Cremonese-Juve 1-2, goals from Kostic, Cambiaso and Vardy

In the city of nougat, Luciano Spalletti’s first night on the Juve bench was sweet: the Bianconeri won with personality 2-1 in Cremona thanks to goals from Kostic and Cambiaso (Vardy for the Grigiorossi) and tied Milan and Inter to third place in the standings, 4 points behind leaders Napoli. The Tuscan coach thus tastes again, 881 days after the last time, the flavor of success in Serie A and, between inventions (Koopmeiners defender) and rediscovered team spirit, he can immediately give strength to the sweet thoughts of a scudetto comeback clearly declared on the day of the presentation.
THE SHOULDER – As mentioned, the Juventus new coach begins with one of his “shoulder drives”: the Dutchman moves back to the left of the defensive line, completed by Gatti and Kalulu. For the rest, many confirmations compared to the only outing of Brambilla’s interim management: Cambiaso and Kostic on the wings, McKennie and Locatelli in the center of the pitch (plus the returning Thuram), Openda and Vlahovic up front. The objective is to give quality to the dribble in Yildiz’s absence. Nicola, on the other hand, fields the same eleven that beat Genoa away on Wednesday and which allowed the Grigiorossi to equal the record of 14 points at the start of the championship that belonged to Simoni’s “Cremo” of 1993/94.
IT’S ANOTHER JUVE – As already seen in the version seen last Wednesday against Udinese, Juve starts strong: if against the Friulians 3 minutes were enough for Vlahovic to earn the penalty for the lead, this time even less than two (1’25”) are needed for Kostic to celebrate his 33rd birthday in the best possible way and, at the same time, give a gift to the club for his 128th. In an action developed on the edge of the area, Vlahovic passes for McKennie who serves deep on the short side of the right Openda: the Belgian tries a difficult backheel, but is lucky to find the rebound on Vandeputte, who inadvertently extends it to the far post, where the Serbian, all alone, cannot make a mistake. And to think that, under Tudor’s management, he had never played as a starter and had only played 65 minutes in 11 games before the Croatian’s dismissal. Juve is aggressive, often tries to recover the ball high and play in the narrow area in the opponent’s front or, when imposed, the verticalisation of the midfielders for the strikers, while Cremonese is also stunned by the sudden disadvantage. Vlahovic is able to often win the duel with Baschirotto, Openda is committed and spreads across the entire front (even if he often makes the wrong choice), McKennie is good at coming between the lines and disturbing the start of Nicola’s team’s action, Cambiaso and Kostic take turns getting up almost on the attackers’ line. Thus, at half-time, the Bianconeri had already hit a post with Locatelli (26′, Audero’s deflection was decisive) and kicked 4 times towards the opponent’s goal (the others always with Vlahovic): in the last three away games (Como, Madrid and Rome with Lazio), Juve had done it just 2 times in 135′.
FINAL THRILLS – In the second half, Nicola’s team seems to change its face: Vandeputte is more mobile, Barbieri, moved to midfielder, more enterprising, but the outburst lasts just long enough to showcase a nice defensive diagonal from Koopmeiners (51′) and a bagher save by Di Gregorio on a shot by Vandeputte from the edge (however thwarted by the previous exit of the ball from the field). The best opportunities remain for Juve: McKennie fails to kick a penalty on the move (56′), Vlahovic fails to reach the small area, on a ball put in the middle by the same American (66′). Nicola’s moves (first Sarmiento, then Vasquez and Faye, finally Johnsen) have no effect, while Spalletti’s works immediately: Conceiçao (substituted Openda in the 66th minute) only needs two minutes to start the action that leads to Cambiaso’s second goal: the Portuguese crosses from the right, Terracciano’s deflection in the center of the area becomes a perfect assist for the number 27, who unleashes his anger behind Audero. Cremonese, however, isn’t up for it and, seven minutes from the end, suddenly reopens it: Johnsen’s long throw to Vardy, who, left one on one with Gatti, wins the duel, enters the area and beats Di Gregorio with a nice diagonal. It’s just a flash, though. The final 13 minutes pass without worries for the Bianconeri, who can now abandon themselves to sweet dreams: with this spirit and a slow competition, thinking about that “something beautiful” is a little more legitimate.

the match

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Luciano Spalletti’s debut on the Juventus bench against newly promoted Cremonese fresh from the 2-0 victory over Genoa. Zini is a fort: Nicola’s team has remained unbeaten in their last five home Serie A games (W2, D3); the grey-reds have not recorded a longer run without home defeats in the top division since the period between November 1995 and March 1996 (10 in that case). Instead, pay attention to the away factor for the Bianconeri: Juve have lost their last two away games in the championship, as many defeats as in the previous 10 (W4, D4); the Bianconeri haven’t fared worse since March-April 2010, when they suffered four consecutive away defeats in Serie A.