Juventus 1 - Chievo 1: Initial reaction and random observations

We all wondered how Juventus would come out of the international break. And I feel safe in saying that Juventus didn't do a whole heck of a lot to change our opinion of them being a complete work in progress through the first month of the season.

It was another interesting night of Juventus football. And by "interesting," I mean that it was a total mess of a night with a bunch of frustrating moments because of how Juventus was playing. There were controversial moments — a goal called off because of a foul that might not have been a foul, a penalty called that resulted in the game-tying goal that might not have been a penalty depending who you ask. It was, for all intents and purposes, just a continuation of the out-of-sync Juventus we saw before the international break.

Passes were off the mark. Players were making runs into teammates. A team's defending resembling something that doesn't remind us of years past. Same stuff as we saw in the pre-international break portion of the schedule.

No, it didn't help that Juventus allowed the game's first goal five minutes in. The last thing a team that knows it's under a whole bunch of pressure is to have another wave of pressure added onto it right off the bat. You can see the Juve players trying — and sometimes trying way too hard — to make something happen, but with minimal results.

Hence the reason why Juventus needed a last-minute Paulo Dybala to claim their first point of the season.

But, in the end, we also can say what lies immediately below this sentence and have it be completely serious.

Juventus vs. Chievo: Last-place team gets late penalty to steal point vs. Serie A leaders.

— Gianluca Nesci (@GianlucaNesci) September 12, 2015

These are the growing pains of a young team that hasn't played many games together. Juventus will be fine because they have the kind of talent that tells us they will be. But, right now, struggling to get a point against Chievo is Juventus' reality.

Maybe a big-stage Champions League opener can snap them into shape. But the fact is there's no cohesion with this team right now. You can see it in the passing, you can see it in the way they are moving as a unit.

It will get there, but we just don't know when. And maybe that's the most frustrating thing of all.

Random thoughts and observations

• /headdesk/
  
  
• One of the most worrying things I've noticed in the last two Juventus games is the fact that it has taken nearly 60 or 70 minutes for a sense of urgency to actually show up. You would have thought that regardless of falling behind 1-0 five minutes into the game that Juve would try to up the pressure early considering how their first two games went.
  
  
• That Gigi Buffon save, though. (He's 37, by the way.)
  
  
• Five minutes after coming into the game my broadcast was updating everybody on Paul Pogba transfer rumors. That's what I get for watching a broadcast based in England, I guess.
  
  
• Then again, this is the same broadcast that called Alex Sandro "Alex Santos" the entire second half, so what should you expect anyway?
  
  
• For the second straight game Juan Cuadrado came off the bench in the second half to try and give Juventus a spark it desperately needed. And for the second straight game, Cuadrado provided that exact spark. Juventus have been better when Cuadrado is on the field compared to when he's not, that's a fact. Does it mean Allegri will move him into the starting lineup? I dunno, but it's gotta cross his mind at some point soon considering how much different things have been with Cuadrado in the game.
  
  
• We addressed the player who bombed up and down Juventus' right wing, now let's talk about the player on Juventus' left wing.
  
  Alex Sandro's Juve debut was good, really good. He was one of the few bright spots in a game that really had us trying to find anything positive about the team playing in black and white stripes. The vast majority of his crosses were dangerous, with the only thing lacking was somebody actually taking advantage of them. His speed was on full display, too. Just a really good debut for a player that arrived with quite a bit of lofty billing attached to his hefty price tag.
  
  
• No matter how you feel about the Chievo result, hearing the ovation Simone Pepe got when he came on in the second half should have warmed your heart.
  
  
• So, who's feeling good about Tuesday's visit to Manchester? (Don't answer that. I know what you're going to say. At least I think I do.)