So much of the early days of the Luciano Spalletti era at Juventus has felt like one or two steps forward and then just as many steps back over the course of the next subsequent fixtures. They’ve done
some good, but there’s been just as much frustration and equally poor themes that have continued over from the last couple of managers.
That was the case once again on Sunday night in Naples.
As much as it felt like Napoli could have been prime for the taking when Kenan Yildiz did his latest bit of brilliance to level things up 15 minutes into the second half, Juventus’ issues of bring able to take full advantage of their improved second half came to the fore. Juve weren’t able to a Napoli squad that looked to be wobbling a little bit, only to see Antoni Conte’s side go back ahead through Rasmus Højlund 12 minutes from time and go top of the table with a 2-1 win over Juventus, their fifth win over the Bianconeri in their last seven meetings.
It was a brutal night for Luciano Spalletti, too, as he made his first appearance at the Maradona — and, surprisingly, first-ever managerial meeting against Conte — since leading Napoli to the Scudetto 2 1/2 years ago. And, after making some quite interesting lineup choices that most notably had Yildiz playing as a false 9 of sorts that resulted in a first-half performance to forget, it proved to be a return to Naples that resulted in Juve’s first loss under Spalletti since he became manager in late-October.
The thing is, it’s going to actually be hard to forget what Juventus did in the first half.
Especially when you consider that before Weston McKennie inadvertently headed the ball right into the path of Højlund on the go-ahead goal, things were actually improving.
But when you have a first half that felt like it resulted in absolutely nothing and Napoli score almost immediately after Yildiz is subbed off, then it’s hard not to look at the manager and wonder what the heck he was thinking both before and during this big-time matchup against the reigning champions.
Throw in the fact that there were so many results that fell in Juventus’ favor both Saturday and earlier in the day on Sunday, this really could have been a potential win that could hav propelled Juventus right into the crowded field at the top of the table. Instead, with Napoli beating Juventus, the defending champions are atop the table once again and Spalletti’s squad are still stuck in seventh place and now three more points behind the league leaders.
It’s all become very familiar. Just too familiar these last couple of years.
In this game, though, it’s hard not to start with the two hinge points of the game:
- What Spalletti chose to do to begin the game.
- How this matchup was there for the taking when Yildiz tied things up in the 59th minute.
When it comes to the second point, it might be hard to believe, but it’s true: Juventus were very much in it because they had just tied things up and were looking as good as they had all night. Napoli had fumbled away more than a couple of scoring chances and Michele Di Gregorio had made a couple of really good saves to keep the home side from adding another goal from their name, so it was
Then you have that first half. Oh god, that first half … I don’t even know where to begin.
Why? Because Juventus looked just completely out of whack. As much as Napoli were flying forward and looking extremely confident on the ball and were seeing it result in some really good chances, Juventus were basically the opposite. They weren’t creating much of anything in the final third. They had all of two shots in the opening 45 minutes. They were making their typical stupid turnovers and looked to lack any sort of cohesiveness out on the field.
It was not great — and a total mistake Spalletti to go the way he did with his starting lineup. Which, in a way, is completely ironic because you see how deep Yildiz dropped to start the movement that resulted in the game-tying goal and that’s probably what Spalletti thought might happen more often. Unfortunately, what Spalletti envisioned didn’t translate onto the field. It didn’t take long to figure that out, either.
It all added up to another disappointing result on a matchday in which Juventus should have done more. Napoli left a door open and instead of going through it, Juve allowed the defending champions to slam it shut.
This is the story of the last couple of years — and why Juve are sitting in seventh place in Serie A a couple of weeks before Christmas.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Come for the starting lineups, get and stay for La Spallettata.
- Teams with a better record away from home than Juventus this season: Sassuolo, Cremonese, Udinese and Como. They have the 10th-best record away from home this season — that’s the definition of just completely mid.
- Juventus finished with five shots against Napoli.
- Juventus finished with two shots on goal against Napoli.
- Rasmus Højlund had more shots on goal himself (3) than Juventus did as a team (2).
- Napoli had nine shots and an xG of 1.59.
- Juventus had five shots and xG of 0.24.
- One of these things is not like the other — and Juve’s attack outside of Yildiz just ain’t getting it done.
- We’ve officially moved into the “Kenan do something cool and save us” portion of the season.
- Juventus’ only shot in the opening 25 minutes was an off-balance long-distance shot from Yildiz that was nowhere near the goal. That’s not a good thing.
- Same thing goes for Juventus’ second and only other shot in the first half, this one from Francisco Conceição. That’s how much of a struggle it was over the course of the opening 45 minutes in the attacking third.
- Jonathan David touched the ball once in his first 15 minutes on the field. Yikes, man.
- Going to Loïs Openda before Edon Zhegrova was a choice and one that I didn’t agree with at all. You take off Yildiz, you bring on somebody like Zhegrova who can actually hurt a defense right now. Openda is not a very good option off the bench and that is not breaking news with how his season has gone.
- Also a choice: Going with four attacking players on the field in the closing minutes and none of them are named Yildiz. That’s not good.
- Maybe Zhegrova for more than 10 minutes next time? Please?
- Those couple of Di Gregorio saves were pretty dang good, man. What this final score might have been if not for what he did in goal to keep Napoli where they were.
- Another rather anonymous night from Andrea Cambiaso. Well, outside of a couple of really bad turnovers.
- Another pretty bad night for Juan Cabal since his return from injury.
- I’m starting to wonder if Juve have any options at fullback/wingback who are actually somewhat solid defensively. Because their current options who play there just ain’t getting it done.
- Well, at least McKennie’s assist to Yildiz was a good one.
- Teun Koopmeiners on Napoli’s opening goal … not great.
- Lloyd Kelly on Napoli’s opening goal after Koopmeiners got burned … not good.
- Juventus used to be an enjoyable watch. Not anymore.
- Juventus were 0-for-8 on crosses. That’s always a good thing when Filip Kostic is on the field.
- A clear sign of how ineffective Juve were in the final third for a large portion of this game: No player in bianconero finished with more than one key pass against Napoli.
- Well, it’s another one of those days. Somebody pass the bourbon. I got nothing else to say.
