Bologna-Juventus was important for the two teams not to stray too far from fourth place, awaiting the match between Roma and Como this evening.
The importance for the standings was also accompanied by the curiosity to see Spalletti’s Juventus at work after the second half against Pafos, decidedly better than the first half of the game, in which the Juventus coach had launched the 4-2-3-1. A module indicated by the coach himself as the possible final destination of his tactical journey with Juventus which began a month and a half ago. On the eve of the game, while reiterating the desire to deploy a 4-man defence, Spalletti had reduced the importance of the playing module, reiterating the importance of fluidity as an adaptation to the needs of the match. And so, in Bologna, the Juventus coach confirmed the formation seen in the Champions League, only changing Thuram for Miretti. On the other hand, Vincenzo Italiano, renouncing Odgaard and deploying a midfield made up of Moro, Ferguson and Pobega, set up his Bologna with a clear 4-3-3 with the Croatian as the lower apex of the middle triangle.
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THE FLUIDITY OF JUVENTUS
Perhaps for the first time since Spalletti sat on the Juventus bench, the fluidity preached in words was also seen on the pitch. In the non-possession phase, Juventus chose to press Bologna’s not always clean construction high with an approach that was very oriented towards the positions of the opponents and which also ended up defining Juventus’ defensive deployment.
In the usual game of pressure interlocks, Juventus initially conceded numerical superiority to Bologna’s low construction which, by lowering Moro on the central line, tried to dribble against Juventus’ first line, made up of Jonathan David and Kenan Yildiz. Behind them Cambiaso on the left and Coinceção on the right took care of Zortea and Miranda, while Locatelli and Thuram marked the two opposing midfielders.
Behind with McKennie, Kalulu, Kelly and Koopmeiners against the Italian attacking trio of Orsolini, Dallinga and Cambiaghi, Juventus always had a man advantage. However, when the ball reached Lucumí, especially if slow or behind, Coinceção attacked the central defender and McKennie climbed onto Miranda. With this shift in pressing, Juventus accepted numerical parity in the back area, relying on the ability of their pressing to dirty the transmission of the ball towards the opposing strikers and that of their defenders to win the individual duel against the rossoblù attackers.
Juventus presses with two men – David and Yildiz – the Bologna construction which lowers Moro among the central defenders. Behind a line of 4 with Locatelli and Thuram marking the two rossoblù midfielders
The pressing was actually quite effective. Juventus recovered twice as many balls as Bologna in an advanced position (12 against 6) and in the opponent’s half (33 against 16). Furthermore, the data is not distorted by Heggem’s expulsion in the middle of the second half, given that in the first 45 minutes Juventus recovered more balls in the opponent’s half (18) than in the second half.
On the ball traveling from the central area of the pitch towards Lucumí, Coinceção rises to press the Colombian central defender. McKennie in the chain, leaves Cambiaghi and climbs on Miranda and Kalulu abandons his support for Kelly in controlling Dallinga to go on Cambiaghi
Behind, Lloyd Kelly’s performance was practically perfect, as he won the individual duel with Dallinga by a landslide, dominating him on every occasion in which Bologna played the ball vertically to their center forward. At the same time, Kelly was practically impeccable in his defense of the penalty area. The English defender won 10 of the 12 duels he engaged in with Dallinga, recovered 16 balls – the highest number in the match – and cleared his penalty area 3 times. Progressively, confident in the effectiveness of their pressure, Juventus has increasingly chosen their most aggressive version, equalizing Bologna’s back line by pressing, lifting Coinceção on Lucumí in a systematic manner and effectively lining up with a sort of 3-4-3 shaped by the opponents’ position in possession.
Bologna were not too clean in their attempts to overcome the Juventus pressing and as mentioned they did not find the direct line towards their center forward. The search for offensive wingers was a little more fortunate. Cambiaghi was probably the most effective of the rossoblù attackers, working on the left track in search of the cross. There were 6 successful dribbles for the rossoblù left wing out of 8 attempted and 8 crosses in the bianconeri penalty area. Orsolini instead worked more in combination with Zortea, as on the occasion of the crossbar hit by the rossoblù full-back at the end of the first half.
The type of action that worked best for Bologna during the match. Long ball towards Cambiaghi, duel against Kalulu and cross. In this case the ball reaches Orsolini on the opposite side who, centralizing himself, serves the internal overlap of Zortea. The full-back’s shot is deflected by Di Gregorio onto the crossbar
The type of action that worked best for Bologna during the match. Long ball towards Cambiaghi, duel against Kalulu and cross. In this case the ball reaches Orsolini on the opposite side who, centralizing himself, serves the internal overlap of Zortea. The full-back’s shot is deflected by Di Gregorio onto the crossbar
The type of action that worked best for Bologna during the match. Long ball towards Cambiaghi, duel against Kalulu and cross. In this case the ball reaches Orsolini on the opposite side who, centralizing himself, serves the internal overlap of Zortea. The full-back’s shot is deflected by Di Gregorio onto the crossbar
The type of action that worked best for Bologna during the match. Long ball towards Cambiaghi, duel against Kalulu and cross. In this case the ball reaches Orsolini on the opposite side who, centralizing himself, serves the internal overlap of Zortea. The full-back’s shot is deflected by Di Gregorio onto the crossbar
After the match, Vincenzo Italiano explained his choice to focus on the 4-3-3, renouncing the presence of a player behind the striker of his 4-2-3-1, with the intention of having, thanks to the 3 midfielders, numerical superiority in the midfield. However, the plan didn’t work, because Bologna was unable to move up the field with the ball against the opponent’s pressing, and their midfielders were well controlled by Thuram and Locatelli. The few offensive chances for Italiano’s men therefore originated from direct plays on the outside and short transitions after recovering the ball. In the phase of consolidated possession, with Juventus low and lined up with a line of 5 defenders, even the weapon of the individual initiatives of the attacking wingers was defused by the Juventus defensive density.
THE MCKENNIE VARIABLE
As usual, the defensive attitude of Vincenzo Italiano’s Bologna was rather aggressive and based on man-on-man pressing. What blew up the individual scoring was the incredible mobility of Weston McKennie, whose continuous movements created or occupied spaces that continually redesigned the team’s position on the pitch. Starting from the right-back/right-back position in the non-possession phase, McKennie abandoned the width in the attacking phase, rising centrally, to leave Conceição the opportunity to play as much as possible with his feet on the touchline. Starting from afar and initially assuming an intermediate position on the centre-right of the Juventus attack, the American read the spaces to attack by continuously varying his tracks.
McKennie could read Conceição’s movements, rising externally when the Portuguese remained low or overlapping internally in the moves of the Juventus winger towards the center of the pitch.
With the same effectiveness, McKennie could make very deep cuts to attack the defensive line on the opposite side of the pitch.
Finally, he could attack the penalty area to finish off his teammates’ crosses coming from outside or attack the deep space created by David’s movements towards the ball.
In the first two slides we see McKennie filling the area and finishing wide of Ravaglia’s goal, heading home a cross from Cambiaso. In the last slide, relating to David’s goal disallowed in the first half due to McKennie himself’s offside, the American attacks the space behind the center forward and goes to collect the header from his teammate.
Moving in the initial phase of the maneuver in the centre-left area of Bologna’s defensive formation, with the left midfielder Pobega involved in marking Locatelli, it was often Lucumí who oriented himself towards McKennie, starting from afar. However, the American’s mobility did not allow the Colombian central defender to fully control his opponent and, in general, it was difficult to read Bologna’s entire defensive phase.
McKennie’s continuous movement was the main factor in the team’s fluidity, both reacting to the movements of his teammates and triggering it as a response to the American’s tracks. Juventus thus managed to overcome Bologna’s pressing with good quality, altering short dribbles and longer and more direct passes. A certain technical and strategic inaccuracy in the last 25 meters of the pitch effectively prevented the Bianconeri from making an overall superiority more concrete in the technical and tactical comparison of the match in the opposing pressing-building phases.
THE CHANGES OF SHOULDERS
Exactly half an hour from the ninetieth, Luciano Spalletti changed his starting eleven, replacing Cambiaso and David with Cabal and Openda, two more direct and vertical players. With their entry, Juventus began to attack Bologna’s defensive line more directly, always high and courageous. The result was the expulsion of Heggem who, with Juventus already leading 1-0, effectively closed the match. Beyond the precious goal scored, Cabal gave Juventus’ left flank the energy and speed that Cambiaso was unable to provide in the first part of the match.
The victory obtained in Bologna is fundamental for the Bianconeri who, in the event of a false step, would have moved too far away from fourth place, Juventus’ minimum goal of the season in the championship. At the end of the match, Spalletti said he was satisfied with the team’s performance, stating that the match against Bologna was in his opinion Juventus’ best match since he’s been there.
The defeat, however, costs Bologna the overtaking of Juventus and the temporary descent to sixth place, awaiting Roma-Como. As stated by the Italian himself, the team appeared tired and low on energy after Thursday evening’s match in Spain. Intensity is the determining factor for the performance of a team like Bologna, with less than excellent technical means and centered on the energy of its pressing and rather rapid and direct attacks. For this reason, to keep the performance of his men high, Vincenzo Italiano will have to find a way not to lower his team’s energy level too much in the triple match between the championship, Europa League and Italian Cup, without neglecting the Italian Super Cup scheduled for the end of this week. It won’t be an easy task for the rossoblù coach.
