The Good
Dusan Back-ovic
Toward the beginning of 2022, a young Serbian wunderkind named Dusan Vlahovic made headlines for choosing to head north to Turin instead of making the journey to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Fans of the Bianconeri may remember him as the only healthy striker to be fielded at the onset of the current season, though these same fans may have gripes about his finishing and ability to perform as Juventus’ frontman. However, at the turn of the new year, he seemingly dropped off the planet, with it being no coincidence as Paris Saint Germain loanee Randal Kolo Muani showed up at the same time and played like a man possessed.
Well, that same Serbian striker returned to the starting lineup this past Sunday against Cagliari, and had a point to prove.
Though it wasn’t akin to his brace against Hellas Verona or Genoa earlier in the season, Vlahovic became the saving grace of Juventus’ trip to Sardinia. In a rare 2025 start for him, Vlahovic registered three total shots, with two of them being on target, and a goal reminiscent of Federico Chiesa’s running goal against Empoli last season. Vlahovic’s game had some key passes and dribbles, but the main point is that he needed to be the man to win the match for the Old Lady.
With rumors of his departure swirling and an understandable level of dejection that comes from continuous spells on the bench, the Serbian had to be the man that saved three points from becoming just one.
Shift into Manuel
Along with Federico Gatti, Manuel Locatelli’s performances this season have arguably been the backbone of the squad. While Locatelli has made a few blunders and given away two cheap penalties, he came to Cagliari on a mission, and remained an unsung, quiet hero for the squad. Defensively, he only registered a single clearance, but it was his passing that really made the difference. A long ball specialist, he attempted 15 of them and completed 10. Additionally, over the course of 72 minutes, Locatelli completed 106 passes at just shy of 90 percent accuracy.
Now, over the course of a 1-0 advantage, that may not seem too important, but Locatelli is not a goalscorer, rather he is the first person in the onset of orchestrating attacking runs, and when necessary keeping the opponent at bay. It’s generally no fault of his when attacks fizzle, and in this case he did everything he could.
This win streak continues (domestically)
With the tears over the Champions League elimination almost dry, it’s important to remember that Juventus are on a domestic winning streak of four matches! And these could not have come at a better time. Napoli lost to the Como future-superteam, Juve’s cross-city rival Torino beat AC Milan, and Lazio picked up a single point in a sleepy match against Venezia. Juventus, who a few weeks ago were all but ruled out in the Scudetto race, have seemingly become the dark horse of the competition with 12 matches to go.
Sitting in fourth place, Juve has Atalanta, Napoli, and Inter Milan above them, and there is no telling how the spring will play out. However, if Inter’s Champions League campaign continues to exhaust them, Napoli’s recent poor form continues, and off-pitch conflict at Atalanta progresses, theoretically they can all continue to drop points.
This is, of course, dependent mostly on Juventus’ form, where a one-goal victory over 15th-place Cagliari is not a great indicator.
The Bad
Corto Mus-ouch!
The turn of the 2024-25 season promised a lot to Juventus. Plenty of new players, a new manager, a new style of play, and debatably the most important aspect, more goals. However, this match against Cagliari was a second-half tribute to the Corto Muso style of the highly successful, which it’s important to note that Max Allegri can claim six domestic titles and two Champions League finals appearances as Juve manager.
Just, less the large disparities in overall possession.
However, Juventus cannot afford to park the bus like they did in previous seasons when Gleison Bremer was healthy and BBC ran the back line. With recent defensive injuries, the Bianconeri is still playing with a patchwork defense, so allowing the salvo of late-game attacks to batter Lloyd Kelly and Gatti is not a sustainable practice. In the end, Juventus found three points and can hold their heads high, but when a team is supposed to be built around speed, quick passing, and goalscoring precision as was promised reverts back to a style of play that relies on veteran defenders is simply not sustainable.
No Finish
Speaking of the promise of goalscoring precision, the issue of Juventus’ inability to finish attacking runs still persists. Holding a one-goal lead for 78 minutes plus added time is no easy feat, and generally speaking the idea is to solidify that same lead by another goal.
But not this team.
It’s odd, since everyone from Kenan Yildiz to Samuel Mbangula to Francisco Conceicao had shots on target. In fact, the big surprise was that Kolo Muani didn’t, but La Vecchi Signora simply could not build on the progress made by Vlahovic. Similar to the over-reliance on defense, one-goal leads are simply not sustainable for this Juventus team, which has been seen over and over again this season.
Familiarity, with a twist ending!
Humans developed a pattern seeking brain, so it may come to no surprise to recognize a familiar pattern with Juventus this season. The team will score first against a side like Venezia, Lecce, Torino, or Atalanta, and after an exhaustive majority of time allotted, the opposition will finally poke a hole in Juventus and find their equalizing goal. From there, everyone goes home with a point and pundits have a field day using the term “drawventus.”
Yet, in what promised to be one of the successful outings for this specific pattern to continue, thanks to a still-injured Pierre Kalulu and recently-injured Renato Viega, Juventus simply … held the line. Which was completely shocking, as Cagliari is the team in Serie A who has gained the most points this season from trailing position, even if a good portion of them have been draws.
The Ugly
This was … Cagliari?
Shocking, but yes.
This team that was only promoted back into the top flight from Serie B after the 2022-23 season, fought relegation last season, and had not beaten Juventus since the summer of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was making headlines, held their own against the great black and white giants of Turin. This has been an odd and continuing turn of events this season, as Juventus has toppled the likes of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester City, and Lazio, but have been held to one goal against Torino, Lecce, and now Cagliari twice. It’s always an exuberant experience to beat out a fellow big club, but titles are won in the small match campaigns toward three points on the board. It’s high time Juventus start treating every match as life or death situations.
History Forgets Itself
In December, Juventus squashed Cagliari 4-0 in the Coppa Italia Round of 16. It was a match that gave everyone a chance to make an attempt on goal, with Vlahovic, Conceicao, Teun Koopmeiners, and Nico Gonzalez being the ones who found the back of the net. This match was only two months ago, and yet in the away fixture Juventus can only find a single goal?
Now, there is a lot of strategizing that goes into smaller competitions and inter-season cups. Even Chelsea has practically registered a different squad for their Conference League campaign, with Cole Palmer not part of the squad and Jadon Sancho only appearing once. That mentality of not fielding your best players in seemingly small matches is always a debate. But in the Coppa Italia Round of 16, the vast majority of the Juventus starters were fielded, so how does a team that commands a victory in December barely skate by with a win in February?
Good, bad, or ugly?
Is there an Italian word for ugly but in a good way?
“Faccia brutto” is a term said sometimes lovingly to family members and children that does mean “ugly face” but oftentimes does not come from a place of malice. Non-English languages and phrases often have one literal meaning, but mean something else. In the context of Juventus, it can be said that while this win was ugly, at the end of the day it was an additional three points that can be added to the scoreboard. The main issue is sustainability. This club needs commanding leads to compensate for a decimated defense, so no, it’s not sustainable. But with Empoli midweek in the Coppa Italia and Hellas Verona over the weekend, that statement will be put to the test, and held hopefully to scrutiny if incorrect.
