After Lazio, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

The Good

Golo-Muani

Saturday evening’s match against Lazio once again proved the skill and tenacity of Randal Kolo Muani, as the Paris Saint-Germain loanee was the only player on the Juventus squad to find the back of the net — though after going down to 10 men in the second half, he could barely be blamed for a decline an attempts on goal.

In a sweeping symphony of a goal, Weston McKennie took possession of the ball as he barreled down the left side, courtesy of a pass from fellow USMNT star Timothy Weah. A cross from McKennie was lofted perfectly past two Lazio defenders and found its main target — the head of the French international as he casually sailed the ball through the hands of Christos Mandas, Lazio’s Greek goalkeeper, who could not deflect the ball enough.

What can be said about Kolo-Muani is that his time at Juventus, although it has come with a goal-scoring drought, has brought much-needed adaptability and creativity to a Bianconeri attack that had become overly reliant on wingers and attacking midfielders to scavenge goals, as Dusan Vlahovic has been unable to put his boots to work in an impactful way for a large portion of the season.

Silent Protector

Time and time again, Manuel Locatelli has proven his mettle on this Juventus squad. In a match where an overwhelming momentum shift painted Juventus as Roman Centurions, ceaselessly repelling a barrage of attacks from their sky blue opposition, one man stood above the rest.

Over the course of the match, Locatelli’s primary area of expertise was clearances, as he added six to his running total. He also recorded a tackle, a blocked shot and an interception.

His passing game was slightly under the usual benchmark he sets for himself, with only 25% of his crosses finding their target accurately, though he did compensate for this with four accurate long balls and a key pass. With suspensions, injuries, and all sorts of pressure mounting in the chase for Champions League qualification, it can be said definitively that Locatelli is an expert in turning lemons into, well, limoncello.

Lockdown

While for a moment it felt that Juventus would go home with three points, despite the miniature heart attack virtually every fan of La Vecchia Signora felt during the VAR check of Michelle Di Gregorio’s potential penalty giveaway, Lazio did end up equalizing in the 96th minute. However, take nothing away from this 10-man Juventus that fought off Lazio attacks for 35 minutes before Matias Vecino finally found the back of the net.

Outside of Khephren Thuram, Kolo-Muani, and Vasilije Adzic — the last of which only played 10 minutes — every single member of this squad had at least one clearance, even late substitute Vlahovic. But it wasn’t just about getting the ball out of precarious situations, as Renato Viega led the team in blocked shots and interceptions, as Alberto Costa, in only his sixth appearance for Juventus, took the mantle of tackle leader.

Now, this is not the same kind of Juventus squad that people remember from a decade ago, where an early lead was a guaranteed win with the great wall of BBC in the back. Rather, it’s a younger, less experienced squad of players who have something to prove. But, in all that, it’s key to remember how many injuries the defense has suffered since the start of the season and also recently, and so much so that even controversial figure Lloyd Kelly was forced to miss out due to injury. But for a little more than half an hour, Juventus’ goal was Fort Knox, and that’s worth at least something.

The Bad

No Mellow, All Yellow

The pressure on this squad to qualify for Champions League, prove that they are a different squad than they were under Thiago Motta and prove their individual worth has finally caught up with them. Against Lazio, four yellow cards were distributed to Juventus, the recipients being Locatelli, McKennie, Thuram, and Nicolo Savona. Now on the surface that’s not terrible, just play with caution and proceed.

However, the yellow cards given to Thuram and Savona meant that they will serve a ban next weekend against Udinese, and while that isn’t a death sentence for the Juventus, it’s certainly not good news for the UCL qualification campaign. Thuram is a midfield multitool while Savona has been proving himself in the absence of big-name defenders.

End of Attack

Take a Juventus side that is already extremely fragile in attack and can barely score more than one goal a match (0.9 goals a match in their last 10 domestic outings), and take away a crucial defender in the form of a red card, and what are you left with?

Simple … no attack.

Plainly stated, Juventus’ offensive output has been arguably the worst aspect of this season. It can’t solidify a lead by more than a single goal, the highest paid player in the league hasn’t hit the back of the net since just a few days after Valentine’s Day, and it has overly relied on the creativity of midfielders and wingers to fill the gap. Meanwhile AC Milan, who it seemed all but certain was going finish mid-table this season, has averaged 2.2 goals per match in their last five domestic outings, and sworn rival Inter Milan has not scored less than two goals in a Champions League match since mid-January.

It would be more acceptable if Juventus could lock down defensively after going up a single goal, but they are in zero place to do that.

The Same Old Story

Well, even with the hype around Igor Tudor’s arrival and some early success, this squad has still managed to fall into the same exact trap it always falls into: Go up a goal, have a little time, and then the opposition equalizes.

Under Tudor, this has happened against Roma, Bologna, and now Lazio — which, compared to the relegation sides who were subjecting Juventus to this scenario under the previous administration, feels like night and day.

But it’s not, it’s the same thing.

There is an old quote that has been misattributed to Albert Einstein, saying that “madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Well, how many times can you score, assume you can fend off attacks until the final whistle, and still concede? Apparently the limit is yet to be found.

The Ugly

(Former) Rossoneri Sees Red

A few weeks ago, Kenan Yildiz received a red card and two-match ban for a blatant elbow to the face of a Monza player. Fans expressed their feelings, Yildiz apologized, and everyone chalked it up to a one-off, youth-induced outburst. So imagine the surprise of everyone watching the match as they saw Pierre Kalulu get a red card in a similar manner.

Was there a definitive angle of what he did shown on the Paramount+ stream or the VAR box? No, but apparently it was definitive enough to send the Frenchman down the tunnel. From there it was a simple case of defending the castle, and of course one of the attackers would make it through the walls. Everyone understands, Juventus sits on a knife’s edge these days, but anything that may give the opposition any advantage needs to be met with extreme caution.

Cheap Trick

We spent so much time talking about Juventus seeing yellow and red, that it seems pertinent to talk about how aggressive the Roman side was against the Bianconeri. Le Aquile amassed a total of fourteen fouls compared to Juventus’ ten, and saw five yellow cards as well. But historical context is needed to show just how aggressive, and at times unsportsmanlike, that Marco Baroni’s men can be. Last week, Lazio totaled 17 fouls, three yellow cards, and one red card against relegation-threatened Empoli, and only two weeks earlier they accumulated 16 fouls, three yellow cards, and one red.

Now, football is an aggressive sport, and it’s still in recent memory that former Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos needed rhinoplasty after a particularly rough bout against Bayern Munich, but Lazio has gone from cheeky to militaristic this season.

Here We Go Again

A win against Lazio could have potentially solidified Juve’s hold on fourth place, but now they are in a similar, if not worse spot than they were last week. Should Roma beat Atalanta on Monday, they leapfrog the whole group into fourth, and possibly prime Juventus to be wearing the orange patch of the Europa League next season. Should Atalanta win, Juventus, Lazio, and Roma all are in a similar place to last week. It’s really going down to the last day.

Buono, brutto, o cattivo?

The Lazio match was like one of those old World War II stories you hear about a platoon of sick, starving, and injured men fighting off the bad guy’s attacks for days until they were extracted. But, in those stories, none of the soldiers ever shot up a flare to show the enemy their location or ran off into the no man’s land just to see what would happen. In that case this soldier was Kalulu, doing something without thinking and cutting his team at the heels.

Where credit is due for the defensive performance up until the equalizer, especially against such a cheeky team like Lazio, this match was just ugly. Moments of individual brilliance cannot compensate for a team being unable to topple relegation and mid table sides, let along a Lazio who practically walk into matches snapping their fingers and singing doo-wop signifying how ready they are for a rumble.

You can’t take everything that pundits say at face value as biases exist. But look at the way people talk about big names in Serie A, as over the past few years the mention of Juventus has declined exponentially. When a club, even Italy’s most historic club, plays worse and worse season over season and finds themselves struggling to stay above water against teams than a decade ago would shake in their boots over just the mention of Giorgio Chiellini, something is wrong at the very deepest level.