Spalletti on Juventus birthday gift, tactical tweaks and Boga warning
Luciano Spalletti celebrates his 67th birthday, explains his changes that transformed Juventus to beat Pisa 4-0 and warns Jeremie Boga ‘is a bit too sluggish at times.’
It proved to be a very happy birthday indeed for the coach, who had not been able to celebrate a real victory since February 1 after a run of two points in four Serie A rounds, Champions League and Coppa Italia elimination.
They took a while to break Pisa down, but ran riot in the second half with Andrea Cambiaso, Khephren Thuram, Kenan Yildiz and Jeremie Boga goals for a 4-0 result.
Check the Football Italia Player Ratings for Juventus 4-0 Pisa
Spalletti has a happy Juventus birthday
After Thuram’s goal, players ran over to celebrate on the touchline with their tactician on his special day.
“I have many years on me, but hopefully I only show the good ones,” smiled Spalletti on Sky Sport Italia.
Spalletti realised that his team was struggling in the early stages and made a tactical adjustment, moving them from 4-2-3-1 into a 3-4-3 formation, aided by the versatility of players like Cambiaso, Yildiz and Weston McKennie.
Another important change was the removal of misfiring Jonathan David at half-time, replaced by the lively Boga.
“There are different moments of the match, as Yildiz scored, but the spaces had already opened up because we were in the lead,” explained Spalletti.
“The density of the first half was very different, so if Kenan starts from out wide, which he enjoys because he can see everything in front of him, and it is also a very different type of marking that he has to deal with.
“It is a slightly different type of work for a striker to be in the centre. Of course, once Pisa were trailing, they couldn’t maintain that solidity with the long ball for the two physical strikers, forcing you to chase back. It’s not easy to play through that density, we have difficulties in those situations.
“If Yildiz had a centre-forward next to him, it’d be better, because that figure can take some of the physical impact of dealing with the defenders and ease the pressure on Yildiz. In the first half, we couldn’t find the spaces or go around them by moving the ball quickly.”
It wasn’t just David who was substituted at half-time, because Lloyd Kelly also replaced Federico Gatti.
“Everything improved after the break, the speed of movement, we talked about a few things. I took Federico off too not because he hadn’t done well, but because you need someone with better feet to play out from the back when there’s that packed midfield in front of you,” continued Spalletti.
“I felt bad taking Gatti off, it was between him and Bremer, I might choose differently next time.”
Boga has proved to be quite a good investment in January and again was a livewire off the bench, this time also scoring a goal.
“Boga has that quality, we all know that, but he’s a bit too sluggish at times. He needs to be more determined, grittier, because we know he has that pace to shock opposition defenders, but he has to give it that fire too.
“The bench is not a waiting area, it is an extra part of the team. In modern football, you pick players who can do damage in certain moments of the match, who provide something unexpected. Those on the bench are watching, they can see where the spaces are and what spots they can attack, they are participating and learning throughout,” concluded Spalletti.
The race for a Champions League spot looks as if it will go down to the wire, as Como won away to Cagliari today and remain in fifth place, waiting for Roma’s trip to Genoa on Sunday.