UEFA Champions League| Juventus vs Ajax: Three reasons Juventus might be eliminated at Turin

#2 Lack of proper gameplan and midfield superiority

Matuidi had a poor outing against Ajax.

Does Max Allegri really look a man with a plan? What was his plan against Ajax? Was he trying to keep the score at 1-1 on purpose? Or was he trying to get the second goal and almost seal the tie at Amsterdam? We don't know. We don't know what Juventus' intentions were in the away leg and if they are satisfied by it. From Juventus' antics on the pitch, it seemed that they didn't have a gameplan. If somehow they did have a plan and they were coaxed by Ajax to not stick to it, then there is no hope left for the Bianconeri.

For the majority of the game, Juventus' plan was to go with the flow of the game, i.e. let Ajax do what they try and act according to it. If you think it was a one-off, then you are wrong. At Atleti's home, Juve lacked gameplan. When they came back home, did they have one? They crossed into the box and prayed that Ronaldo gets his head to it. If Atleti kept things strong at the back, which they didn't, the result would have been different. To be blunt, Juve progressed mostly due to Ronaldo's individual brilliance, and the remaining credit should be going to his team, but it tilts to Atleti's attitude to the game. Had Atleti been solid defensively, who other than Ronaldo and Bernardeschi was imposing?

Talking about midfield. Does Juventus even have a midfield? It looks completely dead and the players have no connection with the forward line. There is no bridging the gap between defense and attack. Bentancur and Matuidi had 44 combined passes. Including Pjanic they had 77 combined passes. Is this how a midfield operates? At least pass amongst yourself, at least pass backward, sideways, anyway, this would have slowed Ajax's tempo down. But this midfield just helped their defense out and hoped to get the ball forward on the counter.

It is a clear lack of gameplan and maybe that is halting the midfield's progression too. It happened at the Wanda. Apparently, get the ball to Ronaldo was the only aim from Juve, which paid off. But teams like Tottenham are leading going into the second leg with a lead, and they have their coach and midfield to thank for it and not Harry Kane.