Juve, Tudor goes vertical: the first changes compared to Motta

Bologna, 31 March 2025 – La Juventus he had to start again somewhere and he did it by taking back the fundamentals of football: go first towards the goal. No more webs of passes, inside more concreteness in both phases of the game, more balance at the back and few frills up front. Igor Tudor decided to change course 180 degrees to do something profoundly different than before. From horizontal to vertical football and with Dusan Vlahovic linchpin of the attack. These are small things that have provided a spark, waiting for the weeks to give Tudor time to better mark the territory with his idea of ​​football. First of all, a positive result was needed and it arrived.  

More vertical football and central Vlahovic

He certainly couldn't give the team a new and clear identity in a few days, but the novelties of Igor's project Tudor we are starting to glimpse, albeit without overdoing it or exaggerating too much, an important victory that will have to have a follow-up. One swallow does not immediately make a spring, but it can be a first sign. From the horizontal and measured football of Motta, Juve is moving towards a more energetic and vertical football, as indeed Tudor had shown in the last season's remnants at Lazio. Since his arrival in the capital, the PPDA had improved, that is, the number of passes allowed before stealing the ball from the opponent in the other half of the pitch, and consequently the pressing and rhythm had improved, aspects that will have to significantly increase in black and white as well. Motta's Juve was too slow and predictable, above all too horizontal, so there is a need to return to a more pronounced verticality and a greater intensity to prevent the opponent from arriving too easily near Di Gregorio's goal. After the seven goals conceded in two games, first of all Tudor he necessarily had to secure the defense. He did it. Of course, the test bench was not a big one, but it is still a start from which to build something for the chase Champions with the others continuing to march strong. In fact, only Milan has stopped and even Fiorentina has returned to the race, slowing down Atalanta, now sucked into the group. They need to march strong, but Juve's advantage is having an easier calendar while their rivals are stuffed with direct clashes, which means taking points away from each other. With a series of victories Juve could recover what it lost in the two hard defeats against Atalanta and Fiorentina.

Vlahovic central. Yildiz more dangerous

Tudor he immediately started with a change of formation, namely the switch to a three-man defense that served to give greater balance to the team; translated, this means improving the defensive phase and conceding fewer goals. Up front, instead, Dusan Vlahovic he returned to center, as did Kenan Star, two that had fallen into oblivion with Motta. The number nine did not score, but showed a different mettle, fighting, feeling more involved in the project and consequently more alive in the game. The Turk took back the number ten and, playing a bit all over the pitch behind the first striker, was able to vary on the offensive front acting with the instinct of the attacker who knows which spaces to attack. The goal, not by chance, did not come from the left coming back on the right, but from the right slipping into the central area to pierce Leali with a stinging diagonal. Star he is freer to express himself in the areas of the pitch that he feels are his own, because the attacker needs to be given a little less dogma and more freedom of action, letting the instinct of someone who knows which areas to tread in the last sixteen meters take effect. Now at Tudor, all that remains is to recover Teun too koopmeiners and make him closer to the performance of Bergamo. The Dutchman can operate in a hybrid position between midfield and attack, but placed in a more central area and close to the goal he can find his verve compared to the last period where Motta had even deployed him as an outside player. Randal immediately paid the price Round Muani. Strongly wanted by Thiago, the French striker started off like a rocket with five immediate goals, then he disappeared like the whole of Juve and now that the coach has changed he risks ending up on the bench permanently. With the Genoa he didn't even enter and this represents an important signal for the future given that at the Juve he is on loan. A few months ago it seemed obvious that he would be confirmed, now everything is up for discussion and, in fact, the direction seems to be to save 50 million to divert all efforts to Victor osimhen.

Tardelli: “Motta should have been fired earlier”

Meanwhile, the failure of the Thiago project is still being talked about Motta that is taking centre stage on the main national TV channels. For many insiders, the former coach should have been fired earlier: he had not had the team in his hands for some time. The common thought is that the two eliminations in the cup had already shown signs of a latent crisis, while the four consecutive victories in the championship only served to hide the dust under the carpet. Everything then exploded with the very hard defeats against Atalanta and Fiorentina: "The Juve he did well to change – Marco's thoughts Tardelli to Rai – But this move should have been made earlier, they were late in sacking Thiago and didn't realise that he no longer had control of the dressing room”. And, as always, Cristiano ended up in the eye of the storm Joints: “He didn't defend Motta and the coach shouldn't be given all the blame,” Tardelli concluded. Read also - Napoli responds to Inter: 2-1 against Milan. Meret saves a penalty