It\u2019s hard to think of a more frustrating game than what played out on Saturday at the Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juventus dominated Lecce from start to finish, but failed to follow through on it. They couldn\u2019t score the goals that their dominance warranted, and a single solitary mistake led to them having to chase the game. They equalized quickly, but they could never get ahead, even wasting a penalty kick in one of the worst ways imaginable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The game\u2019s result obscured the fact that Juve showed a lot of improvements in this game. They played quicker, they were more willing to play the ball into dangerous areas, and completely suffocated Lecce, sealing them in their own half and recovering the ball quickly almost every time they lost it. It was the kind of display we\u2019ve been hoping for for a long time\u2014except for the lack of goals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
How did the players fare in this frustrating contest? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – NR.<\/strong> He can\u2019t be at fault for the goal, having been completely left out to dry, but it\u2019s hard to justify giving him a rating when he touched the ball nine times. Nine times.<\/em> That\u2019s a mind-boggling number.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n PIERRE KALULU – 6.<\/strong> Completed 95.3 percent of his passes and was constantly up helping out with the attack. Excellent job as a full-back for the first time in a while.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n BREMER – 6.<\/strong> Did well to snuff out any potential counters, and kept Lecce\u2019s strikers completely quiet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n LLOYD KELLY – 6.<\/strong> Pushed up to help the attacking left a lot, and won six aerial balls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5.<\/strong> His error was horrific. You learn not to make that kind of pass by the time you\u2019re 10. It was even more disappointing because up to that point Cambiaso had been having a pretty good game. He\u2019d forced a fingertip save out of Wladimiro Falcone and really should\u2019ve scored from another shot after getting free at the far post. He made six tackles as part of the effort to keep Lecce pinned back, and made a key pass as well. But it was all a waste after a mistake like that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6.5.<\/strong> Came incredibly close to scoring in the first half off Cambiaso\u2019s layoff, firing inches wide with a first-time screamer. He had two key passes, completed seven of 10 long balls, and both of his through passes, including a glorious ball to Edon Zhegrova to trigger the play that ended with the equalizer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n KH\u00c9PHREN THURAM – 6.<\/strong> Made five tackles and completed 92.5 percent of his passes, but was curiously absent from most of the action in the box, making only one shot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n FRANCISCO CONCEI\u00c7\u00c3O – 5.5.<\/strong> Had a pair of key passes but didn\u2019t cause as much trouble as you would\u2019ve expected, especially given so many chances on the ball (he had 48 touches in only 45 minutes). Hopefully being subbed out at halftime had nothing to to with aggravating his injury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n WESTON McKENNIE – 7.<\/strong> Played quite well in the trequartista role, which is a little bit of a surprise because he had struggled when put there last season by Thiago Motta. Luciano Spalletti is clearly asking him to do something different, and it worked today. He had three key passes and was ready when Kenan Yildiz\u2019s shot was deflected to him at the top of the six.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n KENAN YILDIZ – 7.<\/strong> Seeing a forward who makes 106 touches is rather incredible. He made good use of them, contributing an insane 10 successful dribbles and four key passes. The fact that none of the six shots he took were on target is a misleading number\u2014he had a few blocked that would\u2019ve at least made Falcone work, and that last-gasp shot that bonked the post\u2026man, that looked like it was going in, didn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n JONATHAN DAVID – 5.<\/strong> We\u2019ll get the big one out of the way first: that penalty was abominable. I don\u2019t necessarily hate the idea of having him take it, but for a man who\u2019s confidence is at a point where he second guesses how to brush his teeth, to choose to do something fancy like that was a poor one. It reminds me of an old saying about a baseball pitcher who\u2019s struggling: he\u2019s aiming, not throwing. He would\u2019ve been much better off picking a side and smashing it. Aside from that, David\u2019s day was defined by bad luck as much as anything. He had an early shot that was saved, then rolled along the goal line off the post and back to the keeper without going over, and Falcone made a fantastic save of a powerful shot with less than two minutes left. This man needs Leonardo Bonucci\u2019s old mental coach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n EDON ZHEGROVA – 6.<\/strong> Didn\u2019t directly contribute to any goal chances, but his dribbling pulled defenders out of position and leaving room for others to exploit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5.5.<\/strong> Had a key pass but didn\u2019t really look like he made the team any more dangerous.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n FILIP KOSTIC – 6.<\/strong> Came very close to scoring and set David up for the late shot that Falcone managed to save. He had 46 touches in 22 minutes, which feels insane.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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