During Antonio Conte’s successful reign at Juventus, we witnessed the emergence of one of the most solid defensive units in the history of a club that was already renown for producing great defenders.
Gianluigi Buffon found himself protected by three brilliant defenders. A young Leonardo Bonucci played in-between Giorgio Chiellini, who was at the peak of his physical power, and the more experienced Andrea Barzagli.
Such was the importance of these three defenders to the club, that Max Allegri decided to maintain his predecessor’s 3-5-2 formation following his arrival in 2014 – although he had never deployed such formation before.
Slowly but surely, the Livorno native inserted his own ideas to the club, while reverting to the three-man defense known as “BBC” when facing great pressure from the oppositions.
According to la Gazzetta dello Sport, the returning manager is contemplating the idea of reviving the three at the back formation. With Matthijs de Ligt replacing the retired Barzagli, the pink newspaper named the backline “BCD”.
The report claims that Allegri is more concerned by the side’s defensive problems rather the ones upfront, and his priority is to stop conceding preventable goals, as witnessed against Udinese and Empoli.
We’ve already seen a flash of a 3-5-2 (or even 3-4-2-1) formation after the introduction of Chiellini during the second half at Udine.
Moreover, the tactician could suffer from a shortage of fullbacks with Juan Cuadrado, Danilo and Alex Sandro returning late from South America, and they might not be available for the big Napoli clash next weekend due to regulations related to Covid-19, which could be another reason that prompts Allegri to unleash his three center backs.
