February has been a downward slope for Juventus. It started with the team on a high, keeping a strong run of form going with a 4-1 win over Parma. From there, things got puzzling, when Juve played better than Atalanta and Lazio but ended up losing 3-0 to the former to crash out of the Coppa Italia and pulling out a 2-2 draw at the last minute against the latter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Things got controversial last week against Inter, but Juve still showed fight in pulling back even a man down before falling at the death. For the first 45 minutes of the Champions League game against Galatasaray midweek, things looked like they finally evening out \u2014 and then the bottom fell out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Since that halftime break in Istanbul, the Juventus that we\u2019ve seen has been completely unrecognizable from the group we\u2019ve come to expect under Luciano Spalletti. Juve\u2019s four-goal collapse on Tuesday saw them commit a bevy of mistakes that at times looked amateurish. That collapse continued on Saturday. With the chance to bury upstarts Como \u2014 and avenge their 2-0 loss on the lake in November \u2014 the Bianconeri, bereft of their top two defenders, came out of the blocks flat. The baffling mistakes in the back continued, eventually costing them the opening goal after a horrific pass in their own half.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Their response was far more muted this time, and the team never looked like they were finding the rhythm needed to get themselves back into the match. By the time the visitors scythed through Juve on the counterattack to secure a 2-0 victory, the team had the hangdog look of a defeated bunch that we\u2019ve seen from previous iterations of the squad. That more than anything was the worst thing to see as two more big matches loom on the horizon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Spalletti had to navigate the suspension of Pierre Kalulu and the injury suffered by Bremer in midweek. Dusan Vlahovic and Emil Holm were likewise absent, and Jonathan David was only fit for the bench. Thin in the back, Spalletti was forced to revert to the 3-4-2-1 formation that he inherited from Igor Tudor. Michele Di Gregorio started in goal behind the back three of Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly, and Teun Koopmeiners. Weston McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso started at the wing-back spots, bracketing the double pivot of Manuel Locatelli and Kh\u00e9phren Thuram. Fabio Miretti and Kenan Yildiz started behind Lo\u00efs Openda up front.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Cesc Fabregas was, frankly, incredibly fortunate to be on the touchline for this game. After contacting an opposing player during play in Como\u2019s match against AC Milan on 1-1, how he escaped a suspension is beyond me. Who was suspended was Nico Paz, who tripped the suspension limit on Wednesday. Assane Diao and Edoardo Goldaniga were left out injured. Jean Butez anchorded the 4-2-3-1 formation, screened by Ivan Smolcic, Marc Oliver Kempf, Jacobo Ram\u00f3n, and \u00c1lex Valle. M\u00e1ximo Perrone and Lucas da Cunha played in midfield. M\u00ebrgim Vojvoda, Maxence Caqueret, and Martin Baturina stretched out behind Tasos Douvikas in attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Each team looked to try to establish their own press as the game started, and Como were in control of possession early on. It was Yildiz who nearly got the party started early, slashing a shot across goal that forced Butez to lunge to his left for a two-fisted parry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But soon after that, Juve started showing some of the heart-stopping play in the back that had led to Galatasaray\u2019s final two goals in midweek. It didn\u2019t take long for them to pay for it. A terrible attempt at a pass from McKennie \u2014 looking, presumably, for Gatti behind him \u2014 instead went into empty grass for Douvikas to grab on. He pushed it out to the right to Vojvoda, who make a single move to turn Koopmeiners and then took a shot for the near post. It was, frankly, nothing special as a shot. But Di Gregorio somehow ended up reacting far too late. His late attempt to throw an arm in the way was ineffectual, and it went through his hand and into the net. It was the 13th time Juve had conceded a goal on their opponents\u2019 first shot on target, and Juve were once again chasing their game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juve\u2019s response was more muted than it has been in recent times when confronted with an early deficit. Perhaps thoughts of \u201cnot again\u201d finally crept into their heads, or perhaps the mental blow combined with physical exhaustion finally began to tell. But you could tell that the Bianconeri weren\u2019t playing with the same verve that they have in recent games, behind or not. There were several attempts to send Openda through Como\u2019s high line, but most of them were overhit and easily cleaned up by Butez. The one that did, from Kelly, sent Openda into the box, where he tried to chip the keeper first time. But Butez had anticipated that move and stayed upright, easily catching the ball to deny Openda a relatively quick equalizer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Bianconeri began to command a little bit more possession as the half wore on, but still didn\u2019t do much with it. They picked up a few corners, but their deliveries were never good enough for them to get any shots off. But in the 37th minute they nearly imploded again. Koopmeiners took a throw in in his own corner and lofted a pass horizontally. He might\u2019ve been looking for Kelly, but if he did he floated it way over him. If he\u2019d been looking for Di Gregorio, it was a completely inexplicable. He\u2019d put his keeper in an awful position, as he couldn\u2019t use his hands on a controlled pass, and all he could do was try to head the ball as far away as he could. That turned out to be right to the edge of the box, where da Cunha met the ball with a volley that grazed the top of the crossbar. Two minutes later some more iffy defense saw the ball fall to Valle in the middle of the penalty area, but he somehow whiffed at the ball and allowed Juve to clear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Something had to be done at halftime, and Spalletti made the move for Francisco Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, who came on for Miretti. Immediately the Portuguese winger made some impact, combining with Locatelli to get into a good crossing position before getting inside and unleashing a shot at Butez\u2019s near post, but the keeper was equal to it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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