Juventus' Corner : Three Major Problems Faced By Conte

After a blistering start to the season things have slowly started to cool down for Juventus. The victory over Milan had given rise to premature talks about Juve recapturing the Scudetto but subsequent performances against Chievo and Genoa has brought out certain flaws in the team. It is imperative that Conte fixes these flaws before Juve start playing a particularly punishing set of fixtures in the next few weeks.

Too much Pirlo dependency?

There is no doubt that Andrea Pirlo has been majestic this season. The World Cup winner seems to have turned back the years and has been the best player for Juventus in most of the games. As always, his vision and passing range has been immaculate. His ability to retain possession and accurate ball distribution has ensured that Juve enjoy more than 60% ball possession in majority of the games. In all these brouhaha about Pirloai??i??s genius it is becomingly painfully clear that the Bianconeri is becoming over reliant on him to create chances.

Juventus has looked listless in the matches where Pirlo has gone missing. He was double marked against Catania and the Old Lady created few, very few clear-cut chances. The same drama was repeated in the match against Chievo. Pirlo was clearly tired after playing for full 90 minutes in both of Italyai??i??s matches and Chievoai??i??s gruff style in the midfield didnai??i??t do him any favours either. This again resulted in Juve looking clueless in final third.

Juventus has made the same mistake of being over-dependent on a single player in last two seasons. In both cases drop in forms of Diego and Milos Krasic saw the team struggle pathetically. Conte cannot afford to make the same mistake. A fit Pirlo is often unstoppable but his fitness hasnai??i??t been top-notch in last few seasons. He is indispensable for the Azzuris, so he will share extra workload during International ai???breaksai???. There is a good chance he will be fatigued more and more as the season progresses and currently Juventus has no one to replace him.

It will be harsh if we completely dismiss Claudio Marchisioai??i??s performances this season. He has been consistent and has often created time and space for Pirlo with his pressing in central midfield. However, for all his talent and fortitude, Marchisio can never provide the ai???Hollywoodai??? passes like Pirlo. Same can be said about Arturo Vidal. It should also be mentioned that both Vidal and Marchisioai??i??s roles are to continuously press high up the pitch, roles which seldom leave time for them to don the creative hat.

The only way Juventus can overcome their Pirlo dependency is by stretching the play, which brings us to our next point.

Wingless Wonders?

The World Cup winning England team was referred as the ai???Wingless Wondersai??? in a positive manner but there is nothing positive about the absolute lack of penetration in Juveai??i??s wings.

On right-wing Milos Krasicai??i??s form shows no sign of improving. It was expected that the presence of Stephan Lichtsteiner would spur him but nothing has changed so far. While his performance over last 7 days can be excused because of a personal tragedy, his performance in previous games canai??i??t be excused. Krasic looks disturbingly one-dimensional at times and his final ball has been very poor. Lichtsteiner has been consistent but it will be too much to expect the Swiss full-back to produce all the goods when the winger is struggling.

Simone Pepe, on the other hand has been the most consistent (or least poor) winger so far. Conte seems to have liking for Pepeai??i??s dedication and work-rate and has been using him regularly. The former Udinese player is industrious but that is all he is. His crossing is often poor and he rarely cuts back from the wings.

He has also been given the job of pressurizing the opponent full-backs into their own halves, which he has done pretty well. This diminishes his contribution to attacking plays even further. He hasnai??i??t been helped at all by the left-backs, regardless of who played. Paolo De Ceglie has looked very rusty when he played; Chielliniai??i??s passing has always been too atrocious for him to be a good attacking left-back while Fabio Grosso has been, well, Fabio Grosso.

Conte does have a number of options in his hands but neither Elia nor Giaccherini has showed enough promise to be a second channel of creativity. It must be said that they havenai??i??t gotten enough first team action to conclusively rule them out. Same can be said about Estigarribia. The only positive side in winger issue is the fact that Conte does have a number of alternatives and fans will be hoping that some of the wingers return to form quickly.

Lack of Variation Upfront

The mister does have a number of strikers at his disposal, even if we disregard Amauri and Vincenzo Iaquinta. Conteai??i??s most favoured striker has been Mirko Vucinic, often been using him as the lone striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Vucinic had a wonderful game against Milan and also provided two assists. A common complaint against Vucinic has been his laziness and how he often becomes invisible against smaller teams. He has stayed true to his reputation so far and has often looked totally disinterested when playing mid-table teams. This has severely dented Juveai??i??s attack in games when he played as a lone striker.

It is baffling how Antonio Conte has overlooked Fabio Quagliarella so far. The ex-Napoli striker was in blistering form last season before getting injured. Conte has mentioned that Quagliarella lacks the fitness to cope with his system but the player himself has mentioned he is match fit. Before transfer window closed, there were strong rumours that the coach didnai??i??t want Quagliarella in the squad – Conteai??i??s treatment of him so far doesnai??i??t suggest otherwise.

Even more surprising is keeping Alessandro Matri on bench when playing a single striker. Matriai??i??s off the ball movement is excellent and he has a knack of being at the right place at the right time. He has gotten his name on the scoresheet 12 times in his 22 Juve games. Even this season he is the joint top scorer despite starting in just 4 matches. In many ways, Matri is much better suited than Vucinic to be a lone striker.

Antonio Conte might be working hard to enable Juventus cope without Alessandro Del Piero but there are times when the Bianconeri desperately needed his sublime skills. In games against smaller clubs Juventus often struggled to break down a packed defence ai??i?? a situation which required a player who can provide a moment of genius, like Del Piero. Yet the coach has often brought on Juveai??i??s all time top scorer too late in the day.

Against Chievo, Del Piero was by far the best Juve player after coming on in second half. He was denied by the post once and also, surprisingly, saved Juve with a late goal-line clearance. This might be Del Pieroai??i??s last season in Turin and he will give his all in every game he plays. He definitely needs more game time, especially when Juve struggle to break a packed defence.

With just seven games gone it is too early to make sweeping predictions about the season. It is too early to predict if Juve will finish in top-3 and also it is too early to talk about doom and gloom. Antonio Conte might have to make some tough decisions to iron out these flaws ai??i?? he has capability to do it. How he deals with these problems might determine how the season pans out for Italyai??i??s most successful club.

Juventus’ Corner : Three Major Problems Faced By Conte

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