[Serie A] JUVENTUS 1-0 fiorentina (March 9th 2014) (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
Juve just about deserved that win on the strength of the first-half performance.
They controlled that period of the game very well. Got into good positions and, though they didn't create a clear chance, they created several half chances and merited the goal when it came. Juve also risked very little in that half as the balance of the team was right and there weren't silly lapses in possession to give away counter-attacks.
Liked how in that half Juve shuffled their system towards a back four a lot of the time when Fiorentina had possession. Barzagli tended to play Vargas and that freed Lichtsteiner to play higher and close down Pasqual. With Lichtsteiner higher up the pitch, Vidal was then able to focus more on the centre of the pitch than covering wide, as he often has to. Combine that with Marchisio playing instead of Pirlo and it made for a very strong midfield unit that Fiorentina were having to face when they had the ball.
Juve dropped off in the second half, though, and went back to playing a more orthodox 3-5-2 (5-3-2) shape. Fiorentina still weren't putting Juve under a great deal of pressure, but Juve looked considerably less convincing than they did in the first half. Also thought Juve rather fell into the trap of just using possession as a means to slow the game and deprive Fiorentina of the ball. That's fine if you can do it well, but I tend to think it leads to teams becoming overly casual and losing focus, rather than showing the intensity they typically would in possession if they had some interest in using the possession to create chances.
Juve's powerful midfield really showed up Fiorentina's lack of muscle in central areas. You could see that they knew they couldn't cope with Juve without adjusting and that meant they kept dragging extra players in fro wide areas, but that left their flanks exposed. I would definitely have started Ambrosini over Anderson had I been in Fiorentina's position.
They controlled that period of the game very well. Got into good positions and, though they didn't create a clear chance, they created several half chances and merited the goal when it came. Juve also risked very little in that half as the balance of the team was right and there weren't silly lapses in possession to give away counter-attacks.
Liked how in that half Juve shuffled their system towards a back four a lot of the time when Fiorentina had possession. Barzagli tended to play Vargas and that freed Lichtsteiner to play higher and close down Pasqual. With Lichtsteiner higher up the pitch, Vidal was then able to focus more on the centre of the pitch than covering wide, as he often has to. Combine that with Marchisio playing instead of Pirlo and it made for a very strong midfield unit that Fiorentina were having to face when they had the ball.
Juve dropped off in the second half, though, and went back to playing a more orthodox 3-5-2 (5-3-2) shape. Fiorentina still weren't putting Juve under a great deal of pressure, but Juve looked considerably less convincing than they did in the first half. Also thought Juve rather fell into the trap of just using possession as a means to slow the game and deprive Fiorentina of the ball. That's fine if you can do it well, but I tend to think it leads to teams becoming overly casual and losing focus, rather than showing the intensity they typically would in possession if they had some interest in using the possession to create chances.
Juve's powerful midfield really showed up Fiorentina's lack of muscle in central areas. You could see that they knew they couldn't cope with Juve without adjusting and that meant they kept dragging extra players in fro wide areas, but that left their flanks exposed. I would definitely have started Ambrosini over Anderson had I been in Fiorentina's position.
