Questions Asked Of Juventus Ahead Of Champions League Clash With Manchester United

Questions Asked Of Juventus Ahead Of Champions League Clash With Manchester United
13:43, 21 Oct 2018

With Tuesday’s visit to Old Trafford on the horizon, Genoa should’ve presented few problems for Juventus on Saturday evening. Going into the game the Bianconeri were flying, setting a new club record by winning each of their first 10 games of the season and playing some excellent football along the way. Their opponents – who had sacked their manager after losing to newly promoted Parma just before the international break – have always had problems in Turin, losing each of their last five visits without scoring a single goal.

As discussed in this previous post, Juve’s attack has been even more deadly of late, the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo pushing the team to new heights during his first few appearances. Inevitably, it was the Portuguese star who broke the deadlock here too, tapping home a simple effort after Joao Cancelo’s shot was deflected across the box.

Even before that goal in the 18th minute, the Bianconeri were firmly in control and after taking the lead she completely dominated the rest of the half. Genoa managed just 39.5% of the possession in the opening 45 minutes and failed to register a single shot on target, their overworked backline besieged by wave after wave of attacks.

Before he scored, Ronaldo had already his the woodwork with a superb header and he was unfortunate not to bag a second when Juan Cuadrado rolled the ball across the face of goal moments later. After the restart, Mario Mandzukic failed to connect with an excellent low cross driven in by Alex Sandro and, as so often happens, the team in complete control of the game were made to pay for wasting those chances.

On the surface, it is easy to dismiss Genoa’s equaliser as an unfortunate incident. Following a rare Rossoblu attack, Leonardo Bonucci cleared the ball away from goal and the Bianconeri backline prepared to defend the resultant corner. However, it bounced on the line and landed infield, allowing Christian Kouame to whip in a cross that caught Juve napping. Unmarked, Daniel Bessa scored with a free header, the 25-year-old netting Genoa’s first goal at Juventus Stadium since January 2013.

As should be expected, the Old Lady responded by throwing attacking players on the field, but both Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa failed to deliver their usual standard of performance and when the final whistle blew it was still 1-1.  

“A good 10 minutes before the goal, we were already drifting out of the game,” Max Allegri told Sky Italia. “It was coming, we could see it from the touchline. I think it’ll be good for us, as this is a wake-up call so everyone can remember that nothing is to be taken for granted. The ball was bouncing around for three or four seconds, so we had all the time needed to go and mark the players in the box, but we’d been drifting for a while beforehand.”

The Coach also complained that his players “had their minds on Manchester United and fell asleep” in that same interview, an assessment that was undoubtedly accurate. Indeed, central defenders Bonucci and Medhi Benatia had every opportunity to pick up their men again, while Alex Sandro should’ve gone out to challenge Kouame and Wojciech Szczęsny will surely believe he could’ve done more to stop Bessa’s effort.

However, while the prestigious trip to Old Trafford is certainly looming, this is far from an isolated incident. Chievo, Parma, Sassuolo and Napoli have all taken advantage of similar errors, too many players guilty of ball watching instead of being remaining focussed on their defensive assignments.

Of course, the Bianconeri have been easily able to overcome those issues by boasting the division’s most prolific attack and they have largely played on the front foot, imposing their will – and the quality of a Ronaldo-led frontline – on every opponent. But there will of course be occasions where that is simply not possible and, for a team who have made no secret of their ambitions, that is cause for concern.

The absence of Giorgio Chiellini undoubtedly played a part as the skipper was rested, and it is hard to imagine such a lackadaisical incident occurring with him on the field. While the Champions League cannot be won in October, and Allegri’s teams have been notoriously slow starters, these defensive lapses are frankly inexcusable. Just as they have in attack, Juve have invested heavily in their backline, the four players who started against Genoa costing no less than €121.4 million.

These mistakes are certainly not due to a lack of quality, they are simply down to a lack of concentration and attentiveness. It must be addressed quickly and decisively, particularly as the games with Manchester United – matches that will likely decide whether Juve top Group H or not – approach.

A solid backline has long been the Bianconeri calling card, but Genoa showed that the current Juventus defence has a lot of work to do in order to live up to those lofty expectations.

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