It was a crazy night in the Italian capital. Roma and Juventus traded blows in the first half, but just when the hosts appeared to be running away with the match, the Old Lady staged a stunning come-from-behind win.
However, the thrilling comeback wouldn’t have been possible without some tweaking from the man in the stands.
Max Allegri was serving his one-match ban, but the the tactician was anything but absent. In fact, this may have been his best second half display since his summer return.
Just like the rest of the world, the Livorno native noticed that Rodrigo Bentancur wasn’t offering much on the pitch (to say it politely), so he decided to revamp the middle of the park by introducing Arthur.
The Brazilian put on a decent if not spectacular performance. But that’s not exactly why this substitution paid dividends.
With the former Barcelona man on the pitch, Manuel Locatelli was discharged from his Regista duties.
The Italian was given a license to roam as a box-to-box midfielder, and that is exactly the position that fits him the most – as Roberto Mancini would be willing to testify.
With Locatelli surging forward to support the attacks, Juventus gained a midfielder who can actually contribute in the goals (imagine that!)
Now surely we have to be particularly thankful for Dejan Kulusevksi’s equalizer, Mattia De Sciglio’s winner (an awkward expression in itself) and Wojciech Szczesny’s spot kick heroics, but it all started with Locatelli making the smart run and rising high to meet a sublime cross from Alvaro Morata (yet another man we have to thank).
At the end of the day, Allegri went back home with all three points, but perhaps more importantly, with a clear vision on how his midfield should look like.
Weston McKennie is fine where he is, but Locatelli can become much more devastating if deployed in a more advanced position.
Whether Arthur can ever prove to be a player worthy of Juventus remains to be seen, but until a better option emerges, he should be considered Loca’s most suitable partner, as he allows the latter to play in his preferred playing position.
And after all, he can’t possibly be any worse than the current versions of Bentancur and Rabiot.
Was this actually the very first time when Locatelli and Arthur have played together like that? Why hasn’t Allegri tried it before?
Agree with the article.
De Ligt, Dybala, Chiesa and Locatelli are the future of Juventus and should never be sold. Rabiot, Ramsey and Bernadeschi must be sold.
De Ligt is not in the mould of Bonucci or Chellini, and Bernadeschi does have a future if Juventus sell Dybala within the next 6-8 months from now. Chiesa needs to make up his mind if he wants to be a consistent striker or a number 10, because he seems to be anonymous in certain matches and no team can carry this type of personality throughout a season. Juventus need more signings, particularly midfielders and forward players to provide a goal threat this month in the transfer market. Sandro, De Ligt, Rugani, Rabiot, Ramsey, McKennie and Morata should all be sold or released on loan within the next 8 months so that Allegri can rebuild this team with players who are genuinely capable of defending and attacking at the right times of a game. This manager is not the problem, and he has proven it with this particular win over Roma, and other recent results over the last 2 months to date. If he secures 4th in the scudetto in 4 months time, that will be the opportunity for Allegri to start selling these players and buying Vlahovic or Simone at Caligari to provide the quality needed to challenge for the Italian domestic and Uefa Champions’ League trophies within the next 2 years.
Hard to disagree with your sentiments