Inter Milan vs Juventus: 3 keys to victory for Juve in the Derby d’Italia
1. Juventus must move the ball quicker amid Allegri’s pragmatism
Massimiliano Allegri and pragmatism are like brothers, you can’t separate those two. Likewise, Inter have grown accustomed to playing with a back three and two wing-backs, making their rearguard solid. Although the pioneer of the system for the Nerazzurri was none other than Antonio Conte, Inzaghi has adopted well without making many notable alterations.
With Alessandro Bastoni likely to return to the line-up for the Derby d’Italia this weekend, it is obvious that Inter will opt to field a backline of three centre-halves. What we are trying to imply here is that Inter, in defence, will be compact. There won’t be much space in the midfield compressed by the presence of Marcelo Brozović, Barella, and maybe Arturo Vidal.
So, what could be the remedy? There isn’t much one team can do to nullify the density of low blocks, but moving the ball quicker and taking a more direct approach could be Juve’s key to beating the Inter resistance. Juventus forwards have to be more direct towards attacking the box, and passes coming from the midfield need to be crisp, accurate and, more importantly, quick.
Eager runners like Federico Chiesa and Juan Cuadrado or a cunning customer like Alvaro Morata could prove to be effective in this case. But we have to see how Allegri plans to formulate his forward pairing.
Fast exchanges and flank-to-flank attacking shifts with diagonal passing troubled the Inter defence against Lazio. Allegri might’ve already noticed that. Juventus have the players to be more direct in the attacking half.
It remains to be seen whether they could ideally implement those strategies into action.