Juventus’ game against Napoli on Sunday was a case study in how a coach can lose a game. Luciano Spalletti came into the game with an idea of how to approach the Partenopei—but it was the completely wrong
idea. We’ll get into the details of that later.
But Juventus’ players played a part as well. With a few exceptions, everyone on the field was pretty poor. Kenan Yildiz stood out, but few others managed to put out a respectable showing against the defending champions (barf).
How did things go? Let’s take a closer look.
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 6. Made a couple of fantastic saves that kept Juve in the game long enough to equalize. I’ve seen criticism of him not being proactive enough in the lead-up to the goals, but it’s hard to get on him when your defenders simply fail to mark.
PIERRE KALULU – 6. The only Juve defender to do his job relatively well. Made three tackles and two interceptions, and completed 96.1 percent of his passes. His side was not the problem.
LLOYD KELLY – 4.5. Lost Rasmus Højlund on both goals. The first time he was actually attentive to where he was, he simply wasn’t ready for the surge of pace at the end of the Dane’s run. On the winner he was completely ball-watching, although it can perhaps be said that he wouldn’t have been expecting Weston McKennie to head the ball right to the guy he was marking.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5. Got roasted by David Neres a few times early in the game and it looked like he was told to leave the Brazilian to his wing-back after that. This was not an ideal opponent for him to be playing in the back against, but with the injuries there were few other options.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 4. The stats say he had a key pass, which I cannot remember to save my life. He only completed 84.9 percent of his passes in total and made several shocking giveaways in his own half. Even on Juve’s goal, his inaccurate pass almost killed the move, but he was bailed out by Conceição.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6. Got called out for playing too low by Spalletti, but he was huge defensively in midfield, leading the team with five tackles and four interceptions. One of those five tackles was a fantastic slide that wiped out Højlund and started the run that led to Yildiz’ goal. Also completed 92.5 of his total passes and was one of the few players to register a key pass.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 5. Had a high pass completion rate but didn’t really do much of anything. Those runs through the midfield that were the defining characteristic of his game last year have kinda dried up.
JUAN CABAL – 4. Couldn’t deal with the pace of Neres either, getting absolutely flamed until he was hooked at halftime. It’s not the first time he’s been torched up that line.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5.5. Didn’t make much of an impact, but for a guy who needs the ball at his feet, he didn’t have much of a chance to. He only got 34 touches in 75 minutes.
WESTON McKENNIE – 5. What a weird day. Got the assist for Yildiz’ goal to end that great counter, then headed Neres’ cross directly onto Højlund’s head to gift Napoli the winner. He made a couple of interceptions and held Lang down well when he moved to right wing-back at halftime, didn’t really impact the game much (positively) beyond the assist.
KENAN YILDIZ – 7. A frustrated figure in the first half, he was clearly buoyed by getting back to his natural position in the second. The finish he put on his goal was absolutely marvelous. This team needs to be better for him.
SUBS
JONATHAN DAVID – 5.5. He had precious little service—in his first 17 minutes he had all of TWO touches—but credit should be given to him for simply changing the balance of the team and helping them play better in the second half. His chemistry with Edon Zhegrova was tantalizing.
FILIP KOSTIC – 4. Yeah, this was a no. He only completed 44.4 percent of his passes, and did his best impression of Younghoe Koo on one attempted cross. (If you don’t know American football, I encourage you to Google this man. You don’t need to understand the sport to be entertained by what befell him a few weeks ago.)
FABIO MIRETTI – 6. Didn’t misplace a pass, and really should’ve been on sooner.
LOÏS OPENDA – NR. I usually give a number grade for a sub who had 15 minutes or more on the field, but Openda only touched the ball twice in 15 minutes, so a rating really doesn’t seem fair here.
EDON ZHEGROVA – NR. And because I don’t give a number to someone who had less than 15 minutes on the pitch, Zhegrova will again go numberless despite his immediate impact on the game for the 8 minutes he was there. Should’ve done better with that last chance of the game when he was face-to-face with VMS.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
Oh, where to begin?
I think—I think—I understand what Spalletti was trying to do with this false-nine lineup. He wanted to use the lack of a reference point to stretch the back three and open up gaps that the mids, up against an injury-ravaged Napoli midfield, could exploit.
It’s not a radical idea. But given Spalletti’s age and experience, I find it shocking just how naive he was to think that it would work in this game.
To expect to be able to push and pull an Antonio Conte-coached defense like that is insane. Conte simply doesn’t allow that kind of indiscipline in his defenders—which Napoli’s back three showed the entire first half. Couple that to the fact that there was absolutely no way for the likes of Yildiz and Conceição to win balls in the air against the tallest set of center-backs in the league, which made Napoli’s press even more effective.
There’s always a question of whether having no point of reference or a striker serving as the center of gravity causes can create the kind of movement that Spalletti clearly wanted. That answer isn’t universal and really depends on what players the team has. In Juve’s case, the latter is clearly the answer. To his credit, Spalletti recognized that and immediately changed things at halftime, although frankly I wouldn’t have criticized him if he’d make the change before the break. But what he did in the first half effectively handed Napoli control of the game for the entire first half, and they hardly ever let it go.
Which leads us to the other huge misstep from Spalletti: not using his substitutions to push the momentum after Yildiz’ equalizer. That was the point where he could’ve made a couple of offensive changes and put Napoli on their heels while they processed the smash-and-grab goal they had just given up. Miretti should’ve gone in much earlier, and this would’ve been an excellent time to bring João Mário out of purgatory and use his attacking abilities on the wing to bring the game to the hosts.
Instead, he stood pat, waited 12 minutes to make any subs at all, and allowed Napoli to right themselves. In the minutes before they scored the winner, it was noticeable that the Partenopei had regrouped and were starting to force the issue offensively.
Spalletti’s mistakes in this game simply handed the three points to Napoli. He didn’t put his players in a position where they could succeed, and, predictably, they didn’t. Spalletti is going to need to reflect on this game and make changes, otherwise this season could get out of hand quickly.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juve host Cyprian side Pafos on Wednesday in another must-win Champions League clash, then hit the road again for another big league match, this time against Bologna, and after that comes a home game with Roma.
