Juventus at a crossroads as Vlahovic, Allegri and youngsters fluff their lines

Massimiliano Allegri could only find one explanation for Juventus’s 2-1 defeat by Napoli. “Football was invented by the devil,” he said. “A badly-struck penalty but the ball winds up in the net, then [Daniele] Rugani misses from two metres out at the other end.”

Long-time observers had heard this turn of phrase before; the devil is one of Allegri’s go-to scapegoats. On a weekend that began with Lazio receiving three red cards in a brutally bad-tempered defeat to Milan, it made a refreshing change from talking about referees.

Related: Title is Leverkusen’s to lose as Alonso shows he is far from a one-trick pony | Andy Brassell

The Juventus manager has sometimes been accused himself of making football diabolical. Through the first half of this season, it seemed as though his Bianconeri were trying to win the title in the stingiest way possible. A string of one-goal wins was lowlighted by their visit to Fiorentina in November, when they prevailed with 31% possession, attempting four shots to their opponents’ 25.

Juventus had a similar share of the ball at the Stadio Diego Maradona on Sunday, yet their approach could hardly have been more different. A willingness to take chances was signalled by a starting XI that included the 20-year-old Samuel Iling-Junior at left wing-back and 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz (no, not that Carlos Alcaraz!) on the right of a midfield three. Both were making their first Serie A starts of this season.

Napoli, playing their fourth game under new manager Francesco Calzona, have been relearning how to build from the back. Juventus acted as though they had no time for such niceties. In the 10th minute, Federico Chiesa blocked a clearance, ran the ball down and took one touch before crossing for Dusan Vlahovic, who headed narrowly off target. A pattern was set.

Time and again Juventus breaks ended with Vlahovic off target. In the 34th minute he ran onto a brilliant Chiesa through-pass and lifted a chip over Napoli’s Alex Meret, only to see his shot come back off the inside of the far post. In the 45th, Rugani dispossessed Hamed Traorè and the ball ran to Vlahovic on the edge of the box. His first-time shot flew just outside the top-right corner.

Between those latter two opportunities, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave Napoli the lead: hooking home a volley after Bremer could only half clear a cross by Giovanni Di Lorenzo. This was no smash-and-grab; the hosts played plenty of enterprising football of their own during a wide-open first half, but Juventus went in at the break wondering how they had failed to score themselves.

At full time, Vlahovic would take the blame all on himself, saying that a team like Juventus should be able to count on its centre-forward to do his job of putting the ball in the net. “If I want to take that last step and become what I want to become, I have to take these chances,” he said. “There’s nothing else to say, I had important opportunities that could have won this game.”

A more charitable assessment would acknowledge that a different striker might not have put himself in the positions to have those chances. Juventus’s decision to invest more than €70m into signing Vlahovic from Fiorentina in 2022 has drawn plenty of negative scrutiny, the striker managing just 10 Serie A goals last season. Some have accused him of lacking the finesse one ought to expect of such an expensive player.

In recent times, though, Vlahovic has been flourishing. He arrived for this game on a run of eight goals in his last six appearances. The only problem is that his team’s title challenge has unravelled in the meantime.

A loss to Internazionale in the Derby d’Italia seemed to puncture the belief of a group who had been performing beyond expectations. How do you stay motivated to chase down an opponent that never loses? Inter are on course for 100 points and have only trailed in two league games all season, for a combined total of fewer than 40 minutes.

Juventus’s defeat at San Siro was only the second they had suffered all season. But they followed it up immediately with a third, losing at home to Udinese, then drew with Verona. They had collected just five points from five games leading into Sunday’s match.

Related: Farioli’s philosophy leaves shackled Nice in a slump and lacking a plan B | Luke Entwistle

Napoli’s’ form was not much better, though a midweek 6-1 clobbering of Sassuolo gave them a boost. The miserable series of events that led them to Calzona becoming their third manager of this season was covered in last week’s column, but there has been marked improvement.

How much is owed to the manager, and how much to the return of Victor Osimhen? Calzona pointed out again on Sunday that “you can’t work miracles in 10 days”. Giacomo Raspadori said the main achievement of the new staff was simply to “help us hit that mental reset”.

Juventus did find a way back into the game on Sunday, equalising in the 81st minute when Federico Chiesa fired through a crowd. Juve then gifted the points right back to Napoli when Joseph Nonge trod on Osimhen’s ankle inside their area moments later. The Nigerian’s penalty was saved by Wojciech Szczesny but Raspadori forced home the rebound.

It was a miserable night for Nonge, 18 and making only his second-ever Serie A appearance. He had only been sent on in the 76th minute but was subbed off again in the 90th.

Assessing and developing young talent will be a priority for Juventus in the closing chapter of this campaign. Allegri responded to the four-year doping suspension handed down to Paul Pogba on Thursday by saying that Juventus were “losing an extraordinary player”, though it feels more like they never got him back to begin with – the Frenchman appeared on the pitch for just 160 minutes across eight Serie A games since his return in 2022.

This season always had the feel of a transitional moment for Juventus, banned from European competition and deprived of another key midfielder when Nicolò Fagioli was suspended for gambling. With a squad already short on world-class talent, Allegri’s choice to prioritise defensive structure and solidity during the first-half of the campaign made sense. Despite Sunday’s loss, Juventus remain on target to qualify for the Champions League and have reached the semi-final of the Coppa Italia.

Lazio 0-1 Milan, Torino 0-0 Fiorentina, Monza 1-4 Roma, Udinese 1-1 Salernitana, Napoli 2-1 Juventus, Atalanta 1-2 Bologna, Frosinone 1-1 Lecce, Empoli 0-1 Cagliari, Verona 1-0 Sassuolo

More adventurous recent performances and team selections could be viewed as Allegri’s pitch to remain and take the next steps. His contract is due to expire in 2025, and he said last week that he was waiting for Juventus to let him know their plans for next season. There have been suggestions that he will walk away if not offered an extension.

“Every year around this time, whether Juventus are doing well or badly, along comes the ‘Allegri dilemma’,’” said the manager on Sunday night. “I think right now the Allegri problem does not exist. We have a season ongoing, and we need to focus on reaching objectives we have not reached yet.”