Manuel Locatelli (8 Viewers)

[JuveJay]

For guys like Loca, Miretti and Fagioli I'd say there's even more pressure to succeed as they are such big juventini and it will mean more to them and affect them more. But it's a fine line between being a successful player and inconsistent player at a big club.

 

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[icemaη]

Half his problems would be solved if he stopped trying to make the first time pass, every damn time. His body position is all wrong when trying to make those passes, so his chances of success is drastically low.

 

[swag]

and certain posters said that pjanic was inconsistent lol. guy could do more or less the same amount of passes, forward passes, passes into the box and run the same distance 40+ times a season, twice a week throughout multiple seasons. that's what makes you a top player, not a brilliant game here and there

locatelli is simply off that mark, that's all. kovacic needed years of experience and years of inconsistency before having a full good season finally. hopefully loca can get there too asap, as he is playing a key position that we shouldn't be concerned about

I got the sense of his talent and his missed potential yesterday. I don't know if he's playing out of a better natural position or what. But he seems conflicted as to whether he's a destroyer DM or a constructive CM. He seems to lack the passing range and the legs to be a strong competitor in the latter role. And he doesn't seem fully committed to being a true destroyer.

So it feels like he's a little in no man's land. Even if Allegri played him above the backline, something was collectively off... despite that he has talent.

 

[Ali]

Half his problems would be solved if he stopped trying to make the first time pass, every damn time. His body position is all wrong when trying to make those passes, so his chances of success is drastically low.

Tries hard too hard to do some Magic Johnson no look pass.

 

[Post Ironic]

I got the sense of his talent and his missed potential yesterday. I don't know if he's playing out of a better natural position or what. But he seems conflicted as to whether he's a destroyer DM or a constructive CM. He seems to lack the passing range and the legs to be a strong competitor in the latter role. And he doesn't seem fully committed to being a true destroyer.

So it feels like he's a little in no man's land. Even if Allegri played him above the backline, something was collectively off... despite that he has talent.

Going to repost what I posted in the Allegri thread the other day about his regression in terms of passing the past 18 months:

“Locatelli was absolutely fantastic as a deep-lying playmaker for Sassuolo in their double pivot.

He was 99th percentile in Europe in 2020-21 (87) for total passes/90. He’s 64th percentile for total passes/90 this year. (51)

He was 83rd percentile for pass completion % (87.1%) in 20-21. He’s 56th percentile this year (81.4%).

And before you say he was attempting easier passes there or just short side and back passes. He wasn’t. He was 99th percentile for progressive passes at Sassuolo in 20-21 (9.83). He’s 65th percentile this year (4.96).

He was 93rd percentile for long passes completed in 20-21 (7.77). He’s 86th percentile this season (5.6)

He was 99th percentile for passes into final third in 20-21 (10.15). He’s 84th percentile this season (5.28)”

Now, the reasons for this regression? Could be a number of things. Locatelli could be letting the pressure of playing for Juve get to him. He could be playing overambitious passes regularly and needs to simplify things a bit. His midfield partners here could be poor and/or unsuited to his playmaking. Our tactics could be too static, too little movement, players not getting themselves open and available upfield for vertical passes. Almost the entire team is underperforming badly in terms of passing between each other, it’s hard to shine in that.

Regardless of all that, in his last year at Sassuolo he was one of the best CMs in Europe in terms of passing. That player is somewhere inside him and is the reason we bought him. He needs to do better himself, but we also need a coach who can help him be that player again.

 

[LiquidPLP]

Going to repost what I posted in the Allegri thread the other day about his regression in terms of passing the past 18 months:

“Locatelli was absolutely fantastic as a deep-lying playmaker for Sassuolo in their double pivot.

He was 99th percentile in Europe in 2020-21 (87) for total passes/90. He’s 64th percentile for total passes/90 this year. (51)

He was 83rd percentile for pass completion % (87.1%) in 20-21. He’s 56th percentile this year (81.4%).

And before you say he was attempting easier passes there or just short side and back passes. He wasn’t. He was 99th percentile for progressive passes at Sassuolo in 20-21 (9.83). He’s 65th percentile this year (4.96).

He was 93rd percentile for long passes completed in 20-21 (7.77). He’s 86th percentile this season (5.6)

He was 99th percentile for passes into final third in 20-21 (10.15). He’s 84th percentile this season (5.28)”

Now, the reasons for this regression? Could be a number of things. Locatelli could be letting the pressure of playing for Juve get to him. He could be playing overambitious passes regularly and needs to simplify things a bit. His midfield partners here could be poor and/or unsuited to his playmaking. Our tactics could be too static, too little movement, players not getting themselves open and available upfield for vertical passes. Almost the entire team is underperforming badly in terms of passing between each other, it’s hard to shine in that.

Regardless of all that, in his last year at Sassuolo he was one of the best CMs in Europe in terms of passing. That player is somewhere inside him and is the reason we bought him. He needs to do better himself, but we also need a coach who can help him be that player again.

We play too deep way too often, so once we retain the ball there are no options ahead of him to play it forward. All it takes is to see how Sassuolo play.
I'd say it's just sad we're so bad but as you said, the under performing is collective here, so it's no wonder Locatelli looks poor as well.

That's why I'm not a fan of 352 as such because it becomes 532 or even 541 way too often. Knowing the teams' and Allegri's tendency to being too defensive, it's necessary that they change that in the other direction because the current setup is not balanced at all. Then, we don't have too many players to make up for it considering the fact Chiesa has been broken for months and Di Maria needs to be rotated as well. We have nobody to step in and support Vlahovic/Milik which is yet another problem.

 

[Akshen]

static is the best word i would say, look at yesterday games and compare the spaces that our and Sporting wingers had. When we were attacking, Di Maria and Chiesa were covered by 3 Sporting players with barely any option for play. When they were attacking, their winger only had one man to beat and acres of space almost each time. We probably move the ball too slowly, which is caused by barely any movement off the ball. I would say this is mainly on us not really having any trained moves in attack, seems to me like we are always only concetrated how to rebuild the formation and defend and in attack its just relying on invidual brilliance.

 

[satfootball]

one of reasons for juventus poor form.

 

[s4tch]

...But he seems conflicted as to whether he's a destroyer DM or a constructive CM. He seems to lack the passing range and the legs to be a strong competitor in the latter role. And he doesn't seem fully committed to being a true destroyer...

some good posts in this thread lately, i'd just address this thought due to lack of time: we play with huge gaps between our lines, while sassuolo was a more compact team that suited him better. i think he's an excellent player when you only look at him in a vacuum, but as with many other players (vlahovic, kean above all), our current setup isn't really doing him any favors. he didn't regress, he's just not pirlo or pjanic, who were simply much better passers and could also run pretty efficiently 11 km's per 90 min without breaking a sweat. and since loca can't deliver 40 m long passes accurately and we practically don't rely on bonucci, there's a discrepancy between the demand for long passes and the supply. bottom line is that we either need a pirlo/pjanic or a different setup.

the answer writes itself

 

[Scottish]

Need this guy to be on top of his game tonight. Defensively and in his passing.

 

[Scottish]

Thought he was brilliant tonight. Maybe it was him, or the tactics or the way Napoli were playing, but it looked like this was his kind of game.

Couple of dangerous fuck ups still there, but I imagine that was down to Napoli's pressing and our general lack of forward options open for passes.

 

[Boksic]

Thought he was excellent, particularly in the first half.

Protected the defence brilliantly, calmly tidied up possession and played a few really good quick long balls.

 

[Elvin]

Least of our problems.

 

[Vlad]

Had a great game. His tackling was top notch, slick passing game to get us out of tight spots. Looks like a different players compared to a few months ago. Keep it up

 

[Rockets]

I like this player.

 

[Scottish]

I like this player.

Up or down?

 

[Rockets]

Up or down?

up and down

 

[Post Ironic]

Woeful today.

 

[satfootball]

any buyer for him?

 

[.zero]

Ease up guise.

One (debatable) sub standard match performance doesn’t mire two years of overly praised below average performances