Be patient with Kaio Jorge
Allegri showed a lot of faith in Kaio Jorge on Saturday. The Brazilian teenager has mostly been limited to single-digit cameo appearances off the bench this term, but he was given the chance to shine from the 12th minute in Venice.
The boss could’ve introduced Moise Kean and retained the 4-2-3-1, but he opted for Jorge and the 4-4-2. The striker’s impact was almost immediate but he stabbed his close-range effort over the bar from a Matthijs de Ligt headed knockdown. That was as close as Jorge got to Romero’s goal, with his early miss setting the tone for his performance.
His role was difficult alongside Morata. The slight forward played primarily with his back to goal, but, as we noted, was handed little support by his teammates after holding the ball up. Every sequence was an ordeal for Jorge, and he was able to receive just 21 of 38 intended passes for him. This 55.3% pass reception rate was comfortably the lowest among Juventus players.
The young Brazilian struggled to get involved, although he did get himself in positions to score and his 0.6 xG haul was the highest in the Juve team and made up a healthy chunk of the collective figure (1.7). However, the Jorge we saw on Saturday wasn’t the bright and spritely teenager so desperately keen to impress on his previous cameo appearances. This, instead, was a youngster confined to an inhibiting role who epitomised Juve’s collective shortcomings under Allegri.
Jorge was far from his best against Venezia and it’s obvious that he still has some way to go in his development. Patience is required if we’re to eventually see the best of the teenager.