How did it go so wrong in a week?? After last week where they grounded out a 1-0 victory against bitter rivals Inter, it was being hailed as a " turning point" in their season a comeback of sorts. In that game they came out fighting and had a sturdy backline, whereas in the game against Lecce, they were caught napping and didn't really feel like getting in this game.. Juve were duly punished for their arrogance and dismissive attitude with a 2-0 loss at the hands of Il Lupi.
Lecce were the stronger side and were never really put under pressure by The Old Lady and the statistics only confirm this, Juve had just 1 shot on target throughout the entire game. Lecce's game was made all that easier when on the 12th minute Gianluigi Buffon got a straight red for handling the ball outside his area. Buffon was not helped by the poor defending by Juve that let the Lecce player just run straight past him. For the rest of the game the Bianconeri were down to 10 and had lost all creativity. One thing that may have fan frustrated is the fact that instead of taking someone like Toni off, who didn't have the best games, they took off Krasic, arguably one of their best players. Krasic bring pace and creativity but ultimately he works for every ball. He could have played well with Matri. Krasic has become a victim of his own pace, he is simply too fast for his teammates and that's why Juve were forced to do long balls, in the vain hope that some one will knock it in.
This kind of play is very outdated and it could shed some light on why they are called the old lady of Italian football. They have to play shorter balls and get the passing going, and not just rely on a tall target man, because this is a very english way of playing and it is very easy to defend against, all the opposition has to do is smother the targetman and hey presto!
Another thing Juventus are guilty of relying on is the off side trap. This is not the best way to get back the ball as it will only work if there is a common understanding between the back line, which is clear by todays game, there is not.
Juve have a shaky back line and a blunt attack, something has to be done to rectify this. Del Piero came on at half time, the record breaking striker had some moments of inspiration, but not enough to help Juve climb back up the table. Delneri has to do something fast to stop them from dropping further into obscurity. Marchisio may want to put this game behind him and look to the next game against Bologna... but wil they learn anything from this game, because let us not forget the big game against Milan is fast approaching. Will Juve be able to fix the leak by then... that is the question?
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