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By a strange paradox, for the moment, among the first division teams of Serie A, the most illegible is the one that in the last decade we have become accustomed to considering as the most solid, the strongest, the most dominant, and that is obviously Juventus. Not only is he the only one, among the teams that occupied the top ten places in the standings last season, that he changed coaches, and did so by choosing an absolute rookie like Andrea Pirlo, whose ideas, philosophy and methods are unknown. – but he is also the one that seems to need a radical restructuring of his squad during the transfer market.
These days the role we talk about the most, especially after Pirlo has confirmed Having officially excluded Gonzalo Higuaín from his plans, he is the center forward. Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo can play in the center of the attack, and they have already done so in the past in their careers, but for now, precisely because of Higuaín’s exclusion, Juve lacks a first point of prominence, or a striker who play. in the opponent’s defensive line, which is a reference for the ascent of the field, the duels with the centrals, the physical confrontation is sought and spaces are created by lengthening and disorderly the defensive line. And above all that he scores many goals. A striker, in short, who not only integrates well with Ronaldo and Dybala but also joins the Portuguese as a benchmark in the completion of the action, which marks enough to question Ronaldo’s dominance in terms of conclusions and goals.
The names we talk about most insistently are two: Edin Dzeko and Luis Suárez. Two very different forwards, with almost opposite styles. Brutally simplifying: Dzeko is exceptional with his back to goal, loves to bend over to barter to sew the game, and has a calling for number 10 for technique and vision. Suarez moves in the opposite direction, plays on the edge of offside, gives depth, expands defenses. Certainly he does not lack technique and cunning to detach himself from the defensive line and participate in the maneuver, but if Dzeko can occupy only the trocar, clean any ball that the defense throws at him and throw the teammate who in the meantime has entered from behind, Suárez is less self-sufficient, more in need of close companions who allow him to start or close triangles.
From this distinction that does not go into details of its characteristics, you can have a fairly clear idea of how Juve’s attack would change. With Dzeko, the bianconeri would have a forward who moves towards, to be served even with high balls from the defense, and occupies the front row creating spaces behind him. By adding Suárez, on the other hand, Juventus would have a point that gives depth, lengthens defenses and frees up the trocar for the receptions of the most creative players.
As we still cannot know Pirlo’s ideas, now we cannot do more than try to imagine how the qualities of Dzeko and Suárez would fit with those of Ronaldo and Dybala, who are not simply the teammates with whom they must share the spaces in attack, but also the references that mainly affect the general balance of the team.
The completion
Ronaldo is now known to get along with strikers who empty the area and create spaces for his cuts from the left by messing up the defense with encounter or widening moves. Instinctively, therefore, one might think that he would be better off with Dzeko, who even without being Benzema due to mobility and tactical intelligence, and without having his speed and control in tight spaces, is a master of the game with his back to the goal. In recent years, Roma have often used Dzeko as a reference to open spaces behind him for cuts from his teammates: he was good at Salah when the coach was Spalletti, and in the first part of the season that had just ended. Paulo Fonseca had tried to create something. similar with Zaniolo.
Here Dzeko widens to the left and in the center is Zaniolo, who scores with the error of the Udinese defender.
It is also true, however, that Dzeko is used to being the main finisher of Roma, who does not limit himself to referring to the trocar, but touches many balls in the area and in the shot he is obviously the most sought-after player, especially with the centers. However, to score a lot you need a team that believes a lot, that makes you shoot often on goal, because they are not a forward who only needs a single opportunity to score. While it is true that with his presence in the area he can attract the attention of the defenders and free space for Ronaldo, the greatest risk, with a teammate who shoots so hard and takes away opportunities, is that in the end Dzeko contributes little in terms of goals. . Which, in the end, could also be an advantage, so to speak, given Ronaldo’s psychological need to feel center stage.
In short, from a completion point of view, Suárez gives more certainties. On the other hand, it is one of the best finishers of the last twenty years, a striker capable of scoring nearly 500 goals in his career. Even in his worst personal situation last season since arriving at Barcelona, Suárez scored a total of 21 goals in 36 appearances, averaging 0.7 goals in 90 minutes.
If you then look at the offensive problems that Juve had last year, which derived in part from the characteristics of Ronaldo and Dybala, Suárez seems to be the most suitable striker to solve them. With Sarri, the Bianconeri had a difficult time filling the area and having depth in the last meters. It is known, in fact, that Dybala loves to descend on the trocar, especially on the right side, to help the recovery of the field, and that this trend has facilitated the creation of a field area more prone to dribbling on the right wing. . If Dybala was the creative reference and moved away from the area, Juve lacked someone to compensate for his absence in the center of the attack with inserts and cuts. Not even Ronaldo has given guarantees in this regard, given that he does not like to stay too long in the area and increasingly manages his energies by dosing deep shots.
On a theoretical level, Suárez could add what Juve lacks, which is depth in the last meters and a constant presence in the area, but in recent years the Uruguayan has lost athletic brilliance – and recently also had a bad knee injury. . In short, Suárez is no longer a demon that constantly snaps and torments defenders, who can take the ball in any area of the opposing field and turn it into an opportunity. He is a more static reference, he is more careful in managing his energies, which does not mean that he is no longer dangerous or that he no longer helps the team. He may no longer be the same in physical duels with defenders, but with his cunning and ability to dodge he is still a reliable foothold for gaining meters (albeit at a lower level than Dzeko) and if he is involved in the triangles and the tight combinations still make a difference with his technique. But, here, at least physically he is no longer the player who in Liverpool knew how to do everything he could think of and who in Barcelona, with his energy, his shots, his ability to keep the defenders busy, He completed the magic trident with Messi and Neymar.
Barça’s all-time top scorers list:
1. Messi [634 in 669games]2. Cesar Rodriguez [232 in 301games]3. Luis Suarez has [198 in 209games]
Suarez is one of the few true 9s left in modern football. A legend of the club and does not deserve a kind of farewell from Casillas. pic.twitter.com/nFwKTBJYQb
– Lionel, not messy 🇦🇷 (@SneakyMessi) August 24, 2020
Pressing
Then there is an area where neither Dzeko nor Suárez seem fit for the game Pirlo would have in mind. It is true that little is known about his ideas, but the Juventus coach, in the few sentences dedicated to the beginning of the game, insisted on a concept, the rapid recovery of the ball: “Aggression and the desire to recover the ball immediately after. Having lost it are concepts we are working on a lot. Looking at the last Champions League, the teams that have reached the bottom are those that know how to recover the ball in the shortest time possible. For me this must be a characteristic that should distinguish us “, he has declared Pirlo in an interview with the official Juventus channel, after having said more or less the same things in his before Press conference.
If Juve wants to add a striker who is closer to Ronaldo and Dybala, who translates to the field the desire to quickly recover the ball declared by their coach, neither Dzeko nor Suárez seem fit for the purpose. Sarri collided with the defensive lightness of Ronaldo and Dybala and failed to build a credible pressure system. For most of the season, Juve fought back 4-4-2 to avoid hooking the attackers too much, with a rotation that led to the right fielder descending to midfield, sometimes even giving up. in pressing.
Neither Dzeko nor Suárez add up to much in this regard, and it remains to be seen if Pirlo is thinking of deploying them on a trident alongside Ronaldo and Dybala or if on the contrary he sees them more as alternatives to give the attack a different shape, perhaps instead of one. of the two stars. In this case, Dzeko is perhaps the striker who best completes himself with Ronaldo, while Suárez may find a stronger understanding with Dybala and have more problems with Ronaldo, since he tends to occupy, rather than free up, the spaces that the Portuguese for him. likes to attack from the left.
In a sense, it is strange that Juve is looking for two such different forwards, trying to complete the advanced department by choosing between two paths that point in opposite directions. Dzeko is more skilled with his back to goal, he is more self-sufficient, he has been playing in Italy for years and seems more reliable from a physical point of view, but he is not a great finisher and could suffer for not being the main reference in the auction of his companions. Suárez scores more, he can solve some of the problems shown last year by giving depth and occupying the area with more continuity, but he is not the ideal companion for Ronaldo, he is in decline at the athletic level and has a more difficult character to handle – even if it is It is said that he already called Chiellini to clarify the famous precedent of the 2014 World Cup.
We know little about Pirlo’s ideas to understand which is the most consistent choice with the type of team he has in mind, but if the choice is really between Dzeko and Suárez, between two forwards so distant from each other, the decision to be made when final will help have a more defined tactical image of Juve next season.
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