Juventus' Draw with Chievo Shows Problems with New-Look Team

After two losses before the international break, it was imperative Juventus kick-started their campaign against Chievo on Saturday evening. Sadly it was not to be, with Rolando Maran’s impressive side earning a 1-1 draw in Turin and they were fully deserving of such a result on the night.

While the Veronese team deserve immense praise for their bright start to 2015/16, the encounter showed that the new-look Bianconeri face an uphill struggle in the coming weeks. Indeed, the game highlighted many of the issues that currently blight Massimiliano Allegri and his squad, with some of the coach's decisions compounding them.

The round of Euro 2016 qualifiers robbed them of any sense of continuity, as the Juve boss alluded to in his post-match interview when asked about the decision to leave a number of key players—including Paul Pogba—on the bench.

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"He had played two games for France, returned on Wednesday and I preferred to give him a breather," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia). "The same was true of Giorgio Chiellini and Stephan Lichtsteiner."

Those changes saw the team look far less assured than usual and the coach perhaps should have risked that trio, despite Tuesday's Champions League encounter with Manchester City looming large on the horizon.

There were a number of positives for the Bianconeri, however, with the debut performance of Hernanes among the most prominent. The Brazilian only joined the club on transfer deadline day, but he gave an excellent account of himself, displaying the creativity Juventus had lacked against Udinese and AS Roma.

The former Inter and Lazio man tested visiting goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri on a number of occasions, and provided a stream of dangerous crosses from set pieces, yet he too noted the failings of the team shortly after the final whistle.

"Naturally, we're disappointed with the result as we came here today wanting all three points," Hernanes told reporters, per official Juventus website. "We gave everything over the 90 minutes but we just weren't ruthless enough to make the game our own."

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He also added that the team "know we need to rediscover our scoring touch as soon as possible," and that lack of cutting edge was evident once again. Indeed, Paulo Dybala's penalty marked only their second league goal of the campaign, although on Saturday evening that was certainly not for want of trying.

Statistics from WhoScored.com show just how wasteful the Bianconeri were in front of goal, failing to net from open play despite taking 26 shots on goal compared to their opponent's tally of six. The same source shows that only seven of those Juve efforts were on target, Roberto Pererya adding one effort that struck the post.

Perhaps the biggest issue was cohesion, which is to be expected given that the Turin giants underwent such far-reaching changes this summer. Both Dybala and Hernanes looked particularly bright individually, but they linked up on very few occasions, something that should improve over time.

That period to settle in will be short for the reigning champions, who must return to winning ways as quickly as possible, and after the game Allegri summed up the situation perfectly. "We must stop talking about the players who were here last season," he told Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia). "This is a new team with many new players, it takes time.”

"What we do need to do is find our balance in defence, as we were too stretched out in the first half, and be less hasty in attack." It will be a tough task to do those things against Manchester City, meaning the pressure when Juventus return to domestic action against Genoa next weekend will be even greater.