Juve, Pirlo blinds the defense: with Suárez balance is needed

Juve is looking for a center forward with a maniacal obsession that makes the fans dream, who are already looking forward to the spells and blows of the various Ronaldo, Dybala and probably Suarez. All understandable given that matches are won with goals and with the brightest class of pawns. But there is also everything else. There is the problem of the sustainability of the team, of the balance between the departments, of a defense to protect after last season’s disaster, of a perfect system that must be made to work to achieve the objectives that Andrea Pirlo (“Juve wants to win the tenth consecutive scudetto and reach the final in the Champions League ”, he said yesterday).

DNA to be rediscovered

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The new coach himself, already at the first press conference, had underlined what is a priority for the new Juve: “I want more aggressiveness to get the ball back,” Pirlo said. And this also because with a team capable of recovering the ball high, the defense would suffer less. What happened instead in Maurizio Sarri’s season: The 43 goals conceded in the league represent the worst performance since Delneri, who nonetheless had many other players to handle. And so Pirlo immediately had the mission to run for cover, to fix an event that clashes with the history of Juventus. The first thing the Master is working on is recovering the Lady’s DNA. Watching players fade as soon as they have a goal, as they often did last season, is a scene Juve no longer wants to see. And in this sense, the return of Chiellini at full capacity, a man of experience, substance and personality, can certainly lend a hand. Another aspect Pirlo is working on is tactical flexibility. If for Sarri the dogma was defense to four, for Andrea there is no fixed game system, everything is based on maximum flexibility: you can defend with four (preferred option) and put three and you will work at 4-3 -3 as at 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-3. And in fact, during those few days in which he worked with the group, which later fell apart due to commitments with the national teams, Pirlo insisted a lot on that. In particular, he is working with Danilo, who has been judged as the middle third of the right.

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New developments are also expected in midfield, another area called to do more in the containment phase than in the recent past, to support three forwards who contribute minimally to the non-possession phase. Pirlo will be able to count on a median that runs longer and offers greater flexibility, with interpreters that can be used in different positions. Arthur played both as a manager (in the new Juve he will) and as a midfielder. Bentancur is another who can do both roles. Rabiot, on the other hand, is starting, but Pirlo hopes to make him more incisive in coverage. And in this sense a key man could be the American Weston McKennie, a specialist in interceptions and steals, as he demonstrated at Schalke: Pirlo, to protect himself from the drafts, will also rely on him. Because you can start from scratch even after nine league titles in a row and the “Maestro” was called up for this too.