The Serbia striker has been given the opportunity to show his silky skills by starting back-to-back matches under Tudor, a feat he hadn’t achieved under Thiago Motta this calendar year.
Despite Tudor’s faith in Vlahovic, the 25-year-old has managed a total of just one shot on target for the matches against Genoa and AS Roma.
Tudor was expecting teething problems for his opening league encounter as boss. Vlahovic set up exciting Turkish attacker Kenan Yildiz for what proved to be the only goal of the game against Patrick Viera’s mid-table Genoa.
Yet Tudor moaned after collecting maximum points that Juventus should have scored more goals.
Roma run ended by Juventus
He was given a full week’s training before Juve visited the Italian capital, and halted AS Roma’s winning run with a deserved share of the spoils. Claudio Ranieri’s side had reeled off seven successive Serie A victories until being held 1-1 by Tudor’s spirited side.
The lack of scoring chances for Juve became apparent as the match progressed, with Tudor throwing on out-of-sorts forward Kolo Muani as Vladovic was man-marked out of the clash.
Muani, who arrived on loan from Paris Saint-Germain during the winter transfer window, has not scored for over a month. He made an explosive impact to bag five league goals, but has been pretty poor since. Muani never came close to finding the back of the net during his 22-minute appearance against Roma.
It’s back to the drawing board for Tudor in terms of fixing the issue about how to create scoring chances. Improving set pieces and injecting more creativity for the attacks appear to be his next focus.
Tudor is a well-known problem solver, having been called upon by a number of Italian top-flight teams over the years.
His issues could be resolved if he minimizes the number of key players to take corners and free-kicks, plus gets fluidity for his forward line.
Precision required to create chances
Nico Gonzalez, Teun Koopmeiners, Douglas Luiz, Vlahovic and Yildiz are the ideal players for precision when it comes to corners and free-kicks. Although natural goal-getters Vlahovic and Yildiz are arguably best implemented in the box when these are taken.
Tudor could tweak his starting line-up for Saturday’s league visit of Lecce, with the Croatian possibly leaning towards a three-pronged attack of Vlahovic as center forward with Muani and Yildiz on the flanks.
Lecce have been difficult to score against this year since conceding four goals in back-to-back games against Cagliari and Inter Milan, which is why Tudor will be trying to up the ante.
A slip up inside the Allianz Stadium to relegation-threatened Lecce would damage his bid to score an all-important top four league finish that secures Champions League soccer next term.
Tudor is highly likely to stick with his 3-4-2-1 formation that he has utilized in his two games at the helm. He could tackle resilient Lecce with Gonzalez and Timothy Weah as attacking wing-backs.
Lowly Lecce are not a pushover
Juve’s next opponents are not known for their scoring exploits this season, but can cause midfield problems by stifling sides and going on the counterattack.
Although former AC Milan and Torino manager Marco Giampaolo was appointed a Lecce head coach last December, replacing axed Luca Gotti, there’s been little improvement overall apart from a tighter defense.
Since Lecce’s last triumph, a 3-1 success at Parma in late January, they have only conceded nine goals in their past eight matches.
Tudor will be seeking ways to modify his attack against a side that Juve are expected to brush aside. Samuel Mbangula, a whizzy winger, could always be unleashed should Tudor’s first-choice attackers fail to find a way past Lecce.