Inter icon Giuseppe Bergomi argues that Juventus shot themselves in the foot by hauling off Khephren Thuram against Hellas Verona.

Like Kenan Yildiz, the French midfielder has been hampered by physical struggles in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Luciano Spalletti opted to start with both players on Sunday.

Despite dominating possession, Juventus found themselves trailing after 34 minutes following Gleison Bremer’s blunder, which culminated in Kieron Bowie’s opener.

Bergomi explains what went wrong for Juventus against Verona

Dusan Vlahovic entered the pitch after the interval. The Serbian’s introduction paid off, as he equalised the score in the 62nd minute with a spectacular free-kick. However, the home side wasn’t able to find a winner.

Lorenzo Montipo produced sensational saves to deny Francisco Conceicao and Edon Zhegrova, while the Bianconeri generally missed a killer edge.

As for Bergomi, Juve’s original sin was failing to find a breakthrough early in the match, despite dominating the action.

“In a game like this, you either break the deadlock early, which Juventus tried through Conceição and Bremer, or it becomes difficult,” said the legendary Italian defender during his post-match appearance on Sky Sport Italia via JuventusNews24.

“They got caught out on the first counterattack, and after that, it’s tough because Verona sit deep.”

“I understand that when you need to win and Verona hardly ever break forward, you can take off the full-backs and bring on one-on-one players, but it becomes difficult at that point.”

Did Spalletti make the wrong tactical tweak?

Spalletti opted for a more attacking approach in the second half, so he replaced Thuram with Vlahovic, while switching into a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Jonathan David dropping to a deeper role behind the Serbian.

However, Bergomi felt that this combination between the two attackers was largely a failure, with neither man benefiting from the partnership.

“The struggle to find the right position for David, and to some extent Vlahović, was clear. They also lacked shots from distance, which are crucial when a team sits deep like Verona.”

“And taking off Thuram didn’t help in that sense,” concluded the 62-year-old.

Bergomi certainly has a point when it comes to the Vlahovic-David combination. Many had suggested that the Canadian could act as part of the support cast, but he’s not necessarily cut out for this role, and seemed to be struggling when making runs with the ball from deep areas.

Spalletti would be better off deploying a more creative player, like Yildiz or Edon Zhegrova, in the attacking midfielder/second striker role.

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