Juventus: Taking stock of Serie A, and the mystery of Fernando Llorente

Quite clearly, while Juventus’ defence has done its job well (4 goals conceded in 6 matches), the attack is a ragged patchwork job, far from being the laser-sharp precision beam that is expected of potential European and Italian champions. The best way to break a deep defence is to physically bully them – and it is here that Fernando Llorente steps up (or doesn’t).

Llorente was supposed to be a strong target man who could hold up the defenders while laying off balls for other, nippier attackers like Tevez and ‘atom ant’ Sebastien Giovinco. But we always knew that his height is not only his principal weapon, it is his sole weapon. Llorente’s problem is that Juve don’t have a good crosser to tonk balls from the wings. His first goal for the club, against Hellas Verona, was, as expected, a long cross from Vidal on the flanks.As stated earlier, Juventus are not really a crossing team so this would change the system every time he comes on. Vidal is capable of drifting to the flanks and playing long balls to Llorente, but this is an approach that Juventus haven’t tried over a sustained period of time yet. However, this strategy assumes greater urgency in the light of teams sitting deep and brick-walling all attacks – Tevez and Giovinco are never going to succeed against defenders much larger than them.

Conte seems loath to change his tactics unless absolutely necessary. He is confident in his system and its ability to produce results (which is not always true – as we saw against Inter, bringing on Isla had some impact). It may not hurt to experiment even in Europe, where again he prefers to stick to a tried and tested team. Against Galatasaray, Juventus attempted 221 passes in the final third, compared to 67 by the Turks. The match ended all square, but noticeably sparked to life when Llorente came on late for Bonucci.

While Vucinic and Tevez have forged a good partnership as a number 9 and a number 10, Vucinic individually has left a lot to be desired. Sticking Llorente in the penalty box and playing him long balls may not be the strategy Conte wants to use to win. But it may be called for occasionally when Juve are struggling to break down a determined opponent.

Conte has shown himself to be a competent manager, but he must now demonstrate his ability to adapt to changing scenarios mid-match. On Sunday against AC Milan, a team that has defended deep and done plenty of scoring in the last ten minutes this season, we may well get to see if that is the case.

*All statistics sourced from WhoScored and OptaPaolo