It’s a problem that has plagued Juventus for years: they can control the flow of a game, but they either aren’t clinical or fail to produce quality scoring chances.
Especially since the end of The Streak, many points have been lost over this disconnect between possession and result. It got especially maddening at the nadir of last season, when Thiago Motta’s sides simply couldn’t figure out how to penetrate their opponents’ defenses.
Igor Tudor is the latest coach to endure this particular frustration
at Juventus, and it was on full display against Atalanta on Saturday, when Juve controlled 67 percent of possession and took doubled their opponents’ shot output, only to still be scrambling for an equalizer with 12 minutes left to go.
That goal did come thanks Juan Cabal, who took advantage of an ugly defensive mistake to tie the game with a poacher’s finish. But despite their general match control — which only amplified when Atalanta went down a man two minutes after the equalizer — and a couple of quality opportunities to win the game, they could only come away with a 1-1 draw. It was their second such result in two league games, and was certainly dissatisfying given the way the game played out.
Tudor had most of his squad at his disposal for the match, but Francisco Conceição rejoined the injury absentee list along with Fabio Miretti and Arkadiusz Milik. He sent out his usual 3-4-2-1 formation, anchored by Michele Di Gregorio at the back. Federico Gatti, Bremer, and Lloyd Kelly manned the back line, while Pierre Kalulu and Andrea Cambiaso played out the wings. Teun Koopmeiners joined Khéphren Thuram in the midfield pivot, while Vasilije Adzic joined Kenan Yildiz in support of Loïs Openda.
Atalanta were looking to rediscover themselves after the departure of longtime coach Gian Piero Gasperini over the summer. His replacement, Ivan Juric, was equally looking to prove himself after a tough season that saw him dismissed by Roma — who subsequently hired Gasperini — and Southampton later on in the year. Complicating matters was a long injury list, headlined by Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvini. Isak Hien, Nicola Zalewski, and Senad Kolasinac were also on the treatment table, while Éderson and Charles De Ketelaere were only fit for the bench, along with the penitent Ademola Lookman, who had buried the hatchet with the club after his protracted transfer saga over the sumer. Juric also deployed a 3-4-2-1, with the excellent Marco Carnesecchi in goal. Stalwart defender Berat Djimsiti anchored a back three of newcomers, including Odilon Kossounou and 17-year-old Honest Ahanor. Raoul Bellanova and Davide Zappacosta manned the wings around the midfield of Mario Pasalic and De Roon. Kamaldeen Sulemana and Lazar Samardzic supported Nikola Kristovic in the front three.
Things started quickly for the Bianconeri, earning a corner within 15 seconds and watching Kalulu crash a header off the post with Carnesecchi beaten. Minutes later Koopmeiners pushed up the field to rob Pasalic of the ball and charged into the box. Openda was screaming for a ball into the middle but was also offside, so Koopmeiners had to try an insanely tight shot that Carnesecchi had to block behind.
The pressure continued for the home side. A cross by Cambiaso just missed an unmarked Bremer, and Yildiz took a beautiful diagonal switch from Koopmeiners and cut inside, only to be blocked at the last minute by Bellanova. Ten minutes later the Turk turned provider and laid the ball beautifully to Adzic, who went for placement and saw his effort parried around the post by Carnesecchi.
The young Italian could do nothing when a drive by Thuram took a huge deflection off Pasalic, but the ball fell just outside of the near post. Just after the half-hour Yildiz took down a ball from Yildiz and touched it into the left channel, but Bellanova managed to get in shoulder-to-shoulder and keep him from shooting. The ensuing play saw De Roon booked for a foul on Thuram a yard outside the box, but Adzic’s strike to the far post was met with two fists by a diving Carnesecchi.
Atalanta’s only outlet in attack for the early stages of the first half were a few long-range efforts — although those were still being surrendered a bit too easily by Juve’s defense. Still, Atalanta were doing next to nothing in front of goal, which made their opening goal all the more shocking.
It started with a bad giveaway by Adzic, whose poor first touch gifted the ball to Sulemana, who charged into the box and then juked Gatti out of his shoes before nutmegging the teenaged Montenegrin on a shot back across the grain that Di Gregorio had no chance of stopping.
Juve looked more and more frustrated as the match went on. The turnovers and quick vertical play that had seen them get into some dangerous spots earlier in the game were drying up, and they really should’ve been down two just six minutes into the second half, when Krstovic was put clean through the middle after a rare misread by Bremer, but he completely shanked the one-on-one wide.
Adzic nearly made up for his mistake when he sent in a cross for Openda, but it was just in front of him. By the 58th minute Tudor decided enough was enough and yanked the Montenegrin, as well as Thuram, in favor of Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie to switch things up. Still, Juve’s significant possession advantage became moot as it got more sterile. It took until the 68th minute for them to even get a shot off after the break, and even then it was a weak header by Bremer off a corner kick.
Their opponents, meanwhile, weren’t obliging with am easy matchup. Pasalic’s header was likely going off the bar but Di Gregorio had to tip it over to be sure. As the half wore on La Dea gained more and more control over the match, and pretty soon it looked like Juve were going to need something special to turn the game around.
The introduction of Edon Zhegrova in Tudor’s second batch of subs proved to be an inspired move, and he immediately started taking on defenders and pushing the attack forward again. Still, it took a little bit of ugliness from the Atalanta defense for Juve to finally push through and equalize. Joao Mario’s attempt to serve the ball into the box was a poor one, but Kossounou’s attempted clearance was even worse, skewing the ball right into the path of Cabal, who scored his first Juventus goal with a flick off the outside of his foot and into the net.
The pendulum flew completely back the other way when De Roon made an uncharacteristic mistake and needlessly yanked McKennie to the ground, prompting Simone Sozza to quickly produce his cards and send the Dutchman to an early night.
Juve immediately began pushing for a winner. They almost pushed two much, starting to rush passes and turn the ball over before they could become dangerous. With minutes left, Kalulu flicked a corner kick on to a completely unmarked McKennie. Had the American put the ball to either side, he’d have had the winner, but his shot was directly at Carnesecchi in front of him, leaving the score tied and everyone connected with Juve wondering just how he’d failed to covert it.
In stoppage time Zhegrova became the second Juve player not to benefit from a big deflection, in the Kosovo international’s case seeing his shot punched behind by a flying Carnesecchi. Yildiz’s touch was ever so heavy in stoppage time, allowing the visitors to clear. One final deflection kept a last-second shot from Kelly from reaching the target, and Atalanta were able to preserve a point that will look far better for them that it would for Juve.
LE PAGELLE
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 6. Wasn’t given much to do at all, with Atalanta hitting the target on only two of their 12 shots. The goal was unstoppable for him, and the other parry was effective. As usual, did well controlling the aerial game in his box.
FEDERICO GATTI – 4.5. Still looks a bit off the pace after that lower leg fracture last year, and could also be suffering from the effects of overuse in the first place. Regardless, he was turned inside out far too easily on Sulemana’s goal.
BREMER – 5.5. Uncharacteristically shaky a times, he’ still working back up to full-on fitness and still looks great even at 80 percent or so. That said, you can’t really be mad when you read an article where he himself says he’s roughly 80 percent. It shows, but expect things to get better — so long as what forced him off the field was nothing major.
LLOYD KELLY – 6.5. Had an excellent day in defense, and it’s becoming time to wonder if he’s made a deal with certain torment. This would’ve been unfathomable at the end of last year, but Kelly is becoming one of the best and most important players on the team **ducks** in their name
PIERRE KALULU – 6. Much better a wing-back than in games past, and opponents mush past and almost scored in seconds when he hit the post. Also provided a pair of key passes.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 6. Easily the best game Koopmeiners has had a Juventus this year. Led the team with four key passes and three tackles. He also hit the target with three of his four shots. He was quick on the press. IF we can get him performing like this as a baseline, it could solve some problems.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 5. Clearly looked tired. Tudor needs to get better with rotation and subs.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 6. Dropped in a key pass if he your face.
VASILIJE ADZIC – 5. Made a couple of nice passes and forced a good save out of Carnesecchi on a free kick. Problem was ball security, which Atalanta took advantage of, especially on the first goal.
KENAN YILDIZ – 6.5. There’s a palpable buzz at the Allianz now when he touches the ball. It’s really the kind of thing we’ve seen from the fans when another team.
LOÏS OPENDA – 5. Didn’t really get to use his biggest assets, and didn’t have a ton of chemistry in the middle. That will come with time, but he may have to adapt a little.
SUBS
WESTON MCKENNIE – 5.5. That miss at the death is going to haunt him for a little bit. Did make a pair of tackles in midfield in place of Thuram.
DUSAN VLAHOVIC – 5.5. Didn’t get much in the way of service, although he did put in a key pass.
EDON ZHEGROVA – 6. I can see a world where Zhegrova is looked on as the best signing of the most recent transfer window. He took on defenders like crazy, leading to a quite bonkers six dribbles in 27 minutes.
JOÃO MÁRIO – 6. Was a big help on the right side as Juve dug in for an equalizer. He made two key passes, and his cross into the box would’ve been an assist if it hadn’t been deflected by a defender.
JUAN CABAL – NR. What a wonderful poacher’s finish—with the outside of his boot no less—to give Juve the point and the chance for more.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
Tudor’s starting XI was a little interesting today. The first part of the first half would validate those choices to a degree, but as we mentioned in the top of the piece, couldn’t pack worth anything.
His subs, on the other hand, were all good choices as the team had to chase the game. They fixed up the the imbalance that was developing in the team and eventually one of them scored. There was, however, one major issue: the presence (or lack thereof?) of Jonathan David.
The Canada international would have been very useful on the field in the second half. For one thing, he’s great at scoring goals, which is kinda the whole point of things. For another, his passing ability could have been extremely useful in a scenario where Atalanta were dropping than what we said before or since. Given the time he’s spent with Zhegrova at Lille, I’m surprised that they’ve barely featured together since Zhegrova came back from his injury. Now, it’s likely that David was the planned sub before Bremer asked to come off, but given the instant chemistry that the two will have, it seems counter to logic not to have these two on the field together whenever they can.
Beyond that, there is sometimes little that a manager can do in a game like this. Clinical hitting, getting on base period, all those will, hopefully, even out as the year progresses. But there are some wrinkles that he could made to make the team work work better as we enter another brutal stretch of schedule.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juve travel to Spain for a match with Villarreal. Then they come home afto face Texas and fellow state legislator on before another road trop to Como.
