Juventus player ratings vs Fiorentina: Absolutely disastrous debut for Sarri

Federico Bernardeschi 5.5/10

In his first meaningful appearance of the year for Juventus, Federico Bernardeschi was pretty average. I’m sure his performance was at least partially due to the fact that the only other match this season where he has played more than 18 minutes came against Armenia last week, but I think that this match really highlighted how important Douglas Costa will be for Juventus this season. Bernardeschi wasn’t able to create any of the matchup problems Costa does on the outside and he seemed as bereft of ideas to break down the Fiorentina defense as the rest of the squad. Bernardeschi will get better as he regains his form with regular playing time, but it looks like there is going to be a pretty big difference between Juve with Costa and Juve with Bernardeschi.

Rodrigo Bentancur 5.5/10

At least now we know that it is possible for Rodrigo Bentancur to get on the field for Juventus.

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Unfortunately it took a Miralem Pjanic injury to get some playing time instead of Juve realizing he is a better option than Khedira or Matuidi. Bentancur wasn’t able to make much of an impact for Juve in his 46 minutes, but it’s hard to expect too much from him as a surprise substitute after playing 0 minutes in Juve’s first 2 matches. If Pjanic misses time with his injury then Bentancur should expect all of the time he can handle in the near future. Hopefully that helps him find the form that had Juve fans so excited last season.

Juan Cuadrado 6.5/10

I didn’t think I’d ever see Juan Cuadrado as an improvement over an actual right back for Juventus, but that’s what we got against Fiorentina. Danilo didn’t offer anything at all in the match, but when Cuadrado came on he was at least able to create some kind of threat on the right wing. I’m terrified by the idea that Juan Cuadrado will be Juve’s only option at right back until Danilo returns, but he was at least a positive presence in this match.

Manager: Maurizio Sarri 3/10

The Sarri Era had gotten off to a great, but Sarri unfortunately made quite a few mistakes in his first appearance on the sidelines for Juve. I’ve already ranted about the first mistake. Starting Sami Khedira in 2019 just doesn’t make sense, especially with players like Rabiot, Bentancur, and Emre Can on the bench. Blaise Matuidi shouldn’t;t be starting anymore either. He still has more left in the tank than Khedira, but Juve’s younger players are better suited to Sarri’s system. Tactically, I don’t really know what Sarri’s plan was in this match. That beautiful, free-flowing attacking that we saw from Juve before the international break was nowhere to be found against Fiorentina. Even worse, Juve can’t be given a pass for their second half struggles anymore. At least in the first two matches, when Juve wasn’t great in the second half it could be blamed on the fact that their manager wasn’t actually with them at half time to make changes.

He was in the locker room at halftime and didn’t seem to change anything in the second half. Juve came out with the same lack of creativity or ideas on how to beat the Fiorentina defense. If it weren’t for the fact that this team continued to be decimated by injuries in the first hour of this match, I might have given Sarri a 0/10. I had high hopes for Sarri’s first match with Juventus and he produced an absolute dud.