Match date: 5 January 2014

Coming into the match, Juventus were top of Serie A, with Roma five points behind them in second, despite having not lost a game so far in their Serie A campaign.

The performance from Juventus, however, was not one that you would except from a team at the top of Serie A, especially at home. Conte set his team out in their usual 3-5-2, barring a few times that he’s played them in a 4-3-3, with Garcia setting up Roma in a 4-3-3.

Juventus Sit, Allow Roma Possession

Roma started the match very well, as they kept good possession of the football in Juventus’ half and applied good pressure on the ball when they lost it, winning it back quickly. Juventus, however, were quite content in allowing Roma to have possession, with each player getting into a good defensive shape as they defended very deep. It was clear that Conte wanted his Juventus side to sit deep and allow Roma to have time on the ball and then look to counter quickly when the ball was won back. It was a surprising tactical decision since Juventus have, in the majority of their other Serie A matches, had control of the ball and like to play high up the pitch. It was a decision, however, that caught Garcia out and he said in his post match comments that he was not expecting Juventus to sit so deep.

As he has done for most of the season, Daniele De Rossi frequently dropped in between the Roma centre backs, similarly to how Sergio Busquets would during Guardiola’s time at Barcelona. This usually allows De Rossi to have a lot of touches and time on the ball in which he can dictate the tempo of the match and link up with his fellow midfielders in Kevin Strootman and Miralem Pjanic. However, in this particular match, despite having plenty of time on the ball, De Rossi was unable to have much influence on the match as Juventus’ controlled the space in which he was allowed to play into. Both Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente would allow De Rossi and the two Roma centre backs to carry the ball forward, but would block the channels that De Rossi usually likes to play the ball into for Strootman and Pjanic. Below, you can see an example of Tevez covering Strootman and Llorente ten yards off both De Rossi and Pjanic, who is just to the right of De Rossi, giving the ball carrier limited options.

With Tevez and Llorente covering the space in front of De Rossi, it meant that the only options that he usually had were his full backs in Maicon and Dodo. Both saw a lot of the ball throughout the opening stages of the match, but received it in unthreatening areas of the pitch. Above, you see that both are within five yards of the halfway line, with Dodo in the Roma half at the bottom of the screen capture and Maicon in the Juventus half at the top. You can also see Ljajic trying to make a run beyond Pirlo and Pogba, in an attempt to drag one of them away to open up space to Totti to check into rather than look to receive the ball himself.

Totti, being a traditional number 10, consistently dropped from his centre forward position, which allowed Roma to create an overload in midfield. Positionally, it should have been Pirlo’s responsibility to track the runs of Totti in midfield, however, Pirlo is not really a defensive midfielder and would have perhaps struggled with such a responsibility. This meant that one of either Bonucci, Chiellini, or Barzagli would have to follow Totti as he checked into midfield and when he received the ball they either fouled him or forced him to play the ball back. What this could have done for Roma, however, was allow the likes of Gervinho, Ljajic, or Pjanic, making runs beyond Totti from midfield, to exploit the space that Juventus’ defenders would have to vacate to track Totti’s runs. But Juventus were deep and compact and Totti was rarely able to turn with the ball to play such a ball through.

As Roma made their way into Juventus’ half, the home team were comfortable a low block setup and in allowing Roma to keep possession outside of their penalty area. While compact and allowing little room between the lines, they rather patiently waited for opportune times to make tackles and intercept the ball to then quickly counter.

Roma Struggle to Create

Despite having a significant portion of the possession, Roma failed to penetrate consistently throughout the match. Their struggles, of course, are the result of Juventus’ disciplined defensive shape, starting from the strikers back. Tevez and Llorente did well in limiting De Rossi’s passing lanes, but the times that the ball did get forward through the middle, Juventus were able to keep Roma in comfortable spaces.

With Totti dropping into midfield from his centre forward position, in a false nine manner, it allowed him to get involved in the build up, but because of Juventus’ centre backs tracking him and their low block, he was not able to turn with the ball and play Gervinho and Ljajic in behind the Juventus back line as they have done with great success for most of the season. The best chance that Totti was able to create was on a counter attack after Bonucci ventured with the ball near the half way line only to lose it and allow Totti to dribble towards the Juventus’ goal and play in Ljajic who had a tame effort saved by Buffon. Without being able to turn with the ball or receive the ball higher up the pitch, Totti’s influence on the match was very limited and it meant that Roma had to rely on Gervinho and Ljajic as their vertical options in the wide areas of the pitch.

Since arriving in the summer, Gervinho has had a successful time at Roma and just a few days ago, Totti said that Gervinho was a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo, minus the ability to score and in a way he is right. Gervinho’s best qualities are his direct dribbling and his ability to make well-timed runs behind defenses when Totti is able to receive and turn with the ball to play him in. However, because of Juventus’ low block defending, his ability to make runs in behind was almost nonexistent and he also was not given much space to dribble into either. When he was given time on the ball, one of either Pogba or Vidal would slide over to help the full back and force Gervinho to play the ball to a supporting Roma player. Interestingly, Gervinho ended the match with a 100% pass rate, but was not as threatening without the ability to run at and behind the Juventus’ back line as he has been during his time in Serie A thus far.

Juventus’ Attacks

Conte’s plan was to absorb Roma’s pressure, force them to play to their full backs which would allow the likes of Vidal and Pogba to help win the ball back, and then counter quickly. They did each of those things very well, however, of their three goals, none were the result of a quick counter attack. When they did have possession of the ball, they looked to play the ball quickly from back to front. The likes of Pirlo, Pogba, and Vidal would look to pick up the ball from the back line and then get the ball to the feet of Tevez and Llorente as fast as they could with the Juventus strikers doing well to check to the ball.

By checking to the ball, Tevez and Llorente were able to drag Roma’s centre backs out of position, allowing Vidal and Pogba to make runs into the space that had just opened up. The ideal scenario in this situation for Juventus was that one of either Tevez or Llorente would receive the ball from Pirlo, play a one or two touch pass back to Pirlo. In that time, either Pogba or Vidal would be making a run into the space that had opened up that would allow the dynamic midfielders to receive the ball in some space. Below, you can see Llorente receiving the ball from Pirlo, although he’s taken a poor first touch. Pogba, however, is just about beginning his run past the line that Llorente has made and into the space that has now been created, hoping to then receive the ball from Pirlo or a good turn by Llorente.

Juventus’ first goal came from Tevez receiving the ball to his feet, albeit from a wide area deep in Roma’s half rather than from the middle of the field. Lichtsteiner was able to play the ball to Tevez’s feet, who was able to turn and front De Rossi in Roma’s penalty area. Vidal made a very clever run to the side of Tevez, staying just onside and was able to finish once Tevez played him in.

Juventus’ second and third goals came from set pieces. The first was a good ball to the far post by Pirlo for Bonucci, who slid onto the ball to knock it into the net. The second was from the penalty spot after Castan punched the ball off the line during a phase of play that was the result of a free kick conceded by De Rossi, who was sent off for the challenge.

Garcia’s Null Changes

Garcia’s first change was Destro on from Pjanic which slightly changed Roma’s shape from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 with Strootman and De Rossi playing behind Totti who was now playing behind Destro. Destro is more of a true number 9 than Totti and would provide Roma with another vertical option by playing closer to the Juventus centre backs. Unfortunately for Roma, Destro have little impact on the match and received the ball just 5 times during his time on the pitch and failed to get a shot off.

Garcia’s second change saw Torosidis brought on for Dodo. The young Brasilian had a lot of touches on the ball as both he and Maicon were allowed space by the Juventus defense, but he had little impact on the match overall, with the same said for Torosidis. In the end, neither the tactical change nor the change in personnel had much of an influence on the match as Juventus 2-0 and content in defending deep and in numbers.

Conclusion

Garcia withdrawing Pjanic seemed like a strange one. It was smart to bring Destro on to give Roma a more focal point against Juventus’ back line, but Pjanic was just about the only Roma player that was attempting to break the lines with his passing, which Roma struggled to do throughout the match.

Conte’s tactics won Juventus the match. Had his side been less disciplined and looked to try to win the ball off of Roma higher up the pitch, Roma would have been able to play around them too easily and the likes of Gervinho and Ljajic would have been able to exploit the space behind the Juventus’ back line, but by staying in a low block and remaining disciplined, Juventus were able to keep Roma’s attack contained and were able to take advantage of their own opportunities.

With this win, Juventus sit 8 points clear at the top of Serie A and, having lost and drawn just one game each so far, it is hard to see them not being able to go on to win the Scudetto.