Giorgio Chiellini has become the official Juventus management figure who talks with the Sky Italia or DAZN before every fixture. And before kickoff on Saturday night in Sardinia, Chiellini had a warning for Luciano Spalletti’s squad. It was a simple one …
“Tonight is one of those classic fixtures that can be a trap,” Chiellini told Sky Italia.
Consider the trap having been fully fell into. It was just one of those nights — one of those just head-shaking kinds of nights.
Chiellini proved to be right
on the money. The man knows ball! But you probably knew that already. Juventus, despite what felt like 95% possession — hell, it wasn’t that far off in actuality — and so many waves of attacking movements that made the Attack Momentum meter on Sofascore look like one-way traffic, coughed up three points against the 16th-place team in Serie A. You combine Juve’s complete inability to score on Saturday night and one Luca Mazzitelli half-volley completely out of nowhere and you get Cagliari picking up just their second win over Juventus in the last decade and a half with a 1-0 victory at the Unipol Domus in Sardinia.
See? Trap game.
Chiellini knew it. Spalletti knew it. The players probably did, too, because they have a manager who explains things very well and communicates his points very succinctly and directly.
And yet …
Three points dropped. Three valuable points.
The loss means that Napoli — who beat Sassuolo 1-0 earlier in the day on Saturday — will come to Turin next weekend with a four-point edge over Juventus. It also means that Roma can jump back into fourth place if they are to get any sort of positive result against Torino on Sunday. Not exactly ideal no matter how you put it — especially when you consider the fact that Cagliari had been in a rough run of form over the last two months since Juventus played them last.
Except, Cagliari did exactly what they sought out to do. Juventus huffed and puffed and completely failed to blow the house down. Spalletti’s squad had 18 corners! EIGHTEEN! But the thing was, that Juve continue to be so ineffective from set pieces that having that many corners just seem to be mostly a waste of time and energy.
Did Cagliari defend well? Yes, of course. It’s not like Juve were dealing with the wide-open spaces that they were seeing when they steamrolled past Cremonese five days earlier.
But, at the same time, Saturday night’s struggles put a magnifying glass back on what this team still struggles to do in the final third. Whether it’s the lack of execution, the lack of variance, the lack of somebody opposite Kenan Yildiz who can consistently be a threat to break down an opposing defense or just the lack of a big and physical striker who can hurt you with the ball at his feet and in the air.
Ah, one can only hope for something to change in these types of games, right?
The trap game happened. They’re almost impossible to avoid — especially so when you know damn well what’s right around the corner on the schedule in a few days. It’s just about preventing them as much as you can no matter how much somebody like Chiellini or Spalletti continues to warn you about them.
Juventus didn’t do that on Saturday night. And they handed Cagliari one of their only wins in the last three months because of it.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- I’m sorry to everybody for jinxing the good mood with the podcast title this week. I’ll wear it. I will try and never do that type of thing again.
- Actually, I take that back! Maybe these things just happen in football. You know, as a wise man once said a few years back.
- Juventus primavera won on Saturday. Juventus Next Gen won on Saturday. Juventus senior team … I guess I will just stop there because we know what hapened.
- Give Jean-Philippe Mateta and give him to me now. A striker who can do something in the air wold be really nice considering how useless all those crosses Juventus sent in against Cagliari and how they resulted in absolutely nothing.
- Juventus sending in 1,000 crosses against Cagliari and Filip Kostic didn’t even touch the field. Amazing.
- Sending in a ton of crosses to two strikers who aren’t all that great in the air. Seems like a mistake.
- Then again, with things so packed because Cagliari defended the middle of the field so well — yes, you’re allowed to say the opponent did something positive, it’s OK —
- Fabio Pisacane was in the squad the last time Cagliari beat Juventus, huh? Well he certainly looks good for somebody who’s almost 40 years old, that’s for sure. (Although guessing a relegation battle will wear on him a little bit however much longer he’s in a job with the club he play for until 2021.)
- This is yet another reminder that Yerry Mina is a completely revolting kind of player. He is the definition of the player you love to hate — and we’re reminded of that every time Juventus play against him in recent years. Thanks for that, Yerry.
- Mina trying to start something with Edon Zhegrova? Pick on somebody your own size, Yerry.
- Oh, look. Another cross that goes to nobody.
- I feel safe in saying that Elia Caprile is a very good goalkeeper and he probably won’t be playing at Cagliari next season. Dude is 24, only getting better and should be playing for a much bigger club in Serie A.
- A couple of those saves that Caprile made, especially the ones against Fabio Miretti and then Yildiz in the second half that skipped off the wet turf or a Cagliari player (or both), were just fantastic reflex stops. Guy is good.
- I can already feel it now. All of the good things said about Jonathan David the last couple of games just flying out the window like you’re in an airplane that is 30,000 feet above the ground. The funny thing is, it’s not like he was the sole reason why Juventus lost. Did he play well? No, but the swing from “He’s improving!” to “He’s back to being crap!” is wholeheartedly predictable.
- Eighteen corners. Twenty-one shots. An xG of just 1.32. That ain’t gonna cut it, man.
- Mattia Perin had to make one save. Juventus allowed just two shots on target all game. It just so happens the second one of those was a shot that a whole lot of goalkeepers in this sport probably aren’t going to stop no matter how good they are. It was just an incredible hit that was perfectly place through traffic. Not a lot Perin could do about that.
- Juventus’ defense on that free kick, though? Yeah, kinda sleepy.
- OK, so on the third or fourth look I guess I agree that it wasn’t a penalty on Miretti. In the moment, though, well that’s a completely different kind of reaction. I thought that was 100% a penalty at first.
- Speaking of 100% that was basically how much possession Juve had in the final 20-25 minutes.
- There’s throwing the kitchen sink at an opponent chasing the lead. Then there’s Luciano Spalletti out here and basically throwing on every single available attacking player for a good chunk of the second half against Cagliari. If only it had resulted in a goal or two, right?
- At least Manuel Locatelli won’t be suspended against Napoli!
- That Locatelli and Teun Koopmeiners double pivot just ain’t it. Just not working at all.
- That free kick routine involving Koopmeiners in the first half that was basically blown up right after the ball was first touch pretty much sums up this very expensive Dutchman’s time at Juventus. It ain’t working.
- It is rather unfortunate that two of Juventus’ most frustrating performances over the last two months have come against two of the worst teams in Serie A.
- Our guy Kenan looks tired.
- This would have been a great chance to get Kenan some rest ahead of the Champions League returning. Instead, there he is in the 03rd minute trying to will this team to a point after a disappointing performance.
- OK, one last cross that goes off into the distance and doesn’t result in anything. Fitting for this day. Pass the bourbon. I don’t have work in the morning.
