Juventus Show Signs of Improvement Despite Disappointing Draw with Frosinone
There is little doubt that Juventus began the 2015/16 campaign poorly, failing to win any of their opening three league fixtures before appearing to turn the corner with a victory over Manchester City.
They followed that up last weekend by beating Genoa, only to return to Turin on Wednesday evening and stumble again, held to a 1-1 draw by newly promoted Frosinone.
Faced with such a result, it is all too easy to lambast the team, their coach and indeed their entire summer transfer campaign, yet doing so serves little purpose. It is surely better to analyse what this current side is actually producing on the field.
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The first point to make is that this game was all but won, with only a momentary lapse seeing their opponents equalise in the 91st minute. That the mistake was made by Andrea Barzagli—so often a reliable performer at the back—is indicative of the season so far, with a normally robust defence suddenly conceding too many goals.
Indeed, the Bianconeri have kept just two clean sheets in competitive action this term, one in the Supercoppa triumph over Lazio and the other in Sunday’s victory over Genoa. Having ended last season as the league’s best defence, manager Massimiliano Allegri was visibly annoyed as he addressed the media after the clash with Frosinone.
“I’m angry because we must improve quickly,” the Juve boss said at his post-match press conference. “At this moment we’re shipping goals from the first opportunity that falls our opponents’ way, you simply cannot concede from a corner with two minutes remaining.”
That is true, and statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com serve to reinforce the point, with Frosinone having scored from what was their only shot on target. That same source is indicative of the other major issue blighting the reigning champions, showing that they themselves took no fewer than 36 attempts at goal over the course of the game.
To do so and net just once is hugely problematic, and looking at the season thus far shows it is not simply a one-off occurrence. The Bianconeri lead all Serie A sides in shots per game according to figures from WhoScored.com—averaging 21.2 per outing—for a total of 106 thus far in 2015/16.
That has seen a return of just five goals, and it is therefore somewhat surprising to see that only three teams—Napoli, AS Roma and Torino—have had more attempts on target per the same source.
On Wednesday, Simone Zaza was particularly wasteful and should almost certainly have scored more than just the deflected effort that broke the deadlock. Juventus will hope to have Alvaro Morata back in action as soon as possible, the Spanish striker having proved already this term just how clinical he can be.
The sight of Inter running away at the top of the Serie A standings only compounds Juve’s concerns, the Milan-based club recording five consecutive wins to hold a 10-point lead over the Bianconeri at this early stage.
Yet even coach Roberto Mancini refuses to admit his team are favourites, telling Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia) this week that “difficult moments will arrive.” For Juventus they already have, and yet there were enough positives to believe that will soon be reflected in results, even against Frosinone.
Juan Cuadrado continues to thrive in a variety of roles, playing well behind the strikers in the opening 45 minutes, then moving to a wing-back role after the break and maintaining a constant threat on the right flank.
Repeatedly beating defenders, he created a number of chances, with the graphic above showing he completed all 10 of his attempted take-ons and laid on five scoring opportunities for his team-mates.
Behind him, Mario Lemina enjoyed another excellent performance, the young midfielder turning in an error-free display in only his second appearance for the club. Paulo Dybala came off the bench to provide a more decisive edge to the attack; Juventus need their Argentinian star to be at his best in the forthcoming games against Napoli and Sevilla.
There were enough positive signs to believe the team has continued to improve, but they certainly must begin to deliver wins quickly and make up ground on the early leaders.
