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Predicted Juventus lineup vs Cagliari: Juve looks for strong start to new decade

By John Vaccaro

Paulo Dybala, Juventus (Photo by Federico Tardito/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting via Getty Images)
Paulo Dybala, Juventus (Photo by Federico Tardito/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting via Getty Images) /
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TURIN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 26: Miralem Pjanic of Juventus (L) in action against Victor Machin of Atletico de Madrid (R) during the UEFA Champions League group D match between Juventus and Atletico Madrid at Juventus Arena on November 26, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 26: Miralem Pjanic of Juventus (L) in action against Victor Machin of Atletico de Madrid (R) during the UEFA Champions League group D match between Juventus and Atletico Madrid at Juventus Arena on November 26, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images) /

CM: Blaise Matuidi

Before the Supercoppa match against Lazio, I thought this match against Cagliari would be the one where we finally saw Blaise Matuidi sent to the Juve bench. However, he was given new life when Rodrigo Bentancur earned himself a 3-match ban at the end of the match against Lazio. Now we’ll see Matuidi continue to stagnate the offense and not make the defensive contribution we’d hope for over the next few matches. This spot could go to Adrien Rabiot, but I’m not even sure how much longer he’ll be at Juve and if they’re trying to move him, I don’t think we’ll see him get any more starts. This leaves Matuidi as the only option to take this position. I really wish we were past this, but Juve continues to struggle to improve in the midfield. Hopefully Bentancur can take over this spot once his suspension is over.

CM: Miralem Pjanic

When Maurizio Sarri joined Juventus, he was expected to bring the best out of Miralem Pjanic. However, we just haven’t really seen that yet. He has distributed the ball well to help Juve hold possession in matches, but he hasn’t created goals like he was a couple of years ago. Now, Sarri has had a couple of weeks to work with his squad without having a specific match to prepare for, so we should see his style of play implemented more smoothly going forward. How Pjanic performs in this match should tell us a lot about what Juve will look like for the rest of the season. Hopefully Sarri was able to make the necessary changes to this squad and we finally see Pjanic pulling the strings of the dangerous attack we expected this season.

CM: Emre Can

I was certain that we had seen the last of Emre Can at Juve in 2019. However, Juve is suddenly uninterested in swapping him for Leandro Paredes or moving on from him at all. That leads me to believe that their plans have changed and he’ll become a much more important piece of the Juve midfield going forward. That should begin with the match against Cagliari. I think Juve will choose him over Rabiot here, especially if Rabiot is now the midfielder they are planning to get rid of. Can hasn’t been very good this season, but he’s the best option Juve has available right now. Unless Aaron Ramsey is suddenly ready to join the starting lineup, I expect to see a lot of Emre Can this month.

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