By the time Juventus’ 2-0 loss to Como was over on Saturday, it was surprising that they had any more foot left to shoot themselves in. The basic mistakes that had sparked up in the second half of the midweek game against Galatasaray continued to crop up, the shaky play in goal moved into true howler territory, and the players that had fought so hard through adverse situations the last few weeks started to look a little burnt out.
It all added up to some rough watching, and put Juve in a much tougher
position in the standings, too. Como pulled to within a point of them with the victory, and a victory over Cremonese could put Roma four points up in fourth with a massive head-to-head ready next week.
What did the players look like in Saturday’s disappointing outing? Let’s take a closer look.
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 4. I’ve been defending Di Gregorio during the difficult stretch he’s had, but this one was an honest-to-goodness howler. Mërgim Vojvoda’s shot had no business going into the Juventus goal. But Di Gregorio was just slow in reacting, and that reaction was wholly insufficient.
FEDERICO GATTI – 5.5. Spent a lot of time pushing up the field to help the attack and won a couple of corners doing it, but struggled as most of his teammates did in getting the hell out of their own box when Como pressed.
LLOYD KELLY – 5.5. Found Loïs Openda with a good long ball but otherwise was pinned down trying to deal with Douvikas and the rest of the Como attack. Trying to anchor a three-man line isn’t really his forte, and he did as well as he could given the circumstances.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5. Had the best chances to get Juve back into the game, but missed a header and watched a well-struck free kick doink off the post. But he was awash defensively for a lot of the game. He gave Di Gregorio a hospital ball to deal with toward the end of the first half that very nearly made it 2-0 a lot earlier, and he got turned inside out by Vojvoda before the Kosovar scored.
WESTON McKENNIE – 5. Horrific pass led to Como’s opener, and he never seemed to be able to get into threatening positions out on the right. Things seem to be much better for him right now when he’s in the middle.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 5.5. Provided a key pass and was a workhorse defensively, putting up team highs in tackles (6) and clearances (4), but it was the tackle he wasn’t able to make right at the beginning of Como’s game-clinching counter that will haunt him.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 5. Had three tackles defensively but simply wasn’t a factor moving forward and only completed 73 percent of his passes. He’s kinda shrunk back to the struggles we saw a few weeks ago.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5. Got the ball a lot out on the left but came up with precious little end product.
FABIO MIRETTI – 4.5. A complete non-factor from the CAM spot, coming off at half was well deserved.
KENAN YILDIZ – 5.5. Led the team in dribbles (4) and key passes (2) and had Jean Butez sweating over an early shot, but could only really produce in flashes and was constantly double teamed and kicked to hell.
LOÏS OPENDA – 4. Como theoretically made for a good matchup for him, but he couldn’t make any runs through their high defensive line to count. His one real chance was well anticipated by Butez.
SUBS
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5.5. Still lacking in end product, but he at least tried to make something happen near the box and got Butez to work on a shot.
JONATHAN DAVID – 5. Only touched the ball three times in 16 minutes, sailing a header over from an admittedly tough angle after Koopmeiners bonked the ball off the post.
JÉRÉMIE BOGA – 5.5. Tried to combine with Yildiz on the left to create some danger, but there wasn’t much there.
VASILIJE ADZIC – NR. Couldn’t provide much in the way of spark in a late cameo.
FILIP KOSTIC – NR. As an alternative to Cambiaso wasn’t able to do much in eight minutes.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
Luciano Spalletti suddenly has a crisis of confidence on his hands. After weeks of displaying the kind of mental fortitude we’ve wanted to see from a Juventus team for years, his players suddenly look defeated. He said as much in the post-game conference, when he said, “It’s all about self-belief, that we have what it takes. We had managed to create that belief in our potential, but when confidence and a sense of authority goes…Our opponents are in this case ourselves. If we can sort some things out on a psychological and technical level, then we can have our say.”
I have to wonder if fatigue is a factor in all of this. Tired bodies make for tired minds, and the kind of mental errors we’re seeing, especially in the back, aren’t the kind of thing that magically develop overnight. Spalletti has been forced to use the same lineup quite a bit due to the lack of performance from players further down the depth chart, and it’s really showing in some of the players, like Yildiz, Thuram, and Cambiaso. The latter was having his own problems anyway, but all three look gassed, and the problem is there’s no one really to give guys a rest in big games without taking on a precipitous drop in quality.
Spalletti doesn’t have much time to figure this out. Advancing out of the Galatasaray tie is unlikely at this point, but Sunday’s game with Roma—presuming they beat Cremonese, a game that hasn’t started as of post time—is suddenly about surviving in the top four race as opposed to jumping the Giallorossi. Como and Atalanta are right on their tails now, too. Spalletti needs to get this team right quickly, otherwise the back end of the season could be about the team hanging on by their fingernails.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juve welcome Gala to the J Stadium on Wednesday, needing a three-goal win just to go to extra time. After that comes the big head-to-head with Roma in the capital, before Pisa visits Turin to give Juve a break from their string of huge matches.
