Juventus suffered their second defeat at home this season, meaning their title hopes could be over already, writes Lorenzo Bettoni at the Allianz Stadium.
When Domenico Berardi saw Maxime Lopez alone on the left in the 95th minute, just two Juventus players were defending their own half.
The Frenchman got the ball and went straight for the goal, beating Mattia Perin with a lovely chip finish. At that moment, Juventus’ title hopes may have vanished.
The Bianconeri had already lost at home against Empoli on matchday 2, and before that game, they had only suffered 15 defeats at the Allianz Stadium, but in the previous ten years.
Seeing Juventus fall twice at home in two months is not a familiar sight. But there are many things about Massimiliano Allegri’s side that are pretty uncommon. Even the Tuscan tactician struggles to recognise his team.
“Juventus never suffered a goal in the 95th minute and it should never happen again,” Allegri said after Juventus loss tonight.
“We were too frenetic even if the momentum was on our side after the draw.”
A Weston McKennie goal was not enough for the Serie A giants to pick up a draw against a Sassuolo side that had only won one game at home before the Allianz Stadium clash.
Alessio Dionisi said the win ‘may go beyond their merits’ although his side ‘reaped the reward for their previous performances.’ All in all, they deserved to win in Turin.
Despite a nine-game unbeaten streak, which included a 1-0 win over Chelsea and draws against Inter and Milan, Juventus never seemed to be the team that dominated the last ten years in Italy.
Most importantly, those results didn’t help them get any closer to Napoli or Milan on top of the Serie A table, making their title-winning task very complicated despite being only in October.
Allegri didn’t even know what to reply when asked what is Juventus’ target this season.
“We must work on our mistakes, we can’t concede goals on counter-attacks. One point would have been important,” he said.
“It makes no sense to talk about objectives, we can’t look at the table now.”
His Juventus side has many structural issues and, against Sassuolo, they showed all of them.
Their midfielders’ quality is nowhere near those of the top European clubs and it’s not even good enough to win in Italy anymore.
They don’t have a top-class striker, which could be one of the reasons why they’ve scored more than one goal only in four games this season.
So far in 2021-22, they never won a match by two goals, which also says a lot about their game management. Every time they concede against any opponent, not just the top sides, it’s hard for them to win.
It happened against Inter on Sunday and they were lucky to get away with one point with a late penalty kick. They conceded two tonight, capitulating at home again.
Massimiliano Allegri already had a terrible start to the season at Juventus. It was back in 2015 when, after an away defeat at Sassuolo (again!), they found themselves 11 points off table leaders Roma. That season, they managed 25 wins in a row with a team that had reached the Champions League Final only a few months earlier.
Juventus don’t have that same quality now, but there is one more problem for Allegri. Even if the Tuscan manages to turn things around and get some wins in a row, their opponents may not allow them to go back into the title race.
@lorebetto
Just a few months ago, Juve had a coach who is fashioned on personal terms and his tactics and very young and had a wild dream to make Juve the best to watch and winning trophies but this dream cut short stupidly, he’s have not been given a chance at all, not even a one whole season. Now they got this, not winning much and if they win, they win ugly. Anyhow it’s good no need to win Serie A, winning UCL is better, let’s see whether they can do it.
End the title hopes in October?!
Don’t be ridiculous. How many times have we seen large leads overturned over the years?
And let’s be honest, when you look at the Milan and Napoli squads, do you see a depth of real quality? Their first 11 are good (by Serie A standards, not European), but they have a lot of average players in their squads.
The problem for Juve is that their squad is their worst in years too and has been going downhill for some time. Allegri has always been defensive, but he’s even worse this time around because he knows the quality isn’t there anymore to thrash teams in Italy and match the best in Europe.
A issue with Serie A at the moment is that there are some great players, but not one great team.
ha ha ha Boori and Ferban are living in the twilight zone. All you need is that clown EL CID to make up for the cast of clueless Juventus fans. Boori now wants to focus on the CL. Liverpool would clobber this pub team 10-0 over a two legged match if they wanted to turn it up just like they did with Utd. This club is the laughing stock of Europe and is 3rd tier and you know it or are in blatant denial. Juve couldn’t win the CL even when they had a stellar midfield. Ferban Juventus have never thrashed teams. The last time they scored 5 goals was when Conte was at the helm with a lesser squad. I am consistent in terms of Allegri. I have never rated him even since his Milan days. When you had prime Silva, Zlatan, a Juve nowhere in sight and a decaying Inter it was easy. Conte is a proper coach for league matches only as he gets the best and improves players. Allegri makes them worse full stop and he cannot even go back to his one trick Xmas tree formation. Agnelli has done wonders to restore the club to its rightful perch but the guy has been drinking too much cool aid. Bringing in Sarri to change the identity of the club, to a novice in Pirlo and now going back for reheated rotten soup makes no sense. Klopp was given time and we can see the fruits of his labour. They should have stuck with Pirlo and accept that it will take 4-5 years to get back to the top and another 2000 years before they can win the CL. Do not go on about the super league as you are right where you belong in the Europa Conference place.
ha ha ha Ferban you smoking something. All hail Mr. Allegri master genius. He has put the team in 7th place and is mobilising them to finish in the Europa Conference competition so that he can rid the team of Chiesa (too fast) and De Ligt (too young). Kulu is now a bench player and was part of his plan to rid him in January. The key is to frustrate him and let him lose confidence. I bet if you gave him to Klopp, Guardiola or dare I say Conte the real Kulu will come out. He wants to fully make the team geriatric. When he says CALMA that is code for “Oi geezer slow down, stop moving the ball forward, go back now”
i dont know why allegri keeps waiting till he is losing the game to bring on the players he should have started. use the strength of the team. its the wingers. as far as i am concern. juve should have 4 attackers on the field. chiesa-kean-dybala-cuadrado. stop with the 3 man midfiled the midfield is weak.
Massimiliano Solskjaer – history and facts will show that Allegri has won 6 Serie A titles, 4 Coppa Italia, and made two UCL finals. Conte can’t even get out of the UCL group stage. Conte is not a coach for European football.
the mistake was firing Pirlo.they should have given him time to forge the team the way he likes but ayaas,the management listened to the press.Pirlo was the best design to change juve and needed time not a miracle to do that.juve still have a chance to do that or just forget about league,ucl.modern game is based on scoring attacking with great intensity, Max can’t do that .I’m a juve fan but l see s bleak future.worse more max cant work with youngsters using their characteristics but he tries to change them to his own.bring Pirlo back you see an exciting juve.
the mistake was firing Pirlo.they should have given him time to forge the team the way he likes but ayaas,the management listened to the press.Pirlo was the best design to change juve and needed time not a miracle to do that.juve still have a chance to do that or just forget about league,ucl.modern game is based on scoring attacking with great intensity, Max can’t do that .I’m a juve fan but l see a bleak future.worse more max cant work with youngsters using their characteristics but he tries to change them to his own.bring Pirlo back you see an exciting juve.
Arise the court jester @EL CID, jack of all trades, master of none. He has arrived to pay his respects to the Mighty Sassuolo, conquerors of the fallen giants of Turin and bridesmaids of Europe. You also get people’s attention by spouting utter rubbish, one minute hating on your team, then praising them. Plastic fans are the worst as you need to stick with your team even if they finish in doldrums. The irony is, if this were Sarri or Pirlo handling the team in this condition with such results you would be asking for their sackings. By Juventus standards Allegri should be fired if that was the procedure implemented in regards to both previous coaches for the last 2 years.
Che vergogna, Super League wannabes one week, chumps the next. Juve will be made to pay for their arrogance and disrespect for the rest of the league.
Massimiliano Solskjaer and Zeb have the same IP address! lol
@Chris, don’t be stupid. Someone used my nickname to mock Juve and Allegri. That poor little guy must hate me so much so he came with the idea that only a sad pathetic person would do such a thing. FYI, i’m not a fan of Allegri’s football but I respect him and his football that has brought us silverwares. Even when Juve’s management made some errors in the past, i prefer to be silent rather than make futile efforts such as spitting out hateful words against Juve. That’s not my style.
What is he waiting for to go to a 4-2-3-1 formation? This is the only way to get Dybala and Chiesa in their natural positions. As well you can park the defensive midfielders. This was the formation that got them to champions league and then was just abandoned. Their is no Ronaldo, you have the LW who will track back. As well park Sandro, with the exception of 3 games this season he is back to the Sandro who has no pace or confidence to cross the ball into the box. How many times yesterday did he get the ball in the wing to only pass it backwards?
@FERBAN
I would urge you to focus on Juve rather than Milan and Napoli… Milan still provides with shit players as half of our team is injured or out with covid. Would I swap Danilo for Theo? No. Would I swap Mike for yours no. Would I swap Bennacer, Kessie, Tonali for any of yours. No. You have Chiesa and Dybala. Thats it. And by the look of it, one will certainly leave now that you will miss out on CL.
@Viktor
Who’s “yours”, Viktor?
I don’t support Juve lol. Your problem is, like every other clown, you resort to blame Juve/accuse someone of being a fan/referee default mode EVERY time 🤣
The way I was talking about Juve should have been a big enough clue for you, Viktor 😉
It’s embarrassing to see you jump in all offended anytime anyone says anything slightly negative about Milan. If you knew football, you’d know the standards of the top teams is pretty poor now. Is the CL group table (which Milan still have a slight chance of qualifying from, given how the games fall) not a good indication?
I’d sell Dybala too – so you agree with me there.
As for Milan, didn’t you say last year that Donnarumma and Hakan were staying? You certainly did lol. Kessie will be next on a free, Bennacer is awful this year. The fact you’re getting all excited over Milan being better than a pretty poor Juve squad is quite laughable!
I would urge you to prepare yourself for Milan soon being a feeder club to Newcastle.
@FERBAN
You talk so much nonsense. We had the ref COMPLETELY against us in 2/3 games. Don’t be ridiculous. Milan played great in those games except against Porto (which I happen to be and see live). Secondly, Bennacer bad? what are you talking about?? As for Hakan I never said he would stay? Yes I am excited as I know we have multiple upcoming player with immense potential on loan also, Milan have a squad that is youth, hungry and givs us result 10 wins and a draw in the league says it all. Feeder club or not as long as we are number 1 in Italy im fine.
@Viktor
Nonsense? Well, whatever makes you feel better about yourself 👍 You say I talk nonsense, yet you accuse me of being a Juve supporter without any knowledge of me being so. The old “blame Juve for everything wrong with my own club” is alive and well with supporters of clubs run by clowns.
You did day both would stay. Just because you’re bitter against Calhanoglu now (you called him “a disgusting traitor” – real mature, Viktor lol), doesn’t change that fact. Yes, Bennacer has been poor this season. I know he’s your hero, but he’s been worse this season.
Milan certainly didn’t “play great” against Liverpool. The home side dominated them for almost the entire game. 61% of the ball, 23 shots to 7, 15 corners to 2. Milan could have been slaughtered in that tie.
No, 10 wins and a draw (9, actually) doesn’t “say it all”. First of all, it’s October. And secondly, it just shows how poor the rest are, Juve included.
How far Milan have fallen that being a feeder club and a has-been in Europe (for a long, long time now) is fine once they’re number 1 in Italy. And they can’t even manage that nowadays. 11 seasons since they were number 1 in that.
Viktor
milan have a bang average squad in a bang average league. quit with the love fest of pretending they are something they’re not. and u did say Hakan and Dollarumma were staying. u said Bennacer was the best midfielder in Italy last season too – and look how those 3 things panned out haha. good news for milan is that Napoli have little on the bench either so Milan have a real chance of winning the title. problem is, not many take the Serie A title seriously anymore. sad times indeed. if Milan win the league, not many in the world will care, esp if they’ve been knocked out of Europe early.