It was a must-win game on Saturday when Juventus visited Udinese. Well, they all feel like must wins in a race for the top four this late in the season, but this one more than most. With the two teams immediately ahead of them, Roma and Como, playing each other on Sunday, getting three points was vital to take advantage of a scenario in which one or both was certain to drop points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
After a mostly drab first half that saw Juve in control of an Udinese side that simply didn\u2019t look like they wanted to come out to play, the Bianconeri finally got themselves in front after Luciano Spalletti made a quick position swap in his false nine setup. What followed for the next 50 minutes or so of game time saw Juve remain in command, but they couldn\u2019t quite get themselves the goal that would put things away. There were a whole slew of reasons why\u2014poor finishing, poor officiating, and some outstanding work by Udinese\u2019s defenders (occasionally) and goalkeeper (far more often).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Fortunately, Udinese\u2019s seeming apathy toward attacking left them in firm control, and there was never anything more than a background baseline of real stress that the home side would find their way back into the match. The final 1-0 scoreline wasn\u2019t exactly representative of how the game went\u2014but it was enough to put the pressure on the teams above them heading into their head-to-head showdown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Who stood out on the night? Let\u2019s take a closer look.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
MATTIA PERIN – 6.<\/strong> Had very little to do, and what did come his way was easily dealt with. Perhaps the most notable moment came in stoppage time when Perin dashed off his line to beat Nicol\u00f2 Zaniolo to a flicked header, showing that he\u2019s learned the lesson of his poor performance against Roma, where he stayed glued to his line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n PIERRE KALULU – 6.<\/strong> Had a relatively uneventful day defensively. His offensive contribution won\u2019t register on the stat sheet but was still quite good. He sent in a couple of nice crosses that were either defended away or fractions of an inch off target.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n BREMER – 6.5.<\/strong> Led the team in interceptions and clearances (three apiece) and kept Keinan Davis pretty darn quiet all night long.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n LLOYD KELLY – 7.<\/strong> Kept Zaniolo quiet for all but a few brief moments, but his showcase today was his passing game. He dropped a couple of beautiful balls beyond the defense for J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Boga to chase down, taking full advantage of Udinese\u2019s seeming inability to deal with those balls all night. Co-led the team with four tackles as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n WESTON McKENNIE – 6.5.<\/strong> Matched Kelly with four tackles and had a great day going forward, helping the front three discombobulate the Udinese back line. He finished with two key passes, and while he didn\u2019t register a shot, that was in large part down to the reactions of his markers, because he was in excellent position to make a play on a cross multiple times, only to see the ball poked away from him at the last moment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MANUEL LOCATELLI – 7.5.<\/strong> Dropped some excellent long passes, going nine for 12 overall in that category, and causing a ton of danger with them. He was also denied a goal by a pretty great save from Maduka Okoye.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n KH\u00c9PHREN THURAM – 5.5.<\/strong> Looked a little bit off the pace for a lot of the game, finishing less than three-quarters of his passes. The fact that he was dealing with a knock made some things a bit clearer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ANDREA CAMBIASO – 6.<\/strong> Another pretty decent match for the embattled wing-back. Completed 94.2 percent of his passes, had a shot saved, and was generally untroubled defensively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n FRANCISCO CONCEI\u00c7\u00c3O – 6.5.<\/strong> Unfairly deprived of a goal by a poor VAR decision, he also racked up a pair of key passes and actually looked up to see what was going on with his teammates more than usual. A performance to build on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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