Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the midst of Juventus’ annual February crashout. It’s become an annual deal because this is not the first time. It’s not the second time. We’re basically seeing a continuation from something that started back under Max Allegri, continued with Thiago Motta and has now carried over into Luciano Spalletti’s tenure in charge.
In my line of work, they say that three’s a trend.
And I gotta say, this is a trend that I certainly am not a fan of — at all.
Juventus’ February to
forget unfortunately forged on at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Bianconeri fell behind early to a Nico Paz-less Como thanks in large part to Michele Di Gregorio’s latest big-time mistake in goal, then looked absolutely sluggish in their veiled attempt to actually make a game of it again. Como sealed their 2-0 win over Juventus with a half-hour to go, capping a performance in which they were far and away the better team when compared to Spalletti’s squad.
Combined with Como’s win over Juventus back in mid-October — a result that signaled the impending doom for Igor Tudor — the lakeside club has now achieved something they hadn’t done since the 1950s.
That’s beat Juventus twice in one season. And this …
So, yeah. The February crashout is very much in the midst of taking place.
It doesn’t really matter where you look these days, it’s pretty much all bad for Juventus. They’ve now allowed a whopping 15 goals in their last five games. None of those games have actually been wins, so they’re not even doing much of anything right and not winning. Outside of the fightback against Inter and then the response to falling behind against Galatasaray, the same attitude that we saw Spalletti try and instill in this team has suddenly gone up in smoke quicker than one of Maurizio Sarri’s cigarettes on the sideline.
Above all else, they just look completely zapped of energy. They look tired. They’re certainly playing like they’re tired. And knowing that this squad is about as thin when it comes to depth as it has been in years and how much Spalletti has been relying on the same players for much of his time as manager, maybe it’s not a surprise to see them completely falling off a cliff as we approach the final couple of months of the 2025-26 season.
But yet, it was still hard to see this coming.
Not necessarily this performance specifically, but to see this sudden switch from having folks saying they’re playing some of the best football in Serie A to now whatever the hell you want to call the past three weeks.
Even the best of things about this Juventus squad — and, trust me, it’s not like there’s a whole lot to begin with — are looking far from their usual self lately. That’s mainly looking at you, Kenan Yildiz, because a season in which you’ve had to carry so much of this team has now shown the feared repercussions — a young man who despite all of his talent only being able to push his body so far.
Como played this game like they knew that if they shut Yildiz down then the rest of the Juventus squad on the field would only be able to do so much. They hacked Yildiz down time and time again. Yildiz was fouled six times during the 80-plus minutes he was on the field — and even then that feels like a low number considering just how physical Como players were getting with the Juve No. 10.
They shut down Yildiz, and in turn they kept Juventus quiet virtually the entire afternoon.
The two sides might have been even on shots on the day, but that is not a genuine representation of just how far apart these two teams were on Saturday.
Juve finished with all of 0.70 xG, with one-third of that total coming on a Loïs Openda shot that was pretty easily saved by Jean Butez in the Como goal. Other than that, it’s not like Como’s goalkeeper really had all that much to do —which just speaks to how absolutely devoid of the same consistent pressure that was ever present just a couple of weeks ago this team suddenly is.
Spalletti spoke in his pre-match press conference about how he wanted to see a response from his team after what happened in Istanbul four days ago. Rather than a response, we only got a continuation from what we saw in the second half against Galatasaray.
It doesn’t take a calcio aficionado to figure out that’s not the kind of response Spalletti had in mind.
Maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have any hair left on that shiny bald head of his because it’s performances like these that would either make it want to pull it out or just lose it altogether.
I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely want off this ride. This is not fun. It wasn’t in 2024. It certainly wasn’t last season. And it sure as hell isn’t’ any better now.
Until this team proves us otherwise, this is just who they are when the calendar hits February, I guess.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Boy, that sure did suck, didn’t it?
- That’s the kind of performance that has you want to reach for the bourbon at halftime, let alone after the final whistle.
- And to do that in a special fourth kit that reminds us all of much, much better times this club was having? Yeah, that is quite the unfortunate juxtaposition there, my friends.
- I have been a rather staunch Di Gregorio defender over his first 18 or so months at Juventus, but the tide is starting to turn. Last season he shook off a rocky kind of start and became one of Juve’s better performers. This season, though, that just ain’t happening. The mistakes are just now happening all the time and it’s hard to just brush them aside as a keeper being let down by his defense. Spalletti might be sticking with Di Gregorio for now, but you have to wonder just how long that will remain the case.
- And this latest mistake happened at the near post, too? That’s a cardinal sin, my man.
- But let’s not forget that Como’s opening goal happened because of a pretty bad backpass attempt from Weston McKennie that never truly found his intended target. Hell, I’m not totally sure who his intended target was. That doesn’t forgive Di Gregorio at all, but it’s also a counterattack from Como that should have never happened in the first place.
- Poor Kenan. The boy is just tired. Then he gets hacked at every single time he’s on the ball from multiple Como players. It just ain’t easy.
- Boy oh boy has Fabio Miretti’s form cooled off the last couple of weeks, huh? So much for the debate about Miretti being a sure-fire starter because of how well he was playing. That is a thing of the past now, and he’s looking a little too inconsistent to be playing in these bigger types of matchups.
- They’re about to spend HOW MUCH to make Openda’s deal permanent? Yikes!
- Remember when we were buzzing about Teun Koopmeiners being reinvented as a defender in a three-man backline? Yeah, so much for that.
- Another stinker of a performance for Khephren Thuram. The days of him looking like he was kicking on back into form feel so long ago when it was actually just a few weeks ago and that’s it.
- Pretty much all of the five players that Spalletti brought on in the second half failed to make much of an impact. OK, so maybe Chico Conceicao can be considered an exception to that since he actually did stuff as compared to Miretti. But it’s not like anybody else made much of an impact to the point where Juve’s fortunes changed for the better.
- And again, that’s a big problem with this team — they just don’t have the depth to have players consistently come off the bench and actually change the course of a game when Spalletti needs them to. A manager can only do so much when his options are as limited as Spalletti’s currently are.
- Como made Juventus look stupid on Saturday and Nico Paz had nothing to do with it? My goodness, that pretty much says it all right there.
- Como are now within a point of Juventus. Roma takes the field on Sunday with the chance to go four points clear of Juventus. It’s almost like all of these poor performances and results have consequences!
- Oh, and to top everything off, the yellow card Manuel Locatelli picked up in the 73rd minute of a 2-0 game in which Juve looked destined to lose now means he will be out of next weekend’s trip to the Italian capital to face Roma. I believe the way to say that is “Good times!” Yeah, let’s just go with that.
- Remember when pretty much everybody was happy about Yildiz signing his contract extension and the vibes felt like they were still pretty good? That was two weeks ago.
- In conclusion, pass the bourbon, man. Leave the bottle. It’s the weekend and Juventus has made me pretty damn grumpy — again. Welcome to the new February tradition.
