It took all of one match under new a manager to showcase why Kenan Yildiz is the marquee player for this [Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) squad under Igor Tudor. The 19-year-old was great against Genoa, scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal in a geometrically impossible-angled shot as he barreled down the right side after a throw in bounced off Dusan Vlahovic’s back. However, the unfortunate side of this goal is that there is no statistic for manager-assists, as Tudor was the one to quickly recover the ball and give it to Teun Koopmeiners, who’s quick throw led to the breaking of the early deadlock.
Overall, this match showed that even at his young age, Yildiz is meant to have a permanent role in the starting lineup. Even without the goal, his presence, creativity, and reignited enthusiasm is a boon to a team that has gone through so much in this nightmare of a 2024-25 season.
### One Up
The story of this season has been a failure of the age-old Corto Muso, as the squad has time and time again not been able to keep a 1-0 lead without giving away a late equalizer to the opposition. It happened early on against a bevy of mid-table and relegation clubs, and as Genoa sits very firmly in that group as they entered the weekend in 12th. But, if you squint, you may be able to see some of last season’s gaffer in Tudor. Saturday’s match was a tribute to the hardboiled Italian defensive style, where a lead of a single goal is enough to lock down the box and wait out salvos of oppositional attacks.
This season, Juve fans have come to expect a late equalizer from the opposition, so it was a pleasant surprise to be reminded that Juventus is still able to lock it down, even after facing even more injuries in defense.
The Argentinian loanee from Fiorentina actually had a somewhat decent game for the first time in a while. While it was nowhere near world class or wildly memorable, Nico Gonzalez’s performance against Genoa speaks to the almost overnight fire that has seemed to be reignited in this squad since Tudor drove a reported 10 hours from Croatia to accept the role. The big issue this season is that a select handful of players who have looked like they simply don’t want to be there, with Nico and a certain Dutchman being the main culprits. Maybe it was playing against the Boca Juniors-inspired kits, maybe it was that Nico had something to prove. Either way, he finished with four won aerials, three successful dribbles, three accurate long balls, a pair of tackles, and an interception in his new role as a wingback under Tudor.
### IGOR
There is something to be said for the fire that Tudor has brought to Juventus. Aside from all the off-the-pitch hype that came from the announcement — including a nearly sold-out Allianz Stadium again, fan demonstrations outside the J Hotel the night before, and generally positive fan sentiment online — Tudor brought enthusiasm and intensity to the Juventus bench that has long been unseen. It makes perfect sense. He’s a former Juventus defender who won two domestic titles with the club comes back to Turin and brings his passion and love for the Bianconeri back to his true home.
But what does this mean in terms of the return of other former kings to Turin? The social media world has long pushed for the return of Alessandro Del Piero and Giorgio Chiellini to come home and play some role in the club. Is this the beginning of a new era, similar to that of Paulo Maldini’s return to AC Milan? One can only hope. Juventus needs a team surrounding it that does not just want to be successful, but loves this storied club.
### Let’s Get Physical
A small credit to Vlahovic — who otherwise had an extremely underwhelming match but tried to use his size and raw physicality to his advantage. He needed it too, as Genoa — especially former Juve prospect Koni De Winter — made it a point to put the Serbian striker in literal bear hugs or simply push him to the ground when the time was right. But again, to Vlahovic’s credit, he fought off a Genoa defender when able, and nobody wants to go toe to toe with a 6-foot-3 muscular Serbian with a chip on his shoulder.
**The Bad**
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### Midfield Giveaways
It looks like the problem that has continued since the Juventus falloff against Empoli, Atalanta, and Fiorentina is congestion and dead giveaways in midfield. Be it from heavy touches, dispossessions, or simply having too many players on them, Weston McKennie, Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram, and to an extent Gonzalez, did not have the most cohesive match. An unusually high number of lost balls and an unusually low percentage of passing accuracy certainly left more to be desired.
However, everything is new again, and it somehow feels like a new season here in late March, and Tudor certainly has his work cut out for him.
### Never Stop Stopping
There is an old adage in all sports: “Play the whistle.” Essentially, it means that until you hear the referee blow the whistle, keep going. But apparently this rule was lost in the early days of Vlahovic’s footballing tenure. Sure, the Genoa defense resorted to cheap tricks and WWE-style tackles to try and slow him down, but no whistles we heard the vast majority of the time, and Vlahovic decided it was in the best interest of the offense to stop playing at all, waiting in eager hope for the neon-clad officials to pull a card from their pocket.
But until it happens, play on. Stop stopping.
### Vlaho-Koop
The combination of Koopmeiners and Vlahovic was in theory a legendary possibility in the early season under Thiago Motta. But as fans saw, all that glitters is often not gold. That said, the idea of Koopmieners and Yildiz creatively generating opportunities for Vlahovic fell flat against Genoa, and the Dutchman himself had arguably one of his most forgettable matches to date, causing him to be subbed off midway through the second half
At this point, it seems like the issues that have plagued Koopmeiners and Vlahovic have to be a mental-block. The Serbian flourished in Firenze, and Koopmeiners was among the best players to grace the pitch in Bergamo this time last year. So what is it? They we subejcted to almost every formation possible under Motta, and now have a new manager that has seemed to turn the locker room tide. But somehow two of the most expensive players in both the league and on the team keep falling short.
**The Ugly**
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### Genoa Wrestling Club
In another world, De Winter and Morten Frendrup would have signed contracts by now to appear weekly on WWE RAW or Smackdown. Alternatively, if the officiating was a bit better Saturday evening, a person placing an over bet on yellow cards may have made out like a bandit.
But this is real life, and the match against Genoa was as much a set of physical duels as it was footballing.
Aggressive matches happen, but it truly seemed like every time the ball was fed to an attacking player, mainly Francisco Conceicao and Vlahovic, the Genoa defense jumped on them for a piggyback ride. Now, more experienced offensive players would know to create a bulwark against this and the two aforementioned players are still in somewhat of the dawn of their career, but this match got ridiculous.
Serie A, and by its very nature Italian football, is known for its high level of technicality and defensive aggression. It was Declan Rice of Arsenal who voiced his recognition of this in the early Champions League season against Atalanta. Even old Nike billboards would claim that being a goalkeeper in Italy is the “easiest job in Europe,” followed by an image of Paulo Maldini. But he was technically gifted and knew when to use his physicality, not just push and pray.
### Gatt-Injured
In a turn of cruel fate and heartbreaking news, Federico Gatti, who over the past two seasons has established himself as not only one of the better defensive options in Italy and the soul of this team, [will be out for at least the next month](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com/2025/3/31/24397908/federico-gatti-injury-juventus-igor-tudor-2025-serie-a-team-news). Early on, he received a bit of a stomping on the back of his ankle, tried to play on, but was eventually replaced by Pierre Kalulu in the 27th minute. As of Monday, it’s been revealed that Gatti has suffered a calf bone injury and will be out for pretty much all of April and maybe into May.
This comes at arguably the worst possible time, as Juventus are trying to secure a Champions League spot for next season, and need to muster everything they can for the next eight matches. Not to mention that the defense is crippled already as is and a woefully out of his depth Lloyd Kelly continues to make error after error. If it’s time for anyone to step up and show that they have Juventus DNA, it’s the mustachioed Portuguese defender on loan from Chelsea, Renato Viega.
**Buono, brutto, o cattivo?**
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Tudor was not going to turn this club into one of the legendary Juventus squads of old in less than a week. His directive was clear for the first few days — inspire the locker room, bring back energy, and ideally win at the weekend. That’s exactly what he did, but there are clear issues that still need to be fleshed out in the coming weeks. The midfield needs to tighten up, the defense now has to compensate for the loss of Gatti, and the offense needs to screw their heads back on and start scoring more. Juventus cannot over-rely on one player who is wildly talented to bail them out in the next few matches.
But, it was a good game Saturday night. After the last few matches under the Motta administration, there was a feeling that the life was completely gone from this squad, and the Genoa match proved that idea wrong. Sometimes it really does just take a new person to come in and say “I believe in you” to get the engines running again. Or at least someone who doesn’t tell arguably the most talented offensive player on the squad that “He’s no Messi.”
Take it how you will, but it’s just good to see the boys win one and do it with a bit more heart. If only Bremer was there, as he would see an Argentine-looking kit, and fueled by the Brazil-Argentina rivalry, may turn into prime Chiellini.
As a side note: Kappa pulled zero punches making the special edition kits for Genoa — they were wearable art.