Inter 0-0 Juventus: defences come out in top in a disappointing Derby D’Italia
The starting line-ups
An entertaining first half, but a second period where both sides were happy to take a point.
Juventus were broadly in Luigi Delneri’s favoured 4-4-2 shape, with Fabio Qugliarella dropping to the left, just off Vincenzo Iaquinta. Milos Krasic played on the right and stayed high up the pitch, whilst Claudio Marchisio was tucked in on the opposite side.
Rafael Benitez didn’t consider Diego Milito fit enough to start, so Samuel Eto’o was used upfront with Jonathan Biabiany and Coutinho either side. Ivan Cordoba continued at the back with the captain’s armband.
The usual 4-2-3-1 v 4-4-2 battle did not take place, however, as Juventus shifted their shape accordingly to cope with the extra Inter central midfielder. Marchisio played a lot more centrally than Simone Pepe would have done, sometimes forming a midfield three with Felipe Melo and Alberto Aquilani, but when Quagliarella was caught high up the pitch, Marchisio stayed on the flank. Quagliarella moved out to that side when not in possession, subduing Maicon, and meaning Juventus moved to something more like 4-5-1 themselves without the ball.
Eto’o v Krasic
Inter’s biggest threat came when Eto’o drifted into slightly wider positions on the left and cut inside, with Inter looking to play direct balls to the front, rather than playing through midfield. Juventus were also relying on pace and tricky in wide positions, with Krasic the main danger – his superb ball across the six-yard box was the brightest moment of the first half.
Benitez’s plans had to be changed when Biabiany got injured, meaning he had to bring on Milito, and revert to a system with Eto’o wide on the left, and Coutinho moved across to the right. Eto’o was still a big threat, however, curling a cross to the back post which Milito couldn’t steer on target.
Sneijder deep
One other point from the first half was how deep Wesley Sneijder was for most of the first half, picking up short balls from Esteban Cambiasso and Dejan Stankovic rather than playing just off the main striker, as he did towards the end of last season, and as he appeared to do against Roma last week. His overly optimistic shooting (as seen in recent weeks) was replaced with a more sophisticated playmaking role, where he is at his best.
Both changed their defences at half-time, with Davide Santon and Marco Motta coming on, with Cristian Chivu and Zdenek Grygera moving across the back four. This helped keep the score at 0-0 – Santon was better than Chivu at dealing with Krasic’s pace, whilst Motta did a good job on Eto’o. But both those players went on superb runs that brought saves out of either goalkeeper, and remained the key.
Maicon threat
The only real tactical change of the game when Alessandro Del Piero replaced Vincenzo Iaquinta, which meant he came to his preferred inside-left position, and Quagliarella went across to the right. This changed the way Juve defended against Maicon – instead of moving out to the Brazilian right-back when Juve didn’t have the ball, Del Piero instead picked up one of Inter’s central midfielders. This meant Marchisio had more of a responsibility in taking care of Maicon, but did tend to drift into the centre, leaving Maicon with space to run into. This was a dangerous tactic, especially considering how Maicon punished Juventus in this fixture last season.
It was Maicon who had the game’s best chance – though with a header from a corner, rather than from open play. Quagliarella came close after he outpaced Lucio to a through-ball, but he couldn’t finish.
The game was goalless largely because neither side wanted to take the initiative – Juventus were content with a point and felt no need to throw men forward, whilst Inter seemed happy to play on the counter-attack – Milito didn’t look 100% fit, and they struggled for invention upfront. It wasn’t a bore 0-0, but 0-0 was an accurate reflection of the game: neither fully on top, and good defending more obvious than any attacking brilliance.
Conclusion
The main tactical interest was how Juventus dealt with the theoretical numerical disadvantage in midfield, playing one ‘winger’ very narrow, and getting a striker to track a full-back. This is a reasonably popular solution for sides who prefer 4-4-2 but are afraid of facing the usual problems against a 4-2-3-1, but it requires a lot of running and concentration from the striker asked to drop back. It largely worked, however – Maicon was quiet until the tactical switch from Juve that gave him more space on the right.
In all, both sides will be content with both the performance and the result.
Inter 0-0 Juventus: defences come out in top in a disappointing Derby D’Italia
I saw things differently. Marchisio never left Maicon out of his site, those 2 rarely had a touch on the ball and all the focus was on Juve’s right side and Inters left.
This game depended on substitutions because they killed the game, Milito in the center limited Etoos danger of scoring, Santon stopped Krasic’s danger on the wing, Motta limited Etoos wing danger too, Del piero could not trouble a physical Inter defence as Iaquinta could, Sissoko has less creativity than Aquilani.
I thought Aquilani was brilliant.He offers something different to the midfielders Juve have had in the past couple of years.He gives us time on the ball and his accurate passing and long balls really helped us when we had the ball.
note how inter started the match with a christmas tree formation with coutinho and sneijder together in the hole, then reverted to the 4 2 3 1 system
Interesting that you think this was a bore 0-0 draw. The Italian papers lauded it as an ode to fairplay (the last few occasions had been fired up by Mourinho’s mind games) and open play.
With chances going to Eto’o, Krasic, Quagliarella and crucially Milito at the end I felt there could have been goals in this.
“…It wasn’t a bore 0-0…”
“Interesting that you think this was a bore 0-0″
A match analysis. Only in Italian, unfortunately. http://www.uccellinodidelpiero.com/esclusivo-analisi-tattica-inter-juventus-0-0-6a-giornata-campionato/
Inter have an uncharacteristic lack of depth upfront – it’s unclear who is to blame for this (could be Rafa, Branca, Moratti, the market) but it’s made it difficult to compensate for Milito’s awful form.
Benitez must have absolutely no faith in Mancini to have opted for placing Milito at center forward and withdrawing Eto’o (maybe the best striker in Europe so far) out to the left.
Benitez has entertained the idea of a 4-3-1-2; perhaps playing Eto’o and Milito together will both a) keep Eto’o in the center of the pitch and b) boost Milito’s form
Milito and Eto’o played almost every game last season. Sneijder played whenever possible. Pandev was also a frequent starter after joining in January. Towards end of season these four played the front four roles far more than any other squad member. Balotelli and (to some degree) Quaresma were their only back-up plans. Inter was quite lucky that their starters remained injury-free and maintained good form for much of the season. Even injury-prone Sneijder appeared in most of the crucial games.
This season Inter finds Balotelli and Quaresma traded out, Coutinho and Biabiany joined in. While both new players are not as talented as Balotelli, they are both young and promising (and more stable) players. Overall the depth has not degraded by too much.
However, Milito started the season in poor form and Pandev got injured. Biabiany is also injured lately if I am not mistaken. Nothing like this happened last season. Inter have not lost the depth up front, as many perceived, but that their lack of depth got exposed all of a sudden. If Milito’s good form continued from last season, we may not have noticed the problem at all.
How old is Milito? Think he’s in his 30s isn’t he – maybe he’ll get injured more often and take longer to recover, so there could be more emphasis on Eto’o for goals this year. How are the young guys getting on there, do they get a look in? Santon, for example.
Why does Chivu start ahead of Santon? To me Chivu has been the only real weak link in the Inter defence for at least a year now, and this game was no different. Benitez clearly has no fear of playing unproven youth, otherwise Biabiany and Coutinho wouldnt have started a game of this magnitude. From what I’ve seen of Santon, he looks like he has the potential to be a really top defender. Chivu on the other hand looks very slow and cumbersome (Champions League final v Robben anyone?)
That’s why Mourinho forced Eto’o in wing position and shared defensive duty along with Chivu.
Hey ZM, don’t you think the way we (Juve) used Quagliarella and the way Marchisio was essentially put on the wing was very similar to the way Tottenham used Robbie Keane last year in the game vs. Arsenal?:
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2009/10/31/arsenal-3-0-tottenham-redknapp-pays-the-price-for-indecisiveness/
I see striking similarities here as Spurs also had to fight against a 3v2 situation in Center Midfield (against a 4-3-3 instead of a 4-2-3-1 of Inter though). One thing different though, was that with us it worked vs. Inter, and with Spurs it didn’t…
You mention Maicon’s threat – I think he’s the best right back in the world right now. Alves isn’t far behind but I think Maicon is just the best, defensively and offensively, while Alves seems to be more of a winger/midfielder whose game is all about going forward. He even used to come on for Elano in midfield when Dunga was in charge.
Other good right backs? Johnson, Ivanovic, Ramos. Who else? Will Rafael get to Maicon’s standard?
Philip Lahm?
Just can’t see Rafael getting anywhere near that standard I’m afraid.
Ah yes, forgot him – although he plays at left back a lot so that’s my excuse.
Why don’t you think Rafael can become that good? Taking off my Man Utd fan’s hat for a second, he’s very raw but he showed great maturity and spacial awareness when playing in centre mid last season in an FA cup game and seems to have the physical attributes needed. On the down side he does give the impression sometimes that he’s all effort, and needs to refine his game somewhat.