Juventus traveled to Florence today as they looked to take on Fiorentina, in the 12th week of the Seria A season. This was Juventus first time in action since the 8th of November due to the international break. However, the added time to train with some non-travelling players clearly didn’t assist Spalletti too much.
Juventus scored first through Fillip Kostic as the first half was coming to a close. After that however, Juventus faced the same issues as before Spalletti came in. Juventus couldn’t hold their lead in the second half conceding to Roland Mandragora in the 48th minute. After this Juventus looked to strike back.
However, Juventus failed to create many big chances and couldn’t score seeing the game finish 1-1. These problems has been lurking around Juventus for multiple years and will be the defining part of Spallettis tenure. If he manages to solve these issues by the end of the season he will likely be given a new deal to stay in Turin.
Player Ratings
Michele Di Gregorio – 5.5: Michele Di Gregorio didn’t make too many mistakes in todays game. He could have got closer to Fiorentina goal but a strike like that is hard to stop. He made some goods saves on Fiorentina’s Moise Kean who took home man of the match but nothing extondinary.
Teun Koopmeiners – 5.5: Teun Koopmeiners played in his new centre back role under Spalletti once again. He was strong progressing the ball when Juventus looked to attack, however his defensive skills and awareness still needs some work for him to be a regular centre back.
Llyod Kelly – 5.5: Lloyd Kelly was the oppistie of Teun Koopmeiners. While some of his ball movement isn’t the flashiest, he is still good with the ball at his feet. However, his defensive efforts where on point, only slipping up for a few times on Moise Kean shots.
Pierre Kalulu – 6.5: Pierre Kalulu was the best centre back today for Juventus as he was the one who could match the offensive and defensive game the best. He was already ready to defend and had some strong attacking efforts with Andrea Cambiaso and Francisco Conciecao on the right hand side.
Fillip Kostic – 5: Fillip Kostic scored his second goal in only four games under Luciano Spalletti today. However, other than that he failed to have an impact on the game. Most of the build-up came from the opposite flank and he didn’t have a lot of defensive duties either.
Khepren Thuram – 5: Khepren Thuram is usually one of Juventus most assertive and dominate players. However, he failed to be that today as he couldn’t find an impact on the game as Locatelli took charge of most of the midfield duties, this explains why he was taken off early for Fabio Miretti.
Manuel Locatelli – 6: Manuel Locatelli was strong in midfield today, as he covered most of the duties. He showed off his attacking capabilities today more than in most of his Juventus games. He was often throwing himself forward to help attack instead of sitting back with the defence like some other tactics would have him doing.
Andrea Cambiaso – 6: Andrea Cambiaso looked better than some of his previous form today as he looked to create chances to score for Juventus today. However, his game wasn’t any means perfect sending a lot of poorly directed crosses into the box instead of taking the time and working the ball more.
Kenan Yildiz – 5.5: Kenan Yildiz failed to have a foot print in the first half as most of Juventus attacking went through Dusan Vlahovic. However, in the second half he stepped up and played to his usual form, creating a lot of attacking chances, but failing to do anything serious with them.
Weston Mckennie – 5.5: Weston Mckennie showed off some of work rate today, as he was Juventus best presser by miles. However, while the ground he covered was good his role clearly didn’t suit him. His on ball ability just isn’t good enough to play so high up the pitch like that.
Dusan Vlahovic – 6.5: Dusan Vlahovic was my man of the match today as he was our most dangerous attacking threat. He was unlucky to see his penalty over turned due to VAR. He had some other good half chances he could’ve put away, but he will still be kicking himself for failing to score after rounding David De Gea, as he was pushed to his feet.