Juventus returned from Cagliari with another draw and with the familiar sense of a season slipping away in small, costly moments. At the sixth round, the gap to Inter and Lazio stands at five points, already substantial for a side whose stated duty is to return to the Champions League. Luciano Spalletti sees a team capable of controlling matches but still unable to give them the decisive finish.
The coach and the club
The confrontation with Cagliari brought a further difficult evening for Juventus. The dispute involving Fabio Pisacane and Spalletti’s subsequent red card formed part of the occasion, but the coach’s concerns run deeper than one touchline incident.
Since last November, Juventus have drawn 11 of their 35 Serie A matches. This season has already included the 1-1 against Milan, the collapse at Sassuolo’s Mapei Stadium and now the stalemate in Sardinia. Too often, the work done during a match has not been converted into a result.
Spalletti admitted the weight he feels at this point in his career. “I am not gambling on the result of one game; I am trying to end a career well. I am nearly 70,” he said. After his dismissal from the Italy job, Juventus represented the opportunity to complete his coaching life on his own terms. Instead of the momentum he expected, he has found himself confronting the same unresolved problems.
Before travelling to Cagliari, he had described Juventus as “obliged to win”. He has not used the absences of Manuel Locatelli, Khéphren Thuram and Kenan Yildiz as protection. Their unavailability matters, but Spalletti’s argument is that a club of Juventus’ scale cannot make a habit of leaving points behind.
A side still searching for its edge
Juventus have possession and periods of control, yet too rarely turn those phases into authority. They do not consistently press their advantage, can concede too easily and struggle to impose themselves when a match asks for a final act of conviction.
The attack remains one of the central questions. Dusan Vlahovic has not truly been replaced. Randal Kolo Muani is not viewed as a poor signing, but as a mobile, high-level forward with different qualities from a conventional centre-forward.
Spalletti has attempted to find a solution through an unusual partnership involving Nico Gonzalez. Explaining a substitution, he said: “I took him off, but Nico is our strongest player in the air and the best in those situations. He has fight in him and brings the details that can make a team more solid.”
The observation pointed back to an issue the coach had raised last season: a lack of personality at key moments. He was particularly frustrated by Juventus’ late delivery into the Cagliari area in the 94th minute.
“At times we disappear,” Spalletti said. “That final ball into their box caught us almost unprepared, even though it came so late in the match. That cannot happen.”
The return to Continassa
Spalletti gave the squad a day away from training after the trip to Sardinia, a pause intended not to make an already tense atmosphere heavier. Juventus are due back at Continassa today, however, and the coach’s message is unlikely to be softened.
He reminded his players that the shirt carries a responsibility beyond the present group.
“We are not merely Juventus players; we are guardians of something built by everyone who wore this shirt before us,” he said. “We have to be worthy of Juventus. If we are not, then we have not done our work properly and we do not understand who we are. At the end of the year, the assessments will show how far away we are. But games like this have to be won, simply. After I have reviewed it all and perhaps hit the wall a few times, I will also tell them they played well.”
That balance between anger and recognition now defines Spalletti’s task. Juventus have time to repair their position, but the coach’s patience is being tested by a championship that is already asking them to stop drawing the matches they should finish.
