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Being the boss of SBN Italia has some perks - like, you can tell the network's Juventus blog to answer your ridiculous questions, and they more or less have to go along with it. I was, however, nice enough to not insult the Old Lady at every turn. Not because I love Juve, but because the team at Black, White & Read All Over are pretty awesome.
1) TSS: How is your cat? Does she wake up at strange hours to watch A-League football?
Mrs. ADP is doing quite well. She used to watch A-League football all the time, but now that Fox Soccer Channel has turned into some kind of movie channel that only shows films with tons of loud explosions, she prefers to spend her time running around the apartment or napping on my clean laundry. If only I had the same kind of sleeping habits she does...
2) TSS:
WHERE IS QUESTION TWO??????
TSS: Five questions su campo, Danny.
3) TSS: Andrea Pirlo always seems to attract the most attention - at least from those outside Italy. But who do you think is the most underrated player in the Juventus side?
The Napoli Side of the Story
The Napoli Side of the Story
Two names popped right into my head when I read this. The first, Andrea Barzagli. The second, Leonardo Bonucci. Sometimes it's understandable to get lost in the shuffle when you play in a defense with Giorgio Chiellini and all the craziness he brings to the table. But when you look at a lot of top defender rankings, Barzagli isn't anywhere close to Chiellini even though the former has been one of the best and most consistent Juventus players since Antonio Conte took over as manager. It's been a little different for Bonucci, who had some up and down moments to begin his career in Turin. Much to his credit, though, he has really thrived as the middle man in Conte's three-man defense, providing some pretty impressive distribution in his own to compliment to genius of Pirlo.
4) TSS: With Juventus set to take the title, is it really beneficial for Antonio Conte to keep playing the same squad we've seen for the past two seasons? Does he not know what they can do? Are there any players we're not seeing regularly that you think should be given a chance?
Conte is a man who says he trusts his whole squad, but there are obviously players he prefers more than others. It's tough for him to really rotate the squad right now because there are so many injuries in defense and amongst the forward line. But it is true that Conte really does stick to his guns when it comes to his starting lineup much more often than not. Sure, he rotates his squad every so often, but not as much as a lot of people would like him to. But then again, he's the guy who is about to win his third title in as many years, so it's not like he's doing a lot of bad things as Juventus manager.
(note: this question was meant to say "does he not want to know what they can do...not to be a slight on Conte)
The Old Lady
5) TSS: That being said, it'll be the regulars that play against Napoli. Who's the one the side should be most scared about?
If it wasn't for his suspension, I'd easily say the player Napoli should be most afraid of would be Carlos Tévez because he's been so good all season long. Obviously, when you score a league-high total in goals, you're going to have a lot concentration pointed in your direction, and that would be the case if Tévez was available to play.
But since Carlitos will be out of the lineup and watching from the comfort of his couch on Sunday, I'm going to say a certain 21-year-old dynamo by the name of Paul Pogba. Coming off sitting out his own yellow card suspension last weekend, he looked really, really good against Parma midweek. He seems to have developed a real knack for scoring pretty amazing goals against Napoli since he came to Italy two summers ago. Don't worry, boss lady, I won't send over any gifs to you. If you want, you can look them up, but I'm a nice guy!
