Draws, draws, and \u2026 more draws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Somehow, Juventus has become a team cursed with draws. In November, the team had as many victories as draws (3) as it struggles to be more clinical in front of goal. At the other end of the pitch, we\u2019re struggling to keep clean sheets and improve defensively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Despite the continued struggles on both ends, Juventus remain a mere five points off the top of the league table and a mere four points off the direct qualification positions for the Champions League. Things aren\u2019t great but, remarkably, they could be a lot worse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juve started the month with Despite a few Cremonese chances in the second half, Juventus asserted their dominance with a second goal. Francisco Concecaio beat his defender, burst into the box, and played a low cross into the box that deflected off a defender and fell to Andrea Cambiaso. Goalkeeper Emil Audero almost saved Cambiaso\u2019s subsequent shot with his legs but it wasn\u2019t enough to prevent the goal. The man, the myth, the legend Jamie Vardy then brought his team back into the game after he outmuscled Federico Gatti from a longball (what a strange sentence that is to write) and finished with a low shot past Michele Di Gregorio. We held on to the 2-1 lead as Spalletti secured his first victory as Juventus manager.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Remarkably, Juve entered the month still without a win in the Champions League, so the next game at home against Sporting Lisbon was a crucial one. Unfortunately, it ended in yet another draw. Ex-Puebla FC player (!) Maximiliano Ara\u00fajo gave Sporting the lead with their first real attack of the evening, and what a lovely passing sequence it was that resulted in the goal. Sporting came dangerously close to a second goal when Thuram deflected Trinc\u00e3o\u2019s shot onto the crossbar. But Vlahovic brought us back in the game when he poked in the equalizer in the box after a nice combination between him, Kh\u00e9phren Thuram, and Kenan Yildiz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Bianconeri <\/em>dominated the game after the equalizer. Vlahovic, in particular, had an eventful game and was involved in the majority of our chances as Juventus relentlessly attacked the Sporting goal. But it was a game of wasted chances as we recorded 19 shots (10 on target) but only managed 1 goal, while Sporting had a mere 5 shots (2 on target). Final score: 1-1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next up was a goalless draw in the Derby della Mole<\/em> against Torino and it was another game of wasteful finishing. In fairness, Torino keeper Alberto Paleari, who just has a wonderfully melodic last name, was in inspired form that day. He made some incredible saves from efforts from Jonathan David, Kenan Yildiz, and Weston McKennie to somehow keep the game scoreless. Granted, Torino actually scored the game\u2019s only goal but it was disallowed after a VAR review showed that Giovanni Simeone was offside in the buildup. Final score: 0-0.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We traveled to Florence for the always-intense match against Fiorentina coming out of the international break, who find themselves last joint-last in the league and are having a disastrous season. Just like Juventus, they have already switched coaches this campaign. The first half was relatively uneventful as both sides showed that they\u2019re a work-in-progress but the big moment of controversy came in the 14th minute. Vlahovic, playing against his former team, chased down a seemingly hopeless long ball and had Pablo Mar\u00ed in his back. He pulled off a remarkable bit of skill by nutmegging Mar\u00ed with a back-heel and then spinning past him. The defender dragged him to the ground and the referee gave a penalty, but reversed his decision after consulting VAR. Somehow, he judged that Vlahovic was in fact the one to drag down Mar\u00ed first, rather than vice-versa. An absurd decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n His countryman Kostic gave Juventus the lead in the final seconds of the first half. Funny enough, Vlahovic got the (somewhat bizarre) assist after Manuel Locatelli\u2019s shot hit Vlahovic in the back and the ball fell to Kostic, who blasted a left-footed shot into the far corner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Unfortunately, Rolando Mandragora scored a wondergoal immediately after the break. After Thuram headed the a loose ball straight to ex-Juventus striker Moise Kean, who passed it to Mandragora. The midfielder unleashed an absolute rocket of a shot that flew past Di Gregorio in goal. That was really the height of the action as both teams struggled to create big chances. The game ended 1-1, which was a result that helped neither team very much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We finally secured our first victory of the Champions League this season with a dramatic 3-2 away victory against Bod\u00f8\/Glimt of Norway. To use the painfully popular footballing clich\u00e9, it truly was a game of two halves. Juventus were toothless in the first half \u2014 except for an improvised volley from Vasilije Ad\u017ei\u0107 in the 25th minute that went wide \u2014 and Bod\u00f8\/Glimt took the deserved lead in the 27th minute. Ole Blomberg volleyed in a flicked cross at the back post during a corner routine to score the first goal. The Norwegians pressed relentlessly and it helped them dominate the first half. However, the substitution of Ad\u017ei\u0107 for Yildiz completely transformed the game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yildiz and Miretti were the key players for the equalizer as the latter caused chaos when he was fouled in the box after a great dribble, but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie correctly played the advantage rule. The ball fell to Yildiz was ball was blocked\/deflected into Openda\u2019s path, who scored with an easy finish. Yildiz then gave a fantastic assist to Miretti for a tap-in goal, but Openda was offside in the buildup. Second time was a charm for Yildiz as he tormented a few defenders with his dribbling and passed to Miretti, who crossed for the soaring McKennie to head the ball into goal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Juventus looked comfortable as they had complete control of the game, until substitute Juan Cabal made a critical error. His lazy tackle in the box caught Sondre Auklend on the shin and resulted in a penalty that his namesake Sondre Fet scored. But Juventus had the last laugh thanks to Yildiz (who else?). Again, his stunning dribbling skills allowed him to get past Fredrik Sj\u00f8vold and shoot at goal. The goalkeeper saved the shot but David tapped in the rebound to give us a thrilling, if stressful, 3-2 victory!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yildiz continued his remarkable week with another two goals in the 2-1 comeback victory against Cagliari. Sebastiano Esposito scored the first goal for the visitors when Kostic, who had a miserable game and was substituted at half-time, couldn\u2019t sort out his feet and essentially gifted the ball to the highly-rated Marco Palestra. The wingback dribbled into the box and squared the ball to Esposito who had an easy finish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Bianconeri<\/em> equalized straight from the kickoff through Yildiz when he rifled in a half-volley in the box after combining with the French duo of Thuram and Kalulu. The latter was also part of the second goal after a nice passing sequence between him, Locatelli, and McKennie saw the ball land at Yildiz\u2019s feet, who took one touch before shooting into the far corner. All the goals came in the second half as Juventus ended the month with a 2-1 victory!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Juventus played newly-promoted team Ternana at home in the league for the first game of November. Michela Cambiaghi scored the first goal after heading in a great cross from Estela Carbonell. Shortly after half-time, Stephanie Breitner equalized through a fabulous direct free kick in the 49th minute. Cambiaghi scored another header, this time from a Barbara Bonansea cross, a few minutes before the final whistle to win the game for us: 2-1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We traveled to Milan for a difficult away game against AC Milan. Evelyn Ijeh gave her team the lead in the 20th minute but Juventus equalized in stoppage time of the first half thanks to a poacher\u2019s goal by Cristiana Girelli. Unfortunately, Milan had the last laugh when Chante Dompig scored the winner in the 65th minute: a disappointing 2-1 loss for Juventus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next, we saw a 2-1 scoreline for the third consecutive game for the Bianconere<\/em>, this time a 2-1 comeback victory against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in the league phase of the Champions League. Amaiur Sarriegi played a lovely 1-2 with Fiamma Benitez and scored with a right-footed shot past Pauline Peyraud-Magnin. Emma Stolen Godo equalized with a fantastic free kick in stoppage time of the first half. Bonansea gave us the surprise lead early in the second half when she headed in from Carbonell\u2019s cross. Juventus held on to secure a massive three points in the Champions League!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next up, an easy 2-0 home victory against Genoa in the league. The game was decided in a 5-minute blitz in which Juventus scored twice, first through Vansgaard and then Girelli. The following game at home against European powerhouse Lyon in the Champions League was probably the wildest Juventus Women game you\u2019ll see in a long time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We played arguably the best 45 minutes of the season in the first half and stormed to a remarkable 3-0 half-time lead against one of Europe\u2019s best teams. Beccari, Cambiaghi, and Pinto (thanks to a clever dummy from Cambiaghi) scored during an amazing 25-minute spell of dominance for the home side. But it all fell apart in the second half.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tabitha Chawinga started the comeback after a brilliant bit of skill from her teammate Ada Hegerberg. Lyon scored the second through a Marie-Antoinette Katoto header from a set piece and equalized deep into stoppage time through a Wendie Renard penalty after Cecilia Salvai handled the ball in the box: a thrilling 3-3 draw.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Carbonell ended a fantastic individual month of performances when she scored the only goal of the game in the 92nd minute in a hard-fought 1-0 home victory against Fiorentina in the league. A rollercoaster month of football for the Bianconere<\/em>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ah, how things have changed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once upon a time, the Juventus defense was the envy of the country and continent. Why do I bring this up again? Because, based on results in the league so far, this season has again proven that defensive solidity is the key to a team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Look at Roma, for example, sitting just one point off joint leaders AC Milan and Napoli. Out of the top seven teams, they have scored the fewest goals so far this season (15 goals in 13 games). But together with Como, they have the best defense in the league (7 conceded). For contrast, Juventus has the second-worst defensive record out of the top 8 teams with 12 goals conceded in 13 games, which equates to essentially a goal conceded every game. The only team with more goals conceded than us is Inter (13), but they compensate for this by having the league\u2019s best attack (28).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On a per-game basis, we\u2019re even worse in the Champions League, with 10 goals conceded (and scored) in 5 games. In other words, in the Serie A we\u2019re conceding a goal per game and in the Champions League we\u2019re conceding at twice that ratio (if it\u2019s any solace, we\u2019ve scored the most goals out of the teams in the bottom half of the table).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even though it might be a clich\u00e9, I always say that if there are problems with the defense, look at the attack first since the forward players are the first line of defense. That could mean one of two things: for teams that rely on aggressive pressing (e.g. Liverpool under Klopp, Manchester City, Barcelona etc.), the forwards aren\u2019t pressing well\/at all or for teams that rely on a low block (e.g. Juventus under Allegri), the forwards aren\u2019t helping out enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The last two seasons has seen so much change that it\u2019s hard to know what the problem is. We went from the Allegri low-block system to a more pressing-based system with Motta to a middle-of-the-ground system with Tudor and now we\u2019re with Spalletti, where it\u2019s too soon to tell what the plan is. Another point of debate the last two seasons has been whether Juventus should move away from its traditional defense-first, goals-later style to a more \u201cmodern\u201d (whatever that means) style of football. I admit that I was one of those in favor of a more progressive\/modern style of play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, I think that based on the results the last few years, this season\u2019s defensive fragility, and the success of teams that have a strong defensive record, I\u2019m changing my mind again back to prioritizing what we do best: defend. It truly does seem like the best route to success is to have a bulletproof, waterproof, element-proof<\/a> defense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\na party with Jamie Vardy<\/s> a 2-1 away victory against Cremonese in Luciano Spalletti\u2019s official debut as manager. Filip Kostic gave us the early lead when a great passing sequence resulted in a backheel from Lo\u00efs Openda being deflected into Kostic\u2019s path in the box and the Serb finished easily. Dusan Vlahovic continued Juve\u2019s attacking pressure with some decent chances in the first half, although there was a brief scare when the referee consulted VAR for a potential Cremonese penalty in the 32nd minute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"BODO,](\"https:\/\/platform.blackwhitereadallover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/11\/gettyimages-2245018895.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=3.5496515679443,0,92.900696864111,100\")
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