A win at Frosinone, and a centre-forward nobody noticed
Juventus opened their Serie A season on Sunday with a 1-0 win at Frosinone. Bremer got the goal. The result was there. The cutting edge was not.
Randal Kolo Muani drew a blank on his return to Piedmont, a year on from his first spell. That loan had gone well enough: 8 goals in 16 league games, first under Thiago Motta and then Igor Tudor. He spent last season at Tottenham before coming back this summer.
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The DAZN answer that landed like a slap
Luciano Spalletti did not let it slide. Asked about the Frenchman after the game, the new Juventus boss backed the signing, then dropped a line that will follow Kolo Muani around all season. Juventus went after him knowing exactly what he could do, he said, before adding: “he has to realise that if he has not played for two years, there must be a reason.”
The rest was blunter still. “He knows how to keep the ball, find space, he is strong physically, but these are matches where he has to score goals,” Spalletti said. Link-up play will not buy him time.
Three coaches in two seasons, three sets of demands
Kolo Muani knows the routine by now. This is his third head coach in two seasons in Turin and every one of them has wanted something different from him. Spalletti wants a finisher, not a target man.
He has the experience to absorb a public warning. The calendar is less forgiving. Juventus expect to be near the top this year and their number 9 gets judged on goals. The next test arrives fast.
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