Juventus 1 – Cremonese 0

Initial reaction and random observations

Get the points and head back home. That’s all that matters.

As Juventus went into the World Cup break on a six-game domestic winning streak, I don’t think anybody could deny that not every one of those wins were exactly pretty. While they were wins and three points earned, it’s not like the overall team performances were plenty to write (good things) home about.

As Juventus made it seven straight on Wednesday night, that fact still remained.

In what could have been a somewhat predictable showing in many people’s eyes based on the fact that they haven’t played a competitive game together in 52 days, Juve were saved by Arek Milik’s stoppage-time free kick that just snuck into the bottom corner of the Cremonese goal. The 91st-minute goal gave Juventus the 1-0 win and extended its winning streak against Serie A opposition on a night in which the overall team performance in the first game back from the World Cup break was completely reminiscent of so many bad Max Allegri 2.0 showings of the past 18 months.

Juve needed to use every bit of luck in this one, and thankfully they didn’t drop points to a relegation battler … again.

Could Marco Carnesecchi have done better on the shot? Yeah, definitely.

Could Carnesecchi have set up his wall (with a fourth man) to help himself out? Absolutely.

But that left-footed bolt of lightning from Milik had one destination from the get-go and it was up to the young Italian keeper to try and stop it. He didn’t, and suddenly Juventus players, coaches and fans alike finally had something good to celebrate.

And probably a reason to exhale, too.

I know I did. I’m guessing that some of you reading this post did the same. It was most definitely one of those nights in which Juve’s overall product was not very good or anything close to it.

But, the end result was thankfully one that Juve needed to both keep the winning streak (and shutout streak) going as well as simply keep pace with those in front of them at minimum.

With the amount of shots Juventus ended up creating (19), there’s no reason why this game should have been decided in second-half stoppage time. At the same time, though, Juve could have easily found themselves down after Cremonese hit the post not once but twice in the second half. This could have been even worse than relying on a last-minute free kick that just snuck in past the diving keeper. It could have been a lot worse.

The good thing is that it wasn’t.

Thanks to Arek Milik, we can talk about Juventus’ winning streak being intact rather than referring to this as an “unbeaten streak” heading into the weekend against Udinese.

That’s better than the alternative. And after over 50 days of no Juventus to talk about, I’m fine talking about Juve eking out a win rather than being dumb and dropping points against a club they have no business dropping points against.