Juventus 1-1 Frosinone: Complacent hosts hand historic point to Serie A newcomers

About two years ago, profligate was a word used with an annoyingly increased frequency by journalists and football pundits on the old island. At this moment of low morale, it is the only thing that springs to mind.

Profligacy.

On the night Frosinone won its first ever point in Serie A, Paul Pogba, Juan Cuadrado, Roberto Pereyra, Simone Zaza and Paulo Dybala had this small contest to see who could waste the most chances in 90 minutes or less, depending on the how long Max Allegri can witness their profligacy, shall we say.

Zaza was tied with Pogba with seven shots each and would have won it, considering he played less minutes, had his shot not been deflected by a defender and accidentally hitting the back of the net. This mistake from the former Sassuolo man was enough to award the prize to the Frenchman, who also managed to lose Leonardo Blanchard from his mark, as the centre back headed in the equaliser in the second minute of extra time.

The Frosinone goal — or Pogba's silly mistake — drew a raging reaction from Allegri, while the result left Juventus in the company of Atalanta and Empoli on the 13th position of the Serie A table with five points from as many games.

A trip to San Paolo is on the cards this weekend, where Napoli are doing just a little less poorly than Juventus are at the moment. And with Gonzalo Higuain still a part of their team, it could turn out to be another fun game to watch, as the Argentine's reputation might be enough to let him join Pogba, Dybala and their select group for the game of who can waste the most chances in 90 minutes or less.

MATCH SUMMARY

As expected, Juventus had the initiative from early on and the closest they got to score was through a couple of long shots from Pogba and Cuadrado, but neither of them managed to hit the target.

In the 26th minute, Zaza missed Juventus' first big chance when his failed scissors-kick attempt from inside the six-yard box sailed wide of Nicola Leali's goal.

Just four minutes later, Pogba couldn't clear a ball from the centre of the box and it felt to Nicolas Castillo whose effort hit Neto's right post, before another attempt from Alessandro Frara was apparently blocked by Andrea Barzagli's arm, but the referee waved play on and awarded a corner kick.

Ten minutes before the break, Alex Sandro found Stefano Sturaro with a great cross but the 22-year-old midfielder couldn't direct his header on target from close range.

Pogba missed the best chance of the first half in the 41st minute when he latched on to a great cross from Pereyra and his towering header from six yards only found the crossbar.

Allegri reacted to the lack of real chances created by Juventus in the first half and made a double substitution at the break, replacing Stephan Lichtsteiner with Giorgio Chiellini and Sturaro with Paulo Dybala, switching to 3-5-2.

The young Argentine striker was quick to made his presence felt and had a first chance early in the second half when his shot from just outside the penalty area was palmed away by Leali.

A few moments later, Zaza's diving header from close range was deflected by a defender and had a weird trajectory, hitting the crossbar. Pereyra followed the rebound but he couldn't guide the ball in.

Juventus kept applying the pressure on the opposite defence and finally found the breakthrough in the 50th minute. Zaza sent a first time shot from outside the box after receiving a short pass from Cuadrado and the ball was deflected by a defender before hitting the back of the net, giving Leali no chance to react.

Zaza was close to a second just a couple of minutes later after Cudrado did a great job to beat his man on the right flank and send a cross inside the box, but Leali managed to hold the striker's effort.

Pogba had another good chance to score in the 55th minute as Alex Sandro found the Frenchman in the centre of the penalty area, but his shot was weak and easily held by the goalkeeper. Moments later, another long shot from Cuadrado from the right corner of the box only missed the far post by a couple of inches.

Danilo Soddimo gave a weak sign Frosinone was still looking to score in the 62nd minute when his shot from a long way out flew wide of Neto's goal.

Frosinone came closer to Juve's goal in the 75th minute through Daniel Ciofani but the striker couldn't get a shot in as Leonardo Bonucci's sliding tackle cleared the danger away.

Two minutes later, the bad luck that followed Juventus this season couldn't stay away in this game either as Zaza chased a loose ball on the left wing but only managed to keep it in play with the cost of an injury and was replaced by Hernanes.

As the game entered in its final 10 minutes, the Bianconeri wasted two more chances in as many minutes. First, Bonucci found himself in an unusual position wide off the pitch but delivered an amazing cross for an unmarked Chiellini at the far post who somehow put his header over the goal. Pereyra then missed another opportunity after faking a shot and sending his man sliding past, but his effort from a tight angle whizzed inches wide off the far post.

With the match drawing to an end, Hernanes had a powerful shot from outside the area saved by Leali, before yet another attempt from Dybala sailed over the crossbar.

Referee Angelo Cervellera blew the final whistle after three minutes of injury time, but not before Dybala had failed to score with another two long shots.

Yes, I know, that is not what happened but I had already written it before full time and just felt like leaving it here for people to wonder. What actually happened, Leonardo Blanchard easily broke free off Pogba's mark and managed to equalise with a header in the second minute of injury time following a corner kick.

LE PAGELLE

Neto: 5.5 Had very little to do in his first official game for Juventus and was robbed of a clean sheet in the dying moments

Lichtsteiner: 5.5 Was rather lively in the attacking side of the game in the first half with little defending to do. Came off at the break as Allegri changed the system

Bonucci: 6.5 Made a couple of great interventions to prevent Frosinone from scoring and surprised everybody delivering a pin-point cross only for Chiellini to waste it

Barzagli: 6 Steady as ever at the back, but misplaced an unusual amount of passes

Sandro: 6.5 A good attacking presence on the left side, delivering a couple of great crosses for his teammates

Sturaro: 6 Rarely managed to come up with anything useful on the build-up play but did little wrong too

Lemina: 7 Impressive defensive contribution from the Frenchman who has now put in a second consecutive solid performance in the centre of the park

Pogba: 5.5 Made a grave mistake to concede the goal and his little tricks and flicks were irritating to watch, as they resulted in little. Declared Mr Wasteful of the evening

Cuadrado: 7 The most active man upfront for Juventus. Created a lot of chances but his shooting accuracy was a big minus

Zaza: 7 Rewarded Allegri with a goal for handing him a place for the first time in the starting XI and was unlucky not to get a second.

Pereyra: 6.5 Played some good balls inside the box and it was a pity his incisive individual actions came to nothing

Subs

Chiellini: 6 Like his colleagues from the backline, had little to do in defending but missed a big chance to seal the game for Juventus

Dybala: 6.5 Extremely active in the final third but a bit too hasty in decisions at time

Hernanes: 6 Replaced Zaza with just over 10 minutes left. Still had time to miss to join the party and miss two chances

Coach

Allegri: 6 It is hard to put the result down as his fault, as he reacted quickly to change the system at half-time. Took the right decision during the game and the players' complacency is something Allegri can mend for the coming matches