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Juventus player ratings vs Atalanta: Gonzalo Higuain keeps Juve atop Serie A

By John Vaccaro

Gonzalo Higuaín during Serie A match between Atalanta v Juventus, in Bergamo, November 23, 2019 (Photo by Loris Roselli).
Gonzalo Higuaín during Serie A match between Atalanta v Juventus, in Bergamo, November 23, 2019 (Photo by Loris Roselli). /
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GEWISS STADIUM, BERGAMO, ITALY – 2019/11/23: Miralem Pjanic (L) of Juventus FC is challenged by Mario Pasalic of Atalanta BC during the Serie A football match between Atalanta BC and Juventus FC. Juventus FC won 3-1 over Atalanta BC. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
GEWISS STADIUM, BERGAMO, ITALY – 2019/11/23: Miralem Pjanic (L) of Juventus FC is challenged by Mario Pasalic of Atalanta BC during the Serie A football match between Atalanta BC and Juventus FC. Juventus FC won 3-1 over Atalanta BC. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /

CM: Sami Khedira 0/10

This is getting absolutely ridiculous. It’s nearly December and Maurizio Sarri still has somehow failed to realize that Sami Khedira is absolutely awful. He has provided nothing positive to Juventus all season and in this match he was a massive liability. It started with a handball where Khedira’s arm was extended away from his body for absolutely no reason.

Luckily for him, Atalanta squandered that gift. Then in the second half, Khedira decided to just watch the match as a cross came in from the right wing and left Robin Gosens alone to head a goal home and give Atalanta the lead.

Somehow he still wasn’t Juve’s first sub, with Sarri instead electing to punish fans for 15 more minutes. I really hope he is gone in January just so Sarri can’t continue to ruin Juve’s starting lineup.

CM: Miralem Pjanic 6/10

Nothing Miralem Pjanic did in this match really stood out in a good way. Yes, he assisted Higuain’s first goal, but he didn’t put Higuain in a position where he had a clear scoring chance. Outside of that, Juve had trouble passing through Atalanta’s pressure, which is something you would hope Pjanic wouldn’t allow to happen consistently.

He also wasted his chance to once again be the free kick taker. With Cristiano Ronaldo unavailable, it looked like free kicks might actually be beneficial for Juve again, but instead, Pjanic did his best Ronaldo impression for the day.

His first free kick wasn’t all that close, but it was the second that was really disappointing. He was too far out, but that didn’t stop Pjanic from taking the shot, which missed badly, instead of sending the ball into the box to try and create a chance for a struggling attack. This was not a very good day for Pjanic.

CM: Rodrigo Bentancur 6/10

Rodrigo Bentancur wasn’t bad in this match, but he also wasn’t particularly good. He stepped into Blaise Matuidi‘s role in this match, but wasn’t able to do much with it. His impact on both ends was minimal, which was surprising on the defensive end.

I had hoped this would be the match that we’d see Bentancur step up his play in the role he’s best suited for, but he unfortunately didn’t make that happen. Subbing him off first instead of Khedira still didn’t make sense, but Bentancur needed to be better in this match.

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