Juventus' Four-Man Defence Opens Up Attacking Options That Must Be Taken

Seeing Juventus ease to victory over Serie A title-rivals Napoli should have been the start of a strong week for the Bianconeri, but a woefully negative UEFA Champions League outing darkened the mood.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri’s men were held to a 1-1 draw by Olympique Lyonnais in midweek, simultaneously failing to confirm qualification for the knockout rounds and handing Sevilla top spot in the group table.

That match was discussed at length in this previous post, and the Old Lady has the chance to make amends when she visits the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium later this month. However, supporters of the Italian side will hope to see a reaction from the team much sooner than that, starting with Sunday’s trip to Verona, where Chievo await.

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If there was one positive to take from the past two matches, it is that Allegri has found an alternative to the 3-5-2, with his usual formation often looking stale and negating too many of his quality players.

Indeed, shortly after kick-off against Napoli—where the visitors played without a recognised striker—the former AC Milan and Sassuolo coach realised that having a three-man defence with nobody to mark was hurting Juve’s own attacking prowess.

Switching to a more orthodox back four, Allegri made a change that was perhaps long overdue. The image below shows the back line not long after the in-game change against Napoli, with the most noteworthy points being the positions of Alex Sandro, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli.

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With Leonardo Bonucci joining that quartet on the pitch, many would suggest a four-man defence of Lichtsteiner-Barzagli-Bonucci-Chiellini, with Brazilian flyer Sandro moving forward into midfield.

Chiellini played as a left-back in the early years of his career, while Barzagli has always been a more traditional central defender. Yet it was the latter who pushed wide to the flank, with Lichtsteiner shifting into a more advanced role.

Barzagli gave a typically disciplined and polished performance, just as he had done last term against both Sevilla and Bologna—two occasions when Allegri fielded him as a full-back from the outset.

As the FourFourTwo Stats Zone graphic in the tweet above highlights, the 35-year-old was once again more than up to the task. His passing was unspectacular but reliable, he was defensively solid and he was never beaten for pace out wide despite lining up against Napoli’s speedy wingers.

Ahead of that back four, Juve then had a four-man midfield that their opponents should have outmanned. Yet Allegri countered Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri’s 4-3-3 framework by keeping Miralem Pjanic extremely narrow, thus ensuring the Partenopei could never control the central area.

As can be seen in the image below, Sarri’s trio of Allan, Amadou Diawara and Marek Hamsik were well-marshalled, and the Bianconeri actually benefited from an injury to Chiellini before half-time.

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That allowed Juan Cuadrado to enter the game, pushing Lichtsteiner back into defence as Barzagli and Bonucci both shuffled over. That barely affected the home side’s prowess without the ball, but when they were in possession, they had another weapon with which to break down Napoli.

Despite not being introduced until the 38th minute, statistics from WhoScored.com show that the Colombian winger created three clear scoring opportunities for his team-mates, representing a game high.

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In another neat tactical wrinkle, Sami Khedira pressed up on left-back Faouzi Ghoulam. As can be seen in the image above, the tweak created space on the flank that Cuadrado could repeatedly exploit.

With Khedira—who had already scored against Fiorentina and Lazio this season—a proven goal threat if given freedom to run into the box, Ghoulam had no choice but to track him. That left Cuadrado room to punish Napoli out wide, with the video below showing one example among many.

After such a strong win over a domestic title rival and with Chiellini sidelined due to that aforementioned injury, it was perhaps no surprise to see Juventus continue with the four-man defence in their Champions League clash with Lyon.

That afforded them an extra midfielder, and it was through the forward running of that exact player that the Bianconeri took the lead. Gonzalo Higuain’s pass to Stefano Sturaro saw the latter shoved over in the box; the Argentina international dispatched the spot-kick with ease a few moments later.

The Bianconeri conceded in both games, yet neither goal could actually be blamed on the formation. Against Lyon, a set piece resulted in an unmarked header—a moment of inattention that could in no way be blamed on Allegri reverting to 3-5-2 in the second half.

Meanwhile, against Napoli, the video above shows that it was a wonderful pass from Lorenzo Insigne that picked out Jose Callejon. The Spanish forward made no mistake in finishing past Gigi Buffon, but as Allegri told Sky Italia after the match, he was disappointed Callejon was not picked up.

“Callejon always makes that movement round the back of the defenders, and we should’ve seen him coming but were caught napping,” the coach said (h/t Football Italia). “We lifted the tempo, Napoli lost intensity and we compliment Napoli for playing very good football.”

Lyon’s goal was the first Juventus have conceded in Europe this term, yet they have been uncharacteristically generous at the back in 2016/17. Indeed, the side have kept just four clean sheets in 11 league matches this term, a record that must improve if the Bianconeri are to maintain their advantage at the top of the table.

The players are certainly aware of their shortcomings, with Patrice Evra telling Sky Italia (h/t Football Italia) that he expected the team to improve once the summer acquisitions settled in properly:

"

I’m not saying that everything is fine and we are playing great football, because I too am not satisfied with the performances of this team, as we can do 10 times better.

However, we’ve only been together for three months. There are new signings and it’s not easy, because it’s one thing to play for any team and quite another to play for Juventus.

Here you cannot get anything wrong. You get a draw and it’s the end of the world, if you lose a game then it seems as if someone has died.

"

It certainly felt that way after the dropped points against Lyon, but the new formation appears to have breathed some life into the Old Lady. Now comfortable in two different systems, Juventus need to improve their overall performances and deliver on the obvious potential of the squad.

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It is up to the coach to get his decisions right and the players to deliver consistently for 90-plus minutes, starting with Sunday’s meeting with Chievo. The Bianconeri have always been able to defend, but the tactical shift has opened up options further forward that they must now exploit.

Neither the three- nor four-man back lines have been perfect, but there was certainly evidence that the latter offers greater flexibility and space for the attacking talent at Allegri’s disposal to flourish.