Maurizio Sarri at Juventus

Breaking down some of the tactical and personnel issues Sarri faced as manager of Juventus.

Juventus ended the 2019/2020 campaign as Serie A champions for the ninth consecutive season. On the face of it, this is an astonishing feat, a display of the club’s domestic consistency and the undeniable quality of its players. To close observers, however, 2019/2020 might just have been Juventus’ most underwhelming campaign in recent memory. Having stood six points clear with just a handful of games to play, the team stumbled to ultimate victory, losing three of their last five games and finishing just one point above runners-up Inter Milan. In the Champions League, which has eluded them for 24 years, Juventus offered a flat and tamed display against Olympique Lyonnais in the quarterfinals, eventually crashing out over two legs. Manager Maurizio Sarri found himself unceremoniously dismissed just one year after he joined the club.

Overview of Sarri’s Juventus

Sarri’s lone season at the helm greatly accelerated Juventus’ transition away from the model which reached its apogee in the 2017/2018 season, when the side’s proverbially sturdy defense anchored a flexible offensive approach. That season saw Juventus face their toughest title challenge in several years from a dynamic Napoli team, coached then by none other than Maurizio Sarri. As seen in Figure 1, Napoli’s style of play in the 2017/18 season was significantly more offensive than Juventus’, even during the season just ended. Napoli under Sarri averaged many more positional attacks and were more able to convert these into shots. Curiously, the Italian gaffer was unable to replicate the offensive dynamism of his Napoli side during his year in Turin, despite the availability of world-class attacking talent. (Figure 2)

Figure 1: Comparing Juventus & Napoli’s style of play in 2017/18, Sarri’s final & arguably best season at Napoli.

Figure 2: Comparing Juventus’ style of play in 2019/20 to Sarri’s 2017/18 Napoli.

The Role of Miralem Pjanic

Paradoxically, one reason for this inability was Juventus’ brilliant midfielder Miralem Pjanic, who has now completed a switch to Barcelona. Before Sarri took over, Pjanic was Juventus’ main playmaker. Under Sarri, the Bosnian was moved to a deeper role, where it was hoped that he would form the lynchpin of the midfield, orchestrating play with all buildup going through him. Essentially, it was hoped that Pjanic could replicate the role played by Jorginho for Sarri’s Napoli and Chelsea sides. This hope went unfulfilled: the drop in Pjanic’s ability to progress the ball forward had a direct and deleterious impact on the number of positional attacks Juve managed to undertake in a given game. (Figure 3)

Figure 3: Comparing Pjanic’s role to that of Jorginho at Napoli.

Pjanic’s job was made even harder by Juve’s inability to stretch play either vertically or horizontally. We can see this in Figure 4. With no player offering an immediate threat down the left flank, the opposition are able to play in a very narrow deep block, and make it virtually impossible for Juve to progress the ball.

Figure 4: An example of Juventus’ poor spacing and inability to progress the ball.

Full-Backs

Sarri’s favored attacking trio of Ronaldo-Higuain-Dybala put the onus on the fullbacks to provide the team with width. However, Juventus’ first-choice fullbacks, Alex Sandro and Juan Cuadrado have not offered much in terms of attacking output (Figure 5). This means that Juventus were unable to exploit the in-box efficiency of their attacking trio through crosses into the area – Juventus don’t cross as often as Sarri’s Napoli did. It also means that opposition defenses are able to exploit Juve’s lack of wide attacking options to play in a very narrow, deep block, making it virtually impossible for Juventus to progress the ball.

Figure 5: Juventus’ preferred full-backs compared. (Scores by Smarterscout)

Juventus’ inability to stretch games horizontally is accompanied by a similar inability to stretch games vertically. A lack of wide options and crosses into the box frequently force Ronaldo and Dybala to push to the wings. When this happens, however, Juventus’ other players often fail to push the opposition’s final defensive line further backwards. An example of this can be seen in Figure 6.

Figure 6: An example of Ronaldo pushing wide and Juventus’ failing to stretch the opposition defense.

Midfield Woes

Moreover, Juve’s midfielders often fail to play behind opposition lines or make runs in behind, offering no progressive passing options and blunting the team’s attacking threat. In Figure 7, we can see that none of Juve’s midfielders carry much NsxG (Non-Shot xG) in dangerous areas. The lack of progression and creativity can also be seen in their respective scores in Figure 8.

Figure 7: Lack of threat provided by Juventus midfielders, graphic by @StatifiedF

Figure 8: Comparing Juventus midfielders using Smarterscout scores. The lack of progression & creativity is evident.

The lack of incisiveness by Juve’s midfielders forces their forwards to drop between the lines. This results in a lack of runs, collapsing the spaces between the lines and leaves the dribbler with no space to carry the ball into. The dribbler must then attempt to force things at the risk of losing the ball or turn back and recycle possession. This is clear in Figure 9, where Pjanic is eventually forced to recycle possession.

Figure 9: An example of Ronaldo being forced to drop between the lines, making it easier for Napoli to crowd out the central areas, forcing Pjanic to recycle possession.

Similar issues are on show when the ball is in wider areas. Their poor positioning and spacing when in possession affects their ability to successfully create a threat from those areas. (Figure 10)

Figure 10: An example of Juventus failing to break down defenses from wider areas.

These deficiencies explain Juventus’ trouble breaking down defenses during sustained spells of possession. They have looked at their most threatening in counter-attacking situations that leverage their forwards’ ability to link up cleverly.

Ronaldo Shaped Dependence

Moreover, throughout the 2019/2020 season, Juventus relied heavily on their star man, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese scored 41% of Juve’s 76 league goals for the season. His efficiency, particularly inside the penalty box and from the spot, remain remarkable even at 35 years of age. (Figure 11)

Figure 11: Breaking down Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals in 2019/20

Pressing

However, given his stature and age, Ronaldo’s pressing game has left much to be desired, and the same can be said for Dybala and Higuain (Figure 12). Although Juventus do employ an intense press, as shown by their PPDA figures, their pressure regains success rate is among the poorest of Europe’s pressing teams (Figure 13). This makes them vulnerable during defensive transitions.

Figure 12: Ronaldo’s declining pressing ability. (Source: Statsbomb)

Figure 13: Juventus rank as one of the most intense pressing teams, but their success rate leaves a lot to be desired.

Conclusion

It should be noted that Sarri inherited an ageing and declining core of players. Juventus’ struggles in the 2019/2020 season are the hallmark of a side that have often been unable to grasp or implement the tactics that succeeded so well at Napoli (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Juventus squad age profile.

As the club welcomes Andrea Pirlo to the helm for the 2020/2021 season, a major squad overhaul will be needed to ensure that Juventus can progress to the next level.

Data Source: Statsbomb via Fbref | Wyscout | Understat