Juventus 2 - Udinese 0: Initial reaction and random observations

11/02/2024 03:20 PM

Juve certainly tested every bit of their lead at times in the second half, but they were able to keep the clean sheet and get the shutout for their first win in a couple of weeks.

Considering the manner in which Juventus' back-to-back draws over the past week have happened, it was pretty much anybody's guess as to how Thiago Motta's squad was going to play in Udine on Saturday evening. For as good as the comeback was in the Derby d'Italia, the performance against Parma was very, very different and far from encouraging.

It was a bit of a guessing game come kickoff at the Friuli, but Juventus (thankfully) showed that the team that was there Wednesday night didn't show itself once again.

You can't necessarily say the same about what happened after the halftime break, but two very important things happened come the final whistle:

1. Juventus got the win, beating Udinese 2-0 to claim their first win in three league fixtures.
2. The extremely under-fire Juventus defense kept their first clean sheet since that slim 1-0 win over Lazio on Oct. 19, albeit needing a little bit of help from the woodwork in the second half.

Not perfect, but certainly an improvement over what Juve did against Parma and enough defensively stability to get a clean sheet and hopefully some much-needed confidence for a backline that had allowed six goals in those two draws over the last week.

So, exhale. Maybe not fully, but at least a little bit.

Even though the second half was certainly much more unstable and wobbly than the opening 45 minutes, how Juve were able to build their lead was what allowed them to claim the three points. Juventus had control of the game. They possessed the ball nearly 70% of the time. And while they didn't rack up scoring chances left and right — they only had six shots total in the first half — but they really looked to control the proceedings after certainly not giving us that feeling earlier in the week against Parma.

Obviously, any time you can take a 2-0 lead into halftime it's shown you've played well during the opening half, but Juventus just didn't look all that wobbly at all. That was so important because Udinese had played so well at home so far this season, with Inter being the only team to beat them in Udine. And once Nicolo Savona hammered home Kenan Yildiz's shot that clanged off the right upright, we got a situation that Juventus hasn't exactly had a lot the last couple of weeks.

They actually got to play with the lead, my friends.

Ah, that sounds nice. It was nice based on how they were playing.

And yeah, I get that the second half was probably a little more nervy than it should have been. (Insert your joke about having a 2-0 lead here, folks.) That might not be the most surprising thing based on how this team has played — at the back especially — in recent outings. But outside of any chance that actually counted and wasn't wiped out because of a foul, it was only Lorenzo Lucca's 83rd-minute hit that truly came close to Udinese scoring.

Udinese's second-half showing included nine shots, but Juve keeper Michele Di Gregorio was only forced into one save. (He had plenty of crosses to either punch out or try to claim in the air, so there's also that.) Juve's defense was certainly bending, but they ultimately never fully broke — which I'm not fully sure how, but it's the truth.

Considering how the last few games have gone, I'll take it. It certainly wasn't the same kind of shutout that we've seen from this team earlier this season — and that's not just because there's a very broad-shouldered Brazilian center back missing — but it's a shutout nonetheless.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• These yellow kits. I just don't know if they're ever going to do it for me, man.
• Those anthem jackets, though. I can mess with those any day of the week. I'll take one even though my birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I'll forgive you.
• This was also the first time we've seen Michele Di Gregorio or any other Juventus goalkeeper rock the light blue keeper kit. It's nice! (The all-red joint still remains my favorite of the ones they've worn so far this season, though. But the blue is very slick.)
• One more uniform note: Udinese's giant sponsorship block will never not make me laugh. It's just so huge and takes up the front of an otherwise usually great kit. (Yeah, yeah, yeah ... the color scheme makes me biased even if it's not Juventus. Whatever!)
• Dusan Vlahovic touches in the first half: 8. That's not great!
• Khpehren Thuram ground duels won in the first half: 6. That's pretty great!
• Speaking of Thuram, that had to be his best game since coming to Juventus, right? Like the team in general, his performance in the first half was really well-rounded. He was contributing defensively, he was making a ton of runs going forward and had a couple of scoring chances even before the shot that lead to the own goal. Man, could Juve's midfield really benefit from Thuram playing like that on a much more consistent basis.
• Thuram deserved credit for that goal simply for how good his run was. I know you can't really get credit for it when it bounces off the post and then the keeper's back, but dammit give that man a goal because he deserved it.
• Also, want to thank Maduka Okoye and his large back that goes along with his 6-foot-6 frame for that own goal. All those muscles obviously played a role in Thuram's shot bouncing across the goal line.
• I don't know if it's true, but this felt like the game in which Savona got forward as much as he has this season. I'd probably say that Thuram is the man of the match in my book, but Savona wasn't too far behind. Sure, I get that he made a few tired mistakes in the couple of minutes before he was subbed off, but before that he really was having a strong performance on both ends of the field.
• Who led Juventus in tackles against Udinese? A certain Turkish striker with the No. 10 jersey. That's right — Yildiz finished with a game-high five tackles.
• I don't know if it's because of the current state of the defense or the sudden leaking of goals before the trip to face Udinese, but it just feels like Di Gregorio is trying to do a little too much the last few games. I just want him to settle down and find that form he had prior to the October international break.
• That said, the first save Di Gregorio made against Udinese was a fantastic close-range stop.
• We saw what life could be like if Thiago Motta decides to rest Vlahovic and that involved Yildiz becoming the false 9. I dunno how to feel about it just yet, but Yildiz playing a little more centrally and closer to goal has worked well in the past, so we'll see.
• Pierre Kalulu finished with 99 touches. Shame. Somebody shoulda passed him the ball just to get him to 100 and have it be a nice, clean number.
• Federico Gatti had a perfect 100% pass success rate. I was not expecting that when I looked the passing numbers up after the final whistle.
• Sure glad that push in the back was called or else we would have had some not very nice things to say about that defensive moment from Gatti and Di Gregorio. (And it was always going to be awkward for the keeper considering it happened right at the top of the penalty area.)
• Sure would like Teun Koopmeiners to score his first Juventus goal soon just so we don't to hear about how Teun Koopmeiners has yet to score his first Juventus goal.
• More xG and big chances missed for Vlahovic, another game without a goal.
• I, personally, like it a lot more when Juventus win compared to when they drop points. It's a controversial opinion, but it really is true. Thank you, Juve, for giving me something to be happy about this weekend. (And for the 49ers having a bye week so there's no more potential for sports stupidity over the next 36 hours.)