February has been a downward slope for Juventus. It started with the team on a high, keeping a strong run of form going with a 4-1 win over Parma. From there, things got puzzling, when Juve played better than Atalanta and Lazio but ended up losing 3-0 to the former to crash out of the Coppa Italia and pulling out a 2-2 draw at the last minute against the latter.
Things got controversial last week against Inter, but Juve still showed fight in pulling back even a man down before falling at the death.
For the first 45 minutes of the Champions League game against Galatasaray midweek, things looked like they finally evening out — and then the bottom fell out.
Since that halftime break in Istanbul, the Juventus that we’ve seen has been completely unrecognizable from the group we’ve come to expect under Luciano Spalletti. Juve’s four-goal collapse on Tuesday saw them commit a bevy of mistakes that at times looked amateurish. That collapse continued on Saturday. With the chance to bury upstarts Como — and avenge their 2-0 loss on the lake in November — the Bianconeri, bereft of their top two defenders, came out of the blocks flat. The baffling mistakes in the back continued, eventually costing them the opening goal after a horrific pass in their own half.
Their response was far more muted this time, and the team never looked like they were finding the rhythm needed to get themselves back into the match. By the time the visitors scythed through Juve on the counterattack to secure a 2-0 victory, the team had the hangdog look of a defeated bunch that we’ve seen from previous iterations of the squad. That more than anything was the worst thing to see as two more big matches loom on the horizon.
Spalletti had to navigate the suspension of Pierre Kalulu and the injury suffered by Bremer in midweek. Dusan Vlahovic and Emil Holm were likewise absent, and Jonathan David was only fit for the bench. Thin in the back, Spalletti was forced to revert to the 3-4-2-1 formation that he inherited from Igor Tudor. Michele Di Gregorio started in goal behind the back three of Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly, and Teun Koopmeiners. Weston McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso started at the wing-back spots, bracketing the double pivot of Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram. Fabio Miretti and Kenan Yildiz started behind Loïs Openda up front.
Cesc Fabregas was, frankly, incredibly fortunate to be on the touchline for this game. After contacting an opposing player during play in Como’s match against AC Milan on 1-1, how he escaped a suspension is beyond me. Who was suspended was Nico Paz, who tripped the suspension limit on Wednesday. Assane Diao and Edoardo Goldaniga were left out injured. Jean Butez anchorded the 4-2-3-1 formation, screened by Ivan Smolcic, Marc Oliver Kempf, Jacobo Ramón, and Álex Valle. Máximo Perrone and Lucas da Cunha played in midfield. Mërgim Vojvoda, Maxence Caqueret, and Martin Baturina stretched out behind Tasos Douvikas in attack.
Each team looked to try to establish their own press as the game started, and Como were in control of possession early on. It was Yildiz who nearly got the party started early, slashing a shot across goal that forced Butez to lunge to his left for a two-fisted parry.
But soon after that, Juve started showing some of the heart-stopping play in the back that had led to Galatasaray’s final two goals in midweek. It didn’t take long for them to pay for it. A terrible attempt at a pass from McKennie — looking, presumably, for Gatti behind him — instead went into empty grass for Douvikas to grab on. He pushed it out to the right to Vojvoda, who make a single move to turn Koopmeiners and then took a shot for the near post. It was, frankly, nothing special as a shot. But Di Gregorio somehow ended up reacting far too late. His late attempt to throw an arm in the way was ineffectual, and it went through his hand and into the net. It was the 13th time Juve had conceded a goal on their opponents’ first shot on target, and Juve were once again chasing their game.
Juve’s response was more muted than it has been in recent times when confronted with an early deficit. Perhaps thoughts of “not again” finally crept into their heads, or perhaps the mental blow combined with physical exhaustion finally began to tell. But you could tell that the Bianconeri weren’t playing with the same verve that they have in recent games, behind or not. There were several attempts to send Openda through Como’s high line, but most of them were overhit and easily cleaned up by Butez. The one that did, from Kelly, sent Openda into the box, where he tried to chip the keeper first time. But Butez had anticipated that move and stayed upright, easily catching the ball to deny Openda a relatively quick equalizer.
The Bianconeri began to command a little bit more possession as the half wore on, but still didn’t do much with it. They picked up a few corners, but their deliveries were never good enough for them to get any shots off. But in the 37th minute they nearly imploded again. Koopmeiners took a throw in in his own corner and lofted a pass horizontally. He might’ve been looking for Kelly, but if he did he floated it way over him. If he’d been looking for Di Gregorio, it was a completely inexplicable. He’d put his keeper in an awful position, as he couldn’t use his hands on a controlled pass, and all he could do was try to head the ball as far away as he could. That turned out to be right to the edge of the box, where da Cunha met the ball with a volley that grazed the top of the crossbar. Two minutes later some more iffy defense saw the ball fall to Valle in the middle of the penalty area, but he somehow whiffed at the ball and allowed Juve to clear.
Something had to be done at halftime, and Spalletti made the move for Francisco Conceição, who came on for Miretti. Immediately the Portuguese winger made some impact, combining with Locatelli to get into a good crossing position before getting inside and unleashing a shot at Butez’s near post, but the keeper was equal to it.
But Como still had plenty of sting in their tail. Douvikas was denied by an impromptu wall when a ball was headed down to him, and da Cunha had another shot sail over. Just after the hour mark, they struck again.
This time it was a textbook counterattack off a corner kick that undid the Bianconeri. After the defensive clearance, Locatelli tried to slide in to keep the attack going, but the newly-introduced Sergi Roberto was there to spring the attack. Perrone led da Cunha through to the edge of the box, and the midfielder found Caqueret charging unmarked down the left channel to tap into an empty net while McKennie tried desperately to get his foot in front of him.
Koopmeiners almost put the game back into gear a few minutes later when he nodded just wide from a Yildiz cross. Juve tried to find the goal that would get them back into the match, but Yildiz was constantly double teamed and/or fouled, and no one else stepped up to take the pressure off him. To add to the hurt, Locatelli was booked in the 73rd minute for a high boot, putting him over the suspension threshold with a huge game at Roma looming next.
Koopmeiners had another chance in the 83rd minute when he stood over a free kick in a good position and hit it sweetly, only to watch it bounce of the post. The rebound was floated in but David, in a really tight angle after coming off the bench, couldn’t guide it under the bar. But that was the last time Juve had a real shot at turning the finish into something to watch, and after five largely uneventful minutes of stoppage time the game was finally blown dead, leaving Juve with huge question marks as their biggest week of the season looms.
