All looked lost on Sunday night at the Stadio Olimpico. Down 3-1 to Roma with 25 minutes left, Juventus were staring at the prospect of a seven-point deficit for Serie A’s final Champions League spot with 11 matches left to play.
But the Bianconeri dug deep once again, pulling out their second unexpected comeback in as many games and pulling even in stoppage time when substitute Federico Gatti—on the field for all of four minutes—saw a flicked header fall to him in the six-yard box.
The 3-3 draw wasn’t
an optimal scenario by any stretch of the imagination—Juve remain four points back and allowed Como to slip past them into fifth place—it was certainly preferable to the alternative, which would have required a miracle to see Juve return to the Champions League next season.
How did Juve dig themselves into this hole? And who shone in leading them out? Let’s take a closer look.
MATTIA PERIN – 4.5. To say that his distribution wasn’t great (he nearly cost Juve a goal in the third minute with an awful pass) isn’t news. But he carried a lot of the responsibility for both of Roma’s goals in the second half. He stayed glued to his line on a playable cross that eventually fell to Evan Ndicka, and stayed home far too long when Donyell Malen made it 3-1 when he could have come out to try and clear the ball. He simply didn’t have control of his box. He had a chance to stake a claim to start for the stretch run after Michele Di Gregorio’s recent struggles, but after Sunday’s epic fail I’d be surprised to see start a third game in a row.
PIERRE KALULU – 5.5. Led the team with four tackles and had a pair of key passes, but his failed challenge on Niccolò Psilli led to Wesley’s opener, so I can’t fully give him a pass this day. He did draw the foul that led to the equalizer.
BREMER – 5.5. Three tackles and a team-high five clearances. He was also the only player on the entire team to record an interception, although he tended to waste them by shooting the ball right back to a Roma player. He got the assist for Francisco Conceição’s equalizer, but it was a relatively simple ball that doesn’t quite outweigh his passing errors further back.
LLOYD KELLY – 5. Struggled to contain Malen and didn’t make the forward runs we’ve become used to from the three-man back line.
WESTON McKENNIE – 5.5. Missed a free header in the first half that could’ve changed a lot. He misfired on almost a quarter of his pass attempts and wasn’t particularly productive up front, with the mammoth exception of the flick that produced the final equalizer, which wasn’t given an assist because of the touch it took off Ndicka (which, for the record, likely would’ve been a penalty had Gatti not scored).
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5.5. Looked more confident than he has in recent games. His tangible impact going forward was limited, but that was a problem with the team as a whole. He tried to makes things happen, he just wasn’t able to make them click. Did have a good game defensively, making four clearances, but couldn’t come close to replacing Manuel Locatelli in that department—not that we expect him to, that simply isn’t his skill set.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 5. Made one key pass but otherwise only completed 70.1 percent of his overall passes, and didn’t make the runs through the lines that are his trademark.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5. Made one key pass but otherwise had a very limited contribution to the game. He let Devyne Rensch do a little too much on his side of the field.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 6. His goal was an absolute banger and will easily hit the top 15 countdown at the end of the year. He also had two key passes, but he arguably could’ve had even more, but he continues to waste some of his better positions.
KENAN YILDIZ – 6. Led the team with two dribbles and a pair of key passes. Got the absolute piss beaten out of him by Rensch and other defenders, to the point where a lot more cards should’ve been issued on his behalf.
JONATHAN DAVID – 5. Drops too deep to try to get involved in the buildup and then is never actually there to, you know, strike. Did manage one key pass, but was pulled in favor of a striker-less system near the hour mark.
SUBS
JÉRÉMY BOGA – 6. Had a rocky start that was smoothed out greatly by his goal. His presence on the left took some of the pressure off of Yildiz and allowed him to roam.
EDON ZHEGROVA – 6. Put in the pass for both of Juve’s comeback goals, although deflections meant he only had one key pass overall. Was much better at releasing the ball as soon as he had a window, which was the big difference for him.
FABIO MIRETTI – 5.5. Made a pair of tackles but only completed 50 percent of his passes.
FEDERICO GATTI – NR. Touched the ball twice, but one of them was that much-needed equalizer. Cool and composed on the finish in a big moment.
LOÏS OPENDA – NR. Touched the ball once in two minutes plus stoppages.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
The absence of Locatelli for this game limited Luciano Spalletti’s options when it came to setting things up at the start. Koopmeiners was the proper choice to take his place given his improved performances the last 10 days, and going into the 3-4-2-1 in his absence was also the proper choice, given the skill sets of Miretti and Vasilije Adzic aren’t well as matched to a double pivot.
Another limiting factor for Spalletti was the simple fact that the team was a complete wreck physically after Wednesday’s match with Galatasaray that had seem them play down a man for more than an hour through extra time. It was pretty evident that there were some guys on the field who were simply gassed. It was a testament to the team’s resilience and their buy-in to Spalletti that the players found something somewhere to pull out another improbable comeback.
That said, they can’t keep playing games like this week in and week out. The defense cannot keep going at this rate. Juventus have given up two or more goals in seven of their last eight games, and three or more in five of their last seven. That isn’t sustainable for any team, let alone one that the team fighting for a Champions League spot. Spalletti will need to find a way to tighten up the defense down the stretch if they’re to finish in the top four.
LOOKING AHEAD
The going eases up a little bit for the next few weeks, starting with Saturday’s home matchup against Pisa, who sit in 19th and will need a miracle akin to Davide Nicola’s 2016-17 Crotone team to avoid the drop by the end of the season. Then they travel to take on Udinesse before a home match against Sassuolo before the March international break.
