Calciomercato.com

Reaction: Juventus take their time to break down stubborn Crotone

Reaction: Juventus take their time to break down stubborn Crotone

League leaders Juventus continued their winning ways with an unconvincing away victory at relegation threatened Crotone. Max Allegri’s squad had a relative dip in performance in their travels to Calabria, but were still able to come away with three points. On the other side Davide Nicola will be as positive as possible after the loss considering how his well his team battled to hold the Bianconeri throughout much of the contest. 
 
Juventus march on in first place; their points lead over Roma has now stretched to seven. Unfortunately for Nicola, his team remain destined for relegation, still only having 13 points after 23 matches. 
 
Allegri made five changes to the Bianconeri line-up with Asamoah, Rugani, Rincon, Pjaca, Dani Alves all starting from the first minute. The new look Juventus lacked any of the exquisite play that has been a guarantee since the formation change. At times they even looked mediocre and could not open up any space in the Crotone defence. 

 
The home side’s compact shape gave Juventus trouble playing between the lines and aside from a few shining moments, the Rossoblu did well to close down the attacking channels. Dani Alves in particular looked rusty, giving up the ball and lacking a crispness and consistency in his passing. The Bianconeri build up was too slow to create consistent chances in attack, with Dybala’s activity and his one on one skill in tight situations a potential difference maker. Tomas Rincon also had a positive showing, his work rate and tackling helping keep the midfield solid. 
 
Crotone was well prepared to battle for a point and they did a great job playing with their entire team behind the ball, taking very few risks going forward so as not to allow any chances for the Juventus attack. Offensively however, there were a few bright moments; Diego Falcinelli came close on a couple occasions, but like his teammates he spent much of the match in his own half. 
 
Eventually it was playing too deep that ultimately led to their unravelling. The strength of the Juventus midfield and attacking players wore the hosts down and individual efforts proved too much. Mandzukic scored the first off a rebounded Pjaca effort that Cordaz could not handle the Higuain notched up goal number 16 of the season with a fine individual effort to put the champions out of sight.

 
Crotone’s difficult run continues at home on Sunday with a lunchtime date against Roma. Nicola will likely adopt the same strategy that kept them in the game for so long on Wednesday. Moving forward, Juventus go into their weekend match against Cagliari fresh off another win and expecting another three points and a more convincing win as they approach their preparations for the Champions League tie against Porto on February 22nd. 


David Baleno