After Milan: Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo
Yesterday at 04:15 PM
Somebody forgot to wake the sleeping giants...
The Good
Thuram can move
While the end result of the match did not bode well for either team as they attempt to chip away at the table's logjam, Khephren Thuram performed quite well. His ability to burst down the channel after a quick recovery, while not resulting in any goals, has been of great benefit to Juventus both Saturday night and this season. The Frenchman totaled 84 touches and recroded a passing accuracy of just under 92%. This also earned him the Man of the Match award.
Conceição is annoying, and that is great
The Portugese loanee from Porto has an incredible knack for confusing and annoying pretty much any player — or group of players — that he takes on.His speed, ball control, and hard-to-pin stature were of great benefit in the first half while Juventus were still early in their Koop-front lineup experiment.
Weah's Blessing
In a nice turn of events, Serie A legend and former AC Milan player George Weah was quoted saying "I'll cheer for Juve because it's the team of my heart and because my son plays there. If Juventus win I'm happy, if Milan wins I'm a little happy, but not 100%." It's great to see such strong support for his son, Timothy, as he continues in his second year in Turin. The Juventus and USMNT player, as well as part owner of USL club Brooklyn FC, has been off to a great start in this campaign, netting four goals in eight league matches.
The Bad
A big scramble
It seemed that the second half at the San Siro was simply a large possession scramble on both sides. It never truly allowed for the buildup toward a goalscoring opportunity or afforded time for the Bianconeri to recompose themselves as they struggled to execute anything noteworthy in the final minutes. The match began to look like pinball between Juve and Milan, where passes missed their targets and heavy touches were quickly recovered by the opposing side.
A pause in Juve's goalscoring democracy
Throughout the 2024-25 season, Juventus has not overly relied on a single forward for goals. While Dusan Vlahovic obviously has the highest goal count for the club across all competitions, Nicolo Savona, Kenan Yildiz, and Weah have all seen the back of the net multiple times. This match against Milan created a bit of a paradox.
In many matches that Vlahovic has started, goals have come from other players and he saw very few opportunities and touches (with exceptions, of course). However, in an important match when he is injured, those same players were unable to score. Giving Vlahovic the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the lack of his on-field presence played a part in the scoreless draw.
It very well could just be a one-off situation.
Koop-Tastrophy
This may have been one of the worst performances by Teun Koopmeiners since signing with Juventus. While he was being played in an unusual position, Koopmeiners lost six of his seven duels in the first half, and among Juventus players had the third lowest passing accuracy at 76%, only above goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio and 90th-minute substitute Danilo.
His frustration was warranted. Koopmeiners recently recovered from a rib injury that caused him to miss October matches against Lazio and Inter, and has been desperately attempting his first goal in Juventus colors. Fans can recall his feverish performance, ultimately unsuccessful, in the Derby Della Mole.
The Ugly
The second-half lull
Even though the first half ended goalless, its seemed that the momentum was very much in favor of Juventus. They dominated possession, had a few chances, and made the best of a very strange formation without a recognizable striker. However, there was a sharp decline in overall effort at the start of the second half, and that not only allowed for less chances, but caused Milan to be able to push forward with much more ease. It really seemed that nobody on either side was willing to go for it, and both remained content with a draw.
What could have been
Generally speaking, speculation on the "what ifs" of calcio is always going to end in disappointment. However, the Juventus injury crisis turned what could have been an electric match into a sleepy draw. Imagine for a second if Vlahovic, Bremer, Juan Cabal, Nico Gonzalez, Vasilije Adzic, or even Douglas Luiz were healthy?
Milan's roster is not the strongest that it has been in a long time, and while there were upset wins against Inter and Real Madrid earlier this season, plus some individual bouts of fantastic form in Christian Pulisic, they have lacked serious cohesion under new manager Paulo Fonseca. It would have been fantastic to see the culmination of Thiago Motta's dream squad take on this Milan side, but fans will have to wait until 2025 to see any semblance of that.
Gatti's first WWE contract
Federico Gatti is consistently showing fans and club alike just how interesting he is. His Serie A history comes with own goals, match-winning headers, and trying to tear the suit jacket of Cristiano Giuntoli after winning the Copa Italia last season. After facing Milan, he can add a Smackdown-style pancake tackle to his list of wild and wacky accomplishments. The tackle came in the 27th minute, and it's victim was none other than former Juventino Alvaro Morata. Even the Paramount+ commentators referred to the tackle as a "Serie D move."
Say what you will about the defender, he certainly keeps things interesting!
Buono, Brutto, o Cattivo?
This match seems a bit of a toss up between bad and ugly. While giveaway passes and scrambling were the dominant force of the second half, fans should not forget the importance of this fixture, which gave Juventus the opportunity to leap into third place, taking into account Atalanta's win over Parma in the later fixture. This was simply too important of a match to end in a draw if the Bianconeri want a real shot for the Scudetto, which makes this match simply ... bad.
