Juventus 2 - Chievo 1: Initial reaction and random observations

There seems to be a trend growing here. You know, the one where we're facepalming at some point in the first half because Juventus find themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline.

People will complain about the offside call that shouldn't have been an offside call and given Chievo a 2-1 lead. That will be the narrative most will go with because it's the easy one to lead with. And while everybody who roots against Juventus will be pointing to that moment and generating their best conspiracy theories as to why the goal wasn't a goal, I wanna put your attention to something else.

It will be pretty easy to figure out, you guys.

The fact was that Juventus were down 1-0 in the first half again. And the fact was that Juventus came back to win 2-1 — again. If there wasn't a Alessandro Bernardini own goal, it might have been a completely different discussion we're probably going having in the comment section. No "Three points, on to the next one!" or anything like that. There would have been some yelling, more than already is happening.

But the fact still remains that Juventus fell behind again and then, no matter what happened with the stupid refereeing decisions occurred during the course of the second half, came back to win a fixture that has been quite a difficult one ever since Antonio Conte took over as manager. Conte knows that, and he knows that not every game is going to be a walk in the park because he's a smart fellow.

Or I'll just let Fabio Quagliarella speak for me. He seems like a smart guy.

Quagliarella: We can’t keep letting our opposition take the lead, even though up until now we’ve had the character to come back. #ChievoJuve

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) September 25, 2013

Bingo. Well said.

Random thoughts and observations

• Wednesday's game was not Gigi Buffon's finest hour. His botched attempt of a clearance was the reason why Chievo scored their lone goal of the game. And then, to top it off, San Gigi's fumbled save allowed Alberto Paloschi to score but not actually score a second goal for Chievo. He looked like a keeper who had taken a couple months off, not given a simple rest over the weekend. They were both mistakes that should have never happened, especially for a player of Buffon's class.
  
  
• Paul Pogba was Juventus' best wingback and delivered the best cross of anybody on Wednesday night.
  
  
• That's not a good thing. Well, for the guys who are the actual wingbacks, that is.
  
  
• Say what you want about Fabio Quagliarella, but in the past two midweek games, he's saved Juventus' backside. A goal against Copenhagen, another against Chievo. Hey, maybe it's not such a bad thing that Juve kept this guy around this summer and giving him a bit of playing time.
  
  Now somebody go find me a video of Claudio Zuliani singing after a Quagliagol.
  

  Quagliarella: I needed to shoot three times to score, thankfully it went in. The goal gave us the push to go for the winner. #ChievoJuve

  — JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) September 25, 2013

  
  
• Personal opinion: Fernando Llorente played a pretty okay game. Chievo defense knocked him around pretty good, which I'm sure will probably be a regular thing amongst Serie A clubs. But he responded to all of the fouls — and the clear fouls that weren't called — well even though there's no more sporting of his no beard anymore. (Not that having a beard has anything to do with his performance...or does it?)
  
  He's not there yet. But with every game he plays, the rust continues to go away, the rapport with his teammates continues to grow and the adaption to Serie A continues.
  
  
• WhoScored says that Giorgio Chiellini was the Man of the Match. What say you?
  
  
• Speaking of things we get to see on WhoScored, here's what Claudio Marchisio did against Chievo: A game-high six tackles, 82 touches, 94 percent pass accuracy. I missed that guy. Welcome back.