yesterday juventus played napoli at their home in a game which can be decisive in the title race . but before i write about the game let me talk about massimo allegri . allgri has currently linked with chelsea head coach job . now over the years abramovic has yearned to play tiki taka or attractive football by chelsea but he has never succeeded in getting a coach of that type . allegri too is not the coach who fancies on attractive football but rather his fundamentals are all strong defending and counter attacking football . if yesterday's juve's display or their performance in last years UCL is to be considered then they defended the lead which they had got rather than trying to outscore or play attractive football . my consideration is that allegri and chelsea are not meant for each other . allegri is totally meant for italian football and if he takes out a job in england then it would be a total mistake for him and would damage his reputation but if i am proven wrong then i will be glad .
now about the game . juve and napoli are the two best sides in italy and they had healthy respect for each other . it was shown on the pitch with the way they lined up and the way they defended but then i am not very pleased with allegri . i mean he literally had 10 men behind the ball with a narrow 4-4-2 and literally no press on napoli and sitting deep and letting them have the ball . i was frustrated with both teams and i will try to explain why . juve started with a 4-4-2 with dybala and moratta up front it should be said 4-6 not 4-4-2 because all these players were behind the ball when they would loose possession . now marchisio in the middle with khadeira with pogba and caudrado on the wings . the back four consisted of Lichtsteiner,bonucci,brazagalli and evra . napoli started the game with a 4-3-3 formation . they had higuain up top with insigne and callejon .while allen,jorginiho and hamsik were in the middle . the back four consisted of hysaj,albiol,Koulibaly and ghoulam .
now the game had a decent pace about it . juventus were sitting back and letting napoli come on and then hit them on the counter . the most intriguining thing about juventus was that they would have all the 10 players behind the ball but they would press very little and were trying to soak in napoli's offense . the trouble with this formation was that they didnt anybody to release behind napoli's back four so they had to move the ball around just to bring it upfield . since juve had to move the ball around to bring the ball upfield . this helped napoli since they could bring players behind the ball and have numbers on defending and stop juve's offense . since there were no juventus players playing on Koulibaly and albiol's shoulder napoli could play much higher defensive line compared to juve who were playing much deeper defensive line.
now both teams offense are dependent on certain players . napoli's offense is totally dependent on higuain . he is their sole finisher and in this game it was totally dependent on him napoli were just happy to take the ball wide and whip the ball in the box . they never ever tried to work the ball to have better penetration or there wasnt anybody who was trying to go beyond higuain . they were happy to cross the ball for higuain . juve had deduced this thing very well that napoli's everything and anything flows through higuain and that is why squeezed the space in the middle . they marked higuain very well and never allowed him too much space and time on the ball . brazaglli was the key man who was tasked to keep tabs on higuain and he did a good job . callejon and insigne were not very effective with the ball while hamsik just couldnt exert himself on the game . he just couldnt carve out a opening out for the team and was content on shooting ball from the distance when presented with the opportunity . napoli's limited offense was exposed in this fixture . there fullbacks could move upfield without any opposition since both pogba and caudrado moved very close to khadeira and marchisio to a very narrow two sets of four . but still they were happy to cross the ball in the box rather than working the zone and trying to have a deeper penetration where on they could cause problems for juve's defense . juve were deep where on they didnt allow any space behind the back four to exploit .
now juventus offense is dependent on two people in particular dybala and pogba . dyabal comes inside and collect the ball and releases players that are beyond him and he can play good one two but the juventus offense and their positoning isnt helping him . juventus are dependent on pogba for his deep runs and his thundersome shots from distance and his ability to open defense single handedly . now xavi was asked about the player that he would like barca then he pointed at dybala not at pogba and i think he is correct with his observation and allegri is not able to get the best out of dybala he needs to get the team playing around him where this little guy can play small passes and can dribble in tight spaces and can open defenses . there was no cohesion between him and moratta . juventus have to play him more forward and him playing on the should make him more dangerous and more unpredictable with his movement and juventus can stretch opposition . pogba is very good technical equipped player but lacks the guile at this point to be world class . he needs to be bit more patient and should work with the players around him . whenever on the ball his first priority is to shoot the ball rather than passing the ball and trying to take the ball deeper . several time he wasted the ball in the match . if allegri can work with him and can make him understand as to how he can control the game and exert himself on the game then i think he can definitely be world class . he needs to work on the passess he tends to make them very hard (i.e he puts lots of weight on the ball which becomes difficult for the receiver to whom he passes to control ) .
allegri had moratta and dybala upfront which meant that they didnt had a aerial presence in the box and allegri tried to change it by giving something new to the napoli's defense . he brought zaza who could be a aerial threat in the box and it did the trick .
to be honest both the teams lacked creativity and were more dependent on players quality than the interplay between their players and their movement . i think allegri got really lucky last season but this season he could get caught against the better teams . napoli i think just blew the best chance to win the scudetto and should concentrate on getting in the UCL now .
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| napoli's formation |
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| juventus on defense |
now both teams offense are dependent on certain players . napoli's offense is totally dependent on higuain . he is their sole finisher and in this game it was totally dependent on him napoli were just happy to take the ball wide and whip the ball in the box . they never ever tried to work the ball to have better penetration or there wasnt anybody who was trying to go beyond higuain . they were happy to cross the ball for higuain . juve had deduced this thing very well that napoli's everything and anything flows through higuain and that is why squeezed the space in the middle . they marked higuain very well and never allowed him too much space and time on the ball . brazaglli was the key man who was tasked to keep tabs on higuain and he did a good job . callejon and insigne were not very effective with the ball while hamsik just couldnt exert himself on the game . he just couldnt carve out a opening out for the team and was content on shooting ball from the distance when presented with the opportunity . napoli's limited offense was exposed in this fixture . there fullbacks could move upfield without any opposition since both pogba and caudrado moved very close to khadeira and marchisio to a very narrow two sets of four . but still they were happy to cross the ball in the box rather than working the zone and trying to have a deeper penetration where on they could cause problems for juve's defense . juve were deep where on they didnt allow any space behind the back four to exploit .
now juventus offense is dependent on two people in particular dybala and pogba . dyabal comes inside and collect the ball and releases players that are beyond him and he can play good one two but the juventus offense and their positoning isnt helping him . juventus are dependent on pogba for his deep runs and his thundersome shots from distance and his ability to open defense single handedly . now xavi was asked about the player that he would like barca then he pointed at dybala not at pogba and i think he is correct with his observation and allegri is not able to get the best out of dybala he needs to get the team playing around him where this little guy can play small passes and can dribble in tight spaces and can open defenses . there was no cohesion between him and moratta . juventus have to play him more forward and him playing on the should make him more dangerous and more unpredictable with his movement and juventus can stretch opposition . pogba is very good technical equipped player but lacks the guile at this point to be world class . he needs to be bit more patient and should work with the players around him . whenever on the ball his first priority is to shoot the ball rather than passing the ball and trying to take the ball deeper . several time he wasted the ball in the match . if allegri can work with him and can make him understand as to how he can control the game and exert himself on the game then i think he can definitely be world class . he needs to work on the passess he tends to make them very hard (i.e he puts lots of weight on the ball which becomes difficult for the receiver to whom he passes to control ) .
allegri had moratta and dybala upfront which meant that they didnt had a aerial presence in the box and allegri tried to change it by giving something new to the napoli's defense . he brought zaza who could be a aerial threat in the box and it did the trick .
to be honest both the teams lacked creativity and were more dependent on players quality than the interplay between their players and their movement . i think allegri got really lucky last season but this season he could get caught against the better teams . napoli i think just blew the best chance to win the scudetto and should concentrate on getting in the UCL now .
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