Thiago Motta’s reign at Juventus has just started and Wayne Girard looks at three key tactical changes for the Bianconeri under the ex-Italy international.
With a touchdown for Thiago Motta at Milan Airport, the new Juventus coach arrived with an air of positivity around the Bianconeri camp not felt in a fortnight.
Following Max Allegri’s second departure from the club, Motta left Bologna to introduce a new way of thinking about football, with modern tactics and insight into how the game is played and will be played over the next decade.
Motta is often mislabeled as the man of the 2-7-2 formation due to a comment he made in an interview back in 2018. This led to question marks on social media, but his formation has been given this name to the unique way in which Motta sees the pitch – horizontally. It hasn’t been a straight shot to the top for him though, as his vision was quickly blinded in 2019 after just nine matches at the helm for Genoa, becoming another casualty of Enrico Preziosi’s reign. At Spezia in 2021-22, he showed quality match management with a win over his past employer, as well as Milan and Napoli.
At the beginning of 2022, the late great Siniša Mihajlović was exonerated after Bologna dropped within touching distance of the relegation zone. After a shaky start, his side implemented a compact, possession-based system that concluded with a finish in the top half of the Serie A table.
This past season, Motta guided them back to the Champions League for the first time in 60 years, accumulating the second-highest overall possession of 58.4% – according to Fotmob – and the third-highest number of clean sheets (17). Defensively, they were the second highest with successful tackles, being just .1 off the mark of first. According to Opta, he left them in 19th place for the statistical machine’s power rankings, making for a +48 jump over the course of the season.
Thiago Motta leaves Bologna with the club sitting 19th in the world in the men’s Opta Power Rankings.
They’ve jumped +48 places since the start of the season 👏 pic.twitter.com/7EvAhTNDmc
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) May 23, 2024
Based on this footballing precedent, there are three ways Motta will change Juventus’ style of play:
Possession
Allegri was more than happy to lend the ball to the opposition, sit in a low block, and look to exploit the open spaces left through a counter-attack. This is the polar opposite of Motta’s approach, who mandates slow and intricate buildups, based upon inviting the opposition into the middle third of the pitch, but then exploiting those spaces with heavy diagonal movement that confuses the opponent. This bypasses the press as triangles are then formed throughout the middle and attacking third.
It’s somewhat of a counter-ideology in Italian football, which through history was based on moving the ball as quickly as possible in a chain movement (catenaccio), while here the speed of the game is based on the players making themselves available through overloads and desire to maintain the ball.
This explains why the Old Lady has made a major investment in Douglas Luiz and has Teun Koopmeiners in her scope. These two players would bestow a technical aspect and physical presence that would be sure to bully and outclass most midfielders in Europe.
Overloads
Speaking of overloads and numerical superiority, Motta’s ace up his sleeve is the distraction-formed switch-of-play. In this ‘2-7-2’ formation, the idea is to have the two wide players on each flank provide width in the attacking areas. Combined in an overload with an extra or supporting attacker, the opposition is then pulled over to one side. This allows the opposite-sided flank freedom to enter threatening areas and also confuses the defending team when they are forced to shift over, while the ‘7’ then flood any vacant spaces left over.
While there were rumours earlier this summer that Filip Kostić could be headed away from Torino, he may be an important player in this module for his combination of endurance and skill. Contrarily, the philosophy has also played a heavy hand in Federico Chiesa’s future, who is now destined for another club.
Dynamic Defence
Riccardo Calafiori’s contribution to Motta’s tactics was sublime. Far from a traditional centre-back, the Roma youth product was consistently seen bursting forward beyond the defensive midfield line to show himself as an option, as well as deliver key passes into the final third. Calafiori could be stereotyped as just an offensive-minded defender, but he was also the second-highest contributor in winning the ball back, which he did in every sector of the defensive and middle third.
A logical target for the Bianconeri, there is stiff competition and interest from abroad for the blossoming Italian international. If they fail to acquire him, Gleison Bremer could be a similar outlet due to his athleticism and tenacity.
Motta is at the tactical forefront of world football, and his Juventus revolution could very well dominate Italy in the coming season.