Juventus’ nightmare season continues with injuries to Weston McKennie and Fredrico Chiesa in loss to Atalanta

It’s been a week for Juventus. Everything is looking for them after beating Lazio. They then suffered their worst defeat ever in the Champions League, losing 4-0 to Chelsea. It couldn’t get any worse, could it? Well, what about? under investigation for financial fraud. And for the country of cherry blossoms, in the 0-1 loss to Atalanta, both Weston McKennie and Fredrico Chiesa had to withdraw due to injury.

Chiesa was sent out at halftime with a suspected left foot problem while McKennie was substituted in the 64th minute with a right knee sprain. Both will have to undergo further reviews but these are huge losses for Juventus. Chiesa is an irreplaceable player and manager Max Allegri has consistently called McKennie one of his most important midfielders. There won’t be much downtime either when the game against Salernitana is on Tuesday as we have two weeks of competition.

Moise Kean will likely replace Chiesa while McKennie’s replacement will depend on the lineup chosen due to his versatility. But as a number of new problems threaten Allegri’s second time with the club, something sooner or later has to come up. As for the United States men’s national team, there was also a lot of influence on McKennie’s results in McKennie’s sweeps with a World Cup Qualifier against El Salvador, Canada and, Honduras at the end of January.

Meanwhile, it was this match that marked another home loss for Allegri’s side, their third game of the season. Their defense played solid enough even though they conceded a goal. The team only conceded a total of seven shots, worth 0.49 xG. On another day, they very well could have kept a clean sheet and not conceded a goal by Duvan Zapata’s goal after 28 minutes. The problem came from the attack. With Chiesa out of action in the second half, Juventus simply couldn’t create any good chances and were forced to hit the field helplessly from distance. Sure, they took 15 shots, but only two on target. Their total xG is only 0.85 despite having to chase the match at home for more than 1 hour.

Specifically, the person who replaced Chiesa in the second half, Fernando Bernadeschi, was completely unable to influence the game. Despite taking three shots, the xG value of those attempts was just 0.11, reflecting iconic problems for the entire team. Juve simply had no idea what to attack. This is especially relevant as they are facing Atalanta, a team not exactly known for their solid defence. Even with the win, Atalanta played in a run-and-gun style with full-backs swarming across the pitch, pressing the flanks and attacking to try to extend the lead. If Juve can’t break them, how will they start attacking the more solid defensive side.

So if you’re watching at home, Juve’s week is over, and they’ve conceded two defeats, five goals conceded, no goals scored, two injuries and a criminal investigation to deal with. . Maybe next week will be better?