b&w & read all over 
19-04-2024 23:56
19-04-2024 23:56
Juventus 2 - Cagliari 2: Initial reaction and random observations
As he talked with the media on Thursday, Juventus manager Max Allegri said “the best is yet to come” as his team enters the final month and a half of the 2023-24 season.
What we saw Friday night was more the status quo from the last three months more than anything that would resemble something a sudden turn for the better. It’s a run of form that, no matter if there’s a bad first half or bad second half or vice versa, Juventus simply can’t get themselves out of.
Juventus’ latest first-half dud resulted in another mad scramble to get some semblance of a result. This time it involved trying to erase a pair of penalties within the opening 40 minutes against Cagliari, who built a stunning 2-0 lead against a not-so-stunning crap performance from Max Allegri and Juventus that left us — and maybe even themselves — wondering just how much lower they can actually go before rock bottom actually hits them in the face. Thankfully, Juve did just enough after the break to take a point back to Turin with them, with Dusan Vlahovic’s free kick and Alberto Dossena’s own goal leveling things up in what proved to be a 2-2 draw at the Sardegna Arena.
It was, without a doubt, one of those “thank goodness they got something out of this” kinds of moments mostly because that first half was quite the dumpster fire worth of a showing.
You know, those kinds of showings where you have absolutely little hope of this team doing much of anything — especially knowing full well what kind of form they’ve been in for the last three months. Even turning things for the better in the second half didn’t exactly mean everything was suddenly great. Juve had a stunning 80% of the possession after halftime, yet the same old problems that we’ve been talking about for years still persisted. Still, people, STILL!
That meant, against a Cagliari team that entered the night with the fourth-highest goals allowed total in Serie A this season (54 in 32 games), Juventus did this:
One shot on target in the first half.
A grand xG total of ... 0.66.
Yes, you can say the positive is that they found something at halftime and fought their way back to salvage something from what was otherwise a terrible trip to Sardinia. Or, you can ask yourself why, against a team sitting 14th in the table that has struggled defensively just as much at home as they have when on the road, is this team continuously struggling to do much of anything right on a consistent basis? Hell, why is the team that is sitting 14th in the table absolutely taking it to Juventus like they are the potential relegation battler that is trying to hit a certain point total to ensure they avoid the drop back down to Serie B. The only reason as to why Juve were able to get a point was because of a brilliant free kick from Vlahovic and an own goal off a near-perfect cross from second-half substitute Kenan Yildiz.
Other than that, an average at his very best keeper in Simone Scuffet didn’t have much to do. Juve didn’t pepper the Cagliari goal despite all of the possession they had in the second half as they tried to find some sort of equalizer or later go-ahead goal. Even as the final seconds of stoppage time were winding down, there were still passes going backward or sideways rather than crosses going into the box. It was a packed penalty area, yes, but there was still that hesitation to truly get the ball in there by a few of Juve’s players.
It’s this kind of performance level that leaves you wondering just how they were able to do as much good as they did before the final weekend of January arrived. This is regressing to the mean in the worst, most aggressive possible way that there is. It’s been ugly, it’s been frustrating, it’s the kind of thing that has you wondering if they will win any of their five remaining league fixtures on the schedule.
That’s because over the last 14 games, Juve have won a 18 points out of a possible 42.
That’s insane to think about. And it’s the reason why so many of us have changed our viewpoint of this season so quickly.
At this point, I really don’t know to expect other than poor performance after poor performance. And for a team that needs just a handful of points to lock up a Champions League spot for next season, that really is a pretty bad situation to find yourself in no matter how many UCL spots Serie A officially has now.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Stupid game. Very stupid game.
Tell ‘em, Mr. Williams. Because I agree wholeheartedly.
You see that elbow to the head below? That is an elbow that both broke open Carlos Alcaraz’s head a little bit, but also required the Argentine midfielder to receive stitches because of the gash on his head. And yet, that elbow to the head, which was very different from the kind of elbow that Wojciech Szczesny got to the face last weekend, didn’t even get reviewed by VAR for some sort of card. Once again, VAR in Italy completely to makes no sense.
Also, when it comes to Bremer’s “handling” of the ball that led to Cagliari’s first penalty, I really have no idea what he is supposed to do there to avoid the ball. Simply because, at that point, you get the impression his main task is trying to figure out a way to maneuver around Federico Gatti and get his head to the ball in the same motion. Because Gatti put Bremer in such an awkward position, that is why his arm is essentially flailing in the air. Unnatural position, sure, but you try and control your body in that kind of situation, ref.
Also, Gatti got absolutely cooked on the run that led to Cagliari’s second penalty. Who knew that a big galoot of a center back would struggle with a small and speedy forward, huh.
PK call going against him aside, this was not a very good Bremer game. Far from good.
Would you say more than three or four Juve players had good games? Like, honestly, let’s not hold back here. Because I’m struggling to think of more than four dudes.
Controversial opinion: Kenan Yildiz should play more.
Federico Chiesa played a full 90! It wasn’t a great 90-plus minutes, but it was still a full 90.
Yet, Chiesa was one of two Juve players to record more than one key pass against Cagliari. That means even when he’s not playing well he can still create something to help his team try and score.
That free kick from Dusan ... that was so pretty.
Like, just the bend, the ability to absolutely freeze Scuffet in the Cagliari goal, the celebration where he was visibly just trying to drag is teammates across the finish line. Say what you want about his shortcomings, but you can’t say the guy doesn’t care about this team and this club as a whole. The more diehard Juventinos on this squad the better, I say.
Wojciech Szczesny going with the simple nose cover rather than the mask. The guy said that masks are only meant for Zorro — and he meant it. So take that, everybody who thought he was going to sport a mask like he’s the goalkeeper version of Victor Osimhen.
Yerry Mina is the giant mosquito who won’t leave you alone and almost taunts you while he flies right in front of your face every chance he gets. What an annoying dude.
This Juve midfield needs new blood in the worst possible way, man. It’s just feel like such a lost cause during this three-month stretch. Just help them out, please. Help them and subsequently help us out, too.
Poor Timothy Weah. It just ain’t clickin’ for him at Juventus. I don’t know if that means they’ll pull the plug on him after one season, but the fact that he was one of the few new players this team added to its roster during the two transfer windows only adds to the fact that his poor showings aren’t great on the whole.
It is very Juventus in 2024 to have three times as much possession as their opponent on the day and yet still barely outshoot them overall. Good job, guys.
I don’t know what else to say. It’s been that kind of second half of the season.
Sono stanco, capo. For real.
What we saw Friday night was more the status quo from the last three months more than anything that would resemble something a sudden turn for the better. It’s a run of form that, no matter if there’s a bad first half or bad second half or vice versa, Juventus simply can’t get themselves out of.
Juventus’ latest first-half dud resulted in another mad scramble to get some semblance of a result. This time it involved trying to erase a pair of penalties within the opening 40 minutes against Cagliari, who built a stunning 2-0 lead against a not-so-stunning crap performance from Max Allegri and Juventus that left us — and maybe even themselves — wondering just how much lower they can actually go before rock bottom actually hits them in the face. Thankfully, Juve did just enough after the break to take a point back to Turin with them, with Dusan Vlahovic’s free kick and Alberto Dossena’s own goal leveling things up in what proved to be a 2-2 draw at the Sardegna Arena.
It was, without a doubt, one of those “thank goodness they got something out of this” kinds of moments mostly because that first half was quite the dumpster fire worth of a showing.
You know, those kinds of showings where you have absolutely little hope of this team doing much of anything — especially knowing full well what kind of form they’ve been in for the last three months. Even turning things for the better in the second half didn’t exactly mean everything was suddenly great. Juve had a stunning 80% of the possession after halftime, yet the same old problems that we’ve been talking about for years still persisted. Still, people, STILL!
That meant, against a Cagliari team that entered the night with the fourth-highest goals allowed total in Serie A this season (54 in 32 games), Juventus did this:
One shot on target in the first half.
A grand xG total of ... 0.66.
Yes, you can say the positive is that they found something at halftime and fought their way back to salvage something from what was otherwise a terrible trip to Sardinia. Or, you can ask yourself why, against a team sitting 14th in the table that has struggled defensively just as much at home as they have when on the road, is this team continuously struggling to do much of anything right on a consistent basis? Hell, why is the team that is sitting 14th in the table absolutely taking it to Juventus like they are the potential relegation battler that is trying to hit a certain point total to ensure they avoid the drop back down to Serie B. The only reason as to why Juve were able to get a point was because of a brilliant free kick from Vlahovic and an own goal off a near-perfect cross from second-half substitute Kenan Yildiz.
Other than that, an average at his very best keeper in Simone Scuffet didn’t have much to do. Juve didn’t pepper the Cagliari goal despite all of the possession they had in the second half as they tried to find some sort of equalizer or later go-ahead goal. Even as the final seconds of stoppage time were winding down, there were still passes going backward or sideways rather than crosses going into the box. It was a packed penalty area, yes, but there was still that hesitation to truly get the ball in there by a few of Juve’s players.
It’s this kind of performance level that leaves you wondering just how they were able to do as much good as they did before the final weekend of January arrived. This is regressing to the mean in the worst, most aggressive possible way that there is. It’s been ugly, it’s been frustrating, it’s the kind of thing that has you wondering if they will win any of their five remaining league fixtures on the schedule.
That’s because over the last 14 games, Juve have won a 18 points out of a possible 42.
That’s insane to think about. And it’s the reason why so many of us have changed our viewpoint of this season so quickly.
At this point, I really don’t know to expect other than poor performance after poor performance. And for a team that needs just a handful of points to lock up a Champions League spot for next season, that really is a pretty bad situation to find yourself in no matter how many UCL spots Serie A officially has now.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Stupid game. Very stupid game.
Tell ‘em, Mr. Williams. Because I agree wholeheartedly.
You see that elbow to the head below? That is an elbow that both broke open Carlos Alcaraz’s head a little bit, but also required the Argentine midfielder to receive stitches because of the gash on his head. And yet, that elbow to the head, which was very different from the kind of elbow that Wojciech Szczesny got to the face last weekend, didn’t even get reviewed by VAR for some sort of card. Once again, VAR in Italy completely to makes no sense.
Also, when it comes to Bremer’s “handling” of the ball that led to Cagliari’s first penalty, I really have no idea what he is supposed to do there to avoid the ball. Simply because, at that point, you get the impression his main task is trying to figure out a way to maneuver around Federico Gatti and get his head to the ball in the same motion. Because Gatti put Bremer in such an awkward position, that is why his arm is essentially flailing in the air. Unnatural position, sure, but you try and control your body in that kind of situation, ref.
Also, Gatti got absolutely cooked on the run that led to Cagliari’s second penalty. Who knew that a big galoot of a center back would struggle with a small and speedy forward, huh.
PK call going against him aside, this was not a very good Bremer game. Far from good.
Would you say more than three or four Juve players had good games? Like, honestly, let’s not hold back here. Because I’m struggling to think of more than four dudes.
Controversial opinion: Kenan Yildiz should play more.
Federico Chiesa played a full 90! It wasn’t a great 90-plus minutes, but it was still a full 90.
Yet, Chiesa was one of two Juve players to record more than one key pass against Cagliari. That means even when he’s not playing well he can still create something to help his team try and score.
That free kick from Dusan ... that was so pretty.
Like, just the bend, the ability to absolutely freeze Scuffet in the Cagliari goal, the celebration where he was visibly just trying to drag is teammates across the finish line. Say what you want about his shortcomings, but you can’t say the guy doesn’t care about this team and this club as a whole. The more diehard Juventinos on this squad the better, I say.
Wojciech Szczesny going with the simple nose cover rather than the mask. The guy said that masks are only meant for Zorro — and he meant it. So take that, everybody who thought he was going to sport a mask like he’s the goalkeeper version of Victor Osimhen.
Yerry Mina is the giant mosquito who won’t leave you alone and almost taunts you while he flies right in front of your face every chance he gets. What an annoying dude.
This Juve midfield needs new blood in the worst possible way, man. It’s just feel like such a lost cause during this three-month stretch. Just help them out, please. Help them and subsequently help us out, too.
Poor Timothy Weah. It just ain’t clickin’ for him at Juventus. I don’t know if that means they’ll pull the plug on him after one season, but the fact that he was one of the few new players this team added to its roster during the two transfer windows only adds to the fact that his poor showings aren’t great on the whole.
It is very Juventus in 2024 to have three times as much possession as their opponent on the day and yet still barely outshoot them overall. Good job, guys.
I don’t know what else to say. It’s been that kind of second half of the season.
Sono stanco, capo. For real.