Serie A is over: Five things learned as Juventus continue perfect start against Napoli

In an energetic game in Turin, Juventus beat Napoli 3-1.

It was a thrilling game where Napoli took the lead before Juve roared back with three unanswered goals to seal an impressive victory. What did we learn?

1. Mandzukic is the target

Obviously Cristiano Ronaldo takes all of the headlines before Juventus games, and that makes sense given his media profile, but one of their most dangerous players is their most settled: Mario Mandzukic. The 32 year old joined Juventus ins 2015 and since then he’s been a stalwart for them, playing in any position asked to – often spending entire seasons as a winger.

But, with Cristiano Ronaldo out-wide, Mandzukic is back up-front. And this is a deadly prospect for Juventus’ opponents, because Mandzukic’s instincts and work-rate make him a nightmare to defend against. Despite standing 6’3, he never stops working, pressing and harrying defenders. This allows Juve to defend from the front, which is useful.

Moreover, him being so advanced leads to him always be on hand to bury those key chances you need your striker too. When a wonderful cross came in from the left, who was there? Mandzukic to thump it home. And when a shot was palmed away  onto the post by the goalkeeper into space, who was there? Mandzukic to tap it home.

Super Mario Mandzukic, the man on the spot.

2. Napoli press to live

Napoli are obviously a great side, but they lack of the defensive structure to sit back and absorb pressure. They need to keep on moving forward and play on the front foot. This was the case in the Maurizio Sarri era, and their former coach’s passing system was designed around compensating for this fact.

Even though Sarri has moved on to Chelsea, and Carlo Ancelotti has never been a massive system coach, it’s clear that this Napoli side can still only roll with the big dogs when they push high and press. Juventus found it too easy to play through Napoli, or rebuff their attacks. But when Napoli pushed up and pressed they actually unsettled Juve. That’s where their goal came from.

3. One rule for some…

Mario Rui picked up a yellow card in the first half and spent the first 15 of the second half flying around lunging into tackles basically daring the referee to send him off. And eventually when he stamped down on Paulo Dybala he was rightfully given a second yellow and sent off. Sure it killed any chance of a Napoli comeback, but it was fair.

The thing is, in the melee that happened after the red was issued, Leonardo Bonucci butted Allan with his head. It wasn’t a full-on Glasgow kiss or anything, but there was notable and considerable forward movement. Yet the referee decided to only give Bonucci a yellow, when a red would have been fair just as it was with Rui.

But no, the Juve man got let off, and given that the defender ended up killing the match off by scoring the third goal, you have to wonder about this inequal application of the rules in Serie A. Because a red for Bonucci would have opened the game up just as much as Rui’s red closed it, and instead he survived and truly slammed the door shut in Napoli’s face.

4. Cristiano the creator

Whatever you think of the resurfacing of allegations in his personal life, Cristiano Ronaldo is most certainly known for being one of the greatest goalscorers of all-time. All of his many feats lie in the realm of scoring, he’s not known as a generous or creative person. Or at least he hasn’t been since 2007/08 when he emerged as a scoring phenom.

What we saw against Napoli was Cristiano reverting to the player he was in 2006/07, sort of. Obviously he’s not as fast as he was nor as agile or skilful, but with Mario Mandzukic leading the line so well Cristiano ended up playing a creative role for his side today. He set up all three of Juve’s goals, two directly and one indirectly as his shot was saved by Ospina and Mandzukic scored the rebound. Though he couldn’t score despite his many attempts, he still found a way to help his side.

5. Serie A is over already

That’s a depressing statement to make before we’ve even hit October, but after this result it’s clear the league over. Many had hoped that Napoli would emerge as genuine challengers after they ran Juve so close last season, but if there was any hope, it ended with this result.

Napoli simply had to beat Juventus here. To instill in La Vecchia Signora the doubt that they could carry on and win an 8th title, that the age in their limbs was finally starting to tell. But no, Juve came out on top, winning their seventh straight game to start the season. The gap at the top is now six points and, more than that, the way the game progressed and ended up so brutally one-sided was a huge psychological blow.

There’s no coming back from this, it’s all over bar the shouting.

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