Can’t even recruit Spalletti for 3 games? Juventus urgently needs a midfield brain

Fiorentina 1 to 1 Juventus (

Battle Report)

Sports Weekly All-Media Special Correspondent in Italy Xiaowu

After three managements and four coaches, Juventus's stubborn problems have still not been solved. In an away game against bottom-ranked Fiorentina, the Bianconeri's central defense once again had problems and was easily penetrated by two old players, Moise Kean and Mandragora. New coach Spalletti had no choice but to scratch his bald head.

In less than a month, Spalletti has already set a record: becoming the second coach in Juventus history to have three draws in his first four games. The last one was Sandro Pupo in 1955. Pupo is still the only Italian coach who has coached Barcelona so far, and the Juventus team at that time was not a team that Spalletti said had championship ambitions. Because Pupo boldly recruited young people, his team was called the "Baby Army", just like "Juventus" itself means young people.

Spalletti's goal is much heavier. In fact, when he mentioned "competing for the championship", he meant that players must have this intention, not that they are too ambitious and want to immediately return to the championship group. But the media and broadcasters took the trouble to embarrass Spalletti on this issue, as if to say: "Is this the Juventus that wants to compete for the championship?"

Spalletti has a relatively clear understanding of the team: "Our current level of competition is lower than what we should show, and there is no point in dwelling on certain game segments. I They continue to make the same mistakes, so the results are the same. Either change something or not improve. "He has indeed been making changes, and the unexpected placement of Kopmeinas at left center back and the re-introduction of Kostic have had good results since he took office.

In this game, it was Kostic who scored the first goal with a tricky long-range shot. This was Spalletti's correction after two consecutive draws. Cambiaso also returned to the right. This seems to be the best arrangement for Juventus' two wings at present. But in the most critical center, Spalletti racked his brains, but with little success. In the central defender position, he has already tried Gatti and Rugani. With Rugani's injury, Kelly has just come back in the middle. The Englishman's personal performance is not bad, but he still cannot play the role of commanding the defense. Florence can often cause damage through simple long passes.

This is just the defense in the middle. On offense, advancing from the backcourt is also a big problem. Everyone knows that the ball should be given to Yildiz more and let him catch the ball more in the core area, but it is difficult to do so. Spalletti said after the game: "We found Yildiz too few times. Turning the ball from one side to the other should be to create space for penetration in the center, but we did too little. We often made passing mistakes and must improve our level. We need to give the forwards more balls and make more vertical passes." Note that this is a signal. When the team cannot achieve this goal through changes, it may turn to the transfer market.

As we all know, Spalletti is obsessed with the role of midfield commander, from Pizarro during Udinese and Roma, to Brozovic during Inter Milan, and to Lobotka during Naples. Although the style is slightly different, a reliable deep-lying organizer is standard. This is not to belittle Locatelli's role. In fact, Juventus' current captain has never been a playmaker, but a versatile defensive midfielder or wide midfielder. Taking this game as an example, he ranks among the best in terms of touches, accuracy of long passes, regaining possession of the ball, and number of successful confrontations. He also has 3 shots on goal. There is no doubt that he will be named the best player of the team.

In contrast, Locatelli's partner Hevron Thuram did too little. The Frenchman only touched the ball 31 times in the game and could not stand at all in the defensive midfielder position. When Juventus lost the ball, he was out of position twice and was at a disadvantage in the confrontation, which ultimately caused chaos. Thuram's advantage lies in dribbling the ball forward and exerting influence in the opponent's half. Perhaps signing a playmaker can solve the stubborn problems that have plagued Juventus for many years. This is why the rumors of Brozovic arose.

Vlahovic has performed well enough as a forward. In the first half, he won a penalty kick with a backheel, but the referee canceled it after reviewing the video. The scene at that time was that a large number of extreme fans at Florence's home court made racist curses at him. In addition, the penalty kick was canceled. In the past, the Serbian's mentality would have exploded. Facing his old club in this campaign, he also used active counterattacks to provide assists for Kostic. Although one of his single-handed ball handling was criticized, his overall performance was quite stable, basically playing the same role as Keane on the opposite side.

This sounds like an irony. After all, Vlahovic "promoted" to Juventus from Florence, while Keane was "downgraded" to Fiorentina from Juventus' poor development. But now Keane's worth has long surpassed Vlahovic. The two were both born in 2000, and their entrance and exit proved the original misjudgment of Juventus managers. If Juventus wants to get back on the track to compete for the championship, it may indeed need some suitable attracting help. Will the management satisfy Spalletti this time?