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#3 A tale of contrasting debuts - Morata and Kumbulla
There was plenty of incredulity at the amount Juventus reportedly shelled out to bring Alvaro Morata to the club, and his performance did little to quell those doubts. Unlike his first spell at the club, Morata looked quite timid, and barring one well-timed run, offered little to his striking partner.
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Juventus brought Morata in primarily for his link-up capabilities, but the Spaniard looked out of sync with the rest of his teammates. It’s admittedly too soon to judge, but the initial impressions aren’t great, especially when the team’s cohesion improved after Morata was substituted.
In contrast, Maraash Kumbulla was fabulous for Roma, with the young defender barely putting a foot wrong despite his side conceding two goals. The centre-back looked composed for the most part, dealing with ease Juventus’ attempts to breach Roma's backline.
A few rash challenges betrayed his age, but overall, Kumbulla slotted into a three-man Roma defence with impressive ease.
#2 Is Fonseca the right man for AS Roma?
The shadow of Massimiliano Allegri loomed large over Paulo Fonseca going into this game, with rumours of the former Juventus manager interested in taking charge of Roma swirling around. With new club owners, the Friedkins, looking on, Fonseca delivered a relatively decent impression.
The Portuguese manager got his tactics spot on in the first half, with Roma set up to sit back and hit Juventus swiftly on the counter, which worked beautifully for the second goal. However, Fonseca’s tendency to make the wrong substitutions at the wrong time came back to haunt him.
Bruno Peres came on in the 68th minute and barely managed thirty seconds on the pitch before he was already culpable for allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to power a header with ease. Even after the equaliser, the Roma manager did little to freshen things up in attack, not pressing home the advantage of having an extra man on the pitch.
While a point at home to the defending champions is not a bad result, questions surely will be asked given Roma let a 2-1 lead slip with barely a competitive whimper against the ten men of Juventus.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo continues to bail Juventus out
Juventus may have walked away with a point at the Olimpico, but they really deserved very little from the game, especially as they barely threatened even when the game was 11 vs 11.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a get-out-of-jail-free card to most managers, and it didn’t take long for Andrea Pirlo to understand the advantage he has with Ronaldo’s aura on the pitch. The Portuguese talisman wasn’t very involved for much of the match as he struggled to dovetail with Alvaro Morata. Yet, he walked away from the game with a brace, like he’s done many times during his career.
Ronaldo’s heroics may have earned Juventus a point, but Pirlo would be foolish to count on it always, especially as their title rivals have strengthened and have their eyes set on denying Juventus a tenth consecutive Scudetto. If Juventus are to make a proper fist of things, Pirlo has to find ways to set the team up without developing an over-reliance on Ronaldo.
The brace from Ronaldo meant that he has now scored exactly 450 goals in Europe's top-5 leagues (Manchester United - 84, Real Madrid - 311, Juventus - 55).
