Since Juventus came back from the international break without a healthy striker to play in attack, they’ve drawn their last three games. In each of those three games, the level of satisfaction with those results has dropped.
The goalless draw against AC Milan, coming at the San Siro, dealing with a ton of injuries and having only days to try to work with a striker-less system in training, was about as good a result as you could have hoped for. The similar score against Aston Villa was likewise acceptable, although it did feel like there was more chance to have stolen away from Birmingham with a win.
Sunday night’s 1-1 draw against Lecce at the Stadio Via del Mare is the polar opposite of that.
Juventus finally scored their first goal since Dusan Vlahovic went down over the break, although some rotten early luck made the process feel like pulling teeth. But with just over a minute to go in stoppage time Juve made a pair of boneheaded mistakes that gifted Lecce — who had been much more threatening in the second half than the first — a tap-in equalizer.
The loss of focus in those last minutes is inexcusable. Andrea Cambiaso bombing into a wall of defenders and losing the ball to trigger the counter was a mind-boggling error from a guy that to that moment had been man of the match. Jonas Rouhi’s botch marking Ante Rebic was even less permissible, especially since he was one of the only Juve players on the field that hadn’t been run ragged over the last week with hardly any depth to give them rest.
There isn’t any excuse this time. Juventus threw two points away on Sunday night. Hopefully, with close to a week to rest and maybe recover some injured players, things will start picking up — cause now we might need it to.
Thiago Motta was still in dire straits when it came to selection. Yet another player had been added to the injured list after Nicolò Savona hobbled off the field at Villa Park. He was joined by Vlahovic, Arkadiusz Milik, Weston McKennie, Douglas Luiz, Vasilije Adzic, Nico Gonzalez, and the long-term pair of Bremer and Juan Cabal. He had to call up five players from the Next Gen and Primavera squads just to make up the numbers, and was also forced to use the same lineup he used in England on Wednesday, minus Savona. Mattia Perin was another change, starting behind the 4-2-3-1. Danilo, Federico Gatti, Pierre Kalulu, and Cambiaso started in front of him, while Manuel Locatelli and Khephren Thuram played the double pivot in midfield. Francisco Conceição, Teun Koopmeiners, and Kenan Yildiz supported Timothy Weah as the false nine.
Lecce had won their first game since replacing Luca Gotti with Marco Giampaolo at the international break, and were looking to keep the positive vibes going to get away from the drop zone. Lamek Banda, Kevin Bonifazi, and Balthazar Pierret were unavailable. Giampaolo sent out a 4-3-3, anchored by the underrated Wladimiro Falcone in goal. Frédéric Guilbert, Federico Baschirotto, Kialonda Gaspar, and Antonino Gallo were in defense. Former Juve academy prospect (and Coppa Italia hero) Hamza Rafia joined Lassana Coulibaly and Ylber Ramadani in midfield. Patrick Dorgu and Tete Morente flanked Nikola Kristovic in attack.
Juventus were dominant in the first half, and within the first 16 minutes they had hit the left-hand post twice. The first time came just six minutes in when Yildiz put the ball on a plate for Thuram. He only needed to tap it forward to claim his first goal in a Juventus shirt, but somehow managed to shank it and doink it off the post.
Ten minutes later was just a case of rotten luck. Conceição latched onto a terrible layoff pass by Dorgu and carried it the length of the field before uncorking a 25-yard that skipped in the six-yard box and — again — thumped the post.
Lecce v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images
The onslaught continued as the half wore on. Weah had a shot blocked over the bar and Yildiz barely missed Koopmeiners with a loft into the middle of the box. In the 25th minute, Weah put the ball into the net after a scramble for a loose ball, but the flag went up for offside on the initial cross. There was a brief penalty appeal when a touch by Thuram bounced off the hand of Gaspar, but it came after a close ricochet of another defender and the no-call was a correct one.
Things looked like they’d stay the same as the second half started, when a couple of blocks were needed to keep Cambiaso and Kalulu from testing Falcone.
But the first moment where doubt started creeping in came a minute later. Gatti badly misjudged a tackle on Rafia at the midfield stripe, completely missing him and allowing the midfielder to scream downfield. Locatelli made a lung-busting run to chase him down and prevent him from laying it off to Kristovic, who on the ensuing corner headed the ball down for the bottom corner, only to be denied by Perin.
Perin soon became far busier than he would have liked. Perin was forced to make four saves in as many minutes starting in the 54th minute. None of the shots called for anything special, but it certainly sparked some nerves as Lecce were clearly in it far more in the second half.
The game was delicately poised when Cambiaso, who had had made several mazy runs through the Lecce defense in the first half, played a give-and-go with Koopmeiners and unleashed a long drive aimed for the far post — only to see Gaspar reach out a foot to block and instead deflect it straight into the net, with Falcone now diving at air. The powers that be apparently took the opinion that the initial shot was going to be on target, because Cambiaso was credited with the goal.
Lecce v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images
Two minutes later, Koopmeiners hit a worm-burner that Falcone was just able to tip away from the bottom corner, then smother it before Weah came to attack the rebound.
But the home side wasn’t going away, and they thought they should’ve had things tied with 15 minutes to go when an unmarked Kristovic latched onto a cross at the penalty spot, but with the goal at his mercy Kalulu dropped to one knee in front of him, kept his hands behind his back, and blocked the ball wide.
There was an underlying feeling of menace as the minutes ticked by, a sense that Lecce might still have one more moment in them. As the game entered four minutes of stoppage time, Juve started gifting them some. Cambiaso was the culprit both instances, first slipping trying to shield the ball along the sideline and gifting a shot to Kristovic, whose shot was blocked by the chest of a leaping Locatelli.
But the team wouldn’t be so lucky the next time Cambiaso had a brain cramp. He intercepted a pass in midfield, then bombed forward through the middle. He’d done it a few times before in the game, but this time the decision was questionable, to say the least. He had options to pass to on his right but kept on going, getting cleanly and easily dispossessed and allowing Lecce to spring forward on the counter. Kristovic ran into the space that Cambiaso should’ve been in, and Locatelli couldn’t chase him down. Rouhi, meanwhile, was retreating with his eyes rooted to the ball. That let Rebic get free behind him, and when Rouhi didn’t even try to put a foot out to play Kristovic’s cross the Croatia international easily beat a stranded Perin to tie the game and extend Juve’s frustrating run of results.
LE PAGELLE
MATTIA PERIN - 6.5. Had some miscommunications with his teammates at times that created some nervy moments, but was solid dealing with shots and had nothing to do with the equalizer.
DANILO - 6. Free for the most part of the mistakes that had plagued him last month, but was a little erratic when he tried to join the attack on the flank and had to eat a yellow right after he moved inside after he let Kristovic get on the wrong side of him. Still, he was wasn’t a problem in the back.
FEDERICO GATTI - 5.5. Got a little sloppy as the game went on, which is probably why Motta hauled him off, though it might’ve ended up a costly decision.
PIERRE KALULU - 6. Made five clearances and was one of the few guys that looked focused in the final minutes. He also made a pair of key passes and completed 97.7 percent overall.
ANDREA CAMBIASO - 5.5. Did a lot of things well early in the game and would probably have been the man of the match if Juve had held on for the win. But it was his mistake with the ball that let up the final counter. He simply had to be smarter there.
MANUEL LOCATELLI - 6. Tied for the team lead in key passes (3) and was a big part of the dominant first half, making the team tick as they put pressure on the Lecce defense. Continued his excellent defensive work too, including that big stoppage time block.
Lecce v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images
KHEPHREN THURAM - 5. Hit the post with a chance that was harder to miss than to put away, and the rest of his game was a little out of control. He completed only 80 percent of his passes and was almost always heavy with his touch.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO - 5.5. Felt like he was a little less shifty than usual today. Didn’t hit on any of his four crosses and only had one key pass. That shot that hit the post would’ve been the goal of the week, though.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS - 5.5. It’s so hard to judge Koopmeiners at the moment. It feels like there’s not a whole ton of substance, but then you realize he was the co-leader on the team in key passes and, of course, got the assist on the goal. Right now he isn’t the fulcrum of this team, and I wonder what he’d do if he was.
KENAN YILDIZ - 5. Put a couple of good balls into the box early, including one that deserved an assist on the Thuram miss. But he faded from the action as the match went on, both because Juve’s attack once again started running heavily through Conceição and because it looked like he was absolutely gassed — which isn’t surprising cause his work rate on defense was high as usual, leading the team with three tackles. He’s been one of the primary victims of having so little depth.
TIMOTHY WEAH - 5. Had a goal called back early but only touched the ball 20 times and only attempted nine passes all game. When you’re a false nine, you have to be more involved than that.
SUBS
NICOLÒ FAGIOLI - 5. Didn’t do much at all in the offensive phase, only attempting eight passes and touching the ball 10 times in just under half an hour’s work.
JONAS ROUHI - 4. Rouhi hasn’t played much this season, and we saw why against Lecce. He was ballwatching for 40 yards on the last counterattack, and didn’t even try to play it. The game looks like it’s going too fast for him right now. He might not have been ready.
SAMUEL MBANGULA - 5. Put in a shot and tracked back well on defense a few times to help Rouhi, who clearly needed it. But he couldn’t use his pace and technique up front.
DIEGO PUGNO - NR. On to add an aiming point for clearances late, did what he could but wasn’t often in position to do much.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
I still believe Motta deserves the benefit of the doubt given the selection crisis he’s been in for weeks. The team clearly dropped off in the second half, but considering that the majority of them were in the midst of playing 270 minutes in eight days because there’s no one to rotate in, that’s understandable. But there are a few things that are starting to emerge that are less the product of the injuries and more things that Motta is going to have to iron out.
Lecce v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images
The biggest of those problems is Juve’s complete over-reliance on wing play. An overwhelming majority of the team’s attacking moves come from out wide, and a significant proportion of those have come from the right. This has left hardly any play through the middle of the field, which is probably one reason that Koopmeiners has been struggling. This had been an issue before Vlahovic went down, but it’s even more apparent now, which doesn’t really make sense given the lack of aerial prowess amongst the team’s healthy forwards. But it’s also served to make the team predictable and easier to game-plan for.
Now, it is true that without a true striker there are some patterns of play that simply won’t be available, but Motta has to get a better balance in the attack, and he needs to start soon. If he does so, it’ll benefit everyone as the missing pieces start to return from the trainer’s room.
Set pieces are another area where things could get better. Juve have only scored once off of corners this year, and very often the deliveries on those plays are so bad that none of Juve’s targets have a sniff at it. Corners were one of the team’s biggest strengths last year, although it’s worth noting that 1) Bremer isn’t around for the rest of the year and 2) under Allegri it was a major point of emphasis given the fact that it was one of the only ways they could actually score. Still, things need to be tightened up from these plays, because they’re often turning into complete wastes.
LOOKING AHEAD
After spending every game since the international break on the road, Juve will enjoy a four-game homestand, in the next two weeks. They face off against Bologna on Saturday in Motta’s first matchup against the side he guided into Europe, then on Wednesday, Dec. 11, welcome a struggling Manchester City to Turin for Champions League action. Venezia then visit the Allianz before Juve’s Coppa Italia defense begins against Cagliari on Dec. 17.