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

1. Midfield was disjointed until Manuel Locatelli entered

As reported ahead of the game, Manuel Locatelli, the coveted summer signing for the Bianconeri, started the match on the bench, with Weston McKennie partnering Rodrigo Bentancur at the heart of Juve’s midfield.

Aginst supposed minnows Spezia, it was initially thought to be a run at the park for the Juventus players, but was it? Unfortunately, Rodrigo Bentancur drastically failed to keep his composure, while McKennie and Adrien Rabiot ended up looking distraught.

On Wednesday evening, the collective performance of Juve’s midfield was so poor in the first half that Leonardo Bonucci, at one instance, was seen waving his hands asking the midfielders to come and receive the ball from him.

Envisaging the danger, Allegri took Bentancur off to facilitate the arrival of Manuel Locatelli, who turned out to be a game-changer for Le Zebre. Soon after he came onto the pitch, Juventus restored parity and cliched the winner to secure the longed three points.

Locatelli’s vision and accuracy of passes helped Juventus keep Spezia’s dynamic pressing at bay. Playing for the last 45 minutes of the game, Locatelli threaded 26 passes with an accuracy of 88.5 per cent, which remained second-top on Juve’s list after Matthijs de Ligt’s 93.6 per cent accuracy.

The former AC Milan midfielder has already become an integral part of Juventus, and it’s indeed frightening to think where they’d be without the cunningness of the Italian.