Andrea Pirlo will now have to answer questions as his Juventus side failed to win for the third consecutive time in Serie A, drawing 1-1 with Hellas Verona, with his continual system proving an issue.
Juventus announced what looked like an extremely attacking team, with Bernadeschi and Cuadrado playing on either wing, and with a flat three at the back, but that appeared to be backfiring early on.
The opening half-hour we wasn’t able to dominate possession, nor enjoy putting plenty of pressure on our rivals, and it began to get frustrating.
Verona got the ball over the line first, although it was correctly ruled out for offside, and the team slowly started to build up momentum shortly after.
Our opponents aggressive approach was leading to us hitting them on the counter-attack, and should they continue to try and attack in numbers, I had believed that it wouldn’t be long before we punish their enthusiasm.
Shortly before the break, I assumed we had done just that. Alvaro Morata looked to have timed his run perfectly to escape the offside trap and get clear through on goal to poke home, but VAR ruled that he times is running just off.
We went into the break level, and despite looking like we had taken the lead, the draw was more than fair.
The second-half was very much the same as the first, only this time around the goals weren’t ruled out.
Verona substitute Favilli took little time to break the deadlock with a sublime left footed effort, and barely had time to enjoy his goal before having to go off injured, becoming the first substitute to score, and be subbed back off inside 10 minutes since the three-points for a win was introduced.
Kulusevski was brought on with around 30 minutes left to play, and his introduction brought some much-needed fight and flair, and we now looked to pile the pressure on our opponents.
The Swede was just the man to level the game also, with some neat feet allowing him to beat the defender to get space inside the box, and he made no mistake in firing past the goalkeeper to into the far corner.
We continued to pile forward into the latter stages of the game, but unfortunately the goalkeeper was equal to all that we could give.
Juan Cuadrado and Alvaro Morata both had efforts saved inside injury time, but it just wasn’t to be.
The match was marred by some clashes in the end, with Kulusevski picking up a yellow card, whilst the coaches were also furious at the final whistle, but the most frustrating thing will have been the result, and unfortunately, some more questionable officiating…
Do Juventus now have a mountain to climb to challenge for the Scudetto?
Patrick
