After ten consecutive victories, league leaders Juventus were held to 1-1 away draw to Udinese. The Old Lady played at an above average level, but could not find the inventiveness to create enough clear cut chances to win the match. Juventus’ tie combined with Roma’s loss to Napoli means the Bianconeri move eight points ahead of the Giallorossi. Allegri will see the draw (their first for 38 matches) as a positive point rather than a wasted opportunity, as Udinese’s physical defensive effort deserved a lot of praise. 

 

Luigi Del Neri fielded a 4-5-1 formation rather than his normal 4-3-3 and it stopped Juve’s fluidity through the midfield. As the wide players dropped back, the middle three tightened up and denied the killer pass to Dybala. This often forced the visitors to play over the top, which often left Higuain stranded and outnumbered. In fact the Argentine was very much limited throughout the game much to the credit of the Udinese defence.

The brightest player for Udinese was Duvan Zapata who opened the scoring on 37 minutes after he out-muscled Bonucci and slotted home through Buffon’s legs. The pace and strength of the Colombian lit up the Dacia Arena crowd. On a sadder note, young midfielder and reported Juve summer target Fofana, went off with a serious lower leg injury. The talented youngster will be hard to replace considering he has started 21 games this season.

 

Although it would be an overstatement to say that Juventus looked fatigued, it is fair to say their play was never quite spectacular. Keeping in mind the quality of possession all over the field in the last ten games, the Bianconeri were visibly lacking something. To Udinese’s credit, their continuous physical play and fouls made it extremely difficult for Juve to find any rhythm.

After going down in the first half, Allegri will be content with the draw as Bonucci redeemed himself to rise to a (debatable) Dybala free kick to head home the equaliser in the 60th minute. The visitors rarely looked dangerous however, and perhaps Allegri will take note of this performance as he builds his players’ mental approach throughout the week. If a team like Udinese can find a way to limit play, the Bianconeri will have a tough time this coming week as Montella and his Milan squad visit the J Stadium.

 

The Milan clash on Friday will come all too quickly for the Bianconeri, and they need to keep their upcoming Champions League return leg against Porto out of the their minds. The Rossoneri are one of the four teams to have beaten the Old Lady this season and Allegri will hope to get his revenge against his former employers. Juventus tifosi will want a more pleasurable attacking spectacle at the J Stadium than the one they witnessed against Udinese.


David Baleno