Juventus 1 - Napoli 2: Initial reaction and random observations

01/25/2025 03:10 PM

Juve did what Juve does, and same goes for Antonio Conte's league-leading Napoli side. Good times.

As Juventus came out of the tunnel to begin the second half Saturday night, Thiago Motta was asked what his team needed to do to stay in front of the current league leaders. Having just taken the lead before the halftime break, Motta told the DAZN sideline reporter that Juve simply needed to continue what they had done in the first half — an opening 45 minutes that was certainly eventful even before his team went in front.

One thing that didn't take long to see: the Juventus of the second half was very much not like the one that went into the half.

And you combine that with what had to be a classic kind of Antonio Conte halftime talk, and you have what played out over the course of the next 45 minutes in Naples.

The glow of Randal Kolo Muani giving Juventus the lead on his Juventus debut didn't last long, as Napoli came out like absolute gangbusters and took full advantage of Motta's squad very much not doing as their manager said they needed to do in the second half. It was the perfect storm of sorts — Napoli playing like a team absolutely possessed and Juventus basically being just the opposite of that as they tried to hold onto their lead. The result proved to be a 12-minute span where Napoli got goals from Frank Zambo Anguissa and Romelu Lukaku to flip the scoreline in their favor and hand Juventus a 2-1 loss at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

It's the first loss in Serie A for Thiago Motta as Juventus manager. Yes, even though a good amount of all those draws that Juve have racked up so far in Serie A this season have certainly felt like losses.

It's also even more points that Juventus have dropped from a winning position in Serie A this season, pushing the total to a whopping 17 in the first 22 league games.

This time, however, it wasn't dropped points that led to another draw. It was the first loss — and it meant that Juve are still without a win in Naples since 2019.

It was bad. It was very, very bad.

It went bad in a hurry, too.

When I say that Juventus saw barely any of the ball as Napoli were building toward tying the game through Zambo Anguissa, I ain't kidding, my friends. Napoli had a stunning 90% possession through the first 10 minutes of the second half. And while that relented a little bit as the second half went on, Juventus were pinned back so often and have extended periods of possession like they did in the opening 45 minutes that they could hardly string a couple of passes together before turning the ball over again.

Or, on the rare occurrence in which they did have a passing sequence where they could string together 15 or 20 passes together, it just ended in a displaced pass and disappointment.

Oh, and one more second-half stat for good measure: Juventus didn't record a single shot against Napoli in the second half. Not a single one. Hard to record any sort of xG when you don't

Napoli's dominant second half was very much Conte's team coming alive and cutting off any sort of positivity that Juventus had previously had before the break. This was, basically, the old saying of "a tale of two halves" personified, the kind of flip of the script in which Juventus went from a solid first half to looking like they could do barely anything right.

Maybe the worst part of it all, everything just felt inevitable once the ball started rolling. Didn't matter if it Napoli tying it up, going ahead or simply taking command of the game. It all was just bad. Really, really bad.

At least we don't have to hear about Juventus' unbeaten streak that's full of draws to begin the season. It only means so much when nearly two-thirds of those unbeaten results are actually draws. So there's that to come out of all of this, I guess. (I'm grasping at straws here, folks. I know I am. Please forgive me. Just one of those days.)

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Well, at least Kolo Muani scoring on his Juve debut was cool. Pretty much everything that happened after the goal that put Juventus in front wasn't, but the goal was.
• I'm still shaking my head whenever the fact that Juventus didn't have a single shot in the second half pops into my train of thought. Just a total mess.
• Remember I was sitting here last week saying it's hard to think of a Juventus player who didn't play well against Milan? Well, a lot like the second half, it's hard to think of a Juve player who actually did well — especially after the break — against Napoli. Maybe Michele Di Gregorio for that super save on Lukaku before all hell broke loose? Other than that, hard to say.
• At the top of that list might as well be Teun Koopmeiners, who again had a rough night despite the fact that he was very much playing deeper than he has been in recent weeks. At this point, it's hard to say how much of it is him being used incorrectly, his confidence being shot or just about anything you can think of. There is not one singular reason for a player as talented as Koopmeiners is to be playing far from his best. At some point you have to believe it start to click again. The problem is, we just don't know when that is.
• Zambo Anguissa shots against Juventus: 5.
• Juventus shots as a team: 5.
• No shots in the second half — really! Still shaking my head.
• At least we can think of that Di Gregorio save and be happy about it. Just make sure to not think about what happened after that. Seriously. Don't do it.
• At long last, a huge save right on the goal line (and goal line technology) finally working in Juventus' favor. I mean, take a look at this thing right here:

• I told you to not think about what happened after that, didn't I? DON'T DO IT.
• I think Juventus hold onto a lead as well as I hold onto my New Year's resolutions. In other words, it's not very good or effective. Oh well.
• It's interesting that 1) Dusan Vlahovic didn't start in one of the biggest remaining domestic matchups of the season and 2) he didn't come into the game until the 82nd minute when Juventus were very much in need of a goal. As much as Juventus will probably try not to make it out to be much of a thing, but it certainly seems like something is there.
• In the eight minutes Vlahovic played before stoppage time arrived, he touched the ball all of ... one time.
• If Kolo Muani touched the ball more than five times in the second half, I would be shocked. That's just how much Juve were pinned back and didn't have the ball.
• Manuel Locatelli has now not only given away two penalties this season, but also given away those two penalties within the span of three weeks. That is not good.
• The marking on Napoli's first goal ... also not good.
• I don't have much else to say. It was one of those games. Where's the bourbon?