Juventus beaten in early shock

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Monday August 24 2015

Juventus beaten in early shock

It wasn’t just the champions who slipped up on the opening week. Roma, Napoli and Milan also fell at the first hurdle on a surprising opening day in Serie A, writes Richard Hall.

Juventus hosted Udinese on Sunday looking to start off the season as they had finished the last. Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Carlos Tevez had moved on for pastures new but reinforcements had been brought in. These signings made the Old Lady confident of containing an unbeaten run of 48 matches at Juventus Stadium. The Champions missed a host of chances, in particular a close range effort from Mario Mandzukic, before the unthinkable happened. Udinese scored. Cyril Thereaus’s 78th minute strike stunned the home crowd, and inflicted a defeat on a team that only lost three matches last season.

The defeat for Juventus was perhaps more of an eye opener as they had seen what had happened to Roma the day before. The Giallorossi played out a 1-1 with Hellas Verona in glorious sunshine on Saturday evening. The team from the Eternal City lacked tempo according to coach Rudi Garcia, but in truth they should have been much more clinical in front of goal. Rafael produced save after save before unfortunately being at fault for Alessandro Florenzi’s equaliser. This now sets up a titanic clash against Juve next week as both teams will be looking to land a serious blow to their rival’s title aspirations.

The other Roman team had played on Saturday night and dispatched Bologna with consummate ease. The team from Emilia-Romagna looked out of their depth as Lazio’s high pressure game saw them concede two goals in the first 23 minutes. The Aquile could have had more but Bologna rallied and even grabbed one back. The game was notable for a superb debut by ex-Ajax man Ricardo Kishna who grabbed a debut goal. Interviewed after the game however, he admitted how Lazio had dropped off after he had scored and that this could have cost them.

Sunday night saw seven fixtures kick off at the same time as the season through up even more drama. A new look Milan travelled to Florence in the hope of once again becoming a force to be reckoned with. Sadly for them, the Viola took advantage after the Rossoneri had a man sent off and two goals promptly followed, Marcos Alonso’s free kick the pick of the bunch. The Florentines celebrated Paolo Sousa’s first game in charge with a well-earned three points.

With the big spenders being systematically knocked down one by one, what of Napoli? Whilst not breaking the bank like Milan or Inter the Neapolitans had a new look and a new coach. After only three minutes the Maurizio Sarri revolution looked to have begun as Marek Hamsik gave them the lead over Sassuolo after only three minutes. Incredibly, the home team fought back to win 2-1 and dealt a blow to another potential title contender.

So what of Inter? Surely, if patterns for bizarre results against lesser opposition was ‘en vogue’, then the Nerazzurri would certainly be involved. The game at San Siro looked to be heading for the only 0-0 draw of the weekend before Stevan Jovetic curled a shot into the far corner, reminiscent of Andreas Brehme against Holland in Italia 90. It was tough for Atalanta who had played well early in the game but this 94th minute goal saw Roberto Mancini’s men buck the opening weekend trend.

Elsewhere, there was more late drama as Abdelhamid El Kaoutari also scored a late winner for Palermo against Genoa in an entertaining game in Sicily. The Genoese will perhaps rue early chances missed and Palermo will thank Stefano Sorrentino for the 1-0 win. New boys Carpi were on the end of a thrashing from Sampdoria. The game ended 5-2 to Walter Zenga’s men but it was 5-0 after 36 minutes, and looking like it could be much worse. Things started differently for the other new boys Frosinone who went 1-0 up after seven minutes as Danilo Soddimo scored their first ever Serie A goal. Torino hit back with two goals of their own to ruin the fairy tale and take all three points. Finally Chievo showed the characteristics that have kept them in Serie A for so long. One goal down to Empoli, they resolutely fought back to win 1-3 away from home.

Have your say...

manni

@calcioking bro ur living in cloud cukoo land if u think any of them.are coming..

on the 30th August, 2015 at 7:18pm

calcioking

!THIS JUST IN "NEWS FLASH"..[COMAN BEEN SOLD FOR 28 MILL!!!!] I smell DRAXLER COMINNNNNNN!!! PLUS WITSELL TOO WOOOHOOO!!!!BUT I'LL JUST THROW THIS ONE OUT THERE HOPEFULLY!!!!GOTZE ANYONE!!!!AWESOME..........

on the 29th August, 2015 at 2:41am

Adam

Gundogan is the player most similar to Pirlo in world football right now, he was superb in Dortmund's first game, how Juve didn't try to get him is beyond me, 40 million on him would be worth it in the long run, dictates the game like Pirlo perfect fit for Juve and more useful than Khedira in that role. I mean Padoin lol in Pirlo role what a replacement.

on the 28th August, 2015 at 3:12pm

Juveman

@Alex77 we literally beat you with our second team last may ie not more than 3 months ago with a weaker second team and you desperately needed a win ...remember ?!

on the 28th August, 2015 at 8:53am

calcioking

@alex77.....The Llorente deal was more of a saving wages kinda deal than a sale, which Juventus were aiming for which is around 20 MIL! give or take in the next 2 years which includes bonuses. SO!!!!! ALEX77 to spell it out to you, It's a win win for Juve due to the fact they'll redirect their funds 60mil left to spend plus 20mil saved from the Llorente wages would give Juve ample financial power to acquire hhhhmmmmm! let's say!!!! DRAXLER,GUNDOGAN,WITSEL OR EVEN MAYBE GOTZE WHO KNOWS.....

on the 27th August, 2015 at 10:27pm

Alex77

Wow! Look at all the Rube fans trolling here! Jube second team better than Inter?! Lol! That was a good joke. Quality shows itself when Juventus couldn't even sell Lllorente for 1m :)))))

on the 27th August, 2015 at 8:51pm

Juveman

our subs are better than all of inters team and pretty much any serie a starting team besides roma..neto,caceres,barzagli,rugani,evra/sandro,sturaro,pereyra,khedira/witsel(hopefully), padoin,asamoah,coman,mandzu,zaza ..that team would beat inter starting 11 easily.

on the 27th August, 2015 at 9:34am

Juveman

@calcioking it seems quite likely we are going to get witsel which i'm very happy with and we might even end up with witsel and draxler so that would be quite incredible, if that ends up being the case we would honestly have a terrific team from top to bottom depth and all i mean for f#@ks sake our second keeper is NETO and you have interisti BSing.

on the 27th August, 2015 at 9:31am

calcioking

BTW! FOR KINGSLEY COMAN LOAN HIM OUT TO "NAPOLI OR "FIORENTINA" FOR ONE SEASON, BUT MOSTLY NAPOLI to play 'FIRST TEAM ACTION A MUST BECAUSE [SARRI coach] knows how to bring the best out of players, And is excellent in working out with whatever he has little to work with example "EMPOLI",HE'S one of the best Italian tacticians if not the only one true MAESTRO in engaging and instilling true soccer philosophy into his players, JUST look up some of his empoli games from last year....."NUFF SAID!.

on the 27th August, 2015 at 1:56am

calcioking

with those 3 buy's "SNEIDJER,SAPONARA,and VASQUEZ", we'll be covered from all angles and "I ALMOST FORGOT" AYMEN ABDENOUR FROM as Monaco for the centreback role or defensive role viceversa would be a great buy. FORZA JUVENTUS PER SEMPRE 5TH SCUDETTO HERE WE COME.....

on the 26th August, 2015 at 11:33pm

calcioking

A little reminder to throw out there why not Wesley Sneidjer 31yrs old and for 6 mil to cover Pirlo's role which he would do really well,Plus can cover both roles a CDM or CAM whichever and Ricardo Saponara 23yrs old from Empoli which he had a great season last year where he can cover also both positions plus as a support striker,And last Franco Vasquez from Palermo for 12 mil which he and Dybala were STELLAR LAST YEAR in total cost 28 million,less than Draxler's 29 mil who's made out of glass.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 11:18pm

calcioking

COUPLE OF QUOTES, @interista STOP BLOWING SMOKE!, @joxer986 spoken like a true realist and a gentleman, @marc F agree with you 100% also "Coaches" in SERIA A need to stop over thinking tactics, which their thinking "only" they can win matches [This means you ALLEGRI]., @juveman totally agree with you against interista that they get a victory and let's break out the champagne [FOR PETE'S SAKE REALLY!].,FORZA JUVE FOREVER.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 11:00pm

Juveman

we have cuadrado,coman (if not sold),dybala,zaza,morata and mandzu 6 attackers, if coman is sold get a trequartista i guess but a CDM still seems like the bigger issue right now.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 3:37pm

Juveman

As for coman i couldn't agree more, he seems like 5 years away from the level of dybala let alone, so i think once teams like bayern seem willing to spend 20mil on him let him go like that with the sales of coman and llorente alone we have another 30 mil get witsel we clearly need him now. Hell negotiate a bit and maybe with just 10 mil more get draxler and witsel though i really dont see the need for a trequartista any more.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 3:35pm

Juveman

@manni madnzu is really not a donkey his finishing was atrocious true that but thanks to him alone we had like 4 chances that really should have been goals and zaza is wayyyy worse and cost us 8 mil not 18 it would also make sense to loan him out if he's our 6th choice attacker but apparently he'll be staying and llorente is off to sevilla for 10mil.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 3:33pm

Al Dino

Looks like Llorente is leaving which makes me feel a little better, as Zaza seriously deserves a chance at Juve. It was ludicrous to see Juve spend so much money on Zaza only to have him shipped out on loan without even making a single appearance. Also as talented as Coman may be the lad isn't scoring goals and he misplaces to many passes and loses the ball way to easy. I don't see the talent, and why keep giving him chances when we spend so much on Dybala.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 2:19pm

Al Dino

@manni could agree more about the referee comments. Players falling over like they are on ice is now becoming an every day thing in Serie A games. Every team including Juve players are guilty of it and its becoming annoying.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 2:15pm

manni

As for the state of serie a I would also add that the refs need to re educate themselves and stop blowing the whistle every few mins to stop start the play! When players realise the wont get the sissy decisions all the time they should crack on and get on with the game..it happens all to often in serie a one lil fairy push and they got down get up and take a free kick in no mans land this alone is very frustrating there's now even flow to our game

on the 26th August, 2015 at 10:09am

manni

@ interwatever...erm what have u won since the mortti erA? And the scandal days?? Erm answers on a postcard please..we would all love to hear it...anyhow one defeat doesn't mean anything but this is year zero for alegri! Now we will see what he can and cant do last year he inherited a winning team and players...these new faces are young which is good but exp will go against us..

on the 26th August, 2015 at 10:06am

manni

Cant say i was upbeat at paduin being om the pitch i mean come on this guy in the pirlo role? I dont see what managers see in him and am proven right everytime he plays! Sturaro would have been yhe better option. Mandukic is a donkey simple as. Zaza needs a chance whynspend 18mil to only then loan him out coman has got talent but looks like hes gona take a while to get there..dybala came on and looked decent..we will miss tevz and vidals drive if anything and goals

on the 26th August, 2015 at 10:02am

Interista is a troll

Don't waste your time on trolls they belong under a bridge.

on the 26th August, 2015 at 1:18am

I MISS MARCO BRANCA

For you Interisti just remember this: the last time Inter was in second place they finished the season in 9TH PLACE !! HAHAHAHA

on the 25th August, 2015 at 8:46pm

Anonymous

Juve had the ball, but didn't make many clear chances, it was frustrating. Coman is poor,I have yet to see this 'talent' and bringing on llorente, come one he is shocking. A lack lustre performance really, but early to be writing off new signings after one game, especially when two of them delivered the super cup. Mathematically the league is still open so inter fans relax, you haven't won anything yet

on the 25th August, 2015 at 3:13pm

INTER1981

I believe this year it will NOT be a walk in park for Juve to win the title... I sincerely hope Inter will able to join the title race... Italian football needs stronger clubs to challenge Juve... Juve and Inter fans, you are all wasting your time...

on the 25th August, 2015 at 2:03pm

Joxer986

OK, everybody knows Juve is still the strongest team but as well as they r strong they have Allegri with much less experienced players than last season and there is where I see chance for other contenders, I'm an Interista but also a realist, with Mancio we can only get some players but we can't get title, only experienced ones can navigate throughout the minefield of serie A so I think small victories will count the most, Inter showed smthg different than be4, hope it will end for the best.

on the 24th August, 2015 at 10:58pm

Al Dino

Not overly concerned by the first game of the season loss, as it's better to lose the first game than the last and honestly it was bound to happen eventually so it's better that it happened in the first round. What concerns me more is the fact that Coman is starting over Dybala and Zaza. And why is Zaza being shipped out without even playing a single minute of football for us?

on the 24th August, 2015 at 10:25pm

Interista

Hahahahahaha Juve spent all their money on garbage like Dybala and Mandzukic and Zaza (where the hell was he anyway?!) no money left to buy referees anymore.

on the 24th August, 2015 at 7:35pm

Del piero

@interista your club is garbage and so is your manager, players and you as well!!
You have a poor team and lucky to win.
Juve just couldn't finish at all. We will bounce back we will sign 2/3players before the window shuts.
You concentrate on finishing 6th this season and scrape a Europa league spot and kiss those Jose mourniho posters you have on your wall and only dream of winning trophies again.
As for us we will finish 1st win coppa italia and will get far in Europe.

on the 24th August, 2015 at 6:34pm

Resurrect Moggi

@Interista. Wow Inter won and Juve lost. Break open the bubbly. This is a cause for celebration not seen since your crybaby of a former president hoodwinked the media and the sporting justice system to allow a first title to be awarded for nearly four decades. Granted, these opportunities do not come that often, I understand your brazen joy...

on the 24th August, 2015 at 5:51pm

Interista

LOL we got the exact same amount of extra time Juve got. We also had 70% possession and 22 shots on goal. Atalanta did nothing but park the bus. Just admit without Pirlo and Tevez you're half the team you used to be.

on the 24th August, 2015 at 5:25pm

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