\n<\/p>\n
Much had been made of Juventus\u2019 unbeaten start of the season. Yes, that had included far more draws than was desirable by this point in the year \u2014 and often it was brought up simply to discuss that fact \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
It was always going to be hard to extend that run on Saturday. Juventus haven\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Juventus side that came out of the locker room for the second half was not the same one that went in.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 given away via a horrific mistake by Manuel Locatelli \u2014 the number was still at 82.8.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 period \u2014 in the second half.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 whether it will be a rallying point for a strong finish or the beginning of another second-half-of-the-season meltdown.<\/p>\n
Thiago Motta finally had the services of Kolo Muani at his disposal after Paris Saint-Germain\u2019s administrative gaffe had delayed his arrival. Of the rest of the players, only Arkadiusz Milik \u2014 the man whose hole Kolo Muani had been brought in to fill \u2014 was unavailable. (Author\u2019s note: for the sake of brevity, I\u2019m no longer going to mention Juan Cabal and Bremer amongst injuries. They\u2019re done for the season, no need to keep reiterating that fact.) <\/em>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 Gonz\u00e1lez supported Kolo Muani, who was immediately thrown into action ahead of Dusan Vlahovic<\/p>\n