Juventus vs. Sampdoria: Does Draw Highlight Mistake of Not Selling Arturo Vidal?
After 25 straight wins at home in Serie A, Juventus welcomed Sampdoria to Turin fully expecting another routine three points in their chase for a fourth consecutive league title.
When Patrice Evra handed them the opening goal after just 12 minutes, it seemed like the Old Lady would get her way once again.
With a raft of players unavailable—including the suspended Lorenzo De Silvestri—Sinisa Mihajlovic had few options available to him to turn things around at half-time. Yet, he did just that; the introduction of Manolo Gabbiadini and a smart change in tactics saw the Genovese club snatch a well-deserved equaliser.
They would hold onto that scoreline with some stout defending, while a dipping effort from long range by Gabbiadini drew a stunning save from Gigi Buffon in the Juventus goal. At full time, the home side would look as blue as the strips they wore for the encounter, dropping points for only the fourth time this season.
As good as Sampdoria have been in rising to a place in the top four this term, it was a disappointing result for Juventus with a number of key players failing to deliver. Perhaps no member of the team is performing as poorly recently as Arturo Vidal—the Chilean’s displays have been way below his stellar form of recent seasons.
The 27-year-old has been hugely influential during the recent period of dominance enjoyed by the Bianconeri, but he has clearly struggled this term. Knee surgery just before the World Cup led to him missing much of the club’s pre-season, the knock-on effect being an obvious lack of fitness during the new campaign.
He has netted four goals this term but never looked like the driving force supporters had become accustomed to seeing. Looking a little deeper, stats site WhoScored.com shows his 2014-15 averages for tackles, passes and completed dribbles are all career lows since he arrived in Turin three years ago.
Collecting five yellow cards—mainly for rash and ill-advised challenges—he has already sat out a one league game through suspension. His missed penalty against Olympiacos hinted at a player lacking confidence in front of goal, a view reinforced by the fact he has managed to get just 40 per cent of his shots on target, per Squawka.com.
Vidal’s performance against Sampdoria demonstrated all that has been wrong with his game, the graphic below—courtesy of the FourFourTwo Stats Zone app—showing he won just two of five attempted tackles and completed a lowly 77.9 per cent of his passes.
Those same statistics show he won just two of the four headed duels he contested and wasted all three of his attempts on goal. Just as he was against Atletico Madrid, the midfielder was fortunate not to be sent off after making a poor tackle on Alfred Duncan having already been booked.
The referee played advantage, Sampdoria were furious that no action was taken against the Juventus man. It would have been fully understandable if Daniele Doveri opted to show him a red card, with Duncan needing to be substituted after the challenge.
Vidal has admitted injury problems have hampered him and discussed their effects with Al Aire Libre earlier this month. “This year I started a bit slower because of my knee problems,” he told them, per Football Italia. “The doctor told me that this trouble was going to persist for another two or three months,” he added.
His performances—and fitness—this term raise the question over events this summer, with Manchester United reportedly prepared to pay £48 million to sign him, according to David Wright of The Daily Express. It is a rumour that persisted until recently and could prove to be an opportunity that the Old Lady will not look back upon favourably.
That fee could have been used to strengthen the Bianconeri in other areas, and on current form, Juventus perhaps regret not selling Arturo Vidal.
