The Good
Fighting Frenchman
From Douglas Luiz to Teun Koopmeiners with many one-off cases in the middle, this has been a season of transfers that have been injury prone or simply flops. All the while, there’s a single Frenchman stands alone as arguably the best addition to the Juventus squad. This man’s goal on Sunday was the only reason that Juventus walked away with one point instead of none, and why Bologna had to settle for a draw.
This man, of course, was the bopping and weaving, hustling and bustling Khephren Thuram, who managed to score Juventus’ first and only goal of the evening in the ninth minute. A quick pass from Andrea Cambiaso found Thuram at the edge of the box, where he quickly fired a left-footed rocket of a shot that seemed in the moment could be stopped by Bologna’s Lukasz Skorupski, who managed to get hands on the ball but could not control it’s trajectory, landing it safely in the back of the net.
Battlefield Condition
In a perfect world, a Juventus with fully fit players such as Federico Gatti, Koopmieners, Gleison Bremer, and maybe even Dusan Vlahovic would have stormed the Dall’Ara and knocked the Rossoblu up and down the pitch. Maybe even Kenan Yildiz didn’t get suspended for two matches — this Sunday’s match being on his birthday — in this perfect world.
But it’s not a perfect world, and for the ragtag and out of position squad that Juventus fielded, the result was better than to be expected.
Just look at the betting predictions before kickoff. Not many thought Juventus could come away with even a point against Vincenzo Italiano’s team. This is the same team that trounced Lazio by five goals and knocked Atalanta out of the Coppa Italia quarterfinals. So if there was ever a time to prove a point, it was against a motley crew Juventus at home.
But they couldn’t do it. Somehow, even with completely skewed possession, shot attempts, and t10 corners, the powerhouse Bologna of 2025 could not put the nail in the coffin of Juventus’ Champions League hopes. It’s not much, but it’s something.
The Bad
Corto Muso, Twist Ending
The Juventus faithful have been so accustomed to watching matches where an early goal is scored by the Bianconeri, only to be forced to park the bus for the majority of the match after, that there should be some kind of corto muso discount in the Juventus online shop. The principle is simple really: Italy is known for its incredible defenders, so once there is a lead, they do what they do best. Maybe if there is a goalscoring counter opportunity somewhere, go for it.
However, when Gatti, Bremer, and Lloyd Kelly are injured, and Danilo was sent away by now-former manager Thiago Motta at the turn of the new year, it falls on Pierre Kalulu, Nicolo Savona, and Renato Veiga to do that job.
But here is the twist ending … this strategy has not worked this entire season, and didn’t work against Bologna. When Juventus finds themselves at the back end of equalizers coming from relegation and mid-table teams all season in this same method, maybe it’s time to switch things up.
Of course, that would mean that Juventus needs a cohesive attacking strategy, which is on deck.
No Attack
Against Juventus, Bologna took nine shots, two of which were on target. This weekend, Napoli attempted nine shots against Lecce with one on target. Sworn rival Inter Milan took on Hellas Verona on Saturday, with nine shots, and two of them were on target.
But Juventus? A lowly six shots against Bologna with a shockingly high 50% of those attempts being on target. Now six shots does not seem that far away from nine, but in the context of this game, it means a lot. Every attempt, every drive to the box, every key pass, they all mean an opportunity not just to win the match but to make it in the Champions League next season.
But even then, Juventus’ attack is so lackluster that opportunities mean very little. Vlahovic, when healthy, hasn’t been able to find a hot streak in months. Randal Kolo Muani is only slightly better of an option at this point. And the squad’s wingers have lacked a good deal of impact with the exception of Nico Gonzalez, who just recently decided to kick into full gear and was playing a forward role against Bologna.
If you can’t lock down the pitch after going up a goal, and can’t try to find another after conceding, there is a fundamental issue poking a hole in the continued strategy.
The Ugly
Cambias-ouch — again
After heading off the pitch in the 67th minute against Bologna, hopes that Cambiaso maybe sustained a superficial injury and would be back next week were high, because with the injury crisis at Juventus all season, the only thing there is, is hope itself. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as J Medical revealed that he sustained a thigh injury that will see him on the bench for the crucial match against Lazio. It’s almost a fitting end to the injury saga, starting with the defenders in the fall and creep forward into the midfield and attack.
In a glimmer of silver lining, maybe the Lazio match will be the one that finds Douglas Luiz proving the point he tried to make on Instagram a few weeks ago when he said.
“I have never been a player who gets injured, but there are so many things that could have caused this that I would rather not comment on. I will continue to do everything for this club, even if sometimes it is difficult, it is not easy, but you can count on me! ”
Tour de Foul
It’s understandable the frustration Juventus are feeling with the dream of Champions League lights slowly drifting away, as well as the sustained slog of injuries, and maybe that translated to on-pitch attitude. Over the course of the match, Juventus were not the leader in any positive statistics, but absolutely trounced Bologna in foul accumulation in a ratio of more than 3-to-1.
That’s right, Juventus accumulated 19 fouls against Bologna, where shockingly only three of them were yellow cards. Most notably, Weston McKennie’s tackle on the edge of the box toward end of the first half turned many heads, especially the ones who have multiple monitors that all say VAR on them, but in the end nothing came from it, much to the surprise of literally everyone.
Good, Bad, or Ugly?
Who is to say, really.
Going into this match felt like a newly-promoted Wrexham was going against some Premier League giant in the FA Cup. One team was clearly out of it’s current depth, and it’s not that Juventus doesn’t have it in them to win, rather the peak players like Gatti and sometimes Vlahovic, and necessary evil players like Kelly are all taking aspirin and getting muscle massages at J Medical.
This match was exactly what we have seen time and time again, except that Bologna isn’t a relegation side who somehow found an equalizer. It’s just been the strangest season ever, where we can beat Manchester City, Inter, AC Milan, and a number of international teams, but when it comes to good old Bologna it’s a stalemate because they are a new power in the world of Italian football.
I remember an old radio broadcast talking about the New York Yankees in the late 2010s and early 2020s, before they made it to the World Series last year. The show host was hypothesizing that, at this point, being a Yankee player means more than winning, because of the status and luster that comes with wearing the pinstripes. My fear is that is what Juventus may have started to become, a big name where being part of the team means more in terms of status than it does on the pitch. Ask any Bologna, Fiorentina, Roma, Lazio, or Atalanta fan 10 years ago how they felt about Juventus.
One word: “fear.”
But now, it seems Juventus are just another team competing for the top four. So with that, this match was cattivo.
