Juventus, a defeat born of confusion, arrogance and Spalletti’s wrong choices. Adzic scores... and David scores too!

Analysis of Juventus’s defeat away to Sassuolo

Juventus' defeat away to Sassuolo hurts more for the way it happened than for the three points they dropped at the Mapei Stadium. It was not only a defeat for master Spalletti against pupil Aquilani, but also a loss born of the confusion Juventus showed all evening, on the pitch and on the bench.

With that in mind, Juventus' starting line-up was almost forced, especially in midfield, given the long list of injury absences. It is the substitutions and the way Spalletti and several players handled the closing stages that raise doubts.

Zhegrova's introduction was clearly the right call, given the Kosovan scored twice, but doubts remain over the simultaneous withdrawal of Conceicao and Nico Gonzalez for Zhegrova and Woltemade. Kolo Muani probably should have been the one to go off, a ghost again this evening. Spalletti persisted instead and explained after the match that he intends to keep trusting the Frenchman.

Then came the way Juventus managed the end of the game. On the fourth matchday of the league season, after pulling level twice, the second time even after the 90th minute, logic said it would have been wiser to take home a draw. Instead, as Spalletti declared after the match, he told the team to go in search of 3-2, saying, however, that the players took him too literally... Always playing to win is a sound concept in absolute terms, but it was the wrong one in that specific moment. In the 94th minute, away from home, the acres of space left to Sassuolo were neither those of a big team nor of a 'team', and they raise questions about how Spalletti is managing the technical resources at his disposal. Those on the pitch were no less at fault, especially the more experienced players, with 'captain' Bremer foremost among them.

So the evening ends in paradoxical fashion for Juventus: while the forwards, Kolo Muani and Woltemade, fail to score, former Juventus player Adzic, on loan at Sassuolo, punishes Juventus. Other players who have left Juventus are also scoring and doing well: Vlahovic, Openda, Licina and, from tonight, even David, on target for the first time in an Atletico Madrid shirt.