We sit here on the eve of Juventus’ third fixture coming out of the November international break and there are two very notable numbers — although technically the same number — that have come to the forefront in those first 180-plus minutes of game time.
Number of Juventus wins: 0
Number of Juventus goals scored: 0
Two games — two very important ones at that — and no wins for Thiago Motta’s squad as they simply try and survive one of the biggest injury crunches in quite a few years at Juventus. But even though the two results have not been losses, they also haven’t been wins, and they’ve extended a trend from earlier this season in which Juve have been failed to score and/or failed to win.
Could the third game out of the international break be the charm to turn Juventus’ recent form around a bit?
While there is not much easing of the current injury situation, at least the same can’t be said about the schedule on the whole. At least domestically, with the first of a December full of mid- to lower-table domestic opponents prior to the final fixture of 2024 against red-hot Fiorentina coming in the form of 15th-place Lecce at the Via del Mare on Sunday night. It’s the kind of matchup that, despite Motta having players injured up and down the roster outside of his three goalkeepers, could very well be viewed as a potential get-right game because of Lecce’s struggles for much of the 2024-25 season.
I say that because not only are Lecce just a couple of points above the relegation zone as we quickly approach the midway point of the schedule, but also because they have scored just six goals through their first 13 games this season. Even worse, Lecce has scored all of three goals since the beginning of October, with one of those goals coming last weekend in their 1-0 win over fellow relegation battler Venezia, their first game with new manager Marco Giampaolo, who took over for Luca Gotti during the international break. (Yes, the same Venezia that Juventus will be playing in two weeks.)
The thing is, Juve haven’t scored a goal in nearly 200 minutes of game time. A team that has draws galore up and down the list of results so far this season has added a pair of scoreless draws in two very winnable games even with everything going on involving the injuries stacking up and not relenting.
The injury situation won’t be any better with the trip to Puglia, with even fewer senior team players available to face Lecce than we saw midweek in England. But against a Lecce side that has just three wins as we hit the December slate of games, collecting a third straight draw certainly won’t feel like an accepting-of-the-circumstances kind of deal like the first two might have.
Juventus went into the international break down in sixth but within touching distance of virtually every team in front of them because things were so tight at the top of the Serie A table. If they drop points for a third straight time since the break and the likes of Napoli and/or Inter win their respective matchups earlier in the day Sunday, then it’s going to be a very different situation just a couple of weeks after things were so close.
In a season where draws have become the most frequent result to begin the Motta era in Turin — nine overall in all competitions, with five of those being of the scoreless variety — just about as much (if not more) than all of the injuries, dropping points against one of the worst teams in the league certainly would be a different kind of frustration. Juventus need to win this game for a variety of reasons, with the first and foremost being to simply keep pace wit hthose in front of them.
Essentially, the last thing Juventus need to see happen is for the month of December to begin just like November ended. That’s just not going to be enough — both on the field and on the training tables.
TEAM NEWS
The top piece of team news is pretty much unchanged from the other two games coming out of the November break: it’s the injury situation. With Motta saying that Nicolo Savona — who had to come off in the second half of Wednesday’s draw with Aston Villa — not called up to face Lece, that means nine players will be out injured this weekend.
The other eight injured players: Dusan Vlahovic, Weston McKennie, Douglas Luiz, Nico González, Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Arek Milik and Vasilije Adžić.
That means Motta will have only 13 outfield players from the senior team available to him to face Lecce on Sunday night.
With Savona out injured, that almost certainly means Danilo will make just his fourth start of the season in Serie A on Sunday night.
There’s the emphasis on senior players because Juve have dipped into the youth ranks to give their manager some semblance of depth, calling up five players from the Next Gen and primavera squads to fill out the bench. They are: midfielder Christos Papadopoulos, midfielder Filippo Pagnucco, midfielder Augusto Owusu, forward Diego Pugno and center back Alfonso Montero, the 17-year-old son to recently ousted Next Gen manager Paolo Montero.
Even with the extremely limited options that have actual Serie A experience, Motta said, “I have total confidence in my players and in those who will play in tomorrow’s game.”
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
Considering we have not seen Juventus score a goal in their first two games out of the international break, it’s hard to blame a guy for continuing to talk about the current problems up front.
As much as there isn’t a natural No. 9 available just like against Milan and Aston Villa, there’s still the young man who wears the No. 10 and has one goal in his last six games in Juventus colors since his exploits off the bench in the Derby d’Italia.
Kenan Yildiz of Juventus FC looks on during the Serie A... Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
I totally get that Juventus are just trying to get by and survive amidst so many players being out injured at the moment, a situation that has severely prevented Motta from doing some of the things he’s want to do. But, at the same time, Juventus also need goals to be scored, and a third straight scoreless draw — especially against a likely relegation battler — is going to look even worse than what we’ve seen from them the last couple of outings.
For all of the injuries going on in the squad, Kenan Yildiz has probably played more minutes than Motta would have liked his teenage starlet to put on his legs during this opening part of the 2024-25 season. Yildiz has, somewhat quietly, played the fourth-most amount of minutes of any Juventus player in Serie A this season — something that is very much the complete opposite of situations compared to where we were a year ago with his playing time.
Obviously the last couple of appearances have come without Vlahovic on the field, and the overall attach has very much suffered without that kind of reference point up front. You’ve had a midfielder playing as a false nine. You’ve had a winger playing as a false nine. And you’ve simply had Juventus recording a combined xG of 0.79 against Milan and Aston Villa.
So, now what?
Well, trying to get Yildiz in more scoring opportunities would be a good start. Or maybe not so glued to the touchline on the left wing even though that’s a natural tendency of his. But, overall, Yildiz is going to be one of the few true goal-scoring threats that Juventus will have on the field against Lecce, and that means trying to use him the best way possible.
Seeing Lecce back the defensive third of the field and essentially dare Juventus to break them down won’t be a surprise to anybody. Not only have they struggled to score goals themselves, but their defense has allowed nearly two goals a game so far this season.
All in all, even with all of the injuries, Juventus need to perform and get the win in this one. And to see Yildiz get back on the scoresheet would be an even better development knowing what is lying in wait later on in December.
MATCH INFO
When: Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024.
Where: Stadio Via del Mare, Lecce, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: Fox Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada); Sky Sport Calcio (Italy).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network, Foxsports.com, FOX Sports app (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); OneFootball.com (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.