Juventus player ratings vs Roma: Spectacular Dybala puts Juve back in 1st

Matthijs de Ligt 8/10

Matthijs de Ligt played well as a substitute in his first action of the year. He stood strong in the center of the defense to help hold off Roma’s comeback efforts. That was especially true when he made a potentially goal-saving tackle in the second half. Hopefully that shoulder is fully healed

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because de Ligt is about to go right back to getting all of the minutes he can handle.

Gonzalo Higuain 5.5/10

Gonzalo Higuain didn’t really impact this match in his substitute appearance, but he really should have. Yes, Juan Cuadrado is partly responsible for Juve not getting anything out of that counterattack, but Higuain needs to keep himself onside in that situation. Higuain has had some great substitute appearances this season, but this was not one of them.

Danilo 6/10

The bar wasn’t set very high, but Danilo was better than Juan Cuadrado in this match. He at least made a couple of interceptions to hold off the Roma comeback efforts and didn’t give Roma an easy target to attack. I think he may have gotten his job back in this match.

Manager: Maurizio Sarri 5/10

After 10 minutes, I was ready to give Maurizio Sarri a great grade for this match. Juve was playing fluid, attacking football and quickly took a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, the next 80 minutes left a lot to be desired. After that initial burst, Juve fell into their old habit of just trying to preserve the lead instead of putting the match completely out of reach. I also didn’t really understand the decision to sub Danilo on for Aaron Ramsey instead of just removing Cuadrado from the match. He also removed Dybala who had been playing well and was directly responsible for both goals. I continue to expect improvement from Juve, but it seems like they still can’t string together consecutive good performances. That falls on Sarri and he needs to start getting more out of his squad. This isn’t going to cut it in the Champions League.