Spalletti’s team fails to win and remains on the edge of the playoff zone with 3 points in 4 games.

Luciano Spalletti’s Juventus side had a scare but enjoyed themselves in the end, drawing 1-1 at home against Sporting on matchday four of the Champions League and postponing their first win in the maxi-group once again. Maxi Araujo gave the Bianconeri a scare in the 12th minute and Dusan Vlahovic reassured them in the 34th, but the Old Lady failed to complete the comeback and picked up their third draw in four games, leaving them temporarily on the edge of the playoff zone with the initial group stage now halfway through.
MANUALE DUSAN – Spalletti’s attacking midfield is new to the coach in the 3-4-2-1 formation with which the Old Lady took to the field for the gala evening, because in Cremona, number 10 Kenan Yildiz was rested while Francisco Conceiçao came off the bench. However, the formation is just a number, which takes a back seat if the differences in interpretation are such that they distort the shape – and therefore the content – of the team. The wide midfielders, for example, often drop back to the defensive line when not in possession, while the collective pressing forces the elegant Portuguese passing game to increase its tempo, thus venturing into unfamiliar territory for the Biancoverdi: Sporting’s lost balls quickly accumulate from the middle of the first half onwards, and as a result, spaces open up when the Bianconeri manage to exploit them with reactivity and speed. It is therefore no coincidence that, once again, Vlahovic proves to have less difficulty communicating with the team, ‘chewing’ long passes while defending the ball and even being served continuously. When, in the 34th minute, he took advantage of Khephren Thuram’s run to score the equalizer and give a boost to the fans and his teammates, goalkeeper Rui Silva had already made three saves against the Serbian in half an hour, two of which were far from easy, one on a close-range header and the other on a low left-footed shot into the corner.
THE KOOP CARD – In defense, Spalletti persevered with Teun Koopmeiners after his successful trial on Saturday against Cremonese, but, despite his adjustment period, the painful goal that gave the visitors the lead – in the 12th minute by Araujo – came from the right side of the Signora on Sporting’s first real chance: a quality low cross and a razor-sharp shot from the Uruguayan first against the far post and then into the net. Returning to the Dutchman, on his second attempt, Koopmeiners showed his coolness and leadership to guide the team, adding some interesting vertical passes to the midfield and attacking midfield, as in the 1-1 draw. Perhaps this is exactly what Spalletti expects from him. When Juventus resisted the backlash from the initial disadvantage, with Michele Di Gregorio pushing Francisco Trincao’s powerful shot against the crossbar, personality and courage emerged to go in search of a comeback: repeated chances, the 1-1 goal, Gonçalo Inacio’s save on Conceiçao at the end of the first half.
IN SEARCH OF SOLUTIONS – With his first substitutions, 20 minutes from the end, Spalletti brought Filip Kostic back on the wing (moving the versatile Weston McKennie into the center) and brought on Edon Zhegrova in place of Conceiçao, who was his usual acrobatic self but certainly not a prophet of “carpe diem,” with too much time lost in play, which represents a personal challenge for him to overcome in order to make the leap in quality. And when Vlahovic came off, Yildiz moved into the center as a false nine for a couple of minutes, in an introspective Signora looking for solutions within herself. When he came off, Jonathan David returned as center forward, wasting his first two chances but then almost becoming the hero of the evening in the 92nd minute when he forced Rui Silva into yet another save with a fine header from yet another cross by Pierre Kalulu. Juventus at the Allianz Stadium is, after all, definitely the best of the Bianconeri’s autumn, but only points count towards the playoffs: three in four games between Igor Tudor and Spalletti. If there is a limited number of European wild cards, the Old Lady has already used them all up.

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