Juventus secured a valuable point towards Champions League qualification thanks to Gonzalo Higuain’s late equaliser against Sporting Lisbon.
Player Ratings
Defence
Gigi Buffon: Very little to do on the night – The one great save he made on Gelson Martins was parried away and left for Bruno Cesar to fire home – The defence and midfield absent, yet again. 5.0/10
Mattia De Sciglio: A shaky first half, De Sciglio looked like a player returning from a long lay-off. He pushed up well but was caught out of position and gave the ball away on occasion. 5.0/10
Giorgio Chiellini: Beaten by Martins for the opening goal when he could and should have done better. Improved in the second half by making a great block and had little else to do as Sporting sat back 5.0/10
Andrea Barzagli: A better performance than his defensive teammate – Intelligently marshaled Dost and kept him quiet for most of the night. His marking as superb throughout. 5.5/10
Alex Sandro: I’m not entirely sure that Sandro ever returned to Turin after the summer break. He’s looked a pale reflection of the brilliant full-back he was last season. Defensively, he was sound, but he offered nothing at all going forward and he was all too easily pushed off the ball. Poor. 4.5/10
Midfield
Miralem Pjanic: Did just about enough to keep the team ticking over, but lacked any incisive passes to open up the Sporting backline. An average display from a player who needed to step up. 5.5/10
Sami Khedira: Slow and laboured and utterly anonymous. Another player who should and could have stepped up on the night to make a difference. Instead, he was looked off the pace and devoid of invention. 4.5/10
Attack
Juan Cuadrado: The best of a bad bunch, and that’s not saying much. He looked the most likely of the wingers to create something, and his work-rate can’t be faulted. It was his through ball that Higuain latched onto for the equaliser so he deserves the credit for making the difference. 6.0/10
Paulo Dybala: Kept dropping deep to pick up possession and try and create something. He seems to play all the better with a more dynamic midfielder behind him; Marchisio or Matuidi would be ideal in this system to allow La Joya more license to create. He looked frustrated and had little impact on the game overall. 5.0/10
Mario Mandzukic: His fight and tenacity can never be in doubt, but he looked ill suited to create anything against a stubborn Sporting side who defended well. At 1-0 down, we needed some imagination and vision to try and unlock the opposition and that never came. Frustrating. 4.5/10
Gonzalo Higuain: Another game, another Higuain goal. He looked isolated for much of the match as his teammates failed to give him and service, leaving him frustrated and struggling to make any impact. One through ball was enough for him to finish impeccably and had Juve got the ball to him more, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Grazie Pipa. 6.5/10
Substitutes
Douglas Costa: Posed a greater threat than Mandzukic had and his impact was immediate. Still needs to work on his end product though. 5.0/10
Federico Bernardeschi: Less than 10 minutes to make an impact, another cameo appearance when he could offer more when starting games. N/A
Blaise Matuidi: Played the last few minutes of the match and had no time to make an impact. N/A
Good article.
Will the real Alex Sandro please stand up! He looks subdued out there. I hope whatever is holding him back gets resolved quickly because we need him as much as ever.
he probably got angry because they dont sell him to chelsea
– I blame Gigi for the goal, how can you box out the ball like that god damn,
– Khedira has to be sold, fucking lazy cunt, this guy doesnt perform for fuck, lazy , slow, unvisible, i never took him for a great player and i dont know what many of you guys see in him.
– Cuadrado on RB isnt that bad idea
-Allegri gotta stop playing Mandzukic on the wing cos this guy simply dont have the skills to play there, yeah yeah he really help out in defense but we need goals, assists ,this is winger”s job
– we need a new world class central defender cos our defense is complete joke
– buffon only played relying on his experiences rather then his skill this years. the legends is old. same things happen for barzagli too had been fooled by quicker messi 2 times and beaten by immobile speed twice too and don’t forget he had been beaten by morata with azzuri.
yeah what can we say, old.
– from the 1st time he played for juve i already think this man is slow and almost anonymous everytime. but i don’t know why allegri keep picking him up rather then marchisio or even sturaro had play better at DMR as it is his natural position. we can aspects much grinta or lo spirito from those foreigns players, in the complicated match their heads just facing down, it is a shame today juventus full of this mercenaries.
they should have bought verrati or galiardini or pellegrini or parolo if they really serious about winning UCL. well guess who will be our next target for next year? another sami but younger, emre can LoL.
– allegri football ideas is to have a winger who also can defense. costa bad at tracking back. fede sucks at marking. marotta just got wrong players. if he want winger who good at defensive marotta should have buy florenzi and berardi not costa and fede.
i understand that fede probably a backup plan if the lose dybala and he is indeed a far better AMC then dybala, but with dybala still in here, the only option is playing fede at winger which is still suffering from marking problems.
allegri stubborness and favoritism doesn’t help this team either. i will be waiting for gasperini or inzaghi to unlock juve potential.
– world class defender? well we got that. 2 world class for us this season. 1 was a 17M euro and 6M salary 30yo CB requested personally by allegri.
and the other is a 30yo prones to injury german national team CB.
they are a world class ratings with many hours experiences for international matches. but guess what? history repeat it self LoL.
conte also asked for world class defender, so marotta bought him lucio and the italian young prodigy alberto masi. in TIM pre seasons match lucio performed like an amateur and made 2 blunders right from the pre season, mean while alberto masi performed brilliantly and making many juventino who never learned about bad juventus young player systems have a high hopes for his futures. in the end we kept lucio and failed amazingly. alberto masi just like the other juve young promosing youth got buried in the pile of frustration loaned systems of crab.
we just never learned.
bonucci got lucky have been nurtured from 23yo directly in juve 1st team. the same things happen also for chiello.
if we want world class defender we created one. i almost never heard any juventus hardcore defender CB who came out straight from buying. rugani, caldara, romagna are a serious skilled CB. caldara has a top notch marking and have been proven, rugani has high visions and positioning, if only allegri stop playing his favoritism and fixing his bad rotation system and subs timing, we will never needs to buy another CB cause we already have them. and dont forget we have madragora too who can play DMC and CB even SW and he did very well on loan with 2 MOM so far. italy have plenty good defender, keep watching foreign players making juve board forgot that we won the last UCL with almost all italian only Deschamps and jugovic the non italian players.
I hate to say it, since it’s kind of like apostasy, but Gigi doesn’t look the same this season. Yes, the defense is a shambles much of the time, but he suddenly seems genuinely older and keeps spilling (yes, I know the shot was hard and the first save was a good one….) Would like to see Matuidi more in the tough matches and I feel a switch to either a 4-3-3- or a 4-4-2 is mandated by the off-season squad changes. Allegri alludes to this often but it hasn’t happened.
it will not change the result. the midfield can produces anything creatives thats the 1st reasons.
the 4231 needs a good DMC who can play as a regista and a destroyer. ok we got pjanic who played well as regista, but the destroyer was slow like sami the ball just stop there.
that’s when the center attaking midfielder should step in as a trequartista, which is dybala spot, but he is too busy bombing his left foot rather then creating something or involved the other players to play the ball. when pjanic busy at back covering the slow sami, dybala failed as creative mind, then it left for cuadrado and Mario in charge.
cuadrado unreliable couple with mario orthodox played have been muted juventus chances whenever they played with stronger teams so far.
the fault is not on the strategy but on the players. switching to 433 will produces the same result, if there is no pjanic or marchisio as regista, who will be the center of creativity?
as long as dybala only playing like a second striker, juve will not win anything, he needs to realise and learn to be trequartista and wipe out his ego to hunt for goals. so far with limited playing times fede already shown that he is a better 3/4 attaking player then dybala. but with allegri favoritism rules we probably will not see him got the chances to perform.
Sami in the 4’s again….. Well what a surprise! What was I saying after the hat-trick match… One great game then goes back to sleep again for a month or so. Not good enough. Sell him, soon Beppe.
You did indeed mark Sami’s mercurial oscillations between useful and invisible. I thought he was active early. Matuidi should have subbed at the start of second half.
It is not only Sami, the whole team is one great game , two to three bad ones….and I think it is Allegri’s fault at the end of day:
– Since we do not have a natural RB, who is good enough to play in black and white , why on earth doesn’t he try Cuadrado there?I mean, it makes more sense, than fielding Sturaro on RB and since Cuadrado has to start(I do not get it either) it will free up the RW for one of Bernadeschi / Costa.
– The trio Matuidi – Pjanic – Bentancur was really good in a very difficult period (7 matches) in a row and very early in the season. Why would someone disrupt the balance and introduce the likes of Sami and Marchisio (I like him too, but I prefer Bentancur take the minutes) ?
– Mandzukic is a great defensive forward (alone the fact that a term like this was created to describe those players, explains their limitations) he is good when you are on 70th minute, playing against Real and Co. and want to protect your lead. If you play against teams that are, on paper that is, less qualitative as Juve (majority of clubs out there) he is useless….!
-I really start hating Dybala’s outbursts when Allegri substitutes him. He has to calm down or be sold.This is Juventus
cuadrado have to start because he is the best winger with defensive capabilities.
F3d3 sucks at marking, he did it well at tracking back but did it bad at marking the opponents to crossed, it showed in atalanta match and spal too, but the other reason is he always out shadowed dybala when he start, all fede goals so far always came from dybala positions, and very time fede played he moves like a proper trequartista should be, roaming from side to side making other team mates involves, those things make dybala looks inferior, of course allegri won’t let it happen. fede bought by marotta probably as a backup plans in case dybala moves to barca last summer. he never intended to be cuadrado replacement in the 1st place.
costa also suffered from allegri preferable playing style, he lacks of defensive sense and rarely tracking back, he needs a powerful wing back on his back to secured counter attack so it mean impossible to play him at the right because MDS lack of playing times.
marotta should have been purchased berardi if their intention is to have a right winger who also strong at defensive.
I think we count as two of his most consistent detractors, comrade…which is interesting. I think we look at the midfielders in a similar fashion. His form has been average during most his juve career, that lack of pace the main issue for me which is horrid if you are playing a midfield duo as a pivot. I do not think he is suited to that formation. Sometimes he offers value going forward, has a decent knack of getting on the end of things, but other than which…it is Pjanic I see doing more backtracking, making more tackles, offering himself for the ball and generally becoming a more dynamic, complete midfielder, whereas Sami has been on the decline for some time; I would say mostly physically.
The midfield of the side has been in dire need of improvement for a while. Which was why i found it odd to focus on the flanks so heavily in the Summer. We did not address the major issue of a serious presence in the middle. I suspect we tried, but couldn’t get who we wanted and decided who we had were of a similar or better quality. Also youngsters coming through, with arguably Mandragora proving the most promising this term so far. Wouldnt surprise me to see Sami out in the Summer and Rolando in. We shall have to see how Bentancur develops.
Sturaro is finished unless we move to a three man midfield and he gets to play box to box. LM last season. RB this campaign. His career is on a downward trajectory. Which is a shame, for he has the ruggedness and engine and often looked of sound potential when played in a more natural role earlier in his Juve career.
The defence suffers more from the unbalanced midfield than the departure of Bonucci…
Marchisio can fix this (to a degree), if he can reach fitness and sharpness and stay that way.
Must be an English thing disliking Sami 🙂 But it’s so easy to do. He is a nothing player, and I don’t mean talentless. But he neither provides enough athletic engine, or defensive cover, or playmaking or goals. A bit of everything but not enough of anything – and that is not even factoring in the sleepwalking…
Yes the team structure and play is a bit all over the place isn’t it. I assumed as someone who had not seen or read much on FB that he would take up a midfield role, but if not then I really do think we over did the wing play squad additions this transfer window. I can’
Based on consistent form this year to date, “my” squad has Matuidi and Pjanic starting if we play 2 in midfield, but my preference, oft-stated is to play with 3, adding Betancur/Principino.
no matter how sami played he will be 1st or 2nd options on the field. just like on the left winger it is mario’s by default and it doesn’t matter how bad he played, it just got to be him at there.
sturaro not finished. how can he finished when he never actually played in his natural positions? DML or ML.
he tried his best on out position roles and it’s not that bad. it’s sad watching sturaro trying his best but still got many bad comments from juve tifosi and the other teams member also not very supportive to him. probably only buffon who gave him a nods or thumbs up when sturaro did something good on the field.
meanwhile when dybala didn’t do much and showed his anger when subtituted, people still praises him like a god.
we forgot that dybala only scored his double hat trick from a weaker teams. against middle table like atalanta & lazio even a troubled milan, he just anonymous.
allegri could play fede on dybala roles as trequartista behind the striker but he will not dare to try because his fave player will angry.
4231 can be lethal with pjanic as regista and the middle behind striker should be a trequartista, but we lacking that roles because dybala can’t do that roles. he should set the play, distributing the ball, running to fill the void, but too busy firing that left foot without even thinking about the team. for comparison just look at how fede position him self and distributed the ball, you can see which one a better player on that position.
I think he’s already got one foot in the MLS. We need squeeze out the last few drops he has in him before next summer. I think Marchisio has to be starting games once 100%
Imho Rav there is no comparison between a fit Little prince and Khedira. Claudio is different class.
he will not. the coach love that slow germany engines. marchisio already fit enough to play but he will not got his times.
you can compares it when pjanic or khedira or matuidi just coming back from injuries they will play automatically. marchisio already fit and fully trained for 2 weeks but matuidi got called up in sporting instead of him. thats tell how favoritism played out for this teams and no wonder juve struggled this season.
i have no perky argument in is defense this time. He had flashes of initiative early and then when AWOL well before the half, and the Mister waited until the last moments to put in Matuidi, and we immediately looked snappier.
One thing I just don’t understand. If Allegri doesn’t want to push newly signed players into starting 11, whats the deal with De Sciglio?
He’s the only natural right back currently healthy and available for UCL duty, as Lichtsteiner was again left off the list this year. He has also played extensively with Chiellini, Barzagli, and Buffon on the national team. The Sturaro experiment at RB had its ups and downs. And he’s an Allegri favorite, which is why he was brought to Turin. A run of health from Howedes would provide necessary depth and options at the back. And Max showing big game confidence in Rugani.
judging by lich performance in seri A it is justified to leave him from UCL skuad. he is far from the old swiss train express. sloppy in front the goals too. MDS probably not a better wing back then lich at attacking front but he positioned him well in sporting match, just look at how many sporting attacked came from acuna? the goal and many dangerous situations created from alex sandro sides not MDS
Cause Mister has favorites, regardless of performances, he just likes Sturaro, Khedira, MDS, Mandzukic :/
not true. actually sturaro rarely played. and he always played out from his natural position, he didn’t even given a chances to grow in one position he is good for, is that sound like favorite to you?
MDS actually played quite well, he is efficient and positioned him self very well, good vision too far better than sandro actually.
people judge him poor just because he is not playing with running charge all the times.
he is a traditional full back rather than wing back.
and the sporting match actually doesn’t gave him a chances to push up too just watch the match again and u can see it your self that he did it well and its not his fault that he had less attacking opportunities cause the other forwards don’t have many opportunities too.
khedira & mandzukic of course the boss favorites, including dybala, cuadrado, higuain & barzagli. no matter how bad they have played, they all guaranteed to be the next match starting IX. you can’t say that to MDS or sturaro if they make a mess up they will be remove immediately.
just look at how dybala behaves when subtituted, he failed to play trequartista and doesnt produce anything in important match, but allegri will close his eyes because he is his favourite. there is better trequartista on the bench but i will doubts he will got his time to proves that because in allegri tactics favoritism play first, the rest are decorations.