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As Juventus came out of the tunnel to begin the second half Saturday night, Thiago Motta was asked what his team needed to do to stay in front of the current league leaders. Having just taken the lead before the halftime break, Motta told the DAZN sideline reporter that Juve simply needed to continue what they had done in the first half \u2014 an opening 45 minutes that was certainly eventful even before his team went in front.<\/p>\n
One thing that didn\u2019t take long to see: the Juventus of the second half was very much not like the one that went into the half.<\/p>\n
And you combine that with what had to be a classic kind of Antonio Conte halftime talk, and you have what played out over the course of the next 45 minutes in Naples.<\/p>\n
The glow of Randal Kolo Muani giving Juventus the lead on his Juventus debut didn\u2019t last long, as Napoli came out like absolute gangbusters and took full advantage of Motta\u2019s squad very much not doing as their manager said they needed to do in the second half. It was the perfect storm of sorts \u2014 Napoli playing like a team absolutely possessed and Juventus basically being just the opposite of that as they tried to hold onto their lead. The result proved to be a 12-minute span where Napoli got goals from Frank Zambo Anguissa and Romelu Lukaku to flip the scoreline in their favor and hand Juventus a 2-1 loss at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first loss in Serie A for Thiago Motta as Juventus manager. Yes, even though a good amount of all those draws that Juve have racked up so far in Serie A this season have certainly felt<\/em> like losses.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also even more points that Juventus have dropped from a winning position in Serie A this season, pushing the total to a whopping 17 in the first 22 league games.<\/p>\n This time, however, it wasn\u2019t dropped points that led to another draw. It was the first loss \u2014 and it meant that Juve are still without a win in Naples since 2019.<\/p>\n It was bad. It was very, very bad.<\/p>\n It went bad in a hurry, too.<\/p>\n When I say that Juventus saw barely any of the ball as Napoli were building toward tying the game through Zambo Anguissa, I ain\u2019t kidding, my friends. Napoli had a stunning 90% possession through the first 10 minutes of the second half. And while that relented a little bit as the second half went on, Juventus were pinned back so often and have extended periods of possession like they did in the opening 45 minutes that they could hardly string a couple of passes together before turning the ball over again.<\/p>\n Or, on the rare occurrence in which they did have a passing sequence where they could string together 15 or 20 passes together, it just ended in a displaced pass and disappointment.<\/p>\n Oh, and one more second-half stat for good measure: Juventus didn\u2019t record a single shot against Napoli in the second half. Not a single one. Hard to record any sort of xG when you don\u2019t <\/p>\n Napoli\u2019s dominant second half was very much Conte\u2019s team coming alive and cutting off any sort of positivity that Juventus had previously had before the break. This was, basically, the old saying of \u201ca tale of two halves\u201d personified, the kind of flip of the script in which Juventus went from a solid first half to looking like they could do barely anything right. <\/p>\n Maybe the worst part of it all, everything just felt inevitable once the ball started rolling. Didn\u2019t matter if it Napoli tying it up, going ahead or simply taking command of the game. It all was just bad. Really, really bad.<\/p>\n At least we don\u2019t have to hear about Juventus\u2019 unbeaten streak that\u2019s full of draws to begin the season. It only means so much when nearly two-thirds of those unbeaten results are actually draws. So there\u2019s that to come out of all of this, I guess. (I\u2019m grasping at straws here, folks. I know I am. Please forgive me. Just one of those days.)<\/p>\n