Juventus – Atalanta Bergamo: Juventus Search For Positives In A Time Of Despair (0-1)

If there was ever an environment to test Juventus' possessional issues, it was the chaos created by Atalanta’s man-marking approach. Despite second-half improvements off the back of fleeting first-half quality, Juventus faltered in a performance littered with individual errors. One such error was ruthlessly punished by Atalanta, as the rollercoaster that has been Allegri’s second Bianconeri stint, is threatening to enter another dip. 

Tactical analysis and match report by Julian Chingoma.

The only constant in Juventus’ season has been the ebbs and flows. Their recent off-the-pitch publicity, both good and bad, came right off the back of a resounding Champions League defeat to Chelsea which dampened their positive European outings. And in Serie A, they were flirting with the bottom half while sitting four points behind their fourth-placed visitors. Atalanta were looking for a win which would have moved them, at least temporarily, further ahead of their nearest chasers.

Massimiliano Allegri’s 4-4-2 formation had the usual suspects present. Wojciech Szczęsny was behind Juan Cuadrado, Leonardo Bonucci, Matthijs de Ligt and Alex Sandro. The midfield two were Manuel Locatelli and Adrien Rabiot with Weston McKennie and Federico Chiesa out wide as Paulo Dybala and Álvaro Morata in attack.

Gian Piero Gasperini set up the visitors in their 3-4-2-1 shape. In goal was Juan Musso as the three center-backs were Berat Djimsiti, Merih Demiral and Rafael Tolói. The wing-backs, Joakim Mæhle and Davide Zappacosta, were wide of Remo Freuler and Marten de Roon. The Matteo Pessina and Roman Malinovskyi duo sat behind Duván Zapata.

Atalanta . . .