Cristiano Ronaldo he is one of the strongest and most iconic players in football history. It was also decisive for the two predecessors of Pirlo to Juventus. This year, however, there is a clear feeling that only his presence can solve the complicated games. Benevento it’s just the latest in the series. In reality it is the entire balance sheet of more than two months of the season that is worrying, even with CR7 on the field. Five draws in nine championship matches, three victories on the pitch (with Sampdoria, Spezia and Cagliari) and a table with Napoli. In Champions the bianconeri beat Ferencvaros and Dinamo Kiev, but as soon as they found a level opponent, the Barça, they came out with broken bones.
In short, even giving Pirlo due time to teach his football, the accounts do not add up. Above all because your name is Juventus but also because, even if the concepts remain the same, the field layout it undergoes too many changes to be assimilated in a short time. The idea of building with three, of continuing the action with two midfielders and finalizing it with two wide wards and three central strikers, defending with 4-4-2, seemed to be the cornerstone of the new coach’s tactical thinking. Then came the choice to place Arthur as a pivot in front of the defense. With Benevento we saw a still different Juve.
Finding themselves a tortoise that prevented the vertical development of the maneuver (the tip and the two attacking midfielders plus the three midfielders of Benevento), the bianconeri chose the 4-4-2 also for the offensive phase, with a midfielder called to lower himself close to the two central defenders (often Rabiot but it also happened to Ramsey) to facilitate exit from behind. The goal was to surprise Inzaghi’s team on the outside with Church wide right, Square to give him a hand (sometimes in the middle position), Frabotta on the left aided by Ramsey, and with a central striker, Morata, with Dybala theoretical second tip. Theoretical because, as often happens, the Argentine went to get the ball in every area of the pitch, losing the usual references to the Juventus attacking phase.
Pirlo’s game, while not based on defined roles but on players called upon to perform specific tasks, cannot be learned in a short time. Certainly, however, the continuous tactical changes do not help in the assimilation of the schemes. And Ronaldo can’t always be there to solve problems.
