Andrea Pirlo has rung the changes in each of the fixtures so far for Juventus, using four different formations in four outings, and he has hinted at further changes.
The Italian opted to set the team up in a 4-4-1-1 formation for the win over Dynamo Kiev last night, with Aaron Ramsey filling in behind the striker, and Juan Cuadrado playing as an attacking fullback, and the it worked well.
The team kept their composure and organisation to make it difficult to break the team down, and also offered plenty up the other end of the pitch to earn a comfortable 2-0 win in Ukraine, despite missing some key men in Cristiano Ronaldo and Weston McKennie.
Manager Andrea Pirlo isn’t convinced he has found the formation that he is decided on however, with both Paulo Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo both missing from the starting line-up last night. He also tried to give some insight into his thinking on last night’s selection.
“Danilo on the left? It comes from a rotation to the right, with Kulusevski in the field leaving room for Cuadrado to push up,” Pirlo said after the match (via TuttoSport).
“They gave pressure to Bonucci, we tried to put Giorgio in the middle (before he was forced off with injury) and Demiral did well when he came on, happy with the performance of the boy.
“Morata, Kulusevski and Chiesa? My idea of football is to have more players in the attacking phase. The structure may also change, we have Ronaldo out and Dybala not yet at the top”.
There is definitely room for improvement, but it was still an impressive display away to a resilient European side, and the win should make our route into the knockout phase of the Champions League much easier, with a double-header against Barcelona to decide who tops the group.
Should Pirlo know his preferred formation/s by now? How would you like to see the team line-up when everyone is fit?
Patrick
what happened to the team ratings…..