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

Juventus had to wait for five games to savour their first victory in Serie A 2021/22. Thanks to goals from Moise Kean, Federico Chiesa and Matthijs de Ligt, Massimiliano Allegri’s men were able to overshadow the collective effort from Thiago Motta’s Spezia— with the game finishing 3-2 on the scoreline.

A hard-fought triumph, as suggested by the scoreline, saw Juventus climb out of the relegation zone. By the end of the night, they were 13th in the points table with five points from five matches.

Although a scrappy goal from Matthijs de Ligt managed to win all three points for the visitors at Stadio Alberto Picco, it was far from a convincing display for the Bianconeri. If anything, glimpses of individual brilliance bailed Juventus out of further misery on Wednesday evening.

That said, here are the three takeaways from Juve’s first win in the Serie A 2021/22 season.

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3. Juventus are lucky to have a core

The Bianconeri were on the way to be a part of another massive upset — by losing to Spezia, of course. Following a tepid first half where they looked dismantled and scared of their counterparts, Juventini started to believe that they would be the subject of mockery on social media once again.

That nightmare didn’t come to pass as Juve fans should be thankful that the club still possesses an excellent core of players. They, unlike others, are always there to throw everything on the line for the success and prosperity of the club.

First on the list comes Paulo Dybala. Captaining Juventus against Spezia, La Joya was a key figure in Juve’s away victory. Despite failing to log an assist or score a goal, Dybala caught the eyes every time he placed his foot on the ball.

According to Whoscored.com, the diminutive Argentine had four shots on target out of six attempts — most of any player in the match from both sides. Furthermore, he had 82 touches on the ball, signifying how determined he was to receive the ball and run his magic. Often coming deep in the midfield to demand the ball, Dybala had the appetite to spark something out of nothing.

When it comes to hunger and stubbornness, one couldn’t overlook Federico Chiesa, either. In the 65th minute of the game — almost everyone from the visiting side had grown tired of pressing, Chiesa, without losing an ounce of hope, tracked down a Spezia defender and retrieved the ball from a situation no one, from his team at least, would’ve managed to do.

After regaining possession, he didn’t stop and kept on darting at the defence, played a one-two with Alvaro Morata and nutmegged another Spezia defender before finishing the whole sequence off on his own.

The European champion with Italy completed eight key passes (most in the game) against Spezia. The persistence of Moise Kean (the scorer of the first goal), Federico Chiesa, Paulo Dybala, and Matthijs de Ligt (the scorer of the decisive goal) is what Juventus fans want to see from every player in the squad. If they all succumb to failure, fans could rely on this emerging core of players.

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.

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.