Second-half meltdown at Napoli spells Juventus’ first league defeat

Much had been made of Juventus’ unbeaten start of the season. Yes, that had included far more draws than was desirable by this point in the year — and often it was brought up simply to discuss that fact — but Juve were going into their Saturday evening tilt with Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on the cusp of a 30-game unbeaten run domestically.

It was always going to be hard to extend that run on Saturday. Juventus haven’t won in Naples since 2019, and Napoli were leading the league (barf) heading into the high-profile matchup. But after a relatively even first half that ended on the high note of new loan signing Randal Kolo Muani scoring on his debut, it looked like Juve had every chance of doing just that.

Unfortunately, the Juventus side that came out of the locker room for the second half was not the same one that went in.

Juventus were forced to defend deep immediately, and never recovered. In the first 10 minutes of the half, Napoli held 89 percent of the possession in the half. By the 69th minute, when Romelu Lukaku turned the game around with a penalty kick — given away via a horrific mistake by Manuel Locatelli — the number was still at 82.8.

Juve were never able to muster up anything close to a response. Even as Napoli began to let up slightly, they were almost never able to string together the passes that they had that caused trouble in the first half. When they did, it ended with the whimper of an errant pass or some other such giveaway. Juventus never took a shot — period — in the second half.

Ultimately, the 2-1 defeat was incredibly deserved. Juve simply choked the second half away. Now, it will remain to be seen how the team will react now that they finally do have a loss in Serie A play — whether it will be a rallying point for a strong finish or the beginning of another second-half-of-the-season meltdown.

Thiago Motta finally had the services of Kolo Muani at his disposal after Paris Saint-Germain’s administrative gaffe had delayed his arrival. Of the rest of the players, only Arkadiusz Milik — the man whose hole Kolo Muani had been brought in to fill — was unavailable. (Author’s note: for the sake of brevity, I’m no longer going to mention Juan Cabal and Bremer amongst injuries. They’re done for the season, no need to keep reiterating that fact.) Motta sent out his usual 4-2-3-1, with Michele Di Gregorio at its base. Weston McKennie, Federico Gatti, Pierre Kalulu, and Andrea Cambiaso made up the defense. Khephren Thuram joined Locatelli in the double pivot, while Kenan Yildiz, Teun Koopmeiners, and Nico González supported Kolo Muani, who was immediately thrown into action ahead of Dusan Vlahovic

Antonio Conte had everyone available in his own squad save for Matias Olivera, while Alessandro Buongiorno was only fit for the bench. Contrary to nearly a decade and a half of precedent, Conte had moved away from the 3-5-2 that has become his trademark, instead opting for a 4-3-3 lineup. Alex Meret was in goal, shielded by Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Juan Jesus, Amir Rrahmani, and Leonardo Spinazzola. Frank Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka, and Scott McTominay set up in midfield, while Matteo Politano and David Neres flanked Lukaku in the attacking trident.

Both teams started the game aggressively. It quickly became apparent that it was going to be press vs. press, and that whichever one was stronger would be the winner. Early on it was apparent that Kolo Muani had been given the freedom to move around the front line, swapping at points with Yildiz to take the wing.

But they were in their normal spots when a huge early chance came their way. Cambiaso’s interception sent González down the left side. He pushed the ball to Thuram who made a beautiful entry pass into the box. Kolo Muani threw a perfect dummy and the ball found a completely unmarked Yildiz. The teenage Turk stopped short to let Spinazzola slide past him before firing for goal, but Meret managed to recover and lunge to parry it away, with Koopmeiners shinning the rebound way high and wide.

The two teams wrestled for control of the game. Both pressed hard whenever they could, and which one took the upper hand changed multiple times in the first half. Each had some close calls. Kolo Muani was prevented from getting a one-on-one with Meret just three minutes after he’d denied Yildiz, but a desperate tackle from Rrahmani prevented him from getting through. In the 20th minute, Gatti stabbed a cross from Di Lorenzo away from Lukaku, but Politano took his clearance out of the air with a 23-yard volley that flew inches over the bar.

After a physical and intense battle through the first half, the last five minutes erupted into a flurry of chances. Anguissa got himself a free header off a corner that he blazed just over in the 41st minute, and two minutes later Juve’s debutant gave them the lead.

The long move started at the sideline near midfield, where McKennie deftly slipped the ball out of a double team to Koopmeiners. He pushed it forward to Yildiz, who in turn found Cambiaso running for the byline. The full-back missed a wide-open Kolo Muani with his cross, but Lobotka headed the ball right back to Yildiz in the box. He tried to square it for a shot for Koopmeiners, but a lunge from Anguissa deflected it back towards his own goal, where Kolo Muani tracked it over his shoulder and skipped a volley into the net with Meret completely stranded.

Photo by Gabriele Maricchiolo/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A stoppage time free kick that Politano rifled just over, and the two teams headed into the locker rooms after a relatively even first half with Juve riding the emotion of taking the lead.

Perhaps going straight into the locker room took that momentum and turned it into a crash. We’ll never really know what happened in those 15 minutes, but whatever it was, the 11 men who walked out were completely different from the ones who went in.

Juventus were sealed into their own half from the first whistle. Unlike the second half, nothing they could do could help them escape. Napoli’s press completely suffocated Juve, preventing them from stringing any kind of passes together to break out of there.

Five minutes into the half it looked for all the world like Napoli had equalized when Lukaku got a free header off of a cross from Spinazzola. He met it five yards out, but somehow Di Gregorio threw himself across the line and, much like Marco Carnesecchi had done to Kalulu against Atalanta two games before, somehow managed to claw the ball off the line. The remarkable save kept Juve in the lead, but as Napoli continued to dominate it looked more and more like that lead was on borrowed time.

It was Anguissa who was given another bite at the apple in the 57th minute. Well, really two bites, since it was his blocked shot that started the move. Politano recovered the ball and fed it in to Lukaku, who was forced away from goal by Kalulu and returned it to the winger, who got a step past Cambiaso to loft a ball to the back post, where Anguissa took advantage of a huge pocket of space between McKennie and Gatti and rose for a powerful header, this time one that Di Gregorio had no hope of reaching.

Napoli quickly pushed to keep their momentum going, and Politano forced a block by Cambiaso within five minutes of the equalizer. Motta tried to respond, sending on Samuel Mbangula and Nicolò Savona, but Napoli were simply overwhelming.

Napoli had looked for a penalty when a shot from Lukaku hit Gatti’s arm, but referee Daniele Chiffi correctly waved it away, seeing that the Gatti’s arm was down by his side—and he was facing the other way to boot. But there was no escaping the whistle when Locatelli made an incredibly rash slide into McTominay and drew a whistle almost immediately. Lukaku made no mistake, sending Di Gregorio to one side as he calmly slid the ball down the middle.

Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images

As the 75th minute approached, marking the half-hour mark of the second half, the numbers were insane. Napoli had maintained 82 percent possession in close to 30 minutes of play, outshooting them 8-0 and gaining five corners to none for the Bianconeri. It was an astounding level of dominance, one that I don’t remember Juve having been on the receiving end of for a long time.

The final phases of the game saw Juve look much like the defeated team that they turned Milan into the week before. Even when they were able to put together a string of passes in the Napoli side of the field, they never put the ball into the penalty area, stalling with more passes until they inevitably lost possession. It took a final block from McKennie on Cyril Ngonge on the game’s last kick that prevented Napoli from adding a final exclamation point to what had gone from an even game to an authoritative Napoli win.

LE PAGELLE

MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 6. The save he pulled on Lukaku was incredible, but he also had some shocking moments in distribution in the first half that could have gifted Napoli a major chance.

WESTON McKENNIE – 5. Got toasted a few times by Neres and especially Spinazzola, and there was clearly some miscommunication about who was supposed to be marking Anguissa on the equalizer.

PIERRE KALULU – 6. The only defender to acquit himself well in the second half. Made three tackles, two clearances, and completed 98.8 percent of his passes.

Photo by Franco Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images

FEDERICO GATTI – 5. Piled up the counting stats with seven clearances, but his marking on Lukaku on the play that led to Di Gregorio’s save was bad, leaving far too much space between him and his man. It’s also hard not to say he should’ve backed off and helped McKennie on Anguissa, because the runners in the middle looked covered.

ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5. A pretty awful performance for Cambiaso, who gave the ball away repeatedly and let Politano get a step on the equalizer. Between his performance tonight and in Bruges, it’s worth wondering if the transfer rumors are in his head.

MANUEL LOCATELLI – 4.5. Not quite the force he was against Milan in the first half, but still relatively successful in helping Juve to nearly 60 percent of possession in the opening period. But after the break was an entirely different matter. He allowed Napoli’s midfield to overwhelm himself and Thuram, and the slide in on McTominay is an inexcusable error born of recklessness. Loca is quite good at slide tackles, and sometimes it feels like he thinks that’ll make every one of them successful.

KHEPHREN THURAM – 5.5. Gave the ball away a few too many times, but was also easily the best midfielder for the team on the night, and he was one of only two Juventus players to register a key pass, off that gorgeous through ball for Yildiz in the opening minutes.

KENAN YILDIZ – 5. Did a great job with that early chance except at the end. It was an excellent save by Meret, but he also could’ve placed it a little bit better. His defensive support was a little lacking today as compared to his usual standard.

TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 4. Took two shots and ballooned both of them into the crowd, Dropped a little deeper to pick up the ball and work out of midfield but wasn’t able to get anything done. He needs to start turning things around.

NICO GONZÁLEZ – 5.5. Ran his ass off trying to press in the first half, but provided little in terms of offensive output in either half.

RANDAL KOLO MUANI – 6. Scored with his sixth touch in a Juventus shirt, and it was an excellent finish, volleying on the turn past a helpless keeper. Unfortunately he was given nothing to do in the second half by a team that had completely gone flat.

SUBS

SAMUEL MBANGULA – 5.5. Added a little bit of speed and flair in the attack but was still defending too much to make real use of it.

NICOLÒ SAVONA – 5.5. Made more tackles (2) than all but two of the starters but couldn’t use them to help break out.

FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5.5. Made a few moves to the byline after he came on but, like anyone else going forward, simply didn’t have enough of them to turn the tide.

DOUGLAS LUIZ – 5. Didn’t get much going forward after he replaced Locatelli. Killed one of the more promising moves of the half with a weak giveaway.

DUSAN VLAHOVIC – NR. Touched the ball once. Could maybe have been in sooner, but the way everyone behind the striker was playing, it’s debatable whether that would’ve made much of a difference.

MANAGER ANALYSIS

This game’s tough to figure out. The first half was played quite well. They had 60 percent possession, outshot Napoli, and went in with the lead. They had all the momentum going into halftime.

Obviously, credit must be given to Napoli for playing the way they did in the second half — likely Antonio Conte was flinging water bottles around the locker room during the break — but this collapse is kind of mind-boggling, especially considering that Motta told DAZN’s on-field reporters before the second half kickoff that what was needed was more of the same in the second half.

Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images

Motta’s intention was clearly to continue to play on the front foot in the press. His comments both at halftime and after the game make that abundantly clear. He repeatedly brought up the fact that Napoli don’t have a European schedule to deal with this year as a factor in the second-half collapse, which I frankly didn’t like. Yes, this is a young team that still needs experience when it comes to playing two games a week, but it’s still smells of excuses, and there really aren’t any for this kind of showing.

Motta is going to have to drill down into the specifics of why the game went the way it did, and do it quickly. This game can be an inflection point in the season. This first league defeat — and the way that it happened — could either be learned from to point the team on an upward trajectory, or crush the vibes so much that the team won’t be able to recover. Motta needs to make it the former, and he needs to do it quickly with Tuesday’s game against Benfica where a result could dictate just how easy or hard the next round of the Champions League will be for them.

LOOKING AHEAD

Wednesday sees Benfica come to Turin. It will be the first meeting between the two historic clubs since the Portuguese giants won both games in the 2022-23 group stage, the second one in dominant fashion before a late comeback made the score far more respectable than it had any right to be.

After that, Juve will get two very winnable league games in Empoli (home) and Como (away) before they welcome Inter to the Allianz for the second leg of the Derby d’Italia.