Thiago Motta enjoyed a successful start to life in charge of Juventus in Serie A, as goals from debutant Samuel Mbangula, Timothy Weah and Andrea Cambiaso resulted in a 3-0 win over newly-promoted Como at the Allianz Stadium on Monday night. Here are three talking points from the promising display in Turin.
Talking points: Thiago Motta’s first Serie A game in charge of Juventus
All change from Allegri
Monday night’s performance could not have been any different to the style of play we have come to expect from Juventus under Massimiliano Allegri in recent years.
Thiago Motta’s Juve were brave, exciting and have almost everything in place for this team to succeed in the coming season. It’s still early doors, but the coach has already made a huge difference to the team’s overall style of play. The players created plenty of chances on the night and finished the game with seven shots on target from 13 overall attempts. For reference, they had managed two attempts on target from nine overall shots during the Coppa Italia final victory over Atalanta at the end of last season, Allegri’s last game in charge.
And, with Teun Koopmeiners and possibly Nico Gonzalez still to be added to the squad, it seems that there will be no shortage of attacking options at the Allianz Stadium this season.
Faith in the youth pays off
It was a fresh-faced Juventus side, particularly in the attacking positions. Dusan Vlahovic and Timothy Weah, both 24 years old, were the most senior forwards in the Bianconeri line-up by some distance. But, it was the two even younger guys who stole the show.
Yildiz was magnificent, and showed why Juventus were right to give him a bump in wages after an impressive breakout campaign last term. Debutant Mbangula, who at 20-years-old is surprisingly a touch older than the more experienced Yildiz, was a very pleasant surprise, as well. The Next Gen graduate was bright and dangerous coming in off the left flank and his impressive strike for Juve’s opener was an exciting sign of things to come.
There was also a run-out for Nicolo Savola, while young full-back Jonas Jakob Rouhi also took a spot on the bench. Andrea Cambiaso, though one of the more senior members of the Juventus side at 24, also had an excellent game in his full-back-come-midfielder role.
New signings already making a difference
A young Juventus side also featured quite a few new summer signings. Michele Di Gregorio will be the team’s new no.1 after his transfer from Monza and Wojciech Szczesny’s subsequent departure. Juan Cabal had a great start to life at left-back and was particularly unlucky not to come away with an excellent assist directly after the start of the second half. Khephren Thuram had a decent game in the middle of the park, despite having a bit of a slow start in his pre-season run outs.
€50m Douglas Luiz had to settle for a space on the bench, but he will certainly make a difference to the Juventus midfield after an impressive few years in the Premier League with Aston Villa. With Koopmeiners practically an inevitability at this stage, and with talks continuing for Fiorentina winger Nico Gonzalez, it does look like it’s been a successful summer in the transfer window so far, even if it hasn’t finished just yet.
Football Italia was among the accredited media for Juventus-Como and analysed the game and the whole opening Serie A round in a post-match show from the Allianz Stadium. Watch it below and subscribe to join the next ones, sending your questions and thoughts.
Light and day? Lol of course, there are 11 new players on the pitch, you can’t compare this squad to the mediocrity Allegri had. No wonder Guintoli tries to get rid of everyone from the club.
@Ale, are you Allegri fan boy? Those mediocres are mostly requested by Allegri, remember???
lmao they played Como. 3-0 was the minumum requirement. We all need to calm down.