3 Biggest Worries for Juventus' 2015-16 Season so Far

It's been a rough season for Juventus.  The four-time defending champions have been hit hard by injuries and have yet to adjust to life without the key players who left during the summer transfer window.

The result of those struggles is stark.  After losing only four games all of last year, Juve have already fallen three times this year.  They've only won twice in the league, and after eight games, they're in 14th place, nine points behind leaders Fiorentina and eight away from a Champions League place.

The possibility of getting into next year's Champions League by winning the trophy still stands.  The team has turned in much better performances in Europe, but still, with teams like Bayern Munich running around, it will be a difficult time.

There is still time for the Bianconeri to right the ship, but they need to address several issues in order for that to happen.

What needs to get fixed?  Here are three of the biggest issues Juve have had to deal with so far this term.

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Right-Back

At full-strength, the right-back spot for Juve is ridiculously strong.  Stephan Lichtsteiner and Martin Caceres are incredibly talented.  Both are world-class options on the right flank.  Each can play as a traditional full-back or as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 should Massimiliano Allegri decide to go that route.

Unfortunately, neither has been available lately.  Caceres has had to deal with injuries since October of last season.  He's still unavailable for at least another week after spraining an ankle on international duty with Uruguay.

Factor in the team's internal suspension of the player after he crashed his Ferrari at the end of September in an alleged drunk-driving incident—his second in a year—and the next time he plays in a Juventus shirt will be the first time fans have seen him in a month.

Lichtsteiner's situation is a bit frightening.  After suffering breathing difficulties in a match against Frosinone last month, Lichtsteiner was diagnosed with minor heart arrhythmia and had surgery to correct it on October 2.

Since then, there has been a flurry of claims and counterclaims as to how long he will be out.  World-renowned cardiologist Bruno Caru—who didn't participate in Lichtsteiner's procedure—claimed shortly after the surgery that he would need to sit out for six months before going back to action.  Fiorenzo Gaita, who performed the operation, countered, saying that he would only need a month of recovery if there are no setbacks.

It's understandable that the medical community would want to err on the side of caution when it comes to heart ailments.  The ghost of Piermario Morosini haunts these situations.  It's why Jonathan Biabiany just spent a year on the sidelines.  But while the clamor of just how long Lichtsteiner will be out continues, Juventus need to act.

With both Lichtsteiner and Caceres on the shelf, Juve are operating without a right-back.  That has forced Allegri to play a hybrid 3-5-2, with Juan Cuadrado on the right wing.  It's become pretty clear over the last year that that formation isn't exactly in Allegri's wheelhouse, and using Andrea Barzagli as a full-back can only be a temporary solution.

Juventus need to get cover for the position in January.  When Caceres comes back, he will need a backup if Lichtsteiner is out for an extended period of time.  Until then, they need to focus on getting the Uruguayan healthy and keeping him that way until the winter break. If Wednesday's game against Borussia Monchengladbach is any indication, the 3-5-2 is, as it was last year, not serving the team as well under Allegri as it did under Antonio Conte.

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Finishing

Despite their dominance of Italian football, Juve's success since Conte's arrival in 2011 has often been characterized by one major weakness: poor finishing.

Until the arrival of Carlos Tevez before the 2013-14 season, Juve's forwards were anything but clinical.  In Conte's first two seasons, his top scorer was a midfielder—Claudio Marchisio in 2011-12 and Arturo Vidal in 2012-13.  It was why a top forward like Tevez was on the top of director Giuseppe Marotta's shopping list.

Unfortunately, Tevez's departure has caused a recurrence of that problem.  Juve's forwards have scored only five times in league play—and top scorer Paulo Dybala's total of three includes a pair of penalties.

Wednesday's Champions League game against Monchengladbach was a prime example of just how badly Juve's forwards are misfiring.  The team launched 22 shots—but only two of them were on target.  Paul Pogba hit both those shots on target, with two long-range efforts from midfield.

In the meantime, Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata spurned multiple chances.  Morata has waffled between too selfish and not selfish enough, but some nagging injuries have prevented him from starting every game.

It hasn't helped that Morata has been the only constant in Juve's front line so far.  Allegri hasn't given him a consistent partner all season, and the one he's performed the best with—Dybala—has for some reason not gotten any minutes.

If the flux on the front line stops, Morata and whichever long-term partner he gets—preferably Dybala—will get time to develop the kind of chemistry that the young Spaniard had with Tevez, or that Tevez had with Fernando Llorente two seasons ago.  That will mean goals.  But especially now, as they go into a series of winnable league games, they cannot afford to be wasteful in front of goal.

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Injuries

Injuries have been a massive issue for Juve throughout the year.  Apart from Caceres, Lichtsteiner and Morata, Mario Mandzukic, Andrea Barzagli, Stefano Sturaro, Sami Khedira and Claudio Marchisio have all missed significant time this season.  Kwadwo Asamoah has only just returned from a major injury that claimed almost the entire season from him last year.

Those injuries have exacerbated the chemistry issues that stemmed from the losses Juve suffered in the transfer market.  The midfield was particularly affected, as Sturaro and Mario Lemina were thrown into the fire and Simone Padoin was used as an emergency measure as well.

That saw Pogba overplay, attempting to do far too much with the ball.  The return of Khedira and Marchisio has seen him calm down and begin to play more within himself.

Now, Allegri has his entire team at his disposal, with the exception of his two right-backs.  Going forward, he needs to focus on keeping it that way.  One of his biggest problems at AC Milan was a constant injury issue.  Given the need to develop chemistry after so many changes over the summer, a similar problem at Juve would spell death.

Hopefully the issues are put to bed.  If they are, Juve can put their season back together.  If not, it will be a difficult year ahead.