Vlahovic, Conte, McTominay: three talking points from Juventus 0-0 Napoli

Juventus have collected three consecutive 0-0 draws in Serie A for the first time in 32 years, while Scott McTominay has convinced Antonio Conte to switch to a four-man defence. Here are three talking points from Saturday’s goalless stalemate between Juventus and Napoli.

Football Italia was among the accredited media at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday when Juventus were held to a third consecutive 0-0 draw in Serie A. So, what did we learn from their meeting with ex-midfielder and coach Conte?

Struggling for goals

One coach would usually be pleased to earn comparisons with game legends such as Giovanni Trapattoni, but Motta may not enjoy the analogy in this case. The legendary ‘Trap’, in fact, was the last Juventus coach to collect three consecutive 0-0 league draws in 1992 and even if Juventus dominated proceedings against the Partenopei on Saturday, with nearly 65% ball possession, they didn’t create much, seeing their star striker Vlahovic make only six touches before being subbed off at the break. Timothy Weah replaced the Serbia international, but Juventus still struggled to create danger for Napoli.  Juventus players move well on the pitch, and the playing style has improved, but Motta’s men still struggle to squeeze past defenders who sit deep. PSV had played very openly in the Champions League on Tuesday, leaving much more space for the Bianconeri. Serie A is different and more tactical, so the coach will have to work on different solutions or hope for a quick Vlahovic improvement to find the net again against Genoa on Saturday.

Conte not a Juve ‘enemy’

The Italian tactician faced the Allianz Stadium crowd for the first time since leaving the club more than ten years ago. He was appointed by Inter and then Napoli, so many expected a hostile reception, but the ex-midfielder was treated like any other opponent. There were no chants against him and Conte even received a round of applause from most fans when he left the pitch after the final whistle. There were hard feelings towards the ex-Italy international when Inter appointed him in 2019. At that time, there was even a petition to remove a star with his name from outside the Allianz Stadium, but Conte faced the Bianconeri in three away games played behind closed doors during the COVID pandemic, so he never really faced the fans’ anger during his spell at Inter. Time has mitigated negative emotions towards the ex-Juventus coach, who had words of love for the Bianconeri after the final whistle. “Today, they [Juventus fans] saw me as an opponent,” he said at a press conference. “Me too, but they’ll never be enemies.”

New Napoli system

Those who wondered where Scott McTominay would play in Conte’s 3-4-2-1 system received a convincing and partially surprising answer on Saturday. The Italian tactician switched to a four-man defence, starting the ex-Manchester United man as an attacking midfielder in front of Stanislav Lobotka and Franck Andr Zambo-Anguissa. “The idea came to me because on the last day of the transfer market we got McTominay and Gilmour, plus brought Folorunsho back into the squad. The midfield then became a pretty strong group of players, and we had to make the most of that,” Conte explained in a post-match interview. The Scotland international looked pretty dangerous, especially in the first half, but finished the game with only 31 touches and 81% accurate passes. Stats, however, don’t say all. Conte said he was pretty happy with the team’s performance with a new system, although there is still work to do with attacking movements. The early signs are promising and surely Napoli will play with the same system again in some of the next few matches. Conte has often been accused of not having a ‘plan B’ beyond his 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1 system, but McTominay allows him to change his tactics and be even more attacking-minded and unpredictable, especially against teams that will defend deeper than Juventus.