Punishment or tactical tweak – Why did Allegri sub out Joseph Nonge?

The final minutes of the showdown between Napoli and Juventus certainly delivered the drama, with Joseph Nonge at the center of the action.

The 18-year-old is a young midfielder who has been developing through the club’s ranks since 2021.

Due to the midfield crisis, Max Allegri resorted to his services in the 76th minute of the clash at Maradona Stadium.

Sadly for the Belgian, he committed an ill-advised challenge on Victor Osimhen which resulted in a late spot-kick that yielded the winner for the Partenopei.

Afterwards, Allegri raised eyebrows by hauling off the midfielder in injury time, prematurely ending his cameo after just 15 minutes.

Many fans and observers felt it was a punitive measure and were thus irked by the manager’s decision. They considered it an uncalled-for substitution that could leave a scare on the teenager’s morale and confidence.

However, La Stampa (via IlBianconero) sees it otherwise, claiming that Allegri didn’t mean to punish Nonge, but rather opted for a last-ditch tactical switch.

The source argues that the manager decided to introduce his more experienced players, Danilo and Arkadiusz Milik in his futile search for a second equalizer.

But regardless of the coach’s intention, this was most probably a hard pill to swallow for the young midfielder who has already apologized to his teammates and the fans.

This was only the midfielder’s second Serie A appearance of the season. While he started the campaign as part of the Juventus Next Gen squad, he has been receiving recurring call-ups from the first team in recent months.