Juventus can’t turn statistical dominance into victory in draw vs. Cagliari

When a team has 71.6% of possession, outshoots their opponent 22-4, and attempts 503 more passes than them, you expect that team to be coming out of the game they just played with three points.

Unfortunately, Juventus are a team that has been defying expectation these days — and not always in the good ways.

Juve did indeed have all of those numbers in their match against Cagliari on Sunday — even the passing number, attempting 844 to the Isolani’s 341. And yet, they still found themselves trailing as the clock ticked past the 80th minute. It had taken them until first half stoppage time to put a shot on target, while the home side had taken a shocking lead with a sweeping counter on the 20 minute mark that ended with birthday boy Daniele Maldini’s fourth goal in as many Serie A games. Juve had picked things up after some halftime substitutions but still hadn’t managed to push the ball into the Cagliari net.

That was until the 81st minute, when a fabulous cross by one of those substitutees, Kerim Alajbegovic, set up Randal Kolo Muani’s first league goal of the year. That nearly broke open the floodgates, and the same pair very nearly put Juve in front just a few minutes later, but were thwarted by the crossbar. Ultimately, the ball wouldn’t go in a second time, and the Bianconeri headed back to the mainland reflecting on what they all must’ve considered two points lost after the 1-1 draw.

Luciano Spalletti still had a huge group of players missing out on the game as play returned from the international break. Seven players were sidelined due to injury — Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Khéphren Thuram, Jérémie Boga, Jeff Ekhator, Arkadiusz Milik, and Kamil Grabara — while Grabara’s new replacement, Norberto Neto, had to serve a suspension he had incurred in his last match playing for Botafogo in Brazil. After an effective week in a 3-4-2-1 before the break, Spalletti returned to a 4-2-3-1 in this one. Guglielmo Vicario started at its base, with Pierre Kalulu, Bremer, Jhon Lucumí, and Zeki Çelik making up the back four. Douglas Luiz and Pape Matar Sarr started in the double pivot, with Francisco Conceição, Weston McKennie, and Nico González supporting Kolo Muani in attack.

Fabio Pisacane was leading one of the early part of the season’s surprise packages, putting Cagliari into the top four in the early going while conceding only two goals. He was missing Yael Trepy, Riyad Idrissi and Mattia Felici, while Kevin Carlos, Alessandro Deiola, and M’Bala Nzola were only fit for the bench. He sent out a 4-3-2-1 setup anchored by Elia Caprile in goal. Zé Pedro, Yerry Mina, Juan Rodriguez, and Adam Obert set themselves up in front of him, with the midfield three of Michel Adopo, Harry Winks, and Alessandro Romano in front of them. Maldini joined Inter-owned Serie A debutant Yanis Massolin in support of Paul Mendy in attack.

Juve looked juiced up to start the game, earning a corner within seconds and nearly catching Cagliari out when Sarr intercepted a ball in the attacking half, only to see the counterattack peter out when Kolo Muani couldn’t get it into a shooting position. A couple of long-range efforts were either missed or charged down, then in the 15th minute McKennie recovered a deep cross from Çelik and put it back across, somehow hitting González’s knee and flashing wide.

Juve were in total control of the game, but as the first half wore on the attack started to loose steam. The pace of the passing started slowing down, and the ball began moving slowly from side around the box without any real impetus. It felt as though they were too concerned with losing the ball, as opposed to making use of it to score goals.

Thus was the state of affairs when Obert, Maldini, and Mendy combined to gain the ball and start charging down the attacking left. The red-hot Maldini, fresh off turning 25, tried to snap off a shot, which bounced off of Bremer and to the feet of Mendy. The teenage striker held off Lucumí and laid the ball back for Maldini, who fired it with his trailing foot, getting it to squirm underneath the arm of Vicario and into the net.

The dance around the Cagliari penalty area continued. Juve controlled 70% possession but simply didn’t do anything to put the ball into a place of danger. Cagliari, meanwhile, pushed another counterattack that ended with Vicario fingertipping a powerful shot by Winks over the bar. Juve finally put a shot on target in first-half stoppage time when González fired a direct free kick at Caprile, a rather toothless finish to a first half where they didn’t present anything in the way of danger.

Spalletti realized change was necessary to get the parked bus moving, and sent Alajbegovic and Edon Zhegrova on for McKennie and Conceição. Luiz sent an easy low shot on goal early in the half, then Zhegrova made him do a little more work with a shot at the far post. Kolo Muani was given a great shooting position only to dummy the ball when there wasn’t anyone in position behind him.

Zhegrova went on a one-man crusade to get Juve level, having one shot blocked just after the hour and then two minutes later hitting an excellent curling shot between two defenders that Caprile had to jump to parry. But despite the Kosovo international’s efforts, it looked like Juventus was going to end up on the short end of another game against a team that they shouldn’t be losing to.

But it was the other Balkan winger who eventually had a say in that with 10 minutes left. Alajbegovic was given the room to cross, and Nick Woltemade, who hadn’t managed to do much with the ball since coming off the bench, managed to suck Deiola in to him with a run to the near post, leaving Kolo Muani an easy header to finally tie the score.

The equalizer finally looked to put a bit of life into everyone left on the field in a pink shirt. Four minutes after tying the score Kolo Muani was given another gorgeous ball by Alajbegovic found Kolo Muani completely unmarked, but the ball bounced a little too high as he struck the half-volley and he hit the ball into the underside of the bar, and Woltemade couldn’t get any power on his header of the rebound, which was easily gathered by Caprile.

Kolo Muani was again in position for a close-range volley as the game ticked down, but Caprile made the save and the flag went up regardless. Zhegrova went down far too easily in stoppage time, and a last-second pull into the middle of the six couldn’t find a helping touch, and the final whistle sounded shortly thereafter, giving the Bianconeri a good amount to think about as they head into a tough fixture stretch.