Juventus’ Performance Improves due to Allegri’s New and Consistent Strategy

Juventus are back, long live Juventus! The Italian football club which now occupies the 5th position in Serie A table is said to be back on track. The team seems to be returning to its previous form, having managed four straight wins in its domestic championship. Juventus is undefeated since their game against Torino at the end of October 2015.

Everyone wants to know the reasons for the Spanish team’s revival and excellent performance at the pitch.

The return of Claudio Marchisio back to Juventus’ starters is one of the key factors that influenced the return of the Old Lady back on track. The 29-year-old midfielder missed only one of the last seven matches played by the Italian No.5 team. Marchisio has always been known as the tactical director who is fully capable of leading the midfield, and is a great choice for the starting line-up due to his experience and balancing skills, especially considering the ups and downs of Juventus lately.

The decision of head coach Massimiliano Allegri to make as few changes to the team’s starters as possible is also another reason why the success of Juventus is so quickly noticeable. The illogical and frankly frustrating decisions of playing the whole new squad every game caused some turbulence, hurting its cohesion badly.

With such decisions in line, Juventus was not to blame for its defeats and poor performance, since it was impossible for the players to establish a rhythm and start playing as one. The new strategy of Allegri now allows certain players to have the continuity required in order to stick together as a team and perform better at the pitch.

The difference made with the new strategy of Juventus’ head coach is quite visible when compared to the team’s performance at the end of September. The club managed to defeat Genoa, but it suffered a failure against the team at Napoli. Juventus had a total of three matches played within a week, but the changes in the line-up were so great that the poor and unconvincing performance can be explained.

The 4-3-3 formation chosen in the game against Genoa actually worked out. Patrice Evra and Stephan Lichtsteiner played as full-backs, while Juan Cuadrado played alongside Alvaro Morata and Mario Mandzukic. The midfielder role was given to Mario Lemina.

Then, the team used the same formation in its match against Frosinone. Although the midfielder remained the same, the front line was changed. Roberto Pereyra and Simone Zaza had to play alongside Cuadrado. The full-backs were also changed. Patrice Evra was replaced by Alex Sandro and Giorgio Chiellini’s place was taken by Leonardo Bonucci.

Juventus’ formation changed once again for the match against Empoli F.C. A total of six players who entered the starting line-up were changed. Now Pereyra was set to play behind team’s strikers Paulo Dybala and Zaza. In addition, Hernanes was introduced, while Lichtsteiner’s role on the right was taken by Simone Padoin.

On one hand, the desire of Massimiliano Allegri to find the right balance between the separate players and turn them into a team that sticks together, is easy to understand. On the other hand, so many changes made in a period of just a week are only to disturb and confuse the team, which would explain the problems that players had with a cohesion between them.

Now the head coach’s ideas are beginning to take form, and himself is more settled. The line-up is finally set, and it seems that Allegri has a clear idea of how he wants to see the formation. Paul Pogba and Marchisio are almost always included in the starters, as well as Chiellini and Bonucci. Barzagi is to join when the formation changes to 3-5-2. The partnership between Mandzukic and Dybala seems to be settled, too. Sami Khedira would probably be replaced by Stefan Sturaro. The only expected changes are between Sandro and Evra and Lichtsteiner and Cuadrado.