Juve frustrated again in third straight goalless draw vs Napoli

Today at 02:15 AM

Antonio Conte finally faced the Allianz fans from the opposition dugout, but the Bianconeri remained unable to find the cutting edge in league play.

After Tuesday's dominant 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven in their Champions League opener, it looked as though Juventus had managed to work through the offensive block that had seen them register a pair of goalless draws in their two prior league games. Just in time, too, perhaps, with a big game against Napoli immediately following their continental contest.

Unfortunately, the Bianconeri still seem to need a bit more time to get their attacking issues fully worked out.

The pre-game chatter that wasn't about the PSV game centered around Antonio Conte, who for first time was actually facing down the fans at the Allianz Stadium as an opposing manager. His first three trips back to Turin when he was with Inter (barf) had all come during pandemic times, when COVID protocols mandated empty stadiums.

Thiago Motta was charged with breaking down his old Italy manager, but once again Juve's attack didn't have the edge necessary to strike home. Even after taking a drastic measure and removing his only true striker at halftime, his players, who held nearly two-thirds of the possession on the day, couldn't get past a disciplined and organized Napoli defense, a hallmark of his opposite number that Juve fans will well remember.

It wasn't as dire and drab a contest as Juve's last two Serie A affairs — indeed, at times it was an extremely open and incredibly entertaining match, and there were again positive signs — but ultimately Juve still couldn't get the crucial final touches, and racked up a third straight 0-0 result in domestic competition.

Motta made only one change to the 4-2-3-1 he employed on Tuesday. (Yes, I called it a 4-3-3 in my recap this week, but upon further study I realize I had erred there.) Francisco Conceiçāo and Arkadiusz Milik were the only players missing, although Federico Gatti was only fit for the bench after sustaining an ankle injury midweek. Michele Di Gregorio stood in goal for the Old Lady. Nicolo Savona was given the start at right-back, while Pierre Kalulu kicked inside to partner Bremer in the middle, with Andrea Cambiaso finishing the back four. Weston McKennie was rewarded for his Champions League efforts with another start next to Manuel Locatelli in the double pivot. Nico Gonzalez, Teun Koopmeiners, and Kenan Yildiz supported Dusan Vlahovic in attack.

Conte pulled a surprise coming out of the locker room and deployed his charges in a 4-3-3. Alex Meret started behind the back line of Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alessandro Buongiorno, Amir Rrahmani, and Mathías Olivera. Frank Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka, and Scott McTominay formed the midfield, while Matteo Politano and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia flanked Romelu Lukaku up front.

Before the match, a moment of silence was held for the late Toto Schillaci, but the solemn moment was marred by a fan in the away section who began shouting insultingly in Neapolitan, which prompted a furious reaction from the rest of the stadium that made the tribute anything but what it should've been.

The opening phases of the game were tense and cagey in the extreme. Neither team registered a shot for the first 20 minutes of the contest, although things weren't quite so dull as that makes it sound. Yildiz and Gonzalez each looked dangerous from wide, with the young Turk putting in two good crosses and the Argentine another, but the Napoli defense marked perfectly in the box and none of the deliveries got through.

Both teams finally picked up their first shots in quick succession, but Di Lorenzo's effort off a corner was blocked by Bremer and McKennie was similarly denied by Rrahmani. The first true marker was thrown by McTominay just before the half-hour mark, when an errant pass by Vlahovic allowed the Scotland international to charge through and fire from outside the box. His shot skipped in front of Di Gregorio who could only parry it, but he was reprieved when Lukaku fouled Bremer on his way to attack the rebound.

Five minutes later, one of several mid-game surprises arrived, when Meret, whose day had been quite quiet so far, was very suddenly replaced by Elia Caprile. It was later confirmed that he suffered a muscular issue, perhaps about 10 minutes before when he had to come out and outjump Vlahovic for a long headed pass from Gonzalez.

But, as was the team's unfortunate tendency under Massimiliano Allegri, Juve couldn't do much to test the stand-in keeper. They didn't register a shot from the time Caprile came on until halftime. Napoli, on the other hand, came ever so close to scoring when Politano swung a free kick from the right wing toward the back post. Di Gregorio seemed unsighted by Lukaku but was able to get a hand up just in time to parry it behind and keep the game scoreless going into the half.

The beginning of the second half brought with it a shocking decision from Motta, who sent Tim Weah on in place of Vlahovic as a false nine. It was immediately clear that he wanted to Weah to act a bit more like Joshua Zirkzee did for him at Bologna, dropping a little bit deeper to help get movements started. Within minutes, the American provided the pass for Yildiz to cut inside and try to recreate his incredible midweek strike, but he hit the ball right at Caprile.

Ten minutes into the second half, Politano was given far too much space and cut inside for one of his favorite shots, but he put it over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Locatelli made a smart block when Di Lorenzo found Politano in the right channel with a good low ball.

Those were two of Napoli's better chances in the game, and as the second half progressed it became an exercise in defense for the Partenopei, as Juve took the majority of possession and looked to break them down. They were extremely lucky when referee Daniele Doveri gave Olivera and Caprile a massive reprieve and declined to call the two for an illegal back pass in the penalty area when Olivera cushioned a Koopmeiners cross into space and Caprile ran to pick it up. Motta was given a yellow arguing the ruling, but play continued on.

Koopmeiners moved all over the field trying to pull the defense apart, and in the 68th minute was on the back end of a good cross from Savona but Rrahmani was able to get in front of him and clear. Two minutes later, Cambiaso provided him an excellent opportunity after making a strong run through the middle, but the Dutchman flew his shot over the top corner.

With 20 minutes to go, Conte changed his entire front line, sending on Giovanni Simeone, David Neres, and Michael Folorunsho for Lukaku, Politano, and Kvaratshkelia. In the near term, that didn't do much for Napoli's attempts to attack, and Juve continued searching for the opener. Yildiz tried another curler from a tight angle and very nearly hit it out for a throw-in, while Cambiaso hit a snap shot that just skittered wide of the post with seven minutes left. At this point it was becoming clear that several players — Yildiz and Cambiaso in particular — were at the end of their rope, but Motta only made one other substitution, putting on Khephren Thuram in place of McKennie. The fatigue began to show for both players as mistakes began to creep into their game in the end phases.

Napoli weren't immune to a mishap either, and Weah came close to some late magic when he jumped a pass by McTominay and tried to go low at the near post, but Buongiorno played him well and didn't let him put the shot between his legs, blocking the ball behind.

The resulting corner, though, was pretty ineffective, and after four minutes of uneventful stoppage time Doveri blew his whistle for the final time, sending the teams to the locker room with a point apiece, while Juve once again pondered how to get themselves on the Serie A scoresheet.

LE PAGELLE

MICHELE DI GREGORIO - 8. That one-handed save at the end of the half may have ended up being the decisive moment in this game. Apart from that, he kept his box clean as usual and did his best to contribute to the buildup.

NICOLÒ SAVONA - 6.5. Had a very difficult assignment in Kvaratskhelia but did a good job keeping him largely in check. The Georgian was held to three off-target shots and didn't register a key pass, and was visibly frustrated after being subbed out. Savona himself did manage a key pass Saturday, and completed 97 percent of his passes.

PIERRE KALULU - 6.5. Had the most touches and passes of any player on the field, and often pushed forward into the attacking half to assist with moves. He completed 94 percent of those 116 pass attempts and is showing promising signs after coming in almost as an afterthought at the end of the window.

BREMER - 7. Intercepted four passes and completely locked down Lukaku, holding the Belgian without a shot. He also completed 95.2 percent of his own pass attempts, including three of five long. Maybe he's been working on that in training.

ANDREA CAMBIASO - 6. Had two tackles, an interception, a key pass, and completed twice as many dribbles (4) as anyone else on the pitch. Had a late shot skitter just wide, too. He was running on fumes by the end, though, and that contributed to a few mistakes.

MANUEL LOCATELLI - 6.5. Completed 96.1 percent of his 103 pass attempts, including nine of 11 long balls. He also registered a pair of tackles and a key block 10 minutes into the second half. He's been unflashy but extremely steady in the early portions of the season.

WESTON McKENNIE - 5.5. Wasn't quite as on point as he was on Tuesday. His work in the attacking third was a lot less precise, and he wasn't able help break down the Napoli defense, although his own defensive work was good.

NICO GONZALEZ - 5.5. Had a decent cross or two defended away, but didn't provide nearly enough of the consistent danger he showed against PSV.

TEUN KOOPMEINERS - 6. Lacked the finishing touch but was very involved up front, making three key passes and consistently having a hand in Juve's more dangerous moments in the second half.

KENAN YILDIZ - 6. Guess who led Juventus in tackles against Napoli? Yeah, it was Yildiz, who racked up a game-high five of them when he wasn't trying to unlock Napoli's defense on his side. It was perhaps a little disappointing that he wasn't able to hurt Di Lorenzo more given how bad the full-back has looked since the Euros began, and he made a couple of attempts at hero-ball rather than look at what was around him. Chalk that up to youthful exuberance.

DUSAN VLAHOVIC - 4.5. Only touched the ball six times in the first half and when he was close to the ball he often wasn't able to control it. Let Buongiorno mark him out of proceedings.

SUBS

TIM WEAH - 6. Had a pair of key passes and nearly pulled a winner out of the hat when he jumped McTominay's pass late. His movement helped pull Napoli's defense apart just a fraction more in the second half, which gave Juve more chances.

KHEPHREN THURAM - NR. Only had 10 touches in his last 10 minutes. One wonders what effect he might have had had he been joined by a few more fresh legs.

MANAGER ANALYSIS

The big story here will be Motta's move to bench Vlahovic for Weah at halftime. In his post-match press conference Motta praised his striker for his effort in the opening 45 minutes, but conceded that Napoli simply wasn't giving him any space. That is a pretty accurate assessment (although I'd say that his touch the few times the ball did come his way was very much lacking) and it makes me think that Weah would've been his move even if Arek Milik had been healthy, because another true No. 9 would likely have had similar issues given the way Napoli were defending. The team certainly looked more dangerous without the reference point of a true striker, and the attacking players were afforded a bit more space in the second half.

While still frustrating, the prospects of this team are still bright. There are very good players in this squad. What's lacking is a full grasp of Motta's attacking system. That's still to be expected. There are a ton of new players in the dressing room, and the holdovers are being taught a system that's the polar opposite of what Allegri had them doing over the last three years.

The fact that Conte was in the opposing dugout Saturday night is actually somewhat instructive when reflecting on this point. His first Juve side went through a six-week stretch in February and March of 2012 that saw them draw six of seven, including scoreless matches with Siena, Parma, and Genoa, who finished 14th, 8th, and 17th, respectively, that year. That period coincided with Conte's first use of the 3-5-2, which people sometimes forget had a few kinks that needed to be worked out in its first run. Things finally clicked in mid-March, when they annihilated Fiorentina 5-0 in Florence and only dropped points once the rest of the season. It might not go quite that well when things fall into place for this squad, but I think the signs are pointing in the direction of this team being very dangerous by the time they manage to iron things out up front.

If there is one thing that can be looked at critically in this game, it's Motta's decision to leave three substitutes and two sub windows unused. It was very clear by the end of the game that several players were gassed after playing their third game in a week, and it started causing some mistakes, both physically and mentally. There were options on the bench that could have caused Napoli some problems. Putting Samuel Mbangula on for Yildiz would not have been a bad idea, especially with some fresh legs against Di Lorenzo, who hasn't looked that great defensively since the beginning of the Euros. Cambiaso was also sucking wind, and there were options to back him up with the likes of Danilo or Juan Cabal. Motta keeping the lineup largely intact up to the last minute instead of at least getting some guys with full tanks on the field was a strange decision.

LOOKING AHEAD

Juve have a full week to work on the fine details before they hit the field again, making a tricky trip to the Marassi to take on Genoa. Then they take to the road for the first time in the Champions League with another difficult test against RB Leipzig. After that comes a lunchtime kickoff against Cagliari at home to wrap things up before the October international break.