Juventus vs. Atalanta: Winners and Losers from Serie A Game
After their rough start, a home victory against a team that, on paper, they should beat—not to mention one above them in the standings—was vital to start Juve's climb back up the table.
It was even more important considering the way the league's other games have shaped up this week. Second-placed Inter dropped points on Saturday to Palermo, while four teams ahead of Juve in the standings—Lazio, Torino, Roma and Fiorentina—played each other later on Sunday.
Lazio and Roma emerged triumphant from those two games, and Juve are eight points off the latter, who top the Serie A table.
The Bianconeri delivered one of their more comprehensive performances of the season. Paulo Dybala and Paul Pogba keyed the team to a 2-0 victory that could easily have much more had La Dea not gotten a fine performance from goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.
Who were the big winners and losers from this important match? Let's delve a little deeper to find out.
Winner: Paulo Dybala
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Four days after fans and media blasted coach Massimiliano Allegri for benching Paulo Dybala for Juve's Champions League match against Borussia Monchengladbach—and one day after Allegri hit back at those critics—the young Argentinian had what might be a breakout performance.
During his pre-match press conference, per Football Italia, Allegri blasted critics of his move to sit Dybala midweek and suggested that it wasn't fair to put too much pressure on the 21-year-old.
"Last season he was a leader at Palermo," he said, "but he cannot have that same role at Juve yet...We cannot put this amount of responsibility on Dybala's shoulders."
On Sunday, Dybala went out and proved that his coach might be wrong.
He was absolutely everywhere in the attacking third. He made good runs to get himself free off the ball, and he dribbled incisively on it, cutting through a weak Atalanta defense to set up dangerous situations.
It paid off in the 28th minute, when he controlled a simple layoff from Pogba and slammed in a shot that took a last-minute swerve to off-balance goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.
It was his fourth goal of the year. To this point, he'd fired in a pair of penalties and bundled a ball over the line on the run against Roma, but this was the one that really showed just how good he is.
It wasn't the end of his day either. He set up Juve's second, and could very easily have scored four times.
Right before the half, he hit a low, powerful first-timer off a beautiful pass. Sportiello didn't know much about it but was lucky it was right at him, and he saved with his feet.
The second half saw Dybala snag a ball on the left wing and drive to the byline before sending in a hard low cross, giving Mario Mandzukic a simple tap-in.
Later, he whizzed a free kick just beyond the post, then he was unlucky after his first touch on yet another through ball was just a bit too hard, leaving him a difficult shot on a bouncing ball rather than a more routine tap.
Dybala was without a doubt the man of the match. He played perfectly and made Mandzukic look better than he has for much of the season.
The idea of the Argentine pairing with Alvaro Morata at full bore from the start is a tantalizing prospect—and Dybala must certainly have shown that he now deserves to be in the big matches from the beginning.
Loser: Roberto Pereyra
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Just as it seemed like Roberto Pereyra was about to start getting a chunk of playing time, he's been stalled again.
Juventus fans who were clamoring for a trequartista in the summer transfer window seemed to have forgotten the Argentina international, whose performances in the hole last year were impressive. His ability to dribble and take a man on are precious commodities on a team where there isn't much of that to go around.
The 24-year-old performed well on Sunday, playing sideline to sideline to open up the field in the attacking third and splitting Atalanta's back line apart several times. He also keyed several breakaways.
But it was one of those counterattacks about 35 minutes in that threw a wrench into the gears. Pereyra pulled up hard after letting Dybala through on the run and collapsed to the field. There is no official word yet, but from the looks of it it had hamstring written all over it.
It's a real shame for a man who was, once again, showing that he deserved to be on the field in big moments. Juve will hope that he recovers soon and regains his place.
Winner: Paul Pogba
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The harsh glare of his missed penalty kick aside, Paul Pogba had a very good game.
According to WhoScored.com, Pogba completed 89.4 percent of his passes on the day, made four key passes, put two shots on target and assisted the opening goal. He also drew five fouls and completed one of two crosses, both of his long passes and his lone attempt at a through ball.
For any other player, this would be an extraordinarily good day. For Pogba, from whom so much is expected due to his prodigious skill and his takeover of the No. 10 shirt, there will undoubtedly be some criticism for not doing even more.
Granted, the penalty miss makes the 22-year-old an easy target, especially after his nonchalant, baby-steps run-up. He did the same thing against Genoa in September and was booked for unsportsmanlike play as a result. It's that tendency towards Hollywood play that is his one remaining weakness—one that he's overcoming in fits and starts.
Regardless of that miss, however, the young Frenchman took a step in the right direction today, although it may be in the best interests of the team to rest him a bit soon with a stretch of big games on the horizon.
Loser: Gabriel Paletta
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It was only two seasons ago that Gabriel Paletta enjoyed the best season of any center back in Serie A and earned himself a starting spot in the World Cup opener against England.
How the mighty have fallen.
An injury slowed him at the beginning of last season, and then he bailed out of the sinking ship that was Parma only to arrive at the mess that was AC Milan's 2014-15 campaign.
The Rossoneri needed to off-load a center back this summer and chose Paletta as the man to go. His play for Atalanta has left a lot to be desired.
Back in the starting lineup after being suspended for a red card, the 29-year-old was carved up all day long. While WhoScored.com clocked him at five tackles, four interceptions and five clearances, those are volume stats accumulated after 90 minutes of near-constant Juve attacks.
He was directly responsible for Juve's clincher after losing Mandzukic's run, and he was let out of jail by Sportiello after conceding the penalty Pogba missed. He was constantly on the wrong end of dribbles and was very lucky not to have been booked when he took out Dybala on the penalty.
Certainly not a good day for Paletta, who is showing more and more that his 2013-14 season was a one-year wonder.
Winner: Marco Sportiello
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Sportiello certainly showed something on Sunday.
While his legendary opposite number Gianluigi Buffon spent his day largely watching his team attack from afar, the 23-year-old was in the thick of things. Squawka credited him with seven saves, including his stop against Pogba.
He denied both Dybala and Pogba several times from open play, was sure-handed when coming for crosses, and he rarely put a pass wrong.
It's clear now why La Dea didn't worry much when they let long-time goalkeeper Andrea Consigli—another excellent man between the pipes—move to Sassuolo before the start of last season.
Sportiello is an excellent player, who could play his way into the conversation as one of Buffon's backups at Euro 2016 if he keeps performing at this level.
Loser: Maximiliano Moralez
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When you're deployed on the left wing against a makeshift right-back, you're expected to do big things.
Unfortunately for Maximiliano Moralez, he wasn't able to take advantage of Simone Padoin, who was deputizing for the injured duo of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Martin Caceres.
Moralez has had a good season so far, scoring once, providing four assists and, according to WhoScored.com, averaging 2.4 key passes per contest.
Granted, all of those numbers came from the right side of the attack. It seems that Atalanta manager Edy Reja tried to get cute by matching up his most creative attacker against a perceived weakness in his opponent's defense.
Unfortunately it didn't work. Padoin did well to shackle the winger, who failed to get a shot off and only managed to provide half-chances—if that—for his teammates. The 28-year-old was hauled off after only 51 minutes after being completely ineffective.
It's not uncommon for players to get smothered by Juve's defense, but with a point to aim at in Padoin, Moralez should have done better.
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