Allegri adapted the formation to fit Villarreal’s flanks, but that’s not a compliment
Post image
Juventus drew with Villarreal (1:1) in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs. The match was not very bright, but tactically exciting. Unai Emery put on teamwork and habitual maneuvers, and Max Allegri prepared special moves for the opponent. Each approach had its trump cards. The match also highlighted the difference between a good tactical plan and an interesting one. Allegri’s changes were interesting, but it’s not even close to saying that Juve had a good match or at least was clearly better than the opponent (rather, on the contrary, it was a little worse). Max’s moves in theory were the fruit of a qualitative study of Villarreal, but in practice they not only helped, but also confused in some places. Understanding these pros and cons is absolutely interesting.  “Villarreal” chose the classics – flexible asymmetric 4-4-2. When defending, it is precisely this scheme that is used, and in attack it is transformed through the free role of attackers (there is no pure forward at all) and different types of connections of extreme defenders (on the left, Alfonso Pedraza covers the entire flank, on the right, Juan Voit either remains deeper, or connects with offsets to the center, while winger Samu Chukwueze takes the flank).

 

Formation Juve used

Juventus used a 5-4-1 formation with Alvaro Morata on the left flank (meaning there was potential to go 5-3-2). A clear departure from the 4-3-2-1 used by Allegri in recent weeks. Before we start, an important disclaimer. I will try to convey what, in my opinion, Max Allegri’s idea could be. Of course, we cannot get into the head of the Juve coach, but we can make reasonable assumptions based on knowledge of the strengths of the opponent and the episodes in which the players tried to realize the idea (even if it did not work out). The facts in this case are limited to the fact that Allegri felt that the team needed to adapt strongly to Villarreal, and his moves led to an equal match and a fair draw (definitely not a tactical masterclass). Then we go into the gray zone of interpretations – I will try to make them as reasonable as possible, but still I warn you. 

 

Why there was logic in Allegri’s moves

Football “Villarreal” in the attack is heavily tied to the flank combinations. As a rule, a triangle is formed in which the opponent is stumped by the interactions of the full-back, the winger and the attacker who has fallen to the flank. Due to the high level of teamwork, sometimes even a couple of players are enough. Holding back flanking combinations is the key to holding back Unai Emery’s team. In this regard, it is interesting that Allegri in a special way made up the three defenders within the framework of 5-4-1, On the sides of Matthijs de Ligt were Danilo and Alex Sandro, players with experience playing on the flanks. This left the potential for transformation. Juan Cuadrado comes forward, and Danilo becomes right-back due to the situation