Juventus’ Sunday prime time tilt against AC Milan had all the hallmarks of their last few seasons.
Unfortunately, the bad ones.
The Bianconeri outplayed their old rivals on the day. Indeed, they only allowed three shots all game. But that third and final shot, which also happened be (stop me if you heard this one before) their first shot on target the entire night, was all that was needed for Milan to get their noses in front after the Bianconeri missed multiple chances.
It looked like Alphadjo Cissè’s
smash and grab opener, the result of some shoddy defending and less-than-inspiring goalkeeping (as well as some poor officiating from a sleeping-at-the-wheel VAR official), would be enough for them to steal three points at the Allianz. But their defense finally cracked as the game ticked into stoppage time, as Federico Gatti hammered home a gorgeous cross from fellow sub Teun Koopmeiners to even the score at 1-1 and ensure that the two Italian giants would share the spoils.
But given how Juve outplayed Milan, shared spoils would leave a sour taste in the mouths of both players and fans. This was a game they ought to have won but didn’t thanks to poor finishing and limited overall creativity—something that can’t be allowed to happen much this season if they intend to go back to the Champions League.
The result was disappointing, but how did the players do at an individual level? Let’s take a closer look.
GUGLIELMO VICARIO – 5. The more I watched Cissè’s goal, the less impressed I was with how Vicario handled it. While it’s entirely true that Manuel Locatelli and Pierre Kalulu ought to have defended the teenager better, they had still herded him into an spot where his shooting options were limited and could be anticipated. And despite the fact that the shot went through Kalulu’s legs, there was a clear visual lane between the two defenders and Vicario ought to have clearly seen what Cissè was doing before he let go of the shot. The shot was not in any way unsavable, and if Vicario had anticipated it better he very well could have bailed his defenders out. In no way did this ease my worries about him.
PIERRE KALULU – 5. A rare off game from one of the club’s most consistent players. He was off with his touch when going forward and wasn’t really able to get involved in the attack at all. Then there’s his defense on Cissè‘s goal, when he got back late and failed to fully close the youngster down. Everyone has their meh days, but seeing one from Kalulu is always a bit of a surprise given just how good he’s been the last two years.
BREMER – 8. Had Gonçalo Ramos in his pocket for much of the game, preventing Milan’s high-priced striker from registering a single shot. Led the team with six clearances and was pretty excellent whenever the ball came into his sphere. He even registered a dribble and a key pass.
JHON LUCUMÍ – 7. When Ramos wasn’t in Bremer’s pocket, it was because he’d passed him off to Lucumí. He co-led the team with three tackles and dovetailed with his partner to prevent much of anything from happening in the middle of the field. A couple of wayward passes and clearances drops his grade a little lower than Bremer’s.
ZEKI ÇELIK – 6.5. Continued to be solid on both ends of the field. Picked up one key pass and had another cross that would’ve otherwise presented Randal Kolo Muani with a free header from inside the six-yard box scrambled away by Koni De Winter. Defensively the panic that sometimes set in when watching Andrea Cambiaso work is simply non-existent. A hugely underrated pickup so far.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 5. For the second game in a row Locatelli looked slightly off. That was particularly true defensively, which has always been his hallmark. He had a key pass and three tackles, but defended Cissè so poorly on the opener, giving him far too much room to receive the pass and then failing to properly close him down. Here’s hoping this is a temporary wobble.
DOUGLAS LUIZ – 6. Another good game from the Brazilian, who continues to stake his roster claim. He led the team in key passes (2) and was overall the most dangerous Juve player on the field when it came to creativity out of the midfield. A little strange he was pulled off when he was (and stranger in terms of how it happened, with Locatelli seemingly refusing to come off when his number first came on the board).
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 6. As usual, made good moves that ultimately lacked end product. He was desprately unlucky to hit the post again (his second in two games) but also picked the wrong foot to shoot with on one occasion that made Mike Maignan’s job a lot easier. Overall he completed only 82.8 percent of his passes.
NICO GONZÁLEZ – 5.5. Made one beautiful run to skip past Strahinja Pavlovic, but fired his shot right at the keeper. Ran all over the place and was a big part of Luciano Spalletti’s surprise press game, but completed fewer than 80 percent of his passes.
KERIM ALAJBEGOVIC – 6. Looked really lively in the first half, but faded badly in the second. Co-led the team in dribbles and looked dangerous from the left. You can feel the kid’s talent, and the end product will come.
RANDAL KOLO MUANI – 4.5. It should be noted that he didn’t exactly get great service—at one point late in the first half he’d only gotten nine touches—but he was physically overpowered by De Winter and Co. far too many times, and his touch looked awful. The only reason this isn’t lower is that he was in the right spots to make those touches in the first place, which suggests that he can perhaps iron things out as he gains more match sharpness.
SUBS
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 6.5. Hit a gorgeous cross for his second goal contribution in as many matches off the bench. Played both in the hole and back with Locatelli and was pretty OK both ways. If he’s starting to stir from his two-year slumber, it would be a huge boon to the team.
JÉRÉMIE BOGA – 6. Forced Maignan into a late save and had a key pass, as well as one or two other balls that would’ve caused chaos had Milan’s defense not made good plays.
NICK WOLTEMADE – 6. Didn’t have a lot of touches but threw a Milan defense that had been very well put together off slightly, forcing a couple of free kicks including the one that ultimately produced the tying goal. I’m interested to see what this dude will do with more time.
FEDERICO GATTI – NR. Sent on as an auxiliary target, he did exactly what he was supposed to do when he thundered Koopmeiners’ cross into the net. He’s good for one or two of these every season.
EDON ZHEGROVA – NR. Not entirely sure what he was supposed to do with about 90 seconds plus stoppages remaining when he arrived on the field.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
I was pleasantly surprised by Luciano Spalletti’s approach to this match. Rather than try to work through Ruben Amorim’s vaunted pressing style, Spalletti threw it back into his face. Instead of trying to pass through the press and risk constantly getting pinned back, he simply pressed the press, creating a ton of duels in midfield that, when won, shortened and opened the field for Juve’s attack when they regained the ball.
It was a proactive solution as opposed to a reactive one, which is my favorite kind of coaching. It worked too—Juve outplayed Milan to the point where even Amorim noted in his post-match press conference that his team wouldn’t have deserved to win the match, or at the very least that Juve hadn’t deserved to lose.
What does bug me—for the second time in three matches now—was the sub patterns. My quibble is not with the who of the substitutions. After all, it was two subs who created the equalizing goal. My issue is with the when. While this game wasn’t crying out for change quite as much as the first two were, Spalletti was late when it came to making his first subs. Juve were clearly the better side in the early stages of the second half, but Kolo Muani had been floundering and perhaps a slightly different look would’ve pushed the door down earlier. Instead, he waited until after Amorim to make his first batch of changes, and waited until the 75th minute to put on Woltemade. It was also strange that he kept Kolo Muani on and hauled off a midfielder—and the strange confusion over which mid was leaving the field added to the mystery.
The final two changes, Gatti and Zhegrova, also seemed late to me. Throwing on Gatti as an extra big dude in the box is not an awful idea regardless of the timing, but if you’re going to bring Zhegrova on, why wait until there were 90 seconds left in regular time to do so? What impact can you possibly expect anyone to have in that kind of time frame?
Spalletti’s sub timing is all over the map. Sometimes, like against Parma, it comes at the right moment, and others, like Sunday, just seem to be the right moves slightly too late.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juve make a Sunday trip to Reggio Emilia to face Sassuolo next week, then begin their Europa League campaign the following Thursday with a home game against NEC Nijmegen, followed by another home tilt with Atalanta.
