Juventus: 3 takeaways from a disappointing loss to Napoli

Juventus fell to just their second defeat of the calendar year in Naples on Saturday evening, as a Lorenzo Insigne spot-kick proved the winner in a 1-0 victory for the hosts.

The diminutive Italian’s penalty was the only highlight from a pretty lifeless first-half, with Andrea Pirlo attempting to inject a bit of urgency to Juve’s play after the restart by introducing Weston McKennie and Dejan Kulusevski.

The Bianconeri huffed and puffed in the second period but were held at bay by a spirited and resolute Napoli defence. Alex Meret, meanwhile, saved brilliantly from both Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata to maintain the hosts’ slender lead and hand Gennaro Gattuso a pivotal three points.

Here are three takeaways from the Juve defeat at the San Paolo.

Bernadeschi’s woes

Following selfless and diligent defensive displays across both legs of Juventus’ semi-final Coppa Italia triumph over Inter, Federico Bernardeschi was rewarded with another start on Saturday.

The role handed to him was one which should’ve allowed the Italian to be expressive, free-roaming, and innovative. Rather than being forced to track Nicolo Barella deep into his own half, Bernardeschi was handed McKennie’s marauding function in this one.

However, the Italian proved a detriment to his side. The former Fiorentina man’s distinctly bereft of any confidence and has been for some time. Tonight, he offered no spark, no innovation and no penetration whatsoever. There was no guile to his play, with risk-taking off the table. The conservative option was always favoured over the riskier, more penetrative one. Even his set-pieces were lacking quality.

While there’s no discrediting his work ethic, Bernadeschi, as it stands, is a million miles off being a starter for a Scudetto-chasing outfit. The Italian’s effort midway through the first half which flew hopelessly into the Neopolitan sky epitomised his woes.

Careless Chiellini

There’s no doubting that the recent return of veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini has been a massive boost for Pirlo, but he cost the Bianconeri tonight.

In the age of VAR, there’s simply no getting away with raising your hand to the face of the opponent in the penalty area – no matter how innocuous the contact appears. It was Chiellini’s raised left hand to the face of Amir Rrahmani which, following technological intervention, ‘handed’ Insigne the chance to atone for his penalty miss in January’s Supercoppa. The Napoli star’s super effort from 12 yards proved the winner.

That error will undoubtedly cast a cloud over what was, yet again, another sturdy defensive effort from the Bianconeri against what was a mightily attack-minded Napoli XI. Chiellini’s ruggedness frustrated Victor Osimhen throughout, the versatile Danilo enjoyed a fine game at both right and left-back, while Juan Cuadrado proved Juve’s most dangerous outlet in the first half.

A missed opportunity

This is undoubtedly a huge blow to Juve’s title ambitions. This defeat leaves them seven points adrift of leaders AC Milan with every top-half team – at the time of writing – having played 21 games.

Against a Napoli side who’d just been overwhelmed by Atalanta in the week and had succumbed to 76-year-old Goran Pandev last weekend, this was a must-win for the Bianconeri.

But with Gattuso seemingly fighting for his job, his players delivered. Second-string centre-halves Rrahmani and Nikola Maksimovic were absolutely immense as Napoli echoed the defensive steel of Juve during their midweek stalemate with Inter. In truth, despite Morata pirouetting his way to a glorious opening late on and Ronaldo spurning a chance from point-blank range just after the break, it’s fair to say that the Bianconeri didn’t deserve anything from this one.

Their first-half effort was lackadaisical, bereft of any intent, and while there was a greater sense of urgency after the break, Juve found it incredibly tough to break down a stout Napoli block. The interchanges, rotations, and overall fluidity which has come so naturally to the attack amid their winning run were non-existent, with a stale and static iteration of the Bianconeri front line rearing its ugly head in Naples.

Pirlo will hope that Saturday night’s defeat is just a mere blip against dogged and resolute opposition, as Juve can ill-afford to produce a similar performance when they travel to Porto for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie in midweek.