Chaos at Como as Juventus hot shots keep firing blanks

The first defeat of the season for the Bianconeri increases the pressure on Igor Tudor, after Juve slip down Serie A to seventh spot but remain in touching distance of the league leaders.
Juventus captain Manuel Locatelli and his team-mates were a shambles against Cesc Fabregas' Como
Juventus captain Manuel Locatelli and his team-mates were a shambles against Cesc Fabregas' Como | Image Photo Agency/GettyImages

Como proved too hot to handle as they beat under-par Juventus in the top tier for the first time since 1952, which ended their unwanted record of 23 winless Serie A encounters against the Bianconeri.

Defender Marc-Oliver Kempf broke the deadline after four minutes on Sunday with his second strike of the season, assisted by livewire Nico Paz.

Argentina international Paz doubled the tally on 79 minutes, brilliantly polishing off a counterattack by converting Maximo Perrone's long ball with a finish from outside the box to beat Michele Di Gregorio.

Rare tactical tweaks from Tudor

Tudor finally relented from his favored tactics of playing three at the back with a 4-3-2-1 formation at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia.

Yet until top scorer Dusan Vlahovic was introduced in the 77th minute, Juventus relied on Jonathan David to lead the attack despite the Canadian's loss of form for club and country.

Como was definitely the easier of two daunting trips this week for under pressure Tudor following the international break, with a midweek visit to the mighty Real Madrid in the Champions League.

With Italy head coach Gennaro Gattuso among the sell-out crowd, yet the Juventus players underperformed with Federico Gatti not even given a run out and Di Gregorio failing to impress between the sticks.

Even emerging superstar Kenan Yildiz was unable to be as creative as usual, although he was missing an out-and-out center forward to battle for the ball around the penalty area.

After Andrea Cambiaso conceded the first corner of the contest, the visitors found themselves trailing to Kempf's curler from six yards.

Slow start for Como clash

It took until the half-hour mark before the first save was made, Di Gregorio denying former Juventus ace Alvaro Morata, who is on loan at Como from AC Milan. Seconds late Kempf fluffed a chance to score, miscuing his header wide of the target.

Although goal poacher David slotted home on 36 minutes, his strike was overruled for offside in the build-up.

Veteran Morata was guilty of poor finishing five minutes later, sending his effort into the center of the gaping goalmouth and into the hands of Di Gregorio.

With Juve failing to make much of an impact in the one-sided first half a change was desperately required, but it was Como who sent on Jacobo Ramon for Diego Carlos rather than Tudor switching players.

Como continued where they left off. Paz picked out Mergim Vojvoda, who tried his luck with a long-distance drive that Di Gregorio saved.

Juve's first legitimate shot on target arrived just after the hour-mark, shotstopper Jean Butez equal to Teun Koopmeiner's effort. The Dutch midfielder soon made way for Weston McKennie as part of a double substitution with lacklustre skipper Manuel Locatelli replaced by Vlahovic.

Bianconeri persist with wayward changes

A two-pronged attack of the Serbia star, recently finding the net against Andorra, joining David failed to improve Juventus.

It was quite the reverse as Como took advantage of the gaps in midfield for Real Madrid academy standout Paz to score their second, polishing off a slick and swift move.

Rather than let their heads drop, Cambiaso took the bull by the horns to test Butez before he was surprisingly taken off for another bizarre Tudor double swap.

Paz lapped up the extra space from Juve's disorganized set up to find striker Anastasios Douvikas with five minutes remaining. The prolific Greek international failed to beat Di Gregorio and somehow miscued his last-gasp header from six yards that would have given Como the result they deserved.

Vlahovic, who has netted all four of his goals this campaign after coming off the bench, almost added to his tally to maintain his supersub label. His ambitious stoppage time attempt was stopped from nestling in the bottom corner by Butez.

Something amiss at Juventus

Juve's failure to score in back-to-back games, when they have three highly-paid strikers, highlights the fact that there's something wrong. The Italian giants notched seven goals in their opening three Serie A games, but since stunning Inter the goals have dried up.

Juventus, who have been in stuttering form since the thrilling last-gasp Derby d'Italia victory over Inter Milan, are now on a winless run of six games and will be the underdogs at the Bernabau.

Tudor admitted after the defeat: "It was a difficult game against a team that plays good football. We conceded this goal at the beginning from a set piece, it's a goal that we shouldn't take.

"I don't know who else plays with two strikers and two wingers [in Serie A], probably only us.

"We went close to the penalty area many times but we lacked the last pass, the precision in the conclusions. We have to discuss in the locker room what needs to be improved, we have to work."

Tudor has his work cut out when Juventus tackle Xabi Alonso's free-scoring Madrid on Wednesday, still unsure of his best line-up and continuing to make bizarre substitutions that seem to disorientate his players.

The storm is brewing over Tudor's head, and although a hefty defeat in Spain will not see Tudor's head roll it is only a matter of time unless things can be dramatically altered.

JUVENTUS: Di Gregorio - Cambiaso (Mario, 83), Kelly, Rugani (Kostic, 83), Kalulu - Thuram, Locatelli, (Vlahovic, 77), Koopmeiners (McKennie, 77) - Yildiz, Conceicao - David Subs: Pein, Gatti, Adzic, Openda, Scalgia