05 October 2016
Before looking in detail at Juventus’ collective and individual figures so far this season, for now and indeed come May, there is just one number that counts.
After six wins and one defeat in the opening seven fixtures of the campaign, the Bianconeri sit atop the Serie A table with 18 points, four clear of Napoli and eight more than they had accrued by the same stage last year.
The reigning champions’ early status as league leaders is fruit, once again, of the top flight’s meanest defence that has conceded just four times so far, keeping three consecutive clean sheets along the way, while limiting their opponents to just 47 shots, both records for the division.
Once they win the ball back, Massimiliano Allegri’s men often redistribute it wisely; defenders Andrea Barzagli (323), Giorgio Chiellini (322) and Alex Sandro (304) lead the way for successful passes at club level, followed by midfielders Mario Lemina (276) and Miralem Pjanic (270).
Although Allegri’s side sit behind Napoli for both the number of attempted passes (3787) and their completion rate (86.03 per cent vs. 87.75), they top the charts for end product in the penalty box.
No other side has registered more efforts on target (51) with only Roma bettering the Old Lady’s tally of 132 shots in total, a large proportion of which have unsurprisingly come from the boots of Gonzalo Higuain (22) and Paulo Dybala (23), both firmly in the division’s top ten individually.
The beginning of the former’s Juventus career has undoubtedly been one of efficiency and clinical finishing. Pipita’s six strikes see him share the lead with Mauro Icardi and Carlos Bacca in the race for the golden boot, scoring on average every 66 minutes.
For overall contribution, few players in the country can match the efforts of Alex Sandro.
The Brazilian has created more scoring opportunities (20), delivered more crosses from open play (43), retrieved possession on more occasions (51) and completed more tackles than any other Juve player while his total of 565 touches puts him fourth in the league-wide rankings.
With a well-earned international break on the way, Allegri’s charges will no doubt be looking to pick up where they left off for the visit of Udinese at Juventus Stadium in 12 days’ time.
