Massimiliano Allegri Must Make 2 Key Changes for Juventus to Improve

Juventus' flop against Olympiakos on Wednesday was revolting to the team's fans and emblematic of the team's continuing problems in European competition.  It should also mark a turning point in the team's season.

Indeed, the game revealed two major points that, if Massimiliano Allegri addresses properly, may be able to turn Juve back into the monster that it has been the last three seasons—and maybe take them to new heights.

First, the formation has to change.

When Allegri took charge following Antonio Conte's surprise resignation, he toyed with formation changes in preseason training.  So far, however, he has remained wedded to the 3-5-2 that Conte used for the vast majority of his tenure in charge.  There were pragmatic reasons for keeping things the way they were.  With such an abrupt change, it was easier to keep the players in a shape they knew than to try to change things wholesale in the space of one preseason campaign.  Injuries—both in preseason and over the course of the season—have also kept several players who would be key to other formations on the sidelines.

But the last week has made it clear that the 3-5-2's run might finally be at an end.  Both the Olympiakos game and last weekend's draw against Sassuolo saw Juve struggle in the 3-5-2 in the first half.  They also saw the team come alive when Allegri changed formations midway through the game.

Against the Greeks, in particular, the change was striking.  With 13 minutes left, Allegri removed Angelo Ogbonna and replaced him with Roberto Pereyra, creating a 4-2-3-1.  Juve had already clawed a foothold after Andrea Pirlo—who is clearly not back to full fitness after his preseason injury—was replaced by Claudio Marchisio, roared.  They pushed hard for an equalizer and were twice denied one by fantastic saves from Roberto Gago.

It's becoming clear that Allegri doesn't know how to get the most out of the 3-5-2.  That's understandable considering he's never used anything resembling the system before in his career.  Given that, the logical move is to change formations.

Why Allegri hasn't done it yet is puzzling.  He may be waiting for some injuries to heal.  In September he was quoted by the website of transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio that he couldn't use a four-man defense "until I have the personnel to do it."

That might mean he's waiting on the injured Andrea Barzagli, who has shown himself to be more effective in a back four than Leonardo Bonucci.  Given that Barzagli might not return until January, he may not have that luxury.

Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

It may be considered dangerous to make a wholesale formation change in the middle of the season, but Conte did the same thing during his unbeaten 2011-12 season when he changed from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2.  A large segment of the current roster are veterans of that change.

Whatever the reason for staying, in the last week his team has simply played better from a formation with a four-man line.  Allegri obviously knows how to utilize those systems better.  Rather than persist in something he isn't good at, Allegri should shift to his own strength.

The other point Allegri needs to address has to do with tactics rather than formation.  Specifically, it has to do with possession.

As in Juve has too much of it.

It may be heresy in this age, when Pep Guardiola's Barcelona teams made possession king, but if you possess the ball and do nothing with it, it's meaningless—and Juve isn't doing much right now.

If you go to Juve's fixture list on WhoScored.com and go through the statistics of each game, you can average out Juve's possession stats at 61.47 percent over 10 games between the league and Europe.  But Juve hasn't used that possession the way they have in years passed.  So much of their movement is wayward, and they aren't putting the ball into positions where their strikers can use them.

Simply put, they're getting stale.  But the solution to this is simple—let the opponents have more of the ball.

Why do this?  Because Juve is a team that can be deadly on the counterattack.  They rarely get credit for how good they are on the break because they usually enjoy so much possession, but when they get the chance to run with the ball, the opposing goal is usually in danger.

The best example of this comes from last January's game against Roma in Turin.  Roma's best weapon last season was their devastating counterattack.  Conte's way of nullifying that threat was to cede Roma possession and take the counterattack out of Rudi Garcia's arsenal.

Juve had a few nervy moments, but the defense held firm.  They then thrust forward on the counter.  A run like down the wing eventually set up the throw-in that saw Juve score their first goal in the 3-0 rout.  It was arguably the best tactical performance of Conte's Juve tenure.

Juve needs a shot in the arm.  A different approach, one that takes advantage of their excellent defensive record this season and allows them to unleash the quality counterattacks that they are capable of, could be what is needed to push out the lethargy that has crept into their game.

Wednesday's game needs to be a wake-up call.  If Allegri doesn't make changes, Juve could crash out of the Champions League for a second consecutive year and Roma could zoom past them in the league table.  These modest proposals are, in this writer's opinion, the best way to start the alarm clock going.