Spezia 2-3 Juventus: 3 takeaways from Juve’s first Serie A win this season

2. Allegri deserves credit for the substitutions

It’s not only Max Allegri’s widespread pragmatism that has come under intense scrutiny but also the timings and types of his substitutions that has raised eyebrows since Allegri returned to Juventus last May.

In their 1-1 draw against AC Milan last weekend, Allegri withdrew Dybala, one of the best players on the pitch at that time, to make way for Dejan Kulusevski. The decision later provoked public criticism. Making late and strange substitutions have always been considered a black spot in Allegri’s golden managerial career.

Against Spezia, he went on to shush the doubters. Well, each of the substitutions that the Italian manager had made yesterday was spot on. Sensing that Mattia De Sciglio was not reliable going forward, he brought Alex Sandro right at half-time. A disastrous half for Rodrigo Bentancur ended with Manuel Locatelli being summoned in his place at halftime.

The manager also took some risks by introducing Alvaro Morata, who had got a knock in the game against Milan. Morata provided the assist with an artful interchange between him and Federico Chiesa for the second goal of the match.

He kept faith in Dybala and Chiesa, whose persistence proved too much to handle for a topsy-turvy Spezia defence. While there surely is a stack of questions — on Allegri’s tactics and approach from the start of the game — unanswered against Spezia, credit should be given to him where it’s due.