Le Pagelle: Juventus vs Inter
· Yahoo Sports
Saturday’s Derby d’Italia was marred by a horrific outing by referee Federico La Penna, who changed the game when he showed Pierre Kalulu a pair of entirely incorrect yellow cards.
It’s a shame, because the official marred what was looking like another excellent chapter in the rivalry between Juventus and Inter that’s turned out some bangers in recent years. The game turned in entertainment value even with the awful arbitration, but it could’ve been so much better, and from the Juventus perspective, you can’t help but think that if the game had remained 11 vs. 11 that the Bianconeri would’ve won the game.
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As it was, Juventus displayed impressive resolve, holding out for nearly half an hour down a man and then equalizing out of nowhere just a few minutes after falling behind, only to fall to a well-placed Piotr Zielinski strike with seconds left in normal time for the final 3-2 score.
La Penna’s disastrous outing will blot out a lot of what the players did on the pitch, and there were several Juve players deserving of praise for the way they acquitted themselves in a difficult situation. Let’s take a closer look at who.
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 6. This is going to cause controversy given the ribbing he’s been given for Andrea Cambiaso’s own goal, but he was already moving in the other direction to cover Luís Henrique’s cross and had to try to readjust to Cambiaso’s deflection. Apart from that moment, he made a couple of terrific saves in the second half that would’ve otherwise seen the game get out of hand. The own goal moment was still awkward, which is why he gets the minimum pass, but without his performance after that Juve wouldn’t have had a chance.
PIERRE KALULU – 6. Laid a ball on a plate for Weston McKennie, who couldn’t finish, and defended well on his side before he was shafted by La Penna. I can’t fault him for the official’s incompetence.
BREMER – 7. Blocked a shot and had five clearances to go along with three interceptions and a big clearance off the line in the first half when the game was tied.
LLOYD KELLY – 6. Co-led the team in clearances with Bremer and had a pair of blocks, but deserves at least secondary responsibility for Francesco Pio Esposito’s goal with some lackluster marking.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5.5. His own goal wasn’t the kind of howler that his last one was, but it wasn’t such a great look either. That said, he did make a great move to jump Henrique and equalize, and he came close to a shorthanded goal early in the second.
WESTON McKENNIE – 7. Two assists for the American, who is still mysteriously without a contract extension at post time. This would be even higher if he’d just taken the shot on Cambiaso’s rebound instead of what turned out to be a poor attempt at squaring to Jonathan David—who admittedly was wide open. After the red he played pretty much everywhere along the formation to patch the holes left by any attack, and tried to make up for the lost man.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6. He was immense in defense both before and after Kalulu was sent off. His clearance off the line that produced a double doink in the first half was rather critical, and he finished the day with seven tackles and a pair of blocked shots. His rating is this low because of his rather atrocious marking on Esposito’s goal—although it has to be assumed that someone else would’ve been on the big young striker had Kalulu not been sent off. Like Cambiaso, he redeemed his mistake with a fantastic goal that looked for a time like it had given Juve a rabbit out of the hat.
FABIO MIRETTI – 5.5. Not a great performance overall from the NextGen grad, although he’s saved from a total fail by two key passes and a good effort at goal in the early stages of the second half that forced Yann Sommer to double back for a kick save. But his short pass gave Bastoni the chance to take his dive, and he wasn’t quite strong enough defensively.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5. Missed one shot and wasn’t at all productive on his side of the field. Indeed, it felt like Kalulu was the bigger threat at times.
JONATHAN DAVID – 5.5. Hard for him to get much in the way of touches after the red—he only had 17 before he came off at the hour mark—but he did have one key pass and ran his tail off trying to help defend after the red.
KENAN YILDIZ – 6. Had a great curler saved by Sommer and had a key pass as well as three dribbles, although he was doubled and roughed up every chance Inter had.
SUBSEMIL HOLM – 6. Had a pair of dribbles and defended well in Kalulu’s stead after halftime. He’ll need to be in top shape for his first Juve start next week against Como.
JUAN CABAL – 5.5. Completed fewer than half his passes, but defended well enough on his side, as it was Federico Dimarco that caused the most threat on the other flank.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5.5. Completed nine of 10 passes and didn’t make any mistakes in defense, but didn’t make much impact trying to break out until the end, when he looped an admittedly difficult header into Sommer’s hands with Juve’s last attack.
JÉRÉMIE BOGA – 5. Didn’t look as sharp as he has in his first two performances. Made feeble attempts to dribble past a few defenders and misplaced some easy passes.
LOÏS OPENDA – NR. Only had four touches and was only going to have a rare chance at making an impact given the situation.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
Luciano Spalletti set this game up quite well. Not having Khéphren Thuram available due to injury has usually had the effect of significantly weakening the double pivot, so to compensate by dropping the pivot entirely for an extra midfielder made a lot of sense. It worked pretty well, too. While it certainly helped that Barella was playing his first game in weeks, Juve were at least matching Inter in the middle of the park, if not taking the advantage. Indeed, overall you get the sense that had Spalletti played his cards right in an 11 vs. 11 game, Juve would’ve come away with a win. His actions after the red were also good. He held out until halftime before sending on Holm, which saved a sub window for the second half, and used his changes to try to keep the team as balanced as possible.
But what really showed—and I know I’ve said this before—was the mentality that Juve attacked the game with even after being screwed by La Penna. They started the second half with an attacking flourish, hung in grimly to defend for the meat of the half, staying organized and never getting discouraged, even after Esposito’s goal. The push to equalize after that was excellent. Past Juve teams would’ve completely collapsed. But whatever Spalletti has done to turn this team around mentally isn’t going away, and it’s going to turn Juve into a team no one wants to play over the last few months of the season.
LOOKING AHEAD
There’s no letup in the schedule the next two weeks. On Tuesday Juve take on Galatasaray in the Champions League playoff round in the early time slot. Then they have two straight home games, first a chance for revenge against Como on Saturday, then the return game against Galatasaray before a likely top-four six-pointer at the Olimpico against Roma.