A note from the editors: We’re going to be experimenting with a new format for our match recaps. Instead of using one long article, the recap will now be split in half. The first post will recount the game’s action, then the second a little bit later will have Le Pagelle and Manager Analysis. You can find the match recap here. Feel free to let us know what you think of this new format!
Juventus and AC Milan played out a goalless draw at the Allianz on Sunday. Here’s how each player fared.
MICHELE DI
GREGORIO – 6. Made four saves, including a sparkler late against Leao. Had a much better day that Perin did in midweek.
FEDERICO GATTI – 6. Made a pair of tackles in the back and was desperately unlucky not to score early in the second half. He also led the team with four shots, two of which hit the target—good for him but not exactly ideal in the grand scheme of things.
DANIELE RUGANI 6.5. Regardless of how poorly he’s been treated since he arrived in Turin, he’s always shown up and delivered when called upon. Given the task of playing the Bremer role in defense, Rugani was solid, leading the team in clearances (5) and co-leading in interceptions (2).
LLOYD KELLY – 5. Yeah, that foul on the penalty was Not Good. He did make four clearances and completed 96.3 percent of his passes, but he’s incredibly lucky that Pulisic ballooned his penalty.
PIERRE KALULU – 6. His ill-fit for the wing-back position makes it all the more surprising that he led the team with four key passes. He made himself available to the attackers whenever he could, and made few mistakes defensively.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6. A rock in front of the back three defensively, and had good composure with the ball at his feet. Made the hockey assist for a couple of the better chances Juve had.
WESTON McKENNIE – 5.5. Had a pair of key passes, but he always seemed a half-step behind the play, especially in the box, where a little more anticipation/communication with David could’ve turned some half-chances into goals. It also needs to be acknowledged that he very well could’ve scored in the first half when a desperation tackle by Saelemaekers got the ball away. Still, not the greatest of matches for a guy we know can do more.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5.5. Completed 93.8 percent of his passes and made a couple of nice passes in the middle of sequences but nothing directly contributing to any danger.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 6. The biggest danger man up front, he was a constant threat on the dribble and caused some danger coming off the right side of the attacking midfield. That said, he still needs to learn to pick up his damn head instead of just charging through the box trying to do everything himself.
KENAN YILDIZ – 5.5. Milan paid special attention to him, with Fofana man-marking him for most of the game. His only shot was blocked, and he wasn’t able to do much in the way of supply either. A big emphasis for Juve will be on developing another threat to take the focus away from him.
JONATHAN DAVID – 5. Had a few half-chances come his way, but the biggest opportunity he had led to him slipping on the turf and faceplanting. (As an aside, can someone check on the pitch? Between David and Pulisic doing the same thing on the other end of the field it was looking like something wasn’t quite right with the turf.) There’s a lot he can do in this attack, but he needs better service and more opportunities to interplay with his teammates.
SUBS
DUSAN VLAHOVIC – 5.5. Only managed to get six touches in 22 minutes. There wasn’t enough oomph left in the team—and the game in general—to get him much service.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 5.5. Brought some energy but couldn’t put a stamp on the midfield to change the match.
LOÏS OPENDA – 5. Only took seven touches in his time on the field. Filip Kostic, the last sub used, had as many in five minutes. That’s not great. This kind of cagey game where springing a counter was an important part of the plan could’ve used his energy, perhaps from the start, but he’s not getting the kind of balls as a late sub where he can use his pace effectively.
FILIP KOSTIC – NR. A mystifying change with five minutes to go, he certainly made an effort, making three crosses in only five minutes of game time, but there were other moves that could’ve been made.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
One of the earliest ever episodes of the Pokémon anime involved Ash and another trainer battling with a Metapod and Kakuna, respectively, and the only move either of them could do was Harden, leaving the two trainers urging their Pokémon to use the defensive technique as hard as they could.
That’s how a lot of this game went. Tudor and Allegri each went for low-risk pragmatism and the result was a game that wasn’t exactly thrilling stuff. And I’m not exactly sure that that was the right tack for Tudor to take.
If there’s one thing we learned about Allegri over his second stint with the club is that Max 2.0 is not built to play from behind. Give him a lead and he’ll hold on to it for dear life and either get across the finish line corto muso or get burned as his defense drops deeper and deeper. Put him in a situation where he has to chase the game, though, and there isn’t much in his current tactical makeup that can help him recover. That was evident even on the opening day of this season when Milan suffered a shock loss to Cremonese at the San Siro. The Rossoneri managed to rally from one deficit in the first half, but when they fell behind again later in the game it was clear there weren’t many ideas about how to get through the Cremonese defense.
At this point in his career, the best way to deal with Allegri is to try to get ahead early. It’s perhaps a little more risky, but it’s well worth the reward, which is being pursued by a team that doesn’t really have the tactical oomph for a comeback.
In that vein, Tudor’s conservative approach to this game wasn’t ideal. The suspension of Samuel Chukwueze had left Allegri reliant on Davide Bartesaghi—all of 19 years old with 31 minutes of Serie A football to his name—to man the left wing-back spot. Instead of putting Kalulu against him on the right flank, this was the perfect time to unleash Joao Mario and see if the kid could keep up with him. If he wasn’t prepared to do that from the start, certainly once Bartesaghi was booked in the 59th minute would’ve been the perfect time to put Joao Mario on with fresh legs and a vulnerable opposite number. But he never brought him on at all.
Similarly, his substitutions were perhaps less aggressive than they could have been, with the likes of Edon Zhegrova and Vasilije Adzic completely left out as well. The purpose of putting Filip Kostic on the field was…uncertain, at best.
This seemed like a game where Tudor needed a little bit more aggression in order to put Allegri in a position he wasn’t likely to recover from.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juventus will come out of the international break with a pair of tricky road games against Como and Real Madrid. Well, the Como game is tricky. Madrid is just going to be frickin’ hard.
