Juventus’ midweek spin with Udinese finally ended their six-week-long winless run. It wasn’t the most dominant performance in the world, but wins are wins and points are points, and to get back to winning
ways was hugely important with Luciano Spalletti ready to take over for the rest of the season.
Who impressed their new manager on Wednesday? Let’s take a look.
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 7. Made a really smart save early in the second half when Juve were at at a crossroads in the match. Other than that wasn’t given a whole lot to do.
PIERRE KALULU – 6. A good game from him. He defended well and moved forward to support the attack at opportune times. Took the shot that led to the corner that gave Juve their lead back.
FEDERICO GATTI – 6.5. Figured that the best way to get the ball into the goal wasn’t around Maduka Okoye but perhaps through him, sending a powerful header that he couldn’t keep out. Led the team with seven clearances, many of them in critical spots, and even had a key pass thrown in there, completing 97.1 percent overall. One of his better games this year.
LLOYD KELLY – 6. Five clearances on defense and was up trying to support Kostic and Yildiz as much as he could.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 5.5. His long passing helped spring a few good attacks, and he was 10 of 12 overall from long range. Defensive numbers were good too, but he needs to take a ding for the awful mistake that led to Udinese’s goal at the end of the first half.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 6.5. Looked better on the right than he has all year on the left. Led the team with four tackles, and had three key passes, including the beautiful assist on Gatti’s go-ahead strike.
WESTON McKENNIE – 6. Solid day all around, notching a pair of key passes. Would’ve had a great assist in the 16th minute had he held his run a little bit.
KENAN YILDIZ – 6.5. Showed good creativity but was also led into dead ends a bit too much. Hit the post in the second half and should’ve clinched the game from open play before winning and scoring the second penalty in stoppage time.
FILIP KOSTIC – 6. Crosstic was back in full force on the left wing. The Serbia international launched 14 of them, but only completed four. Given that he still had a game-high six key passes, you wonder what he might be able to do if he actually went for some precision instead of just spamming balls into the box in the hope it finds someone.
LOÏS OPENDA – 5.5. Still looks a little lacking in confidence. There were a couple of instances, especially in the second half, where he would’ve stood a decent chance of scoring had he taken the opportunity to shoot a little earlier.
DUSAN VLAHOVIC – 6.5. Dude was running today. He was constantly pressing, constantly trying to push the ball in attack. Had a hungry look to him and deserved the goal. Okoye’s save on him midway through the first half was excellent and denied him another.
SUBS
JONATHAN DAVID – NR. Missed a few passes that he should’ve made, but also came ever so close to scoring a fourth in the dying minutes before being—stop me if you’ve heard this one—denied by Okoye.
DANIELE RUGANI – NR. On late to solidify the defense with the lead still at one, intercepted a pass.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – NR. Fresh legs at the end of the match in midfield.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
It must be a weird situation for a guy like Massimo Brambilla to coach a game like this, knowing he’s only there for a few days to keep the seat warm for the new guy. It’s impossible to tell what kind of influence he had outside of simple novelty given he only had one training session.
Still, the players did have the look of guys with a bit more freedom. They were pushing the ball upfield quicker than we’ve seen in weeks, and getting into some good shooting positions. Sometimes there was still that small delay in decision making that has gotten in their way in the past, but overall this was a much better-looking side than we’ve seen since perhaps the Villarreal game, or even earlier to the Dortmund game.
If there’s one thing I thought was very much a negative, it was his sub usage. While I get that the starting XI was on a roll and the only thing keeping the game remotely close was Okoye’s insane performance, you’re also in the middle leg of three games in six days, and some of these guys could probably have used some time off their feet given the Cremonese game was in a little more than 72 hours. That goes for number (he left two changes on the shelf) and timing, as he didn’t change anything until there were less than 15 minutes left in the game, and his final two came on with only two minutes to play.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juve travel to face Cremonese in the Saturday prime-time slot over the weekend, then comes a Champions League tilt at home against Sporting that, given the results so far, could very well be a must-win game. Then comes the first Derby della Mole of the season before the international break.
