Lazio Roma – Juventus: Injury Time Caicedo Catches Juve Off Guard For The Equalizer (1-1)

Juve’s pressing issues forced them into a game of counter football, which was not in accordance with their starting intentions. Eventually, as Pirlo’s men fell back into their own box, missing chances whenever they had the opportunity to score a second, Lazio’s character re-surfaced in injury time, finding a key equalizer through Caicedo.
Tactical analysis and match report by Kareem Bianchi.

After all but convincing wins in the past two matches, Juventus faces the third test of the season after failing the previous two with a draw against Roma and a loss to Barcelona. Lazio’s form so far might have suggested otherwise, but Juve’s issues appeared to match Simone Inzaghi’s men’s strengths to perfection nonetheless. 

Not being able to rely on Ciro Immobile, Lucas Leiva, and Thomas Strakosha, Inzaghi opted for Pepe Reina in goal, Danilo Cataldi in midfield, and Vedat Muriqi in attack, sided by Joaquín Correa. 

Andrea Pirlo also had to deal with vacancies in the starting lineup, among them the injured Aaron Ramsey and Giorgio Chiellini. Compared to their previous match, Juve also benched Federico Chiesa and Arthur for Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.

Juve’s fluidity
As we’ve been accustomed to under Pirlo, Juve’s shape was as fluid as it gets. 

Starting from a 3-4-3 shape, it became somewhat of a 3-5-2 structure during buildup. Rabiot would push up the left halfspace, If you divide the field in five vertical lanes, the halfspaces are the lanes that are not on the wing and not in the center. Because there is no touchline like on the wing, players have the freedom . . .