Juventus 2-3 Tottenham: 3 players who failed to impress for the Old Lady

Juventus v Tottenham Hotspur - 2019 International Champions Cup

Maurizio Sarri has plenty of work to do after Juventus failed to beat Tottenham in the International Champions Cup.

Juventus have been busy in the transfer market lately. They have brought in several prominent players such as Adrien Rabiot, Aaron Ramsey and Matthijs de Ligt so far.

However, the Old Lady were dominated in the first half of the preseason game. Most of Juventus's chances were coming from Cristiano Ronaldo's individual efforts. On the other hand, the midfielders struggled to control the game despite Sarri fielding experienced players in that area.

Ronaldo was wasteful in the first half of the game, missing several easy chances. Fortunately, the Portuguese managed to score in the second half.

New signing Matthijs de Ligt was able to impress, and Gonzalo Higuain's performance was also praiseworthy.

Nevertheless, most of Juventus's first-team players were poor as the Old Lady suffered defeat in their first International Champions Cup game. Without further ado, let's take a look at 3 players who failed to impress the most.

1. Daniele Rugani

Juventus recently signed three new center-backs in the form of Matthijs de Ligt, Cristian Romero and Merih Demiral, and the club seem to have a strong reason to do so. Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci are not getting any younger, and so Juventus need to invest big in center-backs.

However, Daniele Rugani's underwhelming display might also contribute to Juventus's spending spree. The former Empoli player was overshadowed by Chiellini and Bonucci last season. He failed to prove his worth once again, as he was at fault for Tottenham's first goal in the preseason game.

The 24-year-old took too long to stop Tottenham's Troy Parrot, leaving Gianluigi Buffon wide open. Buffon was able to deny Parrot's shot, but Erik Lamela managed to capitalize on the chance in the end.

Rugani was replaced with Demiral in the second half.

2. Blaise Matuidi

Juventus seem set to offload the Frenchman following the arrival of Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey. The Old Lady now have a bulky midfield consisting of Miralem Pjanic, Rodrigo Bentancur, Emre Can and Sami Khedira in addition to the three previously mentioned players. However, Matuidi and Khedira are the likeliest players to depart from Turin.

Bought for €20 million from Paris Saint-Germain two years ago, Matuidi was excellent in his first two seasons with the club. Unfortunately though, the Old Lad will need to replace the 32-year-old sooner or later due to the player's age.

Matuidi's decline was evident in the Tottenham game. He was too slow and predictable while his passes were sub-par.

The former PSG man was rather anonymous throughout the game, failing to make an impact in both attack and defense. Thus, Juventus now have an even stronger reason to sell him.

#3 Mattia de Sciglio

Many Juventus fans questioned Massimiliano Allegri when the then Juventus manager decided to start Mattia de Sciglio ahead of Joao Cancelo in the second leg of the Ajax game. The former AC Milan star had a tough spell last season, making just 19 appearances as a starter.

He also failed to prove his doubters wrong in the Tottenham game. The 26-year-old struggled to contain Kyle Walker-Peters throughout the game. He was involved in Ronaldo's goal in the 60th minute, but his overall defensive work was poor. Walker-Peters outpaced him on several occasions, and the Italian was also nowhere to be found during Spurs' first goal.

Surprisingly, De Sciglio managed to play for a full 90 minutes. He played as a left-back during the game despite playing mostly as a right-back last season. Nevertheless, De Sciglio might still have a place in Sarri's plans if Joao Cancelo departs.

Edited by Musab Abid