Juventus may have taken a 1-0 lead into the half against Sassuolo on Tuesday night, but it was certainly looking like one of those cases in which you were just left wanting a little more. You wanted another
goal, not to be in a situation where one mistake — a lot like we saw against Lecce just three days ago — was suddenly changing the scope of the game no matter how much Juve had dominated the opening half.
Less than 20 minutes into the second half, all of that changed.
And changed quickly, too.
All within less than two minutes, Jonathan David sett up Fabio Miretti’s first goal of the season and then the Canadian striker jumped on a wayward pass and converted what proved to be the final piece of Juventus’ 3-0 win over Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium. It was Juventus’ first win over Sassuolo on their home field since 2022, putting to bed at least some of the boogeyman-like feeling that comes with heading to this part of Emilia-Romagna. But after a dominant yet completely frustrating 1-1 draw with Lecce on Saturday, Juventus responded with a strong showing against a Sassuolo side that has already taken points off clubs like AC Milan and Bologna so far this season.
So not bad, right?
With Roma and Como winning prior to Juventus taking the field on Tuesday night, it was crucial for the Bianconeri to keep things where they were entering the final game of the andata. That’s exactly what happened, and because of it Juve will now have nearly a week off to rest up and face Cremonese with full knowledge that they are in fourth place (albeit on goal differential) entering the second half of the season.
That’s a better kind of situation in which Luciano Spalletti arrived around 2 1/2 months ago. It’s far from where a lot of us probably still want them to be, but Juventus are showing signs of turning things around slowly but surely — even if it comes with a result like we saw just three days ago.
But when it comes to what Juventus did Tuesday night, it was a lot of the same kind of statistical domination that we saw against Lecce. Juventus barely allowed Sassuolo to have much of anything going forward. The Juventus defense limited Sassuolo to just three shots in each half, with most of those not being on frame until the final minutes of the game when things were pretty much sealed.
Against a tricky side like Sassuolo has proven to be, that sure is a pretty good development.
Same goes for the fact that somebody like David, who was one of the biggest goats and rip to shreds in the Italian media following the draw with Lecce, rebounded in about as strong of a way as he possibly could have. It was arguably one of his all-around best games, if not the best since coming to Juventus. He needed it. He needed it badly considering what this season has been like for him and the kind of game he just had. The whole squad needed it, too, because they know how important David could be for this team going forward if he plays like that.
They celebrated with him like they are very well aware of that fact.
Even Spalletti got in on the celebrations after David’s goal made it 3-0. Is that a sign that things are good? I would like to believe so — especially when you consider just how things were feeling surrounding David just a few days ago.
But this was a fixture that could have easily been a trap game and seen Juventus drop points in. That’s certainly what many thought coming into it because of what Sassuolo had done against bigger clubs this season. Plus, you didn’t know how Juve would react to dominating Lecce but shooting themselves in the foot twice in the process.
They responded pretty well from this guy’s point of view. Not a bad way to officially finish up the final round of the andata.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Three points and a clean sheet. Those are always words I can support around here.
- A Juventus team that has struggled to consistently score goals all season just handed Sassuolo their worst loss of the season. That is something I didn’t have on my bingo card.
- Michele Di Gregorio went 80-plus minutes without having to make a save. Then he made two pretty good ones within the span of about 30 seconds. Way to stay alert, big man.
- Seeing this team celebrate around Jonathan David in the way that they did was refreshing.
- I mean, when is the last time you’ve seen somebody like Spalletti sprint down the sideline all the way to the corner flag just to celebrate a goal with his players? It’s probably been a good amount of time.
- You know David needed that kind of game in the worst possible way.
- It wasn’t just the goal and the assist to Miretti, either. David was doing a little bit of everything to help Juventus put Sassuolo on the back foot. The man’s defensive contributions were pretty impressive, too. This was the kind of game in which we envisioned from David when he first arrived. Hopefully this ends up being a potential sign of things to come rather than a one-off performance when he returns to his struggles next time out.
- Six different Juventus players, including David, had two tackles against Sassuolo.
- Who led Juventus in tackles? Oh just the guy who has played every minute of every game this season, Pierre Kalulu. That guy just continues to be steady as they come.
- Plus Kalulu has found this new thing where his crosses or shots end up being own goals. That’s cool.
- Those hugs between Spalletti and Kenan Yildiz are becoming one of my favorite things about this team right now. You can just tell how much Spalletti has taken to that young man. (Not that it’s a surprise at all.)
- Miretti had a good game. Seeing him take to this advanced role under Spalletti has been a positive development knowing just how much Juve need somebody other than Yildiz to be threat in the final third.
- Who led Juventus in key passes? Jonathan David.
- Just how many key passes did David finish with? That would be six. SIX KEY PASSES!
- Sassuolo had four key passes as a team on Tuesday.
- No other Juventus player had more than two key passes against Sassuolo.
- Joao Mario? In this economy?
- Personally, I would like Juventus to win more games by a 3-0 scoreline. That sure would do a lot more for my overall stress level when it comes to this team.
- Good win. Let’s just leave it at that. Personally, that’s a good development after we saw this team do what it did over the weekend against a team hovering around the relegation zone.
