Eight points on Lazio 0-1 Juventus
The starting line-ups
Another important, impressive victory for Juventus over a fellow title challenger. Here are eight observations on the game.
1. In the first half, much of the action came down Juventus’ right, the area of the pitch with more energetic, forward-thinking players. Like against Inter, Stephane Lichsteiner was a huge attacking threat, and his surges forward often led to Senad Lulic coming out to meet him – in turn leaving Arturo Vidal free. Lichsteiner, Vidal and Simone Pepe often overloaded Lulic and Stephan Radu down that flank, and there were four very good Juventus chances before Pepe’s goal that came from working the ball down that side. On the other flank, Giorgio Chiellini was more cautious and Juve’s left was more static.
2. Lulic is one of the most interesting players in Europe at the moment. He is able to play either as a left-back or a left-winger and his main attribute is his energy, constantly motoring up and down the touchline, both for club and country. Here, he was fielded as more of a shuttler, tucked in slightly and roughly in a midfield three without the ball, but asked to provide width on the left when attacking – it was a little like Ramires’ role in Dunga’s Brazil side, and Lazio’s overall shape is not dissimilar to that of Brazil from two years ago.
3. Juve are thrillingly vertical under Antonio Conte. The 4-1-4-1 system can be brilliant when the coach has the guts to field four energetic runners behind the lone frontman, and Juve have the perfect players to play this system, as well as a fabulous striker comfortable with his back to goal, Alessandro Matri. The tenacity and energy of Claudio Marchisio and Vidal provide the legs in midfield that allows Andrea Pirlo to sit deep and be patient. In that respect, it’s an appropriate time for the use of the term ‘quarterback’ in football – Marchsio and Vidal are the blockers creating a pocket of space for Pirlo to work in.
4. Lazio were better after the break when Alvaro Gonzalez replaced Christian Brocchi. He is a more creative player, a more attacking player, but most importantly took up wider positions on the right. He exploited the large amount of space between Mirko Vucinic (who stayed high up) and Chiellini, who was deep and slightly central – this helped pin Juve back in the second half.
5. Hernanes was a force in the game in the second half having been quiet early on. His positioning was more intelligent and more varied – rather than being in an obvious number ten position, he moved deeper to collect the ball in midfield (in part because Brocchi’s absence required a fetcher from higher up) and then moved higher up behind the forwards, in behind Pirlo and into a position for two good efforts: one blocked by Lichsteiner, the other off the post.
6. Juve passed the ball out from the back and played their way out of trouble. The bravery on the ball of the defenders when under pressure from Lazio’s front three was commendable, and with Pirlo in their side, building moves from deep is vital.
7. Edy Reja’s final two substitutes blunted Lazio’s attack. He brought Djibril Cisse on for Tomasso Rocchi and Giuseppe Sculli on for Lulic, but this smacked of ‘throwing as many forwards on as possible” rather than having a more considered approach to getting back into the game. Having been on top for much of the second half, Lazio’s performance late on was very poor, with little structure to the side.
8. Conte’s changes were about providing more energy to a tired front three – they hung on, but were slightly fortunate to claim the three points. Michele Pazienza could have been used to provide extra protection for the defence – maybe on for Vucinic, with Marchisio going left and tucking in more, but after a similar substitution resulted in Juve letting a lead slip at home to Genoa, Conte seems reluctant to make this change. Gianluigi Buffon was too involved to speak of a solid defensive display, and Juve are yet to show they can shut down games when narrowly ahead.
Eight points on Lazio 0-1 Juventus
Hi Michael,
As always, a great piece. Interesting how Conte started out with an attacking 4-4-2 (most people were calling it 4-2-4) and has now changed. I suppose this has got the best out of the three central midfielders, none of whom he could leave out. Do you know why Elia and Krasic are struggling so badly this year, it seems odd to me?
Cheers,
harvey
@Harvey It seems that Krasic still doesn’t speak a word of Italian, and his style of play is not what Conte requires from a winger, i.e. he always hugs the line while Conte requires wingers to cut inside, etc.
Elia I guess it’s a different story, a young talent who still needs to adapt to Italian football, but in the end the switch from 4-2-4 to 4-3-3 means that Vucinic will always play first team football as left forward-winger, and Pepe needs to be there because of his stamina and positioning.
I can’t believe Pepe gets so much PT on team that has Elia and Karsic on the wings.
I also would like to see Juve play with out Pirlo, and instead play two strikers, Qags is too talented not to get more PT too.
Anyway you slice it, Juve have a ton of talent, if they only had a RB, I can’t imagine how good this team would be.
Surely you mean left back…..right?
I am not a massive fan of Pepe but I can fully understand why Conte plays him. Krasic and Elia are both out of form and whilst they may have more pace and flair, they do not have the defensive discipline or workrate of Pepe. He provides Juve with balance because they:- a) Have an extremely attack-minded right-back in in Lichsteiner (Pepe can provide defensive cover for him). b) Play a left-winger in Vucinic who plays very high up the field (Pepe can lend support to the midfied whereas a more attacking, creative right-winger would maybe leave Juve outnumbered in midfield). Pepe reminds me very much of a Juve stalwart from back in the day – Angelo Di Livio.
Great shout in regards to Pepe and Di Livio
Yeah, Juventus would be almost unstoppable with a good LB.
Great and incisive analysis! For me, this reading of Juventus’ formation is the one that makes more sense; alternatively, one can also see similarities with both Mourinho and Ancelotti’s 4-5-1 in their respective Chelsea years, and in fact, unless I am mistaken, Conte requires from his wingers, as others said here, a Malouda-kind of job. As for the 4-3-3, I don’t see it in action, at least in a fully-fledged, Dutch way. As for Reja, ZM is right to suggest that behind the fatigued end of the game lies a tactical misconception; I am intrigued by the affinities with Dunga.
As a passionate Juve fan myself, the only fear I have is that one of our MVP midfield (ESPECIALLY PIRLO) becomes injured/suspended, the whole system falls apart (we’ll see tomorrow how much this is true as Marchisio is suspended). But with our system the way it is, we are very very solid.
Also, the LB position continues to worry me. This Chiellini-at-LB experiment has worked well-enough in the short term, but I seriously fear its long-term viability… De Ceglie (and his development) is rotting on the bench, while come Tuesday, our LB position could become seriously exploited by Napoli’s dangerous trident in their 3-4-3 formation. If Hamsik tries to occupy Pirlo just like he did with Pinzi here http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/10/26/napoli-2-0-udinese-3-4-3-against-3-5-1-1-and-mazzarri-beats-guidolin/ then Chiellini might not have as much trouble to deal with, though then our sole source of central creativity (Pirlo) will be greatly troubled… Along with Maggio potentially exploiting Vucinic’s lack of defensive capacity, our left side could be in for one rough ride tomorrow…
Lazio – The CB’s really struggled with matri’s movement and the runners from midfield. While radu had his hands full with pepe, Konko did really well to exploit Vucninic unwillingness to track back by getting forward and providing a good outball for the midfield when under pressure.
In midfield, Brocchi lost in the battle with marchisio, failing to handle him, whilst not being able to get forward himself. Ledesma had a hard job escaping Vidals attention and couldnt get a grip on the game. Lulic played far too deep as well, he struggled to escape the attentions of Pepe and lichsteiner when moving outwide, was overloaded when trying to help radu defensively. Juventus were happy to let pepe mark lulic, and leave radu free, as he wasnt going to be a big threat on the ball.
Hernanes struggled at first trying to get ball, as the rest of his midfield couldnt get the ball to him. But as Juventus tired (less pressing) and he improved his positioning, he grew into the game. He was there biggest weapon against Juventus and created some good chances for his team mates and himself.
Rocchi was easily dealt with by chiellini and Bonucci, and couldnt get into the game, losing 50/50’s and being marked out of the game. Klose also struggled against Barzagli (an excellent CB) struggling to pull him out from defense and constantly being tackled before he could make an incisive move.
Overall, Lazio were set up poorly, struggling to deal with the attacks down there left hand side (especially Lichsteiner), struggling to build attacks in midfield, and seeing there two strikers marked out the game really. They improved in the second half when Juventus tired, but still looked toothless apart from the threat of Hernanes.
Juventus – I still feel Chiellini needs to be moved inside next to Barzagli, this would lead to a more solid defense. Di Ceglie needs to be given a chance at LB, he needs experience to improve and would give the defense a better balance. Lichsteiner was Juventus’s best player, left free most of the time, he was able to get forward and combine with Pepe and Vidal to overload Lazio. This was exactly the same mistake as Inter made, and its hard to see why Lazio chose similar tactics, why not just play a winger against him, or at least a player higher up to push him back. both teams have left the left side completely free against Juventus and have lost.
In midfield, Pirlo was left to control the midfield, as Hernanes didnt really look to press him when on the ball (a big mistake) and left him free most of the time. He did this well, spraying passes about the pitch and was an important component in there victory. He did struggle to defend against Hernanes in the second half, when he moved higher up the pitch where Pirlo didnt want to go. Marchisio didnt have a big impact on the game, but did nullify brocchi and managed to get forward into good positions. Vidal had a good game, pressing ledesma well, getting forward into good positions (though better tracked by ledesma) and playing some great passes.
Pepe had a great game, getting the winning goal which was justified as he had the better of radu all game, combined excellently with Lichsteiner and even helped nullify Lulic. Vucninc on the other hand was much more quiet, defensively weak against konko and wasteful on the ball.
Matri was excellent, making space for his team mates with his good movement and excellent hold up play. He makes the system work and is one of those few strikers who can occupy both CBs.
Overall, Juventus won the game in the first half with an excellent display, overloading down the right, controlling the midfield, excellent movement from most of the team. In the second half, they tired, so there pressing and movement got slack, this could be a weakness of Juventus, as without pressing and movement from the midfield and attack, pirlo can be nullified, and Juventus lose there grip on the match.
So Chiellini was maybe the best CB in Serie A for a year or two, and now they stick him back out on the left, where he’s way less effective, to play Barzagli and Bonucci? I don’t get it. I’d advise them to play one of their wingers at LB (like Malaga did with Eliseu, who was not known as a LB before Pellegrini got hold of him) and put Chiellini back in the middle ASAP.
Agree with this. Chiellini was one of the best CBs in the world and HE out of all people gets moved to LB because he has prior experience?
Mike, I’m hoping you can further elaborate on why Conte has been so successful while Del Neri was not despite them both starting with 4-4-2s (I know you wrote http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/10/23/antonio-contes-system-isnt-a-4-2-4-but-still-provides-excitement/, but I am hoping for more)
Because Conte has better players. period.
I would love them to try Elia at LB, just to see, just to see.
http://opitacoboleiristico.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/corinthians-quase-campeao-um-brinde-a-alex-e-seu-dinamismo/
ZM and others: this is about a match in brazilian league.
Corinthians uses 4-2-3-1, is blocked for a half; however, Alex, who played for Spartak Moscow, decides the match giving the team more dynamic.
Stop posting your spam, ZM can you block this user/delete this comment? It’s a link to a website in Portuguese…
Mr. M, it’s a website that simply talks about football. ZM is just alright about let that in the blog.
It’s not spam, Mr. M… it’s not spam…
How would Juve play without Pirlo? It seems hard to overstate his importance to this team.
I reckon they’d go 4-2-4 with Vidal and Marchisio in the centre.
I’d like to see what Juve would do without Pirlo, and playing Qags behind Marti. It would be like a triangle midfield with 2 wings.