19 January 2015
With Sunday’s 4-0 Serie A triumph over Hellas Verona signalling that the Bianconeri lead the way in Italy’s top flight at the halfway stage of the season, it’s only right that a thorough breakdown is applied ahead of the return leg of fixtures that starts with Chievo at the end of this week.
As the old adage goes in football, those teams who bag more and concede less win matches. And that has exactly been the case for Massimiliano Allegri’s men who have scored 42 and only let in nine, meaning they currently hold a +31 goal difference in the league.
The low tally of opposition strikes comes down to the fact that Juventus have restricted their adversaries to only 171 shots on goal – no Serie A outfit has registered a lesser amount.
During the course of 19 domestic outings, the Bianconeri have only gone behind for an incredible seven minutes. With the fact merely three teams have taken the lead against Allegri’s troops, there has been a sole side who have gone on to beat the reigning champions – Genoa at the Stadio Marassi back in October 2014.
Juventus have not tasted defeat since that 1-0 loss and are currently on a 10-game winning streak in the league, the longest out of any top flight team.
The Bianconeri have found themselves in front the most times during this season (16) and they’ve also been the most lethal in the first 15 minutes of games. Yesterday’s result coupled with December’s success in Sardinia has seen them score at least two goals in the opening quarter of an hour, and that has yet to have been eclipsed by anyone else.
Having dominated a multitude of encounters with their possession football, the Old Lady have averaged 59.9% throughout the course of the season. This statistic can only be bettered by Roma with 62.4%.
Victories don’t all boil down to possession however, it’s also how well you use the ball. 6432 out of Juventus’ total 10806 passes have been completed in opposition territory – a record in this Serie A season. Furthermore, Claudio Marchisio, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini are among the top six passers of the ball in Italy’s top flight.
Juventus have pulled the trigger 247 times against the 19 sides they have faced, only third-place Napoli can better that with two shots more.
And finally, who could forget Carlos Tevez’s contribution to the cause this season?
In terms of attempts, the Argentinean striker has powered 48 efforts towards the opposition net, with Paul Pogba second on 28. Tevez also shares the top of the leaderboard with regards to shots on target alongside compatriot Gonzalo Higuain on 26.
L’Apache’s double in yesterday evening’s win against the Gialloblu at Juventus Stadium means he currently leads the way as the league’s top goalscorer with 13 strikes to his name.
