It has been a difficult few months for Juventus, their Champions League final loss to Real Madrid exposing some serious issues within Max Allegri’s squad. Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci both forced their way out of the club over the summer, the departure of the latter to AC Milan shifting the entire landscape of Italian football. His exit arguably makes the Rossoneri instant title contenders, while the gaping hole he left behind in Turin has been highly evident in the Old Lady’s early showings this season.
Ruthlessly dispatched by Lazio in the Supercoppa Italiana, the Bianconeri had looked extremely fragile before the recent international break, falling two goals behind against Genoa before fighting back to win 4-2. That fixture showcased both the best and worst of the current group but, as they prepare to take on Barcelona at Camp Nou on Tuesday, it appears their intelligent Coach has recognised some of the problems.
“You need to do well defensively and in attack to win trophies, so we got it wrong defensively in the Champions League Final with Real Madrid and that is why we lost” – Max Allegri
Allegri switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation back in January due to a lack of depth in central midfield, a system that pressed Mario Mandzukic into a role on the left wing. The Croatian striker – along with Juan Cuadrado on the opposite flank – ran tirelessly to make it work, but both Real Madrid and Lazio exposed its shortcomings.
The team were swamped in the middle of the park, outclassed and outplayed first by Casemiro and Luka Modric, then Sergej Milinković-Savić. Without a strong platform to protect the defence and build their own attacks, Juve became disjointed as Paulo Dybala was sucked deeper and deeper in search of the ball. That left Gonzalo Higuain isolated up front and suddenly the smooth, confident side were struggling to create chances or find holes in opposition defences as easily as they had before.
That all changed in a comfortable demolition of Chievo on Saturday, Allegri making some much-needed alterations to both his tactical approach and the XI he sent into action. Stefano Sturaro and Blaise Matuidi were included in the starting lineup, forming a three-man midfield with Douglas Costa deployed behind two strikers.
Defensively this helped prevent Juve from being outnumbered, often seeing Costa and Mario Mandzukic drop into wide areas to deny space to Chievo’s full-backs, as shown in the image above. Given that the Veronese side are usually a blunt attacking force, this was clearly a move to practice the way the Bianconeri will seek to nullify Barca’s wide players when they face off on Tuesday.
In possession, the Turin giants were happy to give Costa a free role, but it was only when the Brazilian was replaced by Paulo Dybala that they fully took control of the game. Their Spanish opponents will need little introduction to the rising star, having pursued him this summer as a replacement for Neymar, while his two goals against them in the quarter-finals last term will undoubtedly be fresh in the memory.
Introduced midway through the second half Dybala against Chievo, he still completed five take-ons and finished off a solo run with his fifth league goal in just 216 minutes of play. That the last Juve player to net that many times in the opening three games was Alessandro Del Piero back in 2002 highlights just how sharp he has been, while also highlighting the improvement he has made since inheriting the club’s hallowed No.10 shirt.
“La Joya” has been sensational in the first few weeks of the season, but performing like that against Cagliari, Genoa and Chievo is one thing. Barcelona are a vastly different proposition, but one that the Bianconeri and Dybala proved they were more than capable of handling last term.
They will now look to do so again, fully prepared for what lies ahead and seemingly having learned the lessons of recent harsh defeats.
