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How to “Fix” Juventus

Ryan Popilchak — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:34:42 +0000

Unfortunately for the Old Lady, it hasn’t been a season to remember. After an offseason that made Tiger Woods look restrained, it appeared that Juventus had spent their way to the Scudetto.

A team that had finished in 2^nd place last season added Felipe Melo from Fiorentina and Diego from Werder Bremen. It only seemed natural that they would challenge Inter’s recent Serie A supremacy.

After Ciro Ferrara led them to a hot start, their record turned sour, and now not even the managerial change to Alberto Zaccheroni has worked. They currently sit in 7th place, out of all European competition.

So what has caused Juve to “crumble like a biscuit” as I put it on the Pink Shirt Wise Guys podcast this week?

When I take a look at some of the finer points of Juve’s stats this season, here’s what sticks out.

Offense

Diego has been the second biggest focal point of the media scrutiny surrounding Juve this season. When he signed with the Turin club, most people thought he would bring the creativity needed to make their offensive game tick. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened. Juve may have the 7^th most goals scored, but Diego has been more of a shooter than a creator. He leads the team with 68 shots on net, but they have only resulted in 5 goals to go along with 6 assists. By comparison, he has as many assists as players like Juan Vargas and Wesley Sneijder. He may not be lighting the league on fire, but he hasn’t been invisible either. Another year may be all he needs, but that might be all the time the Biaconeri faitherful give him to decide.

No Juventus player has more than 7 league goals this year. This may be the team’s biggest offensive problem. They have lacked an elite scorer whom they can depend on through the tough times. Last year, Amauri was that player, but this season he has looked lost. Amauri has the talent, but he needs to rediscover it.

With free kick takers like Del Piero and Diego on the squad, it is important for Juve to ensure that they have players on the pitch who can draw fouls from the opposition defenders. Diego draws 3.29 fouls per game. Del Piero draws 4.14 fouls per game and Sebastian Giovinco draws 4.4 fouls per start but his numbers may be skewed due to so few starts and extra substitute minutes. In this case, it could be very useful to see Diego, Del Piero and possibly Giovinco in the lineup together. I’ve outlined the insanity of Giovinco’s lack of playing time in a previous post.

Midfield

With the signing of Felipe Melo, it was widely thought (yours truly included) that Juventus would have a steely midfield capable of winning the ball back at will. Unlike what most of us thought, it really hasn’t worked out that way. Both Melo and Mohammed Sissoko have been prone to unleashing brash tackles and racking up the yellow cards. On top of that, they really haven’t been effective in the midfield together as they are too similar and the offense has looked lost without a “regista” type player to distribute the ball.

The lone bright spot in midfield has been young Claudio Marchisio. Marchisio has been an excellent mix of solid tackling, decent shooting and the ability to pass through a defense. For Juventus to be successful, they need to use Marchisio’s talents as he could be a midfield cornerstone for year’s to come.

Defense

For a top club like Juventus to be ranked 14^th in Serie A for goals against is very poor, especially considering that they house so many well-known names along their back line. Fabio Cannavaro and Nicola Legrottaglie have looked nasty this year with Georgio Chiellini playing his regular role, but needing a partner to do the sweeping behind his aggressive plays on the ball.

The fullbacks have been even worse than the central defense. Fabio Grosso is no longer “The Iceman” that cam up with so many clutch plays for the Azzurri in 2006. Martin Caceres and Zdeno Grygera are decent, but nothing special.

Clutch Play

In Juve’s case, it has been a lack of clutch. Juventus has been outscored 24-16 in the final 30 minutes of their league matches this season. Other top teams like Milan and Inter have been able to rescue points late in games, but Juve seems more prone to losing them.

This could just be a string of bad luck, but could very well be a sign of poor mental strength and leadership.

Formations and Tactics

Juventus have toyed with a diamond midfield, a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-1-2 and even experimented with a 3-man backline.

For Juve to be successful offensively with players like Diego and Giovinco taking on their defenders, I believe they need the threat of attacking fullbacks to keep the attack wide enough. Both Diego and Del Piero like to be central, while Giovinco can play wide or cutting to the middle.

If the fullbacks are to bomb forward, then at least one of the midfield players will need to cover on defense, much like is explained in this article. Melo and Sissoko are both capable of doing this, they just don’t need to be on the field at the same time.

My feeling is that a 4-2-3-1 best suits Juve’s players, provided that Marchisio plays slightly more advanced than Melo/Sissoko as the more offensively gifted midfielder. Both Diego and Giovinco would be expected to drop deep and distribute, giving a 4-1-3-2 shape at times when Del Piero drifts in a Marchisio fills the wider hole.

Transfers this offseason

Despite all the talk about new strikers and midfielders, the Old Lady needs help on defense. They should be looking for a young mobile central defender and another attacking right back to complement Paolo De Ceglie.

Some reasonable signings could be Simon Kjaer from Palermo, Salvatore Bocchetti from Genoa, or Andrea Ranocchia from Bari at central defense. On the right, a player like Stephan Lichsteiner of Lazio could be a big improvement.

If the defense is solid and the manager can harness some of the young talent already on the squad, Juventus will be just fine.

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A Tactical Approach Needed for Milan to Defeat Manchester United

Ryan Popilchak — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:20:11 +0000

With the Champions League clash against England’s Manchester United ahead, Milan’s manager, Leonardo, has a few tough choices to make.

Given that they lost 3-2 at home, they’ll need either a mountain of goals or at least a 2-goal victory at Old Trafford. It’s not likely, but it’s possible.

Milan have received two pieces of great news this week. Alexandre Pato will be fit and Wayne Rooney is not expected to be available for the Red Devils. Pato is Milan’s only elite finisher at the moment and Rooney may be the best forward in the game.

All that said, coach Leonardo needs to make some important considerations regarding his squad and tactics if he wants to pull off the upset.

Field a Forward Line with Some Punch

With Ronaldinho manning the left wing of Milan’s 4-3-3, or behind the strikers in a 4-3-1-2 as against Roma, the other two forwards need to be finishers.

Despite being an over-the-top Huntelaar backer all year, I’ve finally given up on him after the Roma game. He looked tentative, awkward on the ball and his movement up front was questionable at best. Had he played well with Borriello or consistently put threatening shots on net, he may have earned a spot.

That leaves Borriello and Pato as the best options. Pato brings pace, ball control and finish down the right side, and may even force Patrice Evra to concentrate on defense. This alone would be worth having him down the right as Evra has been the key Man U’s attacking width down the left.

As for Borriello, he can be an incredibly wasteful striker and usually shoots rather than find an open player, but he’s the best Milan has to offer up front. At the very least, he seems to have found a connection with Ronaldinho.

Find a Way to Defend Man U’s Right-sided Attack

As this article at Zonal Marking shows so well, Manchester United have a tendency to attack down the right lately. Milan will likely need to field Antonini at left back and Ambrosini from midfield in purely defensive roles on the left side.

If Antonini can keep Valencia out wide while Ambrosini provides support, then Man U’s attacking pattern will have to be altered.

Beware of the ‘False 9’

Nesta

I’m obviously pimping the content at Zonal Marking a lot here, but take a look at this breakdown of Wayne Rooney playing the ‘False 9’ role to perfection. While Rooney may be out, Dimitar Berbatov has plenty of talent to play this role for Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad. Whether the historically lazy player is up for the work rate this role requires is a different story.

Milan would do well to have Thiago Silva mark the center forward and leave Alessandro Nesta to cover space behind him. Silva has the pace to get back into the play after tracking a forward up the pitch and Nesta is an extremely intelligent defender who can cover.

Force the Action Through Midfield

In my mind, Manchester United hasn’t been all that stellar through midfield this year. There’s a good chance that Man U will field Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes as the trio in the middle of the park.

All three players are good, but none would be considered true holding midfielders, giving Milan one way to exploit them. Andrea Pirlo has the ability to unlock a defense, but must be shielded defensively by the other 2 midfielders in Milan’s system, especially against top competition.

The answer is definitely NOT David Beckham, despite the fact it would be great to see him play in Old Trafford again. He may be decent sub, but most definitely shouldn’t start.

Leonardo will field Ambrosini, but he needs to play Mathieu Flamini again, just like he did against Roma. Flamini has the stamina to play all over the pitch, tackles with authority and found his way forward on a regular basis. He’s probably the best two-way midfielder that Milan have on their squad, yet is incredibly under-used.

My proposed Lineup for Milan

The only reason I would pick Abate at the right back position, is to ensure that the side is built more for attacking than defending. Daniele Bonera was quite good in a defensive role against Roma but offers almost nothing on the attack.

Milan need to play this game well from the beginning and avoid letting United grab the early goal. Unfortunately for Rossoneri fans, Ferguson has made a career out of tweaking his squad perfectly to close these games out. Milan will need to do the same if they want to move on.

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Liverpool @ Sunderland – Tactics & Controversy

Ryan Popilchak — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:48:00 +0000

I got a chance to catch some English Premier League action this morning and it turned into a pretty good match.

With Sunderland sitting at a lofty 8th place and Liverpool at a disappointing 6th, this match had the chance to show two teams with very different outlooks.

Liverpool is clearly attempting to counter Sunderland’s two strikers, Kenwyn Jones and Darren Bent with a 3-man back line, which is unusual in the EPL. I really like a 3 man defense against a straight 4-4-2 and feel it gives the chance to dominate possession if played well. It appears that Benitez is using it as much to compensate for the absence of Garrard and Torres as for a tactical advantage. Skrtel, Carragher, and Agger are playing the back, with Glen Johnson and Aurelio as the wing backs. The 3-man front line is unusual but suits the talent that Liverpool has available. It looks something like this.

Benayoun – Babbel – Kuyt
Aurelio – Spearing – Lukas – Johnson
Agger – Carragher – Skrtel

Sunderland is playing the traditional EPL 4-4-2.

K.Jones – Bent
Reid – Cana – Cattermole – Malbranque
McCartney – A.Ferdinand – Turner – Bardsley

5’ – The action starts early as Reid drifts to the right and crosses the ball back into the box, it is backheeled by a Sunderland player and falls to Bent at the top left of the box. Bent calmly slams the ball towards the near post and it ricochets off what appears to be a beach-ball, and into the back of the net. The ref let the goal stand, apparently believing it had come off the foot of Glen Johnson.

While North American sports have embraced instant replay to review scoring plays, it really hasn’t happened in soccer. This is a great example of why it would be pertinent. It’s interesting that the FIFA rule calls for play to be stopped if an outside object interferes with play, yet the announcers would have us believe that it’s Reina’s fault for not puncturing the ball with his cleats when he had the chance. Strange.

12’ – Liverpool is pressing but Sunderland manages to clear after the ball bounces dangerously in the box.

16’ – Ryan Babel uses a nice stop-and-go move to get space amongst 3 defenders and unleashes a shot just over the bar.

I really like the way Kenwyn Jones is holding up the ball for the Sunderland attack. He’s taking the quick long-ball and then laying it off for a charging team-mate and it’s been quite effective.

Just saw the replay of the beach ball going on to the field. It was a kid, probably around 10 years old. He’ll either be the most popular or the most hated kid in school on Monday, depending on which team his class-mates support.

30’ – Benayoun, Babel and Kuyt are inter-changing positions and playing a weaving style of offense. With two of them dropping off regularly, it’s like having a 6-man midfield and Liverpool is dominating possession. Unfortunately, all 3 of these players are better off as support players on the front line and the team is lacking decisiveness in the box.

The wingback position definitely suits Johnson and Aurelio. They are extremely comfortable jumping into the attack. Both Skrtel and Agger also seem comfortable pushing into midfield on the attack.

39’ – Bardsley crosses after a throw-in and Bent’s header flashes just wide of the goal. As Liverpool comes back down the field, Spearing slashes a shot from the top of the box that just misses at it swerves outside.

Spearing’s play has been decent but Lukas looks terrible. ‘Pool need someone in those central midfield positions who can provide a play-making presence. Both are more apt to tackle and slam long shots toward goal.

42’ – Cattermole is doing a great job of controlling play in midfield. Not only is he tackling well, but he’s distributing well to the wings to initiate the attack.

Half – Liverpool has had 66% of the possession in the first half. Apparently the 3-4-3 formation was helping in that regard, but they really didn’t have any decent chances to show for it.

45’ – Henderson is in for McCartney, who may have picked up an injury. It could also be a tactical change since Johnson was dominating on runs down the right. Henderson slotted into the central midfield role while Ferdinand moved out to the left and Cana dropped back to central defense.

55’ – On the counter-attack, Jones placed a great through ball past 2 defenders for Bent, who tried to round Reina but was stopped by a fantastic outstretched save. The crowd was holding their breath during that play and you could here the disappointed sigh. That would have secured a win.

57’ – Cattermole is injured on a challenge, which could be a monstrous blow to Sunderland. Bolo Zenden comes in for him.

61’ – Bent intercepts a header back to Reina and hits the post with an outside foot strike. Sunderland is clearly getting chances to finish this game, but can’t seem to capitalize.

65’ – Jones goes off on a stretcher after a challenge from Skrtel. The Stadium of Light is harboring a lot of nervous energy as Sunderland are now down 2 of their best players. Frazier Campbell brings his young promise onto the field to replace Jones.

Sunderland is now fully playing behind the ball and looking for counter-attack options. At the moment, this seems like a sound strategy as Liverpool look confused defending on the break and Sunderland are losing the possession battle anyway.

69’ – On yet another counter-attack, Malbranque tries a shot on a 2v1 with Bent that is blocked by Carragher. Bent was all alone and should have received the ball for an easy goal. Yet another chance wasted by Sunderland.

72’ – Benitez abandons the 3-4-3 in favor of a 4-4-2 as he brings on Voronin and Mascherano for Skrtel and Spearing. Lukas should have come off instead. Babel and Benayoun are now playing out wide with Voronin and Kuyt up top.

The 3-4-3 was successful at neutralizing Jones, but the defenders seemed unsure how to handle Bent. That said, I think there could be some promise in this formation for Liverpool if they played a 3-4-1-2 with Torres up top, partnered with Kuyt and Garrard in the playmakers role behind them. That would leave the central midfield role up to the likes of Mascherano and Spearing or Lukas, but with no requirement for creativity. Also, Torres is considerably more effective than any of the other Liverpool forwards. The tactics were solid, but the finishing was poor today. Obviously this would work better against teams that play a traditional 4-4-2 rather than a 4-5-1.

81’ – N’Gog comes in for a largely ineffective Babel. N’Gog takes a spot alongside Voronin with Kuyt moving out wide to the right.

85’ – Kuyt and Johnson have made two straight forays up the right and have created chances both times. Liverpool needs to keep exploiting this mismatch as Ferdinand looks lost out on the left.

93’ – Gordon makes 2 great saves as Kuyt attempts a shot on the near post.

The win goes to Sunderland, which could mean real crisis for Liverpool. They’ll most likely drop to 8th spot, which is significantly off their expectations for the season. That said, they were victims of terrible luck and a poor call, but really were the team with fewer chances throughout the game.

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