After a hopeful performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, what was imperative for Juventus was to carry the energy they displayed in the Spanish capital over to their next domestic fixture, an away match against a struggling, injury depleted Lazio side.
But in a season that has increasingly veered off track after a promising start, the Bianconeri followed up that match with a limp performance at the Stadio Olimpico.
Nothing seemed to go right. A glaring error by one of their
key summer acquisitions led to an early Lazio goal by Toma Basic, a player who had been frozen out of the Lazio setup for the better part of a year. None of Juve’s efforts to get back into the game amounted to much of anything. The ones that did were smothered with relative ease by Ivan Provodel, and the increasingly desperate moves from the bench couldn’t move the needle as they attempted tried desperately to get back into the game.
The result was a 1-0 loss that kept Juve on one of their worst runs of form in decades. They’re now winless in eight games, a stretch not seen since 2009 under Claudio Ranieri, and haven’t scored a goal in four, the longest such streak since 1991. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Juventus quite this listless, and any time there is a flicker of a spark of a turnaround, it’s snuffed out.
Igor Tudor had a relatively long list of injuries to deal with. Bremer continued his rehab from meniscus surgery, while Juan Cabal, Carlo Pinsoglio, and Arkadiusz Milik joined him on the treatment table. Kenan Yildiz was rested after dealing with a knock to his own knee. Mattia Perin rotated into the goal behind a 3-5-2 formation, with Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti, and Lloyd Kelly screening him. Francisco Conceição and Andrea Cambiaso manned the wing-back spots, bookending the midfield of Teun Koopmeiners, Manuel Locatelli, and Weston McKennie. Jonathan David and Dusan Vlahovic paired up at the top of the formation for the first time from the start.
Old frenemy Maurizio Sarri was in charge for his second stint at Lazio, and was dealing with a serious injury crisis. Nuno Tavares, Taty Castellanos, Matteo Cancellieri, Nicolò Rovella, Samuel Gigot, and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru were all on the treatment table, forcing Sarri to reach toward the bottom of his barrel to send out his 4-3-3. Provodel started between the sticks, screened by Manuel Lazzari, Alessio Romagnoli, Mario Gila, and Adam Marusic. Basic joined Mattéo Guendouzi and Danilo Cataldi in midfield, while Gustav Isaksen and Mattia Zaccagni flanked Boulaye Dia in the attacking trident.
The game started out at a chaotic pace, with both sides moving at speed and the ball flying across the field, often without any real control. The result was a frenetic but ultimately unproductive opening as the ball zipped around the field almost too quickly for either team to put together a coherent attack.
The breakneck start finally culminated in Lazio taking the lead. A terrible header back toward his own end by David put the ball straight to Cataldi, who set up Basic for a long-range shot that deflected off the heel of Gatti and past a wrong-footed Perin to open the scoring.
Juve tried to generate a quick response, and a gorgeous cross by Cambiaso was headed away from a waiting Vlahovic by Romagnoli, preventing a potential tap-in by the Serbian striker. The incredible pace of the game continued and Zaccagni had to be dispossessed in front of the Juventus box to prevent another shot on target.
Things continued to move quickly, and at the 21st minute Conceição made a nice move along the ballfields, but his lofted ball to the back post saw Cambiaso turn his following shot into the side netting. Juve tried to continue pushing, but another brain cramp of a play, this time by Locatelli, saw Isaksen have a shot blocked in the box. On the other end, Koopmeiners made a nice pass into the box, pushing the ball into the channel for David, only for the Canadian striker to be confronted by Provodel, who rushed off his line and blocked the shot. The Dutchman continued to be dangerous, hitting a direct free kick that was deflected away.
At halftime, Tudor brought Yildiz onto the field to try to give the attack a push, putting four forwards onto the field. It almost worked immediately, but Vlahovic slammed a 1-on-1 shot off the bar. Ultimately, he was spared the embarrassment of a missed sitter when the flag went up on Kelly in the buildup. Locatelli then forced Provodel to get low to stop a shot from just outside the box.
McKennie risked a second yellow 10 minutes in, but Andrea Colombo didn’t agree, letting the American continue, much to the annoyance of Gueodouzi. A few minutes later, Conceição had reason to be angry when Lazio lost the ball near their own box and Gila stepped on the Portugal international’s foot, but Colombo was once again uninterested, and VAR didn’t even call for a review.
As the clock ticked on Lazio started breaking out on some dangerous counters. Zaccagni missed a shot with 13 minutes to go, and two minutes later Isaksen caused serious problems in the box before slamming his shot wide. Pedro had a great look in the left channel seconds after being introduced from the bench after Zaccagni slipped past Locatelli after a throw but he airmailed the near top corner.
Juve pushed hard in the last minutes as they tried to find the equalizer, forcing a succession of corners in the minutes before stoppage time. But they were never able to force Provodel into meaningful action, apart from him taking a deeply unnecessary foul by Joao Mario off a corner. Locatelli had a shot blocked, then deep into stoppage time Joao Mario put a good cross in but Khéphren Thuram was unable to do anything more than nod it straight at Provodel, fluffing the last, best chance for Juventus to grab a point.
The final seconds melted off the clock, and Juve’s stretch of futility reached a new low as Colombo’s whistle blew for the final time.
