Juventus 1 - Genoa 0: Initial reaction and random observations

03/29/2025 03:56 PM

Juventus are officially undefeated with Igor Tudor as manager.

Considering Igor Tudor had as many training sessions with his new Juventus squad as I have fingers on my right hand enter Saturday evening's matchup against Genoa, it was hardly any sort of certainty what the Bianconeri would produce under their new manager. We had an idea based on how Tudor's teams have played during his previous managerial stops, but with how Juventus went into the international you just simply had no idea come kickoff.

A couple hours later, you could say a couple of things:

• It wasn't always pretty.
• It wasn't always effective.
• But it was a whole lot better than what we saw in the final 180 minutes of Thiago Motta's short but eventual tenure on the Juve sideline.

A moment of Kenan Yildiz magic midway through the first half proved to be the difference on the scoreboard and Juventus captured a 1-0 win over Genoa at the Allianz Stadium in Tudor's managerial debut. A team that looked completely listless in losses to Atalanta and Fiorentina by a combined 7-0 scoreline heading into the international break looked so much more organized despite having less than a week's worth of training sessions with their new manager. And, most importantly, they showed the fight to keep a Genoa side that had collected nearly as many points since as Juventus since their late-November managerial change to next to nothing — and it resulted in that same Bianconeri squad that had so many holes defensively just a few weeks ago recording their first shutout since March 3.

All in all, a win is a win — and considering the circumstances, that's all tha Tudor needs to do in these nine games that he's in charge.

And it's especially true when Bologna, the team directly in front of Juventus who is still on the schedule, win by the same 1-0 scoreline just an hour before things kicked off in Turin.

With Bologna winning Saturday, Juventus just needed to keep pace. But with so much change happening at Juventus over the course of the last week, how they would come out in Tudor's first game was the biggest question. The formation looked much like we thought it would, with Tudor rolling out his customary 3-4-2-1 and players that were both played out of position by Motta or simply out of favor with the now-former Juve manager better utilized by the former Bianconeri defender.

Nico Gonzalez, was no longer on the left wing. Dusan Vlahovic was actually in the starting lineup. Kenan Yildiz was back on the left and playing behind Vlahovic.

It just made more sense rather than thinking to yourself "Why is Motta doing this ... again?"

There were still some of the same issues that we saw under Motta. At times, Juventus' passing was ... not great. There were still moments of a team that, somehow, didn't exactly look on the same page in attack. Lloyd Kelly sometimes did Lloyd Kelly things. But with a team learning a system that is very much different from what it was set up in just a couple of weeks ago — a three-man backline and obviously much less reliance on possession — some mistakes can be forgiven because, again, it's all new with Tudor.

But you just had the feeling as Saturday's proceedings played out that this Juventus team was just in a better place compared to the last time they played at the Allianz.

For all of the things that we're hoping Tudor can try and clean up, they limited Genoa to just 0.27 xG and Michele Di Gregorio wasn't even forced into much of anything difficult in terms of saves he had to make. Five of Genoa's nine shots on the day were from outside of the box, and when things were on target it's not like they really challenged Di Gregorio — which, when you consider this is the first time Juve's played a back three this season, is a pretty positive development regardless of how much this visitors have sometimes struggled to score goals this season.

Sure, it wasn't the kind of big and impressive win like we saw when Motta made his debut as Juventus manager back in August. But, at this point, Juventus just need to win as much as possible over the next two months knowing they're currently on the outside looking in of the top four.

One game down under Tudor. One win under Tudor.

If we say that another seven or eight times, then Juve's in the Champions League next season.

So while it might not have been a huge step forward compared to where Juve were, it's a step in the right direction — and that's more than what we can say when we saw them in Florence a couple of weeks ago.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• The lines of the coaching box on the Juventus sidelines mean absolutely nothing to Igor Tudor. It felt like almost every time he showed up at the bottom of a camera shot — especially as the second half went on — Tudor was routinely nowhere close to the edge of the box, even sometimes on the field. It made me laugh.
• Heck, more than once the fourth official had to come over to Tudor and remind him of where he was when he was yards — and I mean more than just a couple — outside of his box. Again, it made me laugh — especially with Tudor being very friendly with it.
• First impression: Tudor looks good in the suit on the Juventus sideline.
• Also a fan of Patrick Vieira's sweater and dress shirt look. Simple yet stylish.
• The best look of the day, as much as that Genoa fourth kit in honor of the city's connection to the founders of Boca Juniors, had to be Lilian Thuram in the stands. I mean, look at this man and all the swag he has whenever he watches his son Khephren:

• But that Genoa kit they wore against Juventus was pretty nice. Kappa continues to produce banger after banger. Miss those guys making Juve kits look gorgeous.
• Tactically, there were some cool things to see from Tudor against Genoa.
• Like we figured, in attack it was 3-4-2-1 and in defense it was basically 5-3-2. The twist on it was sometimes how high Teun Koopmeiners was playing next to Vlahovic. Sure, Koopmeiners didn't have a great game, but you can clearly see that Tudor is trying things in attempt to get the Dutchman going again. We'll see how that goes over the next few weeks.
• Seeing Gonzalez come alive as a wingback on the right wing was not exactly something I had on my bingo card entering this one. Not because of him being on the right wing again, but moreso because of his complete lack of experience as a wingback.
• And yes, I checked in with our friend Tito from Viola Nation about Gonzalez's past experience as a wingback. When I asked if he had ever played there before, Tito simply replied: "He didn't." So there's that. Congrats on what felt like one of the first time you've ever played as a wingback, Nico. Now just go ahead and keep it going.
• Weston McKennie playing a hybrid wingback/fullback role depending on which phase of the game things were in. Add that one to the list of things he's done this season.
• Didn't have somebody named "Kelly, Lloyd" finishing with the second-most touches of any Juventus player, but here we are.
• The Juve player with the third-most amount of touches? Mr. Kenan Yildiz with 70. I can definitely support that as we go forward here under Tudor. More of that, please.
• Vlahovic's performance kinda reminded me of what we had seen from him with Max Allegri. He didn't have a great game and he was involved in what was the biggest physical battle of the day against Koni De Winter. The referee let a whole lot of things go, and Vlahovic was clearly getting frustrated with it and so many no-calls. But hey, he's playing again, and now has a manager who is very much a longtime fan of his.
• But Vlahovic complaining after some of the no-calls was not exactly a refreshing sight.
• Vlahovic attempted 10 passes against Genoa. He completed five of them. That ain't great.
• Francisco Conceição also attempted 10 passes. He completed seven of them. Conceição came on with 25 minutes to go.
• I have no idea how Khephren Thuram had enough energy left in his body to make that kind of run in the 92nd minute and not absolutely pass out afterward. Maybe he was inspired by his dad's outfit. Who knows really.
• Prayer circle for Federico Gatti's Achilles tendon. That didn't look very good. That was a big old whack to a part of the body that does not have very much natural cushioning.
• Consider me a fan of the role Vieira has put Fabio Miretti in. The starting lineup had him playing out on the left wing in the 4-2-3-1, but Miretti was essentially playing behind the striker, taking advantage of his ability to make runs into the box. We saw that a couple of weeks ago when Miretti scored a brace in Genoa's 2-1 win over Lecce, and while there was no goal for the Juve loanee Saturday he had some good moments. The loan move has definitely been the right decision for him personally.
• Yes, much like you, I also got nervous when Ruslan Malinovskyi and that super-dangerous left foot of his was subbed on late in the second half. Those previous goals don't leave your brain.
• There was Nicola Leali making big saves at the Allianz just like we all predicted a decade ago, right?
• In closing, I just wanna let Igor know that it's nice to see him back in Turin and I hope this goes well. No matter how you win, I just hope you keep winning. That would be nice.