Two attacks from the presumed transfer target Koopmeiners continue the crisis of the Bianconeri’s results.
In the last 7 games 1 win, 3 losses and 4 draws. 8 goals conceded in the last 4. From possible championship challenger to place in the Champions League not yet at risk but a good hint of wobble.
Juventus’ last month and a half is in these numbers. The inability to produce results and maintain advantageous situations is worrying. Paradoxically, the last two performances against Napoli and Atalanta have provided some comforting signals, but the single point gained adds further doubts about this Juventus. Atalanta shows off a rather “happy” performancecontenting themselves with defending low, and then taking advantage of the many technical errors by the Bianconeri to become dangerous in the open field: the two goals from Gasperini’s team came after two serious defensive lapses by the Bianconeri, but the scheme on the free kick for the initial advantage is worth remembering.
Juventus orphan Vlahovic relies on Milik’s ability to act as a buoy and catch his teammates’ cuts or widen the play on the outside. In the first half hour Juve had a good ability to press the Atalanta goalkeeper and recover the ball rather quickly. The point is that the Bianconeri don’t show that they know what to do with it, but at least the phases of low positional defense, a typical characteristic of Allegri’s football, are rare. Miretti’s header following a good cross from Chiesa, a player who is clearly improving, was the only moment worthy of note. Koopmeiners’ goal radically changes the match, which speeds up: once again after Napoli, Juve’s defense found itself completely unprepared for an “outside the box” opponent’s play. Pun intended, because Palasic’s ball for Koopmeiners is literally a prepared scheme…
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Juve overcome the classic moment of post-goal panic also thanks to an Atalanta team that did little to seize the lady’s jugular. De Ketelaere’s performance is objectively insufficientScamacca also moves well, but is often alone. The second half sees a Juventus team that increases the intensity of its pressing and adds a certain urgency to its offensive maneuver. Allegri’s team lets something go in terms of balance: cases in which a lost ball puts Atalanta in a position to attack in the open field are not rare, but the low quality of singles (Locatelli absolutely lacking) forces Juventus to invest in quantity. When Milik’s second is added to Cambiaso’s goal (nice Chiesa-McKennie-Cambiaso combo), one thinks that Juve has managed to solve it, but it lowers the tension and Koopmeiners’ equalizer is truly impressively banal: Djimsiti’s ball is intelligent but scholastic and it cannot be enough to put a teammate ahead of Szczęsny.
Atalanta leaves the Stadium with a point to continue in the Champions League fight: there have certainly been editions of Gasperini’s team that were more in line with Gasp’s beliefs, but not all moments are the same. Evidently playing at Juve’s home ground after a European commitment required different management than usual. Evidently Gasperini was counting on a more present match than De Ketelaere as a link between the rest of the team and Scamacca. Even the arrival of Lookman, made at 0-1 and intended to better exploit the spaces left by Juventus, did not pay excessive dividends.
Juventus confirms their game intentions which have changed in the last 2/3 matches compared to before: the team defends higher, collapses faster and more massively at the point of recovering the opponent’s ball, and looks more for 1vs1 on the flanks. At the moment Allegri’s team is terribly suffering from continuous defensive errors (Danilo was even guilty of both goals) and the very low quality of the performers severely limits the number of opportunities created. If Gatti has to do what Bastoni does at Inter, there is objectively an underlying problem, but there are countless moments in which one realizes that with more quality certain situations could have produced more. On the other hand, the double substitution of Weah/Sandro for Cambiaso/Illing and the late use of Yldiz are inexplicable.
Juve still has a significant points lead, but time is running out.