When the fixtures were announced for this season’s Serie A and the first round consisted of reigning champions Juventus at home to Udinese and runners-up Roma away to Hellas Verona, most people could have been forgiven for thinking the second round fixture between the two would be an early season top of the table clash.
The Bianconeri then suffered a shock 1-0 loss and the Giallorossi only managed a 1-1 draw, which made for a strange first round of games.
It seems that both squads are still getting used to the transformations they’ve had this summer, but nonetheless the tasty looking clash between these two sides was billed as a vital three-pointer which could already decide the Italian champions this term.
It wasn’t without its drama, and Roma came out on top as 2-1 winners with Juventus going down to ten men.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men didn’t look like they paid any attention in the week with no support coming for Paul Pogba in the middle of the park, most evident when he lost the ball and gestured with a sense of resignation to the rest of his teammates to come closer to him.
They looked agitated and surrounded the referee in the first half following the booking of Giorgio Chiellini who, despite looking strong at the back and clearing a few chances, began to lose his temper more as the game went on.
He was arguably lucky not to have the same fate as Patrice Evra, who got sent off after foolishly picking up two yellow cards in a short space of time.
Possession just vanished for them in midfield and the statistics show Roma’s dominance; at one point in the first half they had 70% of the ball, which is something of a foreign stat to Juventus in the last four years.
One could be forgiven for using the injury of Sami Khedira as an excuse for their poor display in midfield, but Simone Padoin was brought in as a replacement and he didn’t show the qualities needed to effectively fill the gap Andrea Pirlo left behind.
Rudi Garcia’s side, meanwhile, proved that they can close out matches, instead of following the trend of last season where they often couldn’t see out a game. They travel to newly promoted Frosinone after the international break where it will be a shock if they don’t claim another win.
Daniele De Rossi’s surprise inclusion in the centre of defence didn’t seem to have any impact on the Italian international as he did his job well, showing key versatility which is a golden characteristic to possess, especially against opponents like Juventus and bigger games to come in the Champions League this season for Roma.
Wojciech Szczesny proved his worth deep into injury time as he made a wonderful athletic save to deny the Bianconeri an equaliser, which could have ruined his side’s momentum for the whole season had it gone in.
A fixture against the reigning champions and most dominant side in the country is certainly a tough test for new signings, but Edin Dzeko appears to have adapted perfectly to the Italian league, and got his name on the score sheet for his first Serie A goal to show that. He linked up well with Mohamed Salah and the partnership they created could be vital as the season progresses.
Their opposite numbers in the Bianconeri camp, however, had no such success. In the Supercoppa Italiana, Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala looked like the perfect match, but there link up play was absent in the game against Roma.
The Croatian is struggling to fill the boots of Carlos Tevez, after replicating the poor performance he gave against Udinese in round one. His first touch need work, and proved costly today as on occasions it wasted chances in front of goal.
Dybala, meanwhile, looked like the only source of hope for Bianconeri fans this season. Not only did he get the goal which gave his team hope in the dying moments of the game, but throughout the 90 minutes he showed excellent footwork and strength to battle his way through the midfield on counter attacks, only to find a disappointing lack of support from the rest of the squad.
Despite the reigning champions losing their opening two matches of a season for the first time ever, it looks like that will be the end of the shocks if they can repeat what they did during the last ten minutes of the game against Roma.
They host Chievo in the next round of games after the international break, and provided that Massimiliano Allegri asks for the same hunger they had in the final stages of the match against Roma, three points will come at ease. But if they perform as they did for much of the game at the Stadio Olimpico then an unprecedented three straight defeats at the start of the season could be on the cards for Juve.
Dybala was indeed our only ray of hope and thank god he was started, also it’s no coincidence that the second allegri changed formation from the god awful 3-5-2 and brought in actual attacking treats in pereyra and cuadrado that juve did well, it’s not like nothing changed but they decided to play well in the last 10 mins, the coach actually made good decisions for the first time this year. Hopefully they’ll stick.Also thank god for evra’s red cause now sandro HAS TO start.
I’m still 100% certain that once allegri leaves the 3-5-2 far far behind and we start games with khedira,sandro,cuadrado,dybala,marchisio and morata we will once again breeze on through win after win. I mean we nearly came draw with a roma that played the best game i’ve ever seen them play simply cause allegri made the rigth decisions (albeit wayyy to late) and they tried for the last 10 mins, that kind of says it all doesn’t it. Also with ten men might i add.