Areas Where Juventus Are Worse Than Last Season

The 2015/16 campaign has undoubtedly been a tumultuous one for Juventus, the reigning Serie A champions initially struggling to string positive results together before finally launching into a genuine defence of their title.

Aside from some dreadfully bad luck in the opening rounds of the season, it is easy to look at the losses of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez as the reason for those early woes, but their former heroes must be forgotten and attention be focused on the other issues hindering their progress.

Foremost among them is the number of problems in defence, where, despite conceding fewer times (15) than any side other than Inter (12), the Bianconeri have looked surprisingly vulnerable.

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Indeed, their tendency to concede soft goals this term has infuriated Massimiliano Allegri, the anger of the coach often fully on display during matches whenever he feels his side have been guilty of lapses in concentration.

As the information in the tweet below highlights, Juventus have regularly seen their opponents hit the back of the net from their first sight of goal, the previously resolute back line leaving goalkeeper Gigi Buffon exposed all too often.

Andrea Barzagli lost his man to allow Frosinone to score at Juventus Stadium in September, Giorgio Chiellini gifted Borussia Monchengladbach their chance in Germany in November and, in that same month, a rare Leonardo Bonucci mistake led to Empoli’s surprise opener at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.

Bonucci also looked poor against Carpi just before the winter break, and after Antonio Cassano netted for Sampdoria last time out, Allegri discussed the matter with Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia):

"

We should’ve controlled the ball better after the second goal and created too many risky situations. Serie A is extremely difficult, it’s not that I have a demon inside me, but we could’ve gone 3-0 up and instead conceded the 2-1.

We keep doing this and it’s not as if in Serie A you can expect to never concede a shot on target, but we mustn’t force the situation when there’s no need to.

"

Furthermore, the team is making a higher number of fouls than last term, statistics on WhoScored.com showing only seven teams have committed more than Juve’s 16.3 infringements per game.

Last season, that figure was just 13.8, according to the same source, the third-lowest tally in the league. That dip has certainly cost Juventus, with Sassuolo, Frosinone and AS Roma all taking points from the Turin giants after they gave away free-kicks in dangerous areas.

Andrew Medichini/Associated Press

It is somewhat surprising to note that number has risen given the side has actually made fewer tackles than last term’s 17.5 per game, the tally for 2015/16 dropping to 16.3. The Bianconeri have also enjoyed less possession of the ball and made fewer passes than a year ago.

Figures show they retained the ball 55.7 percent of the time and made 536.9 passes per game in 2014/15, the corresponding numbers this term sitting at 54.7 percent and 512.3 passes per outing.

Yet despite those downward trends, it is clear Allegri has his team focused and heading in the right direction, the graphic in the tweet above showing just how quickly they have risen up the Serie A standings as a result of their ongoing nine-game winning run.

“I didn’t think we’d put together nine straight wins, but I knew we were a team with a lot of quality who still had to find their balance and recover some figures from the treatment room,” Buffon told Sky Italia (h/t Football Italia) after the Sampdoria game. “In that case, I am not surprised by this comeback.”

Given the quality and depth of their squad, it should indeed not be a shock to see Juventus once again be protagonists in the title race, and if they improve in the aforementioned areas, a fifth consecutive triumph is almost certainly possible.