Are The Tables Finally Turning? The Resurgent Old Lady of Italian Football vs. The Collapse of a Controversial Dynasty ~ theRYGOchannel

by Christopher Date

Juventus F.C. vs. F.C Internazionale Milano, The Bianconeri vs. The Nerazzurri, La Vecchia Signora vs. La Beneamata, no matter which of the numerous nicknames you prefer to use, one thing is always for certain, the Derby d’Italia is guaranteed to be one of, if not the most, passionate and enthralling matches in the Italian Serie A.

As history will attest, it is not exactly a rarity to witness Juventus defeat Inter Milan in this momentous derby. However, it is not simply the result which stands out after today’s encounter between the two Italian giants, but rather the fashion in which the Bianconeri defeated the Nerazzurri in their own back yard, Il Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, their beloved San Siro.

Pirlo down to usual business, dictating the play for Juve

Remove the obviously biased San Siro crowd from the equation, and I highly doubt the casual fan would have believed Inter Milan was the home side. Not only did the players from the Turin based club have the lion’s share of possession for long periods, but their determination, attacking drive and overall spirits far surpassed their Milanese rivals by quite some margin. Testament to this was one period in the game around the 75th minute in which the visitors held the ball for what seemed to be at least forty passes while the Inter Milan players were seemingly content to sit back and let their opponents waste up precious time, not a usual tactic for a home side trailing 2-1 to their biggest rival in the entire league.

Admittedly, as a die-hard Juventus fan, there was nothing better than seeing the disheartened Inter players trod around the pitch looking completely defeated with twenty minutes still on the clock, and the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Claudio “Il Principino” Marchisio and Arturo Vidal dictating play in the middle of the park against some of the world’s best central midfielders in Wesley Sneijder and Esteban Cambiasso. A tad sadistic on my part some might say, but how would you feel if a bunch of undeserving people stole something from you that they in no shape or form deserved?...*cough* our Scudetto *cough* ;).

However, cheap shots and bias aside, the real issue at hand is why exactly do Juventus look so much more efficient this season and lead the league currently, while Inter continue to struggle profusely, with a mere eight points from nine games? In my opinion it is a combination of many various factors as outlined below:

Del Piero celebrates victory with Conte

Tactically speaking, in seasons past, Juventus’ main problem (apart from getting caught off guard by ridiculously simple long balls, the same kind of long balls we seemingly attempted to use and failed to convert against the “weaker” teams in the league), was the obvious missing link between the midfield and attack. Without Del Piero on the field to add some kind of creative spark to our play, our forwards were often too isolated and static due to the fact that our midfield was pretty poor at distributing sharp attacking passes into dangerous areas. We were more than happy to constantly ship the ball out wide to Milos Krasic, who by now has been figured out by every defender in the league it seems, and will just push the ball down the flank, run at full pace and attempt a cut back cross.

While I had no problem with the players occasionally trying to cross the ball into the penalty area due to a decent physical presence at the time due to players such as Matri, Quagliarelli and Toni getting quite a few minutes of playing time, when it becomes overly-predictable, even the poorest of defensive teams know how to mark these forwards and clear away the crosses all day. It's like defending set pieces for a whole game, something that even the weakest teams are good at, as it is easy to implement in training.

For instance, when I watched AC Milan destroy the exact same teams in the league that we often drew to, it was usually because of their fast paced passes into danger areas, such as inside the box, fairly direct efforts, and playing the ball through or to-feet in more central areas. I am not saying we should have never crossed the ball obviously, because Toni and Matri again are very good in the air, but the consistency with which we did the exact same thing every single play, (attack slowly and then retreat out wide and try to cross) was appalling.

Claudio Marchisio is a player in fine form this season

This season though, with the implementation of Antonio Conte as our manager, not only have we transformed our team in terms of personnel, but our tactical approach is based much more on possession, sharp passes, movement and keeping a solid structure. The adapted version of a 4-3-3 formation we have recently been using has been beyond successful. With Andrea Pirlo pulling the strings surrounded by two key players in Marchisio and Vidal, that can both tackle adeptly and contribute greatly to attack, our team has many options both going forward and when defending the counter. This freedom, flexibility and creative licence has done wonders for Marchisio especially, who is slowly turning into quite the world-beater after a few fairly decent seasons at Juventus in years prior.
It would be terrible for me not to mention the ridiculous work rate of Simone Pepe as well, a player who personifies the team’s spirit, heart and determination. These players performances, coupled with Alessandro Matri’s lethal finishing and Mirko Vucinic’s clever dinks, chips and flicks, have given rise to a team that on a whole has improved to a great extent technically, mentally and physically. Moreover, there is the new desire and determination to win the ball each and every time there is a 50-50 situation, something I can only attribute to Conte’s motivational skills, as in his prime he was a fantastic hustler, true leader and a tireless fighter.

As for Inter, there are an abundance of factors which may have contributed to their downfall this year:

We'd hide our faces too Wesley

Their coaching changes, their involvement in Champions League football as well as the domestic Italian Serie A, and their loss of Samuel Eto’o and general lack of a striker of the calibre of him or Zlatan Ibrahimovic (as much as it pains me to somewhat praise Ibrahimovic). Not to mention, the lack of motivation that may accompany winning the league many times in a row may have negatively affected some players hunger to win, as well as the Champions League hangover after their win in 2009. One thing is for sure, with continually average performances from players like Alvarez, Obi, Nagatomo, Castaignos as well as veterans like Chivu, the future doesn’t seem too wonderful unless Inter can turn it around quickly.

Many would argue however, that the season has just started, and I would definitely have to agree. There is plenty time for any team to lose or gain form, slip or climb the league table, and for this reason I am trying to stay as realistic as possible with my expectations for Juventus this year. However, I can assure you readers that I am not being naive in saying there has been drastic improvement evident already at this stage of the season regardless of the fact that Juventus have played many of the “weaker” sides in the league. As for Inter, it is quite clear that if they don’t drastically change their performances and results, we may finally be witnessing the end of their era of dominance, an era that in all honesty came about due to some truly fortunate circumstances.

theRYGOchannel would like to give a big thanks to Chris for writing us this quality article, be sure to leave a comment!

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