Juventus lost to Monza today and put together one of their worst performances of the year.
In the first half, Juventus looked lazy with their effort everywhere on the field. They made an incredible amount of poor passes that led to possession losses over and over again. There were almost no attacking runs and it just seemed like the team didn’t care to play properly.
Juve let in two goals (one was overturned by VAR) in the first half. The first came on Patrick Ciurria’s goal in the 19th minute. The second came when Monza struck on a counterattack and Danny Mota dribbled around Wojciech Szcezny to score on an open net. Even though the halftime score was only 0-2, Juventus shouldn’t have been proud of anything in the first half.
The team played better in the second half after Allegri pulled three of his starting XI at halftime. Leandro Paredes, Nicolo Fagioli and Filip Kostic were replaced with Samuel Iling-Junior, Manuel Locatelli, and Matias Soule. He then brought on Arkadiusz Milik and Dusan Vlahovic to try and get something going in the attack. The team certainly looked better in the second half, but it was too little too late.
Juventus played a poor match and deserved to lose these points. This team needs a lot of changes if they want to play in Europe next season.
Overall, this was a terrible performance in every facet of the game including with the team’s management. Yes, Juventus has struggled with injuries this season and had a few players (Federico Chiesa) unavailable today. Yet, that shouldn’t excuse a terribly poor performance against a side that should have very little business competing with Juventus, especially in Turin.
Juventus is in need of a reboot and this loss to Monza may be the catalyst for some sweeping change in the Juve locker room. It is looking increasingly likely that Juventus’ only chance of European football next season is through a victory in the Coppa Italia. They don’t stand a chance of competing in the later parts of that tournament, however, if they continue to play like they did today.