Phew. Life’s been doing its thing. Trying to catch up. What accounts for his starting again? There were quite a few Juve fans implying he’d be lucky to see the pitch.
Genoa Juventus 0-3, le pagelle della partita di Serie A - Sky Sport MCKENNIE voto 6 Genoa-Juventus, le pagelle di CM: Vlahovic trascinatore, finalmente Koopmeiners. De Winter che errore! I tried translating it but it's not too easily translated.
FWIW on their fan sites they are coming around on him again. Some comments that he's less headless chicken type more tactical defender especially and even with all their midfield additions he should probably keep starting.
Since he arrived at Juve, there has been a mix of emotions on Weston McKennie from Italian pundits and fans alike. Only a few months ago, Italian fans online and on TV (Fulvio Collovati on the domencia sportiva for example) seemed to hate Weston and wanted him out at all costs. Now they seem to be coming back around and supporting him. Fans are always fickle so it's not uncommon that they are behind him now.
The fans seem to be reflecting the same feelings as the club. It's a very toxic relationship, but it's fun to watch.
This goes on daily in most of Europe's top 5 leagues but it's even more prevalent in Italy. When I lived there, you had 4-5 (local and national) radio stations talking about the teams, players and leagues hourly. Then another 3-4 stations on Sky TV talking about teams all day long. There were maybe 10 daily sports publications and national newspapers. This doesn't include the show people, show girls and politicians who all had and have a say in what goes on with soccer teams, coaches and players. Now you even have more with online feeds and streams. Juventus is the biggest team in Italy and most of Southern Italy supports them. The fans voices are heard, and people analyze everything from tactics, styles of play, injuries and even what players eat and drink. I don't know about many other nations do this but even though it may be exaggerated , , this is a daily occurrence in Italy and a reality.
Why Southern? Though the only person I know who was born in Italy is from near Palermo and is a Juve supporter, so that tracks.
Traditionally anyway, teams in the south, Fiorentina (even though it’s up north are still considered to be a southern town) , Roma, Lazio, Napoli, Lecce, Bari, Messina, Reggina, Crotone, Catania and Palermo all pretty much suck. Only 3 teams have won 7 scudetti in history. Roma 2 , Lazio 2 and Napoli 3. Fans in those cities still support the local teams but most of them mostly support the big 3, Juventus, Inter and Milan. Those are the top teams and the ones who always win so obviously, they have support from all kinds of fans in southern Italy. I remember being in Cosenza, Calabria when Milan beat Juventus in the Champions League final in 2003 and you had two sets of fans celebrating, honking horns and going crazy, I recall a few fights breaking out as well among supporters of both teams. Most of my cousins and friends in Rome either support Lazio and Roma but they also support one of the other three. Same goes for the regions of Tuscany, Lazio, Campania , Puglie , Abruzzo , Calabria and Sicily.
Yes, yes we did. As facts change, opinions can change. Juventini of various nationalities including the US expected Douglas Luiz, Koopmeiners, and Thuram or Fagioli to be the starters. Facts were that Juventus was spending over 100m on 2 of the best CM in Europe.1 was the best AM in Serie A, the other was one of the best CM in the Prem. A lot of people can eat crow (myself included) if Wes/TM continues down this path and if the results continue, he is absolutely justified for it. Douglas Luiz so far isn't what he was made out to be from his time in the Prem and Wes is doing more than fine as the starter.