Last May 16 Giorgio Chiellini and Paulo Dybala played their last match in front of a friendly public, Juventus-Lazio, which ended 2-2 in extremis. It was supposed to be a party, but those who were at Allianz Stadium will remember having lived moments of great tension. For Chiellini, Juventus had organized a celebration complete with hashtag on the company’s social profiles. Dybala, on the other hand, was snubbed and sidelined, at least initially.
The Argentine striker was caught by the cameras with the face and the embarrassed attitude of the most classic of postmen. Then, fortunately, the affection of the public and the companions ended up combining the two goodbyes in a single party, but it was a move almost in dispute with the obscure reason of state of the company. And there was a real dispute, when the fans at the Stadium booed the Juventus managers every time they were framed on the big screens. Whistling the president who has won nine league titles in a row is a bit of a treason, but in short, we have learned that modern football is also this: there is no gratitude for anyone.
Andrea Agnelli, however, knows how to charm his fans: just over 65 days have passed since May 16 and everything has changed at Juventus. Angel Di Maria arrived at the court of Allegri who, even if he is a star on the avenue of sunset, is still a star, one of those that inspire dreams of victory and generate enthusiasm with their mere presence. A few direct messages to the fans from his social media profiles were enough for Paul Pogba to allow a dormant, but certainly not extinguished, passion to ignite again.
For Agnelli, Di Maria and Pogba were not enough. The purchase of Bremer was a real coup de theater that has already put the icing on the cake at the Juventus transfer market, even if we are very far from the end of the session. Bremer, the best defender of last season, snatched from Inter to the sound of millions on the day when Dybala, a Nerazzurri in pectore in the worst nightmares of Juventus fans, ends up in Rome: for the Juventus world it will remain a day to remember. According to the definition of more than one fan, it is 5 May in the transfer market version, with a mischievous juxtaposition to the day when, twenty years ago, Juventus snatched a Scudetto from Inter on the last day.
Now that the dust raised in the media hype is settling, now that the medical examinations have been carried out and the usual photos have been taken, the time has come to answer a question that is not at all easy: what does Bremer’s Juventus do with it. ?
Bremer arrives at Juve twenty-four hours after the farewell of De Ligt, who moved to Bayern Munich. It seems like an ideal exchange of orders, but in reality, despite having some points of contact, the two defenders are very different from each other. Bremer, with the sole choice of the number 3 jersey, is as if he had made a programmatic declaration on his cycle in black and white: I am coming to replace Chiellini, not De Ligt.
De Ligt who has expressed his football preferences several times, not only in the first interview “German”, but also to the post-match TV microphones whenever he had the opportunity. It had been clear for months that Allegri’s football, with the slow pace of the ball, with few movements to dictate the forward pass to the defenders, was not to the liking of the Dutchman. We know nothing about Bremer’s football preferences – also because no one has ever asked him – and we can only imagine them starting from the Brazilian’s tactical history since he joined Serie A.
Since being in Italy, Bremer has almost always played in a three-man defense: on the outside arm with Mazzarri, Longo and Nicola; from power station only from last year with Juric. There was a brief parenthesis at the beginning of Giampaolo’s management, in which Bremer was used as a right central in a four-man line, the same position he occupied at Atletico Mineiro. Then also Giampaolo, veering towards a three-way line, put Bremer as left central.
In Giampaolo’s four-man line, Bremer was invited to play the ball from below often. At first glance, he gave the idea of a player uncomfortable with his feet, but it was only an impression induced by Bremer’s bulk, the typical embarrassment of players with long legs and a high center of gravity. Once the first impression was overcome, it was evident how Bremer was quite confident when it came to playing the ball with his feet. Paradoxically, the riskiest and most profitable passes, those that cross the center of the field or pass over the defense line, Bremer played when he was under pressure from an opponent; he otherwise he was limited to lateral support. In Mazzarri’s system, Bremer was tempted to move forward with the ball and, when he found himself in the opposing half of the pitch, even there he mostly limited himself to the simplest support.
It is with Juric that Bremer found his dimension and exploded. In a system with certain references to man, and no longer to the area, Bremer was able to exploit his physical skills and his innate sense of anticipation. In Giampaolo’s Turin, this instinct was hardly seen in him: Bremer rarely broke the line of four to get out on the man stationed at the edge of the area.
Bremer’s performance last season was dazzling. But just one splendid year is enough for the risk that Juventus has decided to take? Should you bet hard on a player when you intend to take them out of the system that allowed them to excel? Because there is no doubt that Juventus is a fascinating but risky bet. Considering that the initial request was lower, and that Inzaghi’s system, at least for the spatial references, is more similar to the systems in which Bremer has already played, Inter’s bet certainly made more sense.
Paired with Bonucci in a four-man line, Bremer should play as a central left, a position he has never covered in his career, except in specific emergency situations in the game. He could have problems playing the ball with his strong right foot, because it would force him to orient himself towards the inside of the field, therefore to take a few more risks, and we have seen how refractory Bremer is to take risks. De Ligt also suffered when he was forced to play on the left in the defensive pair.
Furthermore, Bremer should adjust down that strenuous attitude that made him so unsurpassed last year. A four-man defense doesn’t have the cover of a three-man defense and Allegri’s Juventus, when it was De Ligt who broke the line, showed that they were not so prepared in absorbing the central’s exits. Finally, the constant attention in the marking within the penalty area, the fundamental in which Chiellini excelled, is a quality to be demonstrated at the levels to which Juventus aspires to rise. Bremer passes from Turin to Juve and, as Allegri says in his favorite refrain, playing for the win every three days, battling between Salernitana and Real Madrid, is another thing.
Allegri has shown that he does not like the systematic use of a three-man defense. He accepted him for a transition period, to move from the mechanical Juventus he had inherited from Conte to his own, the one that then ended up in the Champions League final with this defensive line: Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Bonucci, Evra (Chiellini was injured that day ). He then used it during the match, to close the penalty area and protect the result. With all the tactical flexibility that is recognized, Allegri still prefers a four-way line.
But if he decides to try a Juventus with three central players, it could be interesting to see a line with Bremer central and two game constructors like Bonucci and Danilo on his sides. Bonucci would enhance his ambitions as a midfielder. Danilo, tried as a third left in Pirlo’s regency year, was probably the most proactive and creative defender in the league. Bremer would recover his proverbial aggression in marking, the physical and technical arrogance that allowed him to eat all the nines of the last championship. For the sense of anticipation and for the ability to cover the wide field behind him, perhaps it is more interesting to see Bremer defend high on the pitch, rather than in the penalty area. As always: it is not just a question of men, but also of tactical proposals.
That of the three-man defense is just a summer fascination, little more than a blunder from too much sun. In the first friendly match, against the amateurs of Pinerolo, Juventus took the field ordered according to 4-3-3, with Cuadrado, Bonucci, De Ligt and Alex Sandro in defense. To get the answers to the questions posed here, the first autumn breeze will be needed, the one that comes to break the front of the August heat. Allegri, you know, needs to see his pieces move on the field before finding, as a good engineer, not the perfect solution, but the optimal one, the best possible with the material available. It will certainly not be the matches of the American tour or the first tests in the league that will convince him of what Juventus will be like. Autumn is still to come, for now the honeymoon between the management and the fans keep on.
