We have reached the point in the 2025-26 season and chase for a spot in the top four where we don’t really care how Juventus win just as long as they collect all three points that are on the table on any given day.
A 4-0 win like we saw last weekend against Pisa? Great!
A 1-0 win that had you thinking Luciano Spalletti suddenly morphed into Max Allegri for the final 15 or 20 minutes and there was a little corto muso stuffed into Lucio’s rain jacket? Whatever works!
On Saturday night in Udine, we saw Juventus team that probably should have won by more than just the 1-0 scoreline suggested, but then shut up shop late to ensure that they would come away with three points in what was looked at as a must-win situation ahead of what’s to come 24 hours later. Juve got the three points thanks to Kenan Yildiz and Jérémie Boga teaming up for a wonderful quick-strike goal late in the first half and make it stand to lift the Bianconeri into fourth place ahead of Sunday night’s clash between the two teams that entered the weekend directly in front of them, Roma and Como.
The situation is pretty clear these days: You try and win as much as you possibly can to put the pressure on those around in the race for fourth place in Serie A. And as it looks like Antonio Conte has gotten Napoli to stabilize a little bit, fourth place is where the action is going to be for the next two months. That is where Juve sit now, jumping over both Roma and Como, with two points now separating the three teams — in the good kind of way.
Seems like a pretty routine win, right?
Well, maybe not.
We saw Spalletti roll with the move that he made in the second half of last weekend’s win over Pisa from the opening whistle with Yildiz as a false 9. It was nowhere near as effective, with the anticipated lack of space against a Udinese squad that was happy to cede possession to Juve resulting in things being hard to come by. But you know what good managers do? They realize they sometimes need to correct the mistakes of their original ways, and that is what Spalletti did.
The change: Yildiz back to the left wing, Boga into the free-roaming role as the false 9.
The result: Juventus changing for the better — which usually means Yildiz doing Yildiz things and absolutely cooking whoever the hell tries to stop him from being wonderful out on the left wing.
Just look at the goal itself as Exhibit A as to why this switch up from Spalletti paid off following the Yildiz as a false 9 decision to start the game didn’t exactly work as well as we hoped it would.
You get a great ball over the top from Lloyd Kelly. You get Yildiz running in space and creating things as he has done so many times this season already. You get Yildiz serving a great cross to Boga, who was the only one who had a chance at it because it was put on an absolute dime. It’s just that good — and that doesn’t happen unless Spalletti makes the switch a few minutes earlier to get Yildiz back into the position in which he excels.
It should have ended up being more than a 1-0 win. You can thank both the refereeing, the lack of a final end product outside of Boga’s third goal in as many games and Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye making some quality saves to keep it at a one-goal advantage in favor of Spalletti’s squad. And that is why we saw Spalletti hunker down in the closing minutes to secure the three points — he knew how important this win was considering what’s on the schedule on Sunday.
That’s just how you have to go about it sometimes.
And when you desperately need points like Juventus do these days, it doesn’t really matter how you get it.
They got the three points. They moved into fourth place. They put the pressure on Roma and Como for the next 24 hours. That is what this team needs to do. And now they get to sit back in their respective houses, eat a nice meal and watch Roma and Como hopefully play to a draw on Sunday night. Job done.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
🎶 PA PA PAPAPA JEREMIE BOGA PAPAPAPA 🎶
Breaking news: Kenan Yildiz is pretty damn good.
Just watching that young man do fun things is a treat. We are lucky he plays for Juventus.
He officially had one assist. He should have three, but a multitude of reasons prevented that from happening. The guy is now level with Nico Paz in terms of goal contributions and showing why he is the clear-cut best player on this team. No wonder he looks exhausted when he comes off the field — he’s making so many things happen.
Yildiz had six key passes against Udinese. That young man was doing things.
Udinese had five key passes as a team on Saturday night.
Good thing Juve have a week in between games now. Kenan needs some damn rest.
Speaking of one of those shoulda-been assists, just put your foot through the ball, Fabio, and don’t think twice. That was just another one of those Miretti moments where you can’t help but shake your head.
Speaking of the other one of those shoulda-been assists, you gotta love Serie A refereeing in 2026. It’s proving to be just as maddening as it was in 2025, 2024 and 2023. That should have been 2-0, the goal shoulda have stood and I’m having a hard time thinking otherwise.
But hey, anything to go to VAR and screw Juventus out of something good, right?
Spalletti says Chico Conceição’s goal should have stood. Good! I agree!
Jérémie Boga xG in the first half: 1.21.
Udinese team xG in the first half: 0.14.
Boga is starting to look like a really incredible piece of business. A buy option of less than €5 million? Yeah, give me that every day of the week. Hell, pick up the buy option right now. He’s worth it. You aren’t getting somebody for that kind of price on the transfer market this summer.
Mattia Perin is Juventus’ starting goalkeeper now. Spalletti hasn’t announced it with any sort of words, but he certainly has done so with his actions. That’s four starts in a row and those actions are speaking louder than words. As much as I like Michele Di Gregorio, Juve need a steady presence, and Perin is providing that in goal.
The last couple of starts, Perin has been solid. He hasn’t been tasked with much, obviously, but he’s done the job that is needed and Juventus haven’t allowed a goal in back-to-back goals. There have been close calls and better teams may well make Juve pay, but we’ll take every single shutout we can get at this point because that just means there’s a good chance the Bianconeri just won.
Is Gleison Bremer hurt with some kind of minor yet nagging injury? Is he tired? Is it maybe a little bit of both? Either way, Bremer doesn’t look like the dominant defender that we’ve seen so many times before. There appear to be some cracks in his Brazilian armor. Hopefully the week in between games to close out the season help, but it still is hard to miss the massive wrap on his thigh and think it doesn’t have at least a little something to do with how he’s playing.
Manuel Locatelli good. Manuel Locatelli really good. Some of the passes this man has been playing lately just aren’t ones he was maybe even attempting under previous managers. But Spalletti has this man absolutely flowing with confidence — and it’s showing with his play.
A sign of where Spalletti’s faith is with his strikers: Yildiz as a false 9, Jonathan David coming on in the 92nd minute and Loïs Openda not even seeing the field once again. That says a lot right there.
Who makes an appearance in quicker fashion: Arek Milik or Openda? I’m asking this in a serious matter.
Also a serious question: Did Federico Gatti come on as a striker or defender against Udinese? Just curious.
Pierre Kalulu’s crossing has been great this season. When did this man become prime Alex Sandro but on the right wing? I, for one, welcome this development.
Lloyd Kelly dropping dangerous pass after dangerous pass over the top? Where do I sign up for more of this?
Let us pray that Khephren Thuram coming off injured is a minor thing because we don’t need important players getting injured with two months to go in the season. If he does have to miss some time, at least there’s an international break coming up, right? (Yeah, I actually might be looking forward to an international break! Weirder things may actually happen.)
Good win. Good Saturday. Now let’s hope it’s just as good of a Sunday. Over to you all.
Oh, and Inter didn’t win this weekend and Juventus did? An even better Saturday!
That is all. Time for a nap.
🎶 PA PA PAPAPA JEREMIE BOGA PAPAPAPA 🎶