immensely key role of SD, basically in charge of our recruitment, seems to me not quite based upon proven experience in a similar role at a similar level. I would have preferred for us to be seeking another wily operator with long established connexions to other clubs, agents, players with demonstrable expertise for spotting talent, working with scouting groups, offering great return on investments through the quality (potential or established) they bring in, and through the sales we make with players we want to leave, or who wish to leave. Cherubini has zero of these core requirements.
Yes yes! De Rossi is a ‘collaborator’ for Mancini with La Nazionale, one of several. And so what eh? De Rossi for me was a high level player with a warrior mentality who long played near the top of the game earning more caps for his country than most others in history. I suppose a parallel can be drawn with Padoin knowing Juve, and Max, though he was nowhere near a first XI regular, and nowhere near the quality of De Rossi for club or country.
So what does he bring? More than I am painting with trademark cynicism in virtual ink here and now I hope…as this idea of Juve becoming a finishing school for fledgling coaches, managers, SDs further dawns and bemuses. Perhaps we can apply for some funding from Coverciano?
Despite the reported wishes of the player, and interest from a club where he is happy to return, Mattia Perin looks set to stay put as our number two for the season. Genoa have recently signed Sirigu, who we were also interested in but the veteran wanted more assurances of first team football. Ironically if we had lowered the price significantly (around 10M) or allowed another free loan, they would have taken Perin, and perhaps we would have persuaded Sirigu. Regardless of the merry go round which has left the italian shot stopper at Juve, I have hope that Max has assured him that he has a serious role to play, perhaps to the point, at best, of telling both Tek and Perin, that we are starting with a fresh slate with neither yet guaranteed the starting jersey. This would motivate them both, and that competition between them could well bring out their collective best this coming season.
I have long been a fan of Mattia. His cat like reflexes, acrobatic form, command of the box are all high quality and he has that unique madness in his eyes often found in the very best of his craft. And I suspect few would know unless they watched Genoa last season, that Perin was one of the best in the league.
Of all goalkeepers in Serie for the 20/21 campaign who played at least 25 games, Perin emerged with the strongest save % of them all. Added to this…he also comes out hugely on top in the curious ‘Post Shot Expected goals minus Goals Allowed‘ rankings>>>
https://fbref.com/en/comps/11/keepersadv/Serie-A-Stats
Which our very own Tek contrasted poorly with a -1.9 rating.
“it is also useful for assessing goalkeepers and it should be obvious why. If just using Expected Goals to assess a goalkeeper it doesn’t take into account whether the shot even hit the target at all. It also doesn’t consider whether a shot from a high xG tariff position was smashed into the corner, or was scuffed into the keeper’s arms. Post-Shot Expected Goals, therefore, looks at the likelihood of the goalkeeper in question saving a shot based on the PSxG of where the shot ended up. Clearly this is much more beneficial is assessing a goalkeeper’s shot-stopping ability. PSxG puts the goalkeeper on the spot; it sidelines clean sheets, or saves P90, or save percentages, because those could be as a result of a solid defence in front of them. with PSxG, however, it’s on the keepers to save the shots. And this will likely become a more naturally-used statistic for goalkeepers in the years to come. “(https://www.footballcritic.com/features/post-shot-expected-goals-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-different-from-expected-goalsc/773)
The nut of the matter is that the above statistical analysis supports my own assertion that he is one of the best shot stoppers in the league.
Not the biggest or smallest, he gets down and back on his launching lower paws very quickly indeed, parries strongly, is fearless, offers superb positioning and awareness and other than Audero returning to be groomed as our future number one, for me, Perin is a wonderful new signing for the club.
We all have this idea that Max perhaps played a role in the club not pursuing Donnarumma, and if there is any truth to this, then I would like to believe it was more of a case of him suggesting something along the lines of…
‘we don’t have much money to play with, and I would rather spend what we have on other key areas of the side, mainly CM, a CF if Ronaldo leaves and a LB if anything is left over in the kitty and we have a good option to improve upon a workable yet long in the fang jaded Sandro. Between the sticks, we have Tek, who remains a decent keeper and let me speak to Mattia…as I will speak to Tek also…and I will tell them both, nobody has a concrete starting position. Show me why you deserve it. Every week in training, every game you get.’
Enough of my Perin love!
We recently signed Elias Solberg. A 17 year old Norwegian right winger from Ullensaker/Kisa IL who play in the second tier in Norway. Some curious reports of us persuading the lad to head to Turin by comparing him with Haaland…Little is known of his talent, yet this video suggests great promise>>>
As he has already broken into senior football I assume if he stays within the Juve setup he will be involved with the U23 side, if not loaned out. Looks a talent with beautiful close control and reading of the game.
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