Juventus: 3 keys to victory at Atalanta on Serie A’s Matchday 31
Juventus will face Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium on Sunday afternoon. And this time, they will be looking to take all three points after drawing the Bergamo-based club earlier this season. Atalanta are one of the top teams in Serie A, but Juve are experiencing a bit of a rebound, having won matches against Napoli and Genoa after disappointing results against Benevento and Torino.
Here are three keys to victory this weekend as Juve look to make it three straight wins while Andrea Pirlo fights for his place.
Juventus need to defend for the full 90 minutes
One of Juve’s biggest problems this season has been lapses in defense. It seems like they can never play a fully clean game defensively, and that’s a big reason why Wojciech Szczesny is 13th in the league in clean sheet percentage but third in goals allowed per 90 minutes, according to FBRef.com. Juve don’t have a bad defense, but they just don’t defend consistently.
Even in their back-to-back wins over Napoli and Genoa, Juve had defensive lapses and a string of minutes in each match where they faced a great deal of pressure. And lo and behold, they did not keep a clean sheet in either win.
Atalanta have one of Serie A’s most ruthless attacks. They have better finishers than either Genoa or Napoli, as Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel have a combined 31 goals in the league this season. The latter has scored 18 in just 1,055 minutes with more appearances coming off the bench than starts. And that means he will be particularly dangerous to a Juve side that sometimes lets up defensively in the second half.
Dejan Kulusevski must get involved in the half-space
La Gazzetta dello Sport expects Juventus to start Dejan Kulusevski on the right side of the formation again. The young right winger scored a much-needed goal last weekend in the win over Genoa, opening the scoring with a lovely curled effort.
That’s his M.O. He scored goals frequently at Parma while on loan last year and is at his best when he is able to cut inside onto his left foot from the right-hand side of the pitch. The problem is that in Andrea Pirlo’s 4-4-2 setup, he often has to start from too deep or too wide to really get into the half-spaces and work shooting angles.
The closer to the center of the pitch and the penalty box he is, the more likely Kulusevski is to score and have a positive impact. Because at this point in his career, Kulu is a raw player who needs to be providing a goal threat in order to be an asset. His game isn’t quite well-rounded enough yet, which is why he struggles when he’s further away from the goal.
It won’t be easy for Pirlo to get Kulu into the right positions against Atalanta’s back three, but using Juan Cuadrado to provide width and having Kulu tuck in centrally can help him find luck, especially if Juve can get a few breaks going after Atalanta lose possession.
Juventus must win the tactical battle in midfield
Atalanta’s midfielders Marten de Roon and Remo Freuler receive comparatively less praise than attacking talents like Zapata, Muriel, Josip Ilicic, and even Robin Gosens. But de Roon and Freuler are integral to Gian Piero Gasperini’s side, because they operate as tactical chess pieces. Their versatility and intelligence make them vital to Atalanta. With 2.3 tackles and 2.0 interceptions this season, per WhoScored.com, de Roon is of particular importance to his side defensively.
Meanwhile, Juve’s expected midfield of Rodrigo Bentancur and Adrien Rabiot is very much hit-or-miss. Arthur Melo and Weston McKennie could be ready to start, and, ideally, they would be the starters.
But no matter who starts, Juve need to make sure they do not lose control of the midfield, especially off the ball. Atalanta love to use rotations to move the opposition and keep possession in a way that optimally throws an opposition’s structure into disarray. Juve’s midfielders are suspect in this regard and will be vulnerable to Gasperini’s gameplan.
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Pirlo needs to make sure his men stay disciplined and do not lose track of runners. They must be there to assist teammates when Atalanta inevitably gain quantitative superiority around the penalty area and try to create imbalances in Juve’s structure that create passing lanes for that “killer pass”.