Sassuolo expose Juve between lines

Part 2 of our look at Juventus looks at their defensive frailties.

Closing out the season saw Juve not only lose a lot of games but conceding many goals. When trying to understand this it was evident in games like the one vs Sassuolo that they were just too exposed between the lines.

Juve played a 442 diamond in this game and were torn apart centrally which shouldn’t be the case when playing this formation as they have the numbers in central areas. A key reason behind this was the positioning of Miralem Pjanic who was far too high at times. Key ways Sassulo exploited this were:

• Bypass the press and play into a striker or 10 who drops deep

• Quick short passes to lure Defensive Midfielder out and once lured pass in behind

• Juventus not stepping up as one gave Sassuolo a lot of room in between Juve midfield and backline

• Overloading the Defensive midfielder by dropping striker deeper

As good as Juventus are attatcking they have conceded far too many goals this year. This was one of the major issues in Sarri’s reign which of course is now since terminated. Too much of an emphasis was on all out attacking and games became very stretched and open due which allowed teams to exploit space.

Sarri as a coach had similar problems at Chelsea with gaps appearing between the midfield and backline as Jorginho would be too high at times. Ngolo Kante was also played higher when all that is needed is to add in a second holding player. This will give added security to the backline and add muscle to the midfield.

Pjanic was too high and too exposed when perhaps what was needed was a second player to sit along side him and give extra cover. Tuck the wide me in and soildify central areas. In game management is key for any head coach and this is an area which ultimately could have cost Sarri his job.