#4 No Pjanic, less of a party
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It is hard to criticise Juventus too much, but in the second half they did lose control somewhat, and a superior side than Lazio could have hurt them more. Miralem Pjanic would certainly not have let the game pass him by, while Tomas Rincon definitely has improvements to make to his game if he is to become a regular feature in Max Allegri’s plans.
The lack of experience in that area of the pitch became evident for Juve, with Sami Khedira still absent, which is ironic given the average age of the team on the night was over 30, even without Gianluigi Buffon. Anderson was able to put pressure on deep in Juve’s midfield, while Milinkovic-Savic was also able to find pockets of space too.
It was also no surprise to see Paulo Dybala withdrawn in the second half, because he was not afforded the same freedom as he was the first and barely impacted the game.
Pjanic is better higher up the pitch, but he can dictate the play well in the deeper role, as he was made to in the first half against former club Roma on Sunday night. Some would say Juve took their foot off the gas to manage the game, but that was definitely not the case. A stronger midfield would have eased them towards victory.
