Match date: 10 November 2013

A match up between the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in Serie A and with Roma recording their second straight draw, a win for either side would bring them to within a point of the Serie A leaders.

Antonio Conte reverted by to a 3-5-2, while Rafa Benitez stuck to a 4-2-3-1, which meant that the wide areas were going to be a key battle throughout the match.

Bonucci From the Back

Napoli came out very flat and failed to close down Juventus until they were well within Napoli’s half of the field. Gonzalo Higuain would try to dictate which way Juventus played, especially when Bonucci had the ball, by moving to either Ogbonna or Barzagli, with Hamsik usually shading to the opposite side as you can see below.

Bonucci, however, is very good on the ball and has the ability to play good passes out from the back of Juventus’ defense. When trying to play into the attacking third of the field, he either tried to play balls into Pogba, who was making very good runs forward throughout the match, Llorente, or he would look to hit a ball out to either of the Juventus’ wing backs, who were generally open.

Llorente would get in between the lines of Napoli’s centre backs and Inler and Behrami, with the two holding midfielders usually occupied by Pogba and Vidal. Below you can see a ball played from Bonucci to the chest of Llorente, who has just made a run in between the lines only for Raul Albiol to drop off the Juventus attacker as he was receiving the ball and allow him to turn.

Consequences of Juventus’ Wing Backs

Conte relies on his wing backs for width in Serie A matches and when they have both Asamoah and Lichtsteiner, it is an area that is incredibly effective. However, the use of wing backs in a 3-5-2 has both benefits and weaknesses. The positives first. With the wing backs against a 4-2-3-1, they were generally open as Insigne and Callejon did not track their runs to any good effect and Maggio and Armero would pinch in when the ball was on the opposite side of the field, which allowed Juventus to play diagonal passes to either Asamoah or Isla with relative ease, especially with Pirlo, and quickly open up Napoli’s midfield with the quick switch of play. Below, you can see an example of a diagonal ball being played from Pirlo to the feet of Isla, with Insigne and Armero pinched infield, allowing the switch to be played.

Both made decent usage of the ball as well. Asamoah had an opportunity in the 27th minute at a good angle to test Pepe Reina, but was only able to hit the side netting after he was put through inadvertently by a Tevez flick. Isla, despite not being Conte’s first choice right wing back, did well in creating three chances for his teammates. Vidal and, more so Pogba, did a good job as well moving into the wide areas to create 2 v 1 situations.

On the defensive side of the ball, however, it presented a bit of a problem, especially for Isla on the right. Against a 3-5-2, a 4-2-3-1, in theory, can create 2 v 1 situations on the offensive side of the ball. The two fullbacks, Maggio and Armero in this situation, can push on to support the wingers against the opposition’s wing backs. For Juventus, this meant that as Maggio and Armero supported their respective wingers, they would either leave their wing back in the 2 v 1 or Pogba and Vidal would cover the wing back’s runs. This opened up the midfield a bit more, however, and allowed Hamsik to run free from flank to flank looking to create a now 3 v 2 situation, with Pirlo not tracking Napoli’s playmaker well.

Insigne took advantage of his 1 v 1 with Isla, dribbling at him well and varying cutting inside and trying to beat Isla at the by line. His good, positive play allowed him to take 6 total shots, forcing Buffon into good saves throughout the match despite not scoring and won Napoli a free kick in a good area that he took forcing Buffon into another good save.

Napoli’s Second Half

Napoli came out much better in the second half as they looked to press Juventus much higher up the pitch, which forced Juventus into making poor decisions when on the ball which visibly annoyed Conte on the sidelines. Napoli’s centre backs were able to keep a high line, with neither Llorente or Tevez possessing much pace, which helped Napoli keep the ball in Juventus’ half.

Hamsik’s overloading in the wide areas was much more effective as Pirlo continued to stay in the centre of the field, while Pogba and Vidal were a bit more stretched with Napoli’s defensive line higher up the field allowing Inler and Behrami to get more involved higher up the pitch. With that Hamsik would drift from side to side and Pogba and Vidal became responsible for both Hamsik and one of either Behrami or Inler as the ball moved into the wide areas. Look where Hamsik received and played majority of this passes. Rarely did he receive a ball in the middle of the attacking third of the pitch and rarely were his passes made into the middle. Much of his work was side to side to try to create numbers u situations and drag Juventus’ midfield out of the centre of the pitch.

Depsite all their good play though, Napoli weren’t able to grab a goal to equalise before Inler conceded a very poor foul about 22 yards outside of Napoli’s penalty area. Llorente had won a header, knocking it down to Tevez, who almost immediately had 4 Napoli players around him only for Inler to foul him. The resulting free kick was scored by Pirlo giving Juventus a 2-0 lead.

Conclusion

Pogba finished off the scoring for Juventus with a spectacular volley from outside the area and overall, the young French international put in a terrific performance. He wasn’t so much dictating play with the ball, but his movement off the ball whether running into Napoli’s penalty area and allowing one of Tevez and Llorente to drop off to receive or pushing into the wide areas to create numbers up situations were very important for Juventus’ dominating in the first half. His defensive work in the wide areas of Juventus’ defense during the second half was important in keeping both Callejon and Maggio relatively quiet throughout the match.

Conte will certainly be the happier of the two managers with the result in their favour and moving to within a point of Roma, but Rafa Benitez will be incredibly disappointed with himself for allowing Juventus to control the first half of the match.