some random observations:
- friuli looks very nice. they only kept the main tribune (left side on my pic) from the old stadium, moved the pitch closer to the stands, and built the remaining 3 sides accordingly. great way to keep some of the old vibes and make it feel more intimate.
- we have a monster of a team, and it was obvious even more against a lower side like udinese. we allowed them nothing at all. their best chances were 2 long-range shots, and that says a lot. i bet they couldn't manage to make 5 accurate passes inside our penalty area.
- scuffet has great reflexes and can read the game very well, but he's way off of woj with his feet. while szczesny's long passes were mostly accurate, and he basically never missed the intended target with either foot, scuffet's right foot passes are meh, his lefty passes are simply terrible. i went to the match with a mate who was a 1st division keeper and is currently a goalie coach himself, and he said that scuffet would be an awesome keeper if he could improve on his passing.
- bonucci had a good game overall, his long passes are perfect, but he's a liability at the back. he needs to play all matches to get back to his best form.
- we probably have the best fullback pair of the last 20 years. both cancelo and sandro closed their respective flanks, and always caused some trouble to the hosts when going forward. cancelo improved a lot without the ball, he never had a shaky moment when defending.
- i simply love pjanic's football, so effortless and easy going.
- when watching juve matches on tv, i rarely rate bentancur. i saw him live twice, and boy, was he impressive. dead calm on the ball, almost perfect positioning, very disciplined tactically (for instance, his moves when cancelo went forward were perfectly orchestrated, and he's also marchisio's heir as our last man during corners), he has a very complex role, and he lives up to it despite being only 21 and playing only his 2nd season in italy. he fully deserved allegri's post-match praise.
- mandzukic, what a fucking beast, his workrate is enormous. he assisted cr, won most of his aerial duels, he was a constant threat despite not scoring. also, the guest sectors remained silent for most of the match, but started those 'mario, mario' chants a couple of times. it looks like everybody loves him.
- cr's maximalist approach made a huge impact on the team. his speed, his goal, wow. he takes it all very seriously. still, he made a fun gesture towards scuffet after that great save, so as the goals started to come, now he looks more relaxed i guess.
- it looked like the hosts feared berna, and they better did. it's so obvious that he's the next best thing in italian football. so confident, so unpredictable, i hope max plays him against manure.
- dybala looked tired and uninspired.
- overall, we have unbelievable quality in our squad. the team's approach became as attacking as ever, while keeping a solid defense. every piece of the puzzle ticks perfectly, even matuidi or can, who had meh games to their standards. i can't believe we're so good so early into the new season.
- udinese as a team had a very quiet game, still, fofana was some fun with his relentless running. yeah, that made him stand out. i'm a fan of mandragora, i hope he makes it back to our squad in a couple of years, so i wasn't too pleased with his completely anonymous display.
tl;dr: mandzu's first half heatmap says it all.