a problem with 4 men in the back is because the 3 pockets that you can easy make a through ball , you can easy penetrate

3 men in the back keeps the pockets tight , because players are close to each other and you have the wing backs who stand alerted to block the long balls

which one is better? I believe it is always better to use less players on defense and more players in attack,

but if you are not confident enough that your defenders can handle you better keep it defensive minded until you win the ball back, and when you have the ball you may want to send the players forwards a little

Im not mobil now so I can post.

I don't know if 3-5-2 is the best for Europe. I actually don't think any 1 formation is the best for "Europe" for us, we have versatile players and we should be looking to play the best system for every match, not just 1 formation for all IMO.

Yeah Morata is not a good CF in the traditional sense. But calling him a winger is too far, he is more of a CF than anything else. Morata's problems are happily not our problems anymore though, so thats fine.

That said, I really don't think our 3-5-2 has been found out.

juve_gigi wrote:Let me post this one more time so it sinks in. Our combined record against Barca, Bayern, Madrid and Atletico over the last 4 years in CL competition using the 3-5-2 is:

Wins - 1
Losses - 6
Draws - 4

The 3-5-2 in Europe has been exposed. Sorry guys.

I'm not sure what games you used, from what it seems, its jsut all of our games against those 4 in these last couple of years. So some things:

In the final against Barca we played 4-3-1-2.

In the game at the Bernabeu with Conte we played 4-3-3 pushing Pogba wide left, where he failed.

We also played 4-3-1-2 at the Bernabeu with Allegri when we drew them.

So with Conte, against Madrid:

3-5-2 - draw
4-3-3 - loss

Allegri:

3-5-2 - win
4-3-1-2 - draw

Against atleti we drew with the 4-3-1-2 and lost with the 3-5-2.


My point is that it is a lot more complicated than that. And no formation has been found out because teams play too differently. Either way, Allegri seems bent on trying to find the best setup for any CL games, we just have to hope that his ideas and experimenting work.

a problem when you play against Barcelona is because they do not fear the opponents they know exactly they are better team

even if you attack them too hard, they will keep 5 MEN forwards

if you start to defend they will send 10 men forwards, they will put all your team inside the box

so you have 10 center backs you don't even have side backs, they are not on the side, they are inside the box

that is just f-ed

but what we can hope about is that we have a really lucky 90 minutes, and good performance and somehow win the game

Rincon you make some good points. My stats are from the last 4 years. We played those 4 teams a total of 11 times in the CL and that is our record.

The fact that you pointed out that we played a 4-3-1-2 and 4-3-3 in some of those games only proves my point further in that both Conte and Allegri didn't have the confidence to go with the 3-5-2 against the big boys. Yes we lost games playing 4-3-1-2 and playing 4-3-3 but in my opinion that has more to do with the fact our team is built around the 3-5-2, so if we play the other formations we wouldn't be playing our players in their best positions. The best example of this is playing Vidal as a CAM against Barca. If we had a James, Ozil, Isco, or even a Gotze in that role in that game it may have turned out different. Vidal did not even really play as a CAM that game, as I rememebr him defending more than attacking that game.

In order to truly get away from the 3-5-2 we either have to purchase a true CAM or purchase some real wingers. The fact we now have Pjaca and are close to Cuadrado would allow us to play a true 4-3-3, so if we can get Cuadrado then 4-3-3 can absolutely be our second formation. Also, with Pjanic and Marchisio, we could play Pjanic as the CAM and Marchisio as the regista, so that could work too.

I think with Pjanic, Pjaca and hopefully Cuadrado this will really help Allegri to change formations to suit our opposition. Moreso than ever before. So in my opinion this year's team seems to tactically be more flexible than any of our other teams in the past.

@GIGI

I have positive expectations because we have good strikers

when you have guys like HIGUAIN, DYBALA, PJANIC, you hope for good counter attacks in UCL

because clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern these guys are too much disrespectful they attack you hard, they attack you like you are extreme small club,

but if you have strikers like HIGUAIN, DYBALA, PJANIC you tell them to show more respect, because you damage on counter attacks

I remember situations against BARCELONA on the finals it was 5 men of BARCELONA against 2 of our center backs who scored a goal, that is just disrespectful , it is like they do not fear your efforts and they keep 5 men forwards

but when you have guys like Higuain, Dybala, Pjanic they can do that again but it will be consequences about that because these guys they don't f around, they are talented and know how to play 1 vs 1, 3 vs 3 and that kind of thing

Yes Luciano you are correct. That is why we paid $90M for Higuain. We don't need him to win Serie A. We bought him to win against Barca, Bayern and Madrid. Same with Pjanic. He gives us flexibility to play 3-5-2 with him as a regista and also 4-3-1-2 with him as a CAM.

The other thing about Pjanic that no ones mentions is that he is the best free kick taker in the world. Ever since we lost ADP and then Pirlo our free kicks have sucked. I rememebr ADP and Pirlo winning games on free kicks. We need that world class free kick taker so teams can fear us and not want to tackle us close to the box. Pjanic provides a key weapon in that regard. I can't wait to see his first goal on a free kick. I bet it will be a beauty.

yep

shooting the ball is the most important skill,
you score goals you win the game

It kinda sucks that Sensi and Berardi are out, I wanted to see them against us.

Not gonna be easy but we should take it. Chiellini was terrible in the 2 NT games, responsible for 3 goals. I hope he doesn't carry that over.

Benatia in Barzagli out. Pjanic in Asamoah out. Lemina back to CM. Lichtsteiner replaces Dani. Pjanic as regista. Higuain gets his first start!

OHHHHHHHHH WHAT A GOAL !!!!!!! ffs ! FAP FAP FAP

salmano9 wrote:Benatia in Barzagli out. Pjanic in Asamoah out. Lemina back to CM. Lichtsteiner replaces Dani. Pjanic as regista. Higuain gets his first start!

Lemina is DM, he is doing great so far as DM

What a performance.

Yeah Lemina is playing in the mid now. Weird choice. Either way, with Pjanic there our midfield looks 10x better. Him, Dybala and Higuain are wrecking Sassuolo.

Higuain compared to Mandzukic is like night and day. I'd be shocked if he doesn't hit 30 goals this year with this Juve.

Am I the only one impressed by Duncan???
He looks great on the ball and has alot of energy

What a goal line clearance!!!!!!!

Duncan and Politano look great.

Litch has been better today than Alves in the last 2

I have to say, I did not expect Higuain to make such a difference. I thought he would drop the level a bit from his peak last season. But the man looks like not a day passed since his last Napoli match. Huge impact out there in everything. Got everything right today, plus his goal in the first game, and his play for the second game.

He is actually outshining Dybala

Cotes wrote:Am I the only one impressed by Duncan???
He looks great on the ball and has alot of energy

I am, saw him last season too he scored good goals and looked good on the ball

Isn't Duncan an Inter reject? Inter rejects are always good.

What a game! GONZALO!

Higuain hasn't lost a step from last year, belly roll and all. We haven't had a true #9 like him since Trezequet. He is going to a make a major impact this year, much more than Pogba ever would.

Our team looks complete. You throw Marchisio, Alves, Cuadrado and Pjaca out there and we are dynamic. We literally could go undefeated this year. I don't see how we could lose, but of course there are always upsets. But remember last year we only lost ONE game at the very end of the season after early November, a run of 26 games. And that was without Higuain.

Anyways, at the end of the day all that matters is the Champions League. We need Higuain to replicate his form in the biggest games. Will he able to do that this year? We will find out soon enough.

rincon wrote:Isn't Duncan an Inter reject? Inter rejects are always good.

HERNANES???

Props to Alex Sandro who's very solid and covers a lot of field. A great left back/left mid in the making

I'm not blaming him for Sassuolo's goal, it was only bad luck.

Alex Sandro is a beast. Top 3 left back in the world.

Juventus has not been this stacked in years, since before Calciopoli. I mean Lichtsteiner, Benatia, Cuadrado, Mandzukic and Pjaca are bench warmers.

We have everything we need to win the Champions League this year. If we need another midfielder we can bring in Witsel in January. Congratulations to Giuseppe Marotta, Fabio Paratici, Pavel Nedved and Massimiliano Allegri for building one of the greatest Juventus teams in our history.