09 November 2015
There are plenty of positives to take away from yesterday’s win at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, as the Bianconeri recorded back-to-back league victories this term.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men showed the sort of cutting edge in attack that had been lacking from previous games, as they netted three of their four efforts on target.
Incidentally, they had less shots than their hosts (11 to 12), the third-highest amount conceded to Serie A opponents this season behind Napoli (13) and Roma (18).
Despite this fact, the visitors saw a greater amount of the ball than Empoli (53.6 per cent), won back possession more times (61 to 54) and made a higher number of interceptions (19 to 14). Marco Giampaolo’s men, meanwhile, won considerably more of their 50-50s (59.4 per cent to 40.6).
This was Juventus’ second win from a losing position in the league following October’s outing against Bologna (also 3-1) and their third in all competitions after September’s 2-1 triumph over Manchester City.
While the victory had the novelty factor of seeing the Bianconeri score three goals away from home for the first time this season, the unfortunate statistic of conceding at the opposition’s maiden shot on target repeated itself for a seventh occasion in Serie A when Massimo Maccarone opened the scoring at the Castellani.
On an individual level, Mario Mandzukic found the net for the fourth time this year in all competitions. The Old Lady have won every match in which the Croatian has got on the scoresheet – Lazio (Super Cup), Manchester City (Champions League), Atalanta (Serie A) and now against Empoli.
Patrice Evra celebrated his second ever goal in Italy’s top tier. His first, incidentally, was also a header from a corner in last December’s 1-1 draw at home to Sampdoria.
Paulo Dybala, meanwhile, continues to lead the side’s scoring charts, yesterday’s strike constituting his sixth in total since arriving in Turin during the summer.
Other team-highs worthy of a mention from yesterday’s match are Evra’s 73 touches, Leonardo Bonucci’s 57 passes and Juan Cuadrado’s three tackles won and as many chances created.
