Giorgio Chiellini has become the official Juventus management figure who talks with the Sky Italia or DAZN before every fixture. And before kickoff on Saturday night in Sardinia, Chiellini had a warning for Luciano Spalletti’s squad. It was a simple one …
“Tonight is one of those classic fixtures that can be a trap,” Chiellini told Sky Italia.
Consider the trap having been fully fell into. It was just one of those nights — one of those just head-shaking kinds of nights.
Chiellini proved to be right on the money. The man knows ball! But you probably knew that already. Juventus, despite what felt like 95% possession — hell, it wasn’t that far off in actuality — and so many waves of attacking movements that made the Attack Momentum meter on Sofascore look like one-way traffic, coughed up three points against the 16th-place team in Serie A. You combine Juve’s complete inability to score on Saturday night and one Luca Mazzitelli half-volley completely out of nowhere and you get Cagliari picking up just their second win over Juventus in the last decade and a half with a 1-0 victory at the Unipol Domus in Sardinia.
Chiellini knew it. Spalletti knew it. The players probably did, too, because they have a manager who explains things very well and communicates his points very succinctly and directly.
Three points dropped. Three valuable points.
The loss means that Napoli — who beat Sassuolo 1-0 earlier in the day on Saturday — will come to Turin next weekend with a four-point edge over Juventus. It also means that Roma can jump back into fourth place if they are to get any sort of positive result against Torino on Sunday. Not exactly ideal no matter how you put it — especially when you consider the fact that Cagliari had been in a rough run of form over the last two months since Juventus played them last.
Except, Cagliari did exactly what they sought out to do. Juventus huffed and puffed and completely failed to blow the house down. Spalletti’s squad had 18 corners! EIGHTEEN! But the thing was, that Juve continue to be so ineffective from set pieces that having that many corners just seem to be mostly a waste of time and energy.
Did Cagliari defend well? Yes, of course. It’s not like Juve were dealing with the wide-open spaces that they were seeing when they steamrolled past Cremonese five days earlier.
But, at the same time, Saturday night’s struggles put a magnifying glass back on what this team still struggles to do in the final third. Whether it’s the lack of execution, the lack of variance, the lack of somebody opposite Kenan Yildiz who can consistently be a threat to break down an opposing defense or just the lack of a big and physical striker who can hurt you with the ball at his feet and in the air.
Ah, one can only hope for something to change in these types of games, right?
The trap game happened. They’re almost impossible to avoid — especially so when you know damn well what’s right around the corner on the schedule in a few days. It’s just about preventing them as much as you can no matter how much somebody like Chiellini or Spalletti continues to warn you about them.
Juventus didn’t do that on Saturday night. And they handed Cagliari one of their only wins in the last three months because of it.
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