Lazio expose Juventus’ vulnerability

Date: 15th October 2017 at 2:13pm
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Dominance in a sport by a particular team or an athlete eventually comes to an end and while Lazio’s victory against Juventus on Saturday night does not mean that La Vecchia Signora have lost their Serie A hegemony, the signs of decline in the Bianconeri squad were made more evident.

Aquile tactician Simone Inzaghi outcoached his Juve counterpart Massimiliano Allegri and the 2-1 win for the Biancocelesti means that they share second place with Inter and Juventus on 19 points after eight rounds while only Napoli sits five points ahead of them on top of the table.

Since Allegri replaced Antonio Conte as coach in 2014, the Bianconeri have become a more conservative side that has placed emphasis on wearing the opposition out and grinding out results, but Inzaghi on Saturday evening exposed the flaws in his methods.

The Bianconeri were forced to dictate the play from the first whistle, which is something they are not accustomed to, and this allowed the Biancocelesti to play their game by defending deep and counterattacking at any available opportunity.

Formations and personnel choices made by both coaches were intriguing too. Allegri placed his team in a 4-3-3 formation but he used three box-to-box midfielders and no genuine playmaker whereas Inzaghi implemented the 3-5-1-1 with Sergei Milinkovic-Savic advancing more than the other central midfielders and Luis Alberto operating in a free role behind Ciro Immobile.

Despite Juventus taking the leading thanks to an opportunistic goal by Douglas Costa, Inzaghi was not pressured into making changes to his Lazio side, and they got their just reward when star striker Immobile scored two goals after half-time.

Both situations in which the Aquile scored exposed the vulnerability of the Bianconeri’s ageing defenders Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini.

For the first goal, Lucas Leiva casually strolled with the ball at his feet before playing a defence-splitting through-ball to Immobile. Then some slick passing between the Italian striker, Milinkovic-Savic, and Luis Alberto opened up the Juve backline and allowed Immobile to run towards the goal and beat Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Lazio’s winner was another example of Juve’s defence showing decline. This time Milinkovic-Savic made an exquisite through-ball which left Barzagli and Chiellini dumbfounded and left Immobile one-on-one with Buffon, who tripped his international teammate before the former Torino striker converted the decisive penalty.

Allegri reacted by making multiple substitutions but Lazio defended in numbers and Thomas Strakosha played in an excellent game in goal. The Albanian international denied Sami Khedira and Gonzalo Higuain chances to score and then he parried Paulo Dybala’s penalty at the death.

Juventus were beaten at their own game to an extent but Lazio played with an urgency that the Bianconeri have been missing of late and Simone Inzaghi made shrewd decisions even before a ball was kicked.

Although there have been just eight Serie A matches played so far, October 14, 2017 might be remembered as the day the fall of Juventus commenced.

 

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