Juventus 2 – Lazio 2: Initial reaction and random observations

I don’t know what Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri will say at his post-match press conference. I probably won’t watch it. But I have a feeling that I know exactly how things were going to sound like — besides just the overall gravel that is trapped inside that man’s throat when he talks — if Lazio had actually beaten Juventus on Sunday night.

It probably would have gone a little something like this ….

Lazio smashed, Lazio grabbed and Lazio absolutely stole three points from the club — most definitely not the same squad by any means — that Sarri guided to their last title-winning season.

Thank goodness for Pierre Kalulu being his wonderful self once again.

If not for Kalulu’s header in the 96th minute (!!) to give Juventus a 2-2 draw with Lazio, it would have been about as frustrating of a loss as the Bianconeri have had in quite some time. And that is probably saying something considering what this club has done both this season and the last couple of years. But Lazio were looking completely on for a stunning win at the Allianz Stadium for much of Sunday, with just Kalulu and Weston McKennie’s goal before him being the reason as to why Luciano Spalletti’s squad are coming away with a point rather than seeing Lazio smash-and-grab their way to a win that would have put a cherry on top of a bad week for Juventus that saw them dumped out of the Coppa Italia just three days earlier in the same kind of fashion.

But even more of the case as compared to Thursday night in Bergamo, this was complete Juventus domination from the first minute — hell, the first 10 seconds when they could have easily had a penalty — to the very last when somehow Loïs Openda couldn’t convert either of the two glorious chances he had to get a winner.

Juventus recorded 34 shots. THIRTY-STINKIN-FOUR SHOTS. And yet, if it wasn’t for Kalulu’s game-tying header off a peach of a cross from second-half substitute Jérémie Boga, then this would have an absolute stunner of a result considering how much Juventus dominated both on the field and the stats.

Hell, it’s still a stunner in a lot of ways.

You can point to the two game-changing kind of defensive errors that Juventus made. You can look at all of the squandered chances that Juventus couldn’t convert into goals. You can look at the Lazio goalkeeper putting in a heroic performance. And you can look at the absolute shocker of a night that referee Marco Guida and the VAR crew had when not giving Juventus at least one penalty in the opening half. There was a whole lot going on — and a lot of it was coming even before Lazio struck in the second minute of first-half stoppage time to take an unexpected 1-0 lead.

The fact is, Juventus should have never been in that position.

Same goes for having to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat with Kalulu’s last-minute goal.

This was a game that Juventus both completely dominated and that Lazio basically perfectly executed for 90-plus minutes. The only thing that Sarri looked like his team was about to have the advantage in was the final score — something that would have only highlighted just how ineffective in front of goal Spalletti’s squad were.

So was avoiding a loss a good thing? Of course. One point better than none — especially when you factor in just how tight the race for the top four has been all season long and the fact that Roma are going through their own struggles at the moment. But in what was one of the biggest statistical advantages we’ve seen Juventus have all season long no matter who the manager is — but especially under Spalletti — they dropped points and were just one heroic header away from not getting anything.

After a loss in the Coppa Italia that had a lot of the same themes (although not to the extreme in which Sunday’s draw did), that is rightfully at least some level of concern. Then you remember who is coming up on the schedule …

OK, yeah, Juventus will have to play a lot better if they want to beat Inter in six days. Or advance to the Champions League Round of 16 later this month. Or just stay in the top four in Serie A where they currently are.

Just thank goodness for Kalulu, man, or else this performance might have looked even worse.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Have I ever mentioned that I am a really big fan of Kalulu? Because I am. And I am still amazed that AC Milan let him go for as little as they did. I am thankful for that … but also surprised as hell because he’s such a good player. Sure hope the form he’s in the last few months means that his spot on France’s World Cup squad has become a lock because he damn well deserves it.
• This was not a good night for Gleison Bremer. Give this man a rest.
• It’s also time for Khephren Thuram to get a rest because he looks physically and mentally tired. Just too many mistakes are creeping into his game lately — which is not great when you remember that it seemed like it was just a couple of weeks ago that I was thinking his form was improving.
• Teun Koopmeiners, not a center back. And yet, that’s where he was playing. Exactly what you want to hear about a midfielder you spent close to €60 million on, right?
• One goalkeeper was playing out of his mind in this game. The other one should have done better on the second goal he allowed. I think we can probably guess which one falls into each category here.
• Some of those saves that Ivan Provedel made against Juventus … holy smokes.
• And yet, with all of the shots that Juventus had, Provedel made all of four saves. You’d think if a team’s final shot total was in the 30s then you would have a case of a keeper being peppered in the way that Michele Di Gregorio
• Boga and Edon Zhegrova basically being used as “wingbacks” in the final minutes of this game as we all expected before kickoff, right? RIGHT?
• We definitely got the full Andrea Cambiaso Experience in this one. We got the good (assist to McKennie) and we certainly got the bad (the defending on Lazio’s second goal). I know options aren’t great out on the left, but at some point you wonder what it will take in terms of the bad outweighing the good for Spalletti to make some sort of change.
• ANOTHER FALSE START AT KICKOFF! They like to say that three of the same type of things turns into a trend. Spalletti got these fellas a little too amped up.
• Us 12 months ago: “Lloyd Kelly playing in a big game? Really?”
• Us 12 months later: “Lloyd Kelly not playing in a big game? Really?” (He’s not 100% fit, don’t forget that part of the equation, everybody.)
• So many goals that Juventus continue to give up have that “THIS WAS SO PREVENTABLE!” kind of feeling to them. Like what is Locatelli thinking? Just pass the ball, man. You had two teammates completely unmarked and totally waiting for a pass to come to them. But nope, he tried to hold off Daniel Maldini and then that turned into a Lazio goal a couple of seconds later.
• Then again, that pass to set up Lazio’s second goal was pretty. Cambiaso’s defending was not — which is no surprise considering his overall level of defending, especially lately — but that pass was very good.
• I repeat: Juventus had 34 shots!
• Juventus had 23 shots in the second half alone. That is nuts.
• Lazio finished with a grand total of nine shots. Two of those were on goal. They scored two goals.
• Lazio blocked more Juventus shots (13) than shots they took themselves (9).
• Even with all of those shots, Jonathan David took all of one.
• Openda had more shots in less than a minute — and should have scored at least one of them, if not both — than David had over the course of the entire night. Not great.
• I’m still wondering what Locatelli was thinking. I know, I know … don’t do it. But I can’t help it.
• This feels like the kind of performance and result that deserves a drink or two. I think that’s where we’re headed after finishing this sentence. Talk to you later, folks.