Juventus 2 - Salernitana 2: Initial reaction and random observations

No matter the injury absences. No matter the late penalties that end up being saved and then the rebound is scored by the same guy who just saw his PK saved. No matter what you think about it — Juventus should not be relying on stoppage-time goals to beat a team like Salernitana.

And yet, there’s still plenty of reasons to be upset on top of why Juve were scrambling to get any sort of late-game offense going on Sunday night.

There was the performance that led to Juventus being down two goals going into halftime. There was the sudden sense of urgency that, as we always say, just random shows up when Juve go into desperation mode. There was, as we also say, a moment (or what felt like 10) of just absolutely awful Serie A refereeing and subsequent VAR check — this time clearing Arek Milik’s shoulda-been game-winning goal in stoppage time against Salernitana.

Instead, you’re probably sitting there fuming for a couple of reasons — both because Juventus had to rally from a totally stupid deficit that should have never happened and because Max Allegri’s squad actually ended up dropping points because of a piss-poor refereeing decision that caused all hell to break loose.

Yet for all of the stupidity that those who make the decisions in Serie A have shown once again — yes, I know, why is Leonardo Bonucci still trying to make a play on the ball even when every single one of us can tell it’s going in and Luigi Sepe is rooted to his spot? — I can’t get my head off Juventus putting themselves in this situation.

This is Salernitana, folks.

This is a Salernitana team that barely survived the drop on the final weekend of the 2021-22 season.

Juventus should never be trailing 2-0 to Salernitana regardless of the situation. Juventus should especially never be trailing 2-0 to Salernitana in the first half on their home field in Turin. That was the precursor to all of the madness that we saw in the second half and especially in stoppage time.

Where were you on April 25, 2004? It was a Sunday where I was going into my final weeks of high school, so I was probably completely checked out from doing any sort of homework and wondering what the hell happened on that day a lot like I current am on this day.

Did Juventus deserve to win this game on the whole? Probably not based on the first-half showing alone, but I don’t even know what to think about this game anymore. This was very much another case of Juve playing down to their competition in the first half and then subsequently being paid for it. It’s completely ironic — in a totally cruel kind of way — that Juventus were actually playing somewhat well before Salernitana took a 1-0 lead.

it was a really bad first half from that point on, and it basically had everybody with Juventus rooting interests thinking back to last weekend against Fiorentina or previous duds of performances before that.

It really was bad, and the 2-0 scoreline was very much a deserved hole to find themselves in.

Was the response good to see? Yeah, sure. But like I said, it should have never gotten to that point. Juventus should not be forced into this kind of situation on their home field by Salerna-freaking-tana. It doesn’t matter. As much as the refereeing was terrible and the calls at the end of the game were puzzling to say the least, Juventus getting down 2-0 to such a complete bottom-third kind of club is what’s sticking with me the most.

You know what would have prevented Juventus from being in that situation in stoppage time? The simple fact of not getting down by two goals and shooting yourself in the foot so many times before and after that.

It’s just frustrating, man. And Serie A refs make it even more frustrating.

So much frustration. I think Juventus is going to make me invest in a punch bag. Do you think I can get them to comp me one? I’ll buy one that’s black and white if that happens.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• How many points should Juventus have gotten from this game simply because you’re playing at home against potential relegation battler, Mr. Allegri?

Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• Thank you for answering my question, Max. That’s very nice of you after such a dire game.
• There were almost as many red cards shown as Salernitana had shots on goal.
• Juventus has two wins through their first seven games in all competitions this season. I dunno about you, but that doesn’t sound very good. I would assume that means Max Allegri is feeling a little bit of pressure. If he has any kind of sense of what the true situation is.
• Guessing being down 2-0 at halftime to Salernitana was not what Juventus had in mind when they decided to roll out the new third kits for their debut on this night.
• Krzysztof Piatek said Salernitana “dropped two points” against Juventus. That needs to tell you all you need to know about how Salernitana felt about how this game played out.
• Moise Kean was not very good in this game. At all.
• Juan Cuadrado was not very good in this game. At all.
• The “Juan Cuadrado Is Washed” movement is growing with each passing week. This isn’t good because you know Allegri is going to rely on Cuadrado no matter the status of Federico Chiesa, Angel Di Maria and Filip Kostic.
• We got another Kostic assist. Cool.
• Matias Soulé had almost as many touches as Moise Kean in a third of minutes. And a good chunk of those minutes Soulé played were basically just standing around because VAR in Serie A is really dumb.
• Amazing what happens to your team when you bring on a midfielder like Nicolo Fagioli who actually wants to be creative and get forward and wants to play with a little bit of aggressiveness, huh? It’s just too bad that he was brought on for Fabio Miretti because seeing the two kids in a midfield together would have been fun. Here’s to hoping that happens soon.
• The reaction I would have given to either of Miretti or Fagioli scoring their chances that they had in this game. Can you imagine Fagioli’s reaction to scoring that late chance he had? Dude was a ball boy behind that same goal when the stadiums were empty in the summer of 2020. Crazy.
• Bremer’s header was angry. Bremer’s header was mean. Bremer’s header came from a guy who knew he screwed up and gave up a penalty earlier in the game and wanted to do something about it.
• Lenadro Paredes completed all but two of the 85 passes he attempted. I think that’s good.
• If only Max Allegri would coach pissed off more often like he did toward the end of that game.
• That said, a couple of his second-half subs were interesting picks. I know the bench was extremely limited because of all the players out injured, but bringing on fullbacks and then playing some sort of shape that was hard to figure out was a little interesting.
• I’m guessing this is not the kind of performance that West McKennie was hoping to have after his big goal against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night. If there was a player that I was thinking Fagioli was going to come on for, it was McKennie and not Miretti.
• Good thing Juventus don’t have any sort of important game to try and get re-focused for after this roller coaster ride.
• Ah, hell. Back to the Champions League we go. Thanks a lot, winter World Cup.