LW: Cristiano Ronaldo
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Cristiano Ronaldo. 2 weeks ago he missed a penalty against Chievo Verona. Then he followed that up by struggling to make any kind of impact on the match against Lazio until he scored a late penalty to win the match. He followed that up with a disappearing act against Atalanta when Juventus desperately needed him to produce some magic. There are some who think that Ronaldo could use a day off (something I’d be okay with if it didn’t mean Dybala would start on the wing). Whether he really needs that day off or not, what he really could use right now would is a goal or two from the run of play. Juventus could probably use a match like that from him too.
ST: Mario Mandzukic
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For a little while there it looked like Juventus would survive Mario Mandzukic’s absence unscathed, but Wednesday’s performance changed that. Without Mandzukic the squad has lacked a target in the middle and their refusal to even give Moise Kean a chance made sure to keep it that way. Now with Mandzukic back the wings will finally have somebody to send crosses in to and if Juve starts two real wings in their matches going forward then Mandzukic should be even more formidable after his injury than he was before. I’m pretty excited to see Mandzukic back out there.
RW: Douglas Costa
This is the change Juventus desperately needs. If it hadn’t already become clear to Massimiliano Allegri that the team is worse off with Paulo Dybala deployed on the right wing then it should be quite clear after Wednesday’s debacle. Douglas Costa has looked good in most of his starts this season and deserves a shot to make this spot his. Now is the time for Juve to take a look at how to truly get the best out of their squad.
We’re only 2 weeks away from Juve’s match against Atletico and I can just about guarantee Juventus will need either Costa or Federico Bernardeschi in the starting lineup to beat Atletico.