Marco Motta- Is he really that bad? Or just a scapegoat

by pasquale22 Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:22 am

Other than Amauri – and perhaps Alessio Secco – no other name is more guaranteed to illicit a negative reaction from Juventus supporters than that of Marco Motta, a man described by one of this site’s co-founders as a ‘non-back’ after a string of inept displays last season. Defending him might seem ultimately foolhardy (and perhaps churlish at best) but after spending all Summer questioning the reasons why further money was spent to make his move from Udinese permanent, a number of factors come into play that are worth a few moments of consideration.

The player arrived in Turin last year, having become one of the more impressive young talents in Italian football. On the surface, Motta seemed to have all the tools: great technique, speed, physical strength. He also had proven that, when in favour at Roma under Luciano Spalletti, he possessed the right temperament to succeed in pressure situations at a big club. The current Zenit tactician was full of praise for the defender after his impressive debut for the Giallorossi, telling SkyItalia:

Motta gets my compliments for that performance. It’s not easy to enter the field at the Olimpico for the first time in front of a crowd like ours, with whom it’s difficult to exhibit tranquility. He has great speed, force and technical quality and he was very good in the defensive phase of the game. He played with great personality.

Looking back over his early career Motta had always shown those abilities, whether at Atalanta, Torino or with the Italian U-21 side, which he eventually became captain of. He passed through the various age groups alongside Paolo De Ceglie (both being of the 1986 class) and led the team to its first ever Toulon Tournament win in 2008, as well as the UEFA European U-21 Championship Semi-Final the following year.
In pre-season last Summer, the expectation was that Motta could be taught to improve defensively by Gigi Delneri. He started off well, admitting his ability and application without the ball must be honed and, so impressed was Cesare Prandelli by the former Udinese man’s progress that, on August 10 he made his full International debut against Côte d’Ivoire.

So now you’re thinking, “What happened? Where did that Motta go?”

As we know, the now 25 year-old was an unmitigated disaster, rivalling Jorge Martinez as Beppe Marotta’s biggest bidone, saved from the dubious honour perhaps only by virtue of the higher fee paid for the Uruguayan midfielder. He even failed to contribute significantly to the attack, his link-up play with Milos Krasic largely non-existent as he struggled to adapt to life under the Juventus microscope.
Found lacking on so many occasions, his defensive mistakes meant it actually came as a surprise when the option on his contract was exercised this Summer, despite the relatively moderate cost of €1.25m per year for three seasons. While the reasoning and rationale for making that decision can be discussed endlessly, the fact remains that the deal has been done, Motta is a Juventus player and the reasons for it are the real area for deeper analysis.

Reto Ziegler, who personally admitted to signing for the Bianconeri in early January when Delneri was in a strong position, immediately fell out of favour with Antonio Conte. The new coach was unconvinced by the former Tottenham man, forcing Marotta to sell him to Turkish side Fenerbahçe while Zdeněk Grygera was granted a free-transfer to Premier League side Fulham.

From those two moves we can deduce two things:

-Firstly, Conte will not have any player forced upon him, and Motta’s purchase was only finalised on June 22, long after the coach – who clearly wields great influence over transfer strategy – was in place.

-Secondly Grygera is a non-factor offensively, much more of a natural central defender while Motta is much nearer the skill-set of another new arrival in Turin, Stephan Lichtsteiner, showing that the coach demands certain characteristics in this particular role.

Speaking of Lichtsteiner, it seems clear the Swiss full-back has Conte’s full confidence as Juve’s first-choice going into the new season (he started almost every pre-season game plus the 4 Serie A matches so far). While he may never be considered a world class talent, Lichtsteiner is a truly competent player with and without the ball, possessing a proven pedigree in Serie A that gives the solidity Juventus have lacked at right-back since Lillian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta were sold five years ago.

The Swiss player’s clearly defined status also removes all pressure to perform – the considerable weight of which crushed him last season – from Motta’s shoulders, allowing him to play with greater freedom and with zero expectation. Looking at his contribution last year, a number of facts immediately stand out. In 22 appearances Motta won just 22 tackles, a very low number for a defender, while his 30 fouls saw him collect 8 yellow and 1 red card. Obviously the protection offered by Krasic was negligible, but Motta’s biggest problem was simply his own poor positioning. He actually won 88% of the challenges he made, proving when he got close enough to his man he was still a competent defender.

Another positive comes when looking at Motta’s crossing, where he completed an impressive 36.55%. This may seem low, but it is a vastly superior figure to the Serie A average (20%) last season. That those completed crosses resulted in just a single assist says more about Juve’s quality in the box for large portions of the season, than the player making the pass.

However, the single biggest plus point to Lichtsteiner’s presence making him a reserve is highlighted when assessing Motta’s impact as a substitute last season. In the seven matches he was brought on from the bench – appearing for 171 minutes in which he also received no bookings – Juventus conceded only one goal, Artjoms Rudnevs’s stunning last minute equaliser for Lech Poznań, a strike that came on the opposite flank to Motta and only one of those games ended in defeat for the Bianconeri, the 3-0 loss to Napoli.

Marco Motta has clearly shown that, hidden somewhere underneath that God-awful Borriello-esque haircut, is a talented player. Perhaps, in precisely the opposite way De Ceglie reacts to being a reserve (as Aaron discusses here), Motta can simply thrive being a number two?

by Tomwin Lannister Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:33 am

"God-awful Borriello-esque haircut." Hahahahahah.

Yes, he is terrible, but the sad thing is he used to be very good. I hope it goes back to that but until then I don't want him near the starting 11.

by lucianomoggi Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:15 am

there are many reasons why players fail to perform their peak ::::

can be his own mentality, physical problems, can be tactical reasons and also how much attacking minded the game is

personally i think MARCO MOTTA has great personality and he also has lot of confidence and I don;t believe there is any physical problem with him

i believe there are tactical problems that MARCO MOTTA is not suiting;::

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