Yildiz, all the roles and Spalletti’s perspective

A majority plus one is needed to establish whether Yildiz should play more as a second striker or as a winger. Spalletti, who “before I heard them all from the outside, but now I’m inside”, tries to reach an agreement “by doing a little and a little”. His idea about the player has certainly been made, even if the difficulty for the coach comes now: convincing the Turk to follow a score, perhaps more effectively than his predecessors Tudor and Thiago Motta. It was Allegri who gave the first team debut to the class of 2005, but at that moment the player had just returned from a good season in the Primavera (mainly employed as a striker) and from a brief move to Next Gen to gain experience among the greats.

WITH THIAGO MOTTA

—

Yildiz’s first consecration in Juventus was with Thiago Motta, who always asked the player to act more as an external attacker on the left-footed side. The coach’s instructions went mainly in two directions: the first was to come into the field and look for a right-footed shot from the top of the opponent’s penalty area, the second to immediately attack the opponent’s possession to stop the build-up in its tracks. In the two passages, which required a significant expenditure of energy to think quickly and clearly, the attacker was not always able to last the ninety minutes: ending up lacking clarity in front of goal. Thus, in order to better manage the team, Yildiz played slightly further back: just enough to avoid getting into difficulty on time.

WITH TUDOR

—

Tudor’s arrival on the Juve bench gave the player some more freedom in the non-possession phase. Under the Croatian’s management, Yildiz had some less responsibility in defense and was encouraged to attack more centrally, so as to be closer to the goal. Unlike Thiago Motta, who had also proposed the Turk a few times on the right, Tudor always proposed him from the left or asked him to stay as high as possible, so as to be able to lean on Vlahovic or in any case on the reference in the penalty area. Yildiz maintained the tendency to move more freely and not be monothematic: precisely the functional work of not giving certainties to the opposing rearguards convinced Tudor not to cage him too much in tactical schemes, but to let him do it from the attacking midfield up.

WITH SHOULDERS

—

Finding a player who was much more aware and already partially evolved (no longer a raw talent to be moulded), Spalletti immediately took advantage of his freedom of movement. “Once he makes a play inside and you say he’s a second striker. Then you find him making a play on the flag and you say he’s an external attacker. Then he goes back to the middle. Then? And then he goes wherever he wants because he knows best where he can go to find space – said the Juventus coach -. I put him as an attacking midfielder on the left, so he can go according to the circumstances. Of course, if he stays inside he’s closer to the goal, I would like more of this from him because he’s good at turning both on the on the right than on the left. But there you find many narrow spaces compared to being more open, where the man jumps and puts you in a position to score because it is more difficult to do so from so far away.”

THE PERSPECTIVE

—

Spalletti’s wish is that “he was more central, because when he turns and looks at the goal the bells ring, even in training”. But only time will clarify the role of Yildiz, who at the moment is much more important for Juve for goals: especially after Vlahovic’s injury and the precarious performance of David and Openda. The Turk could also become the key to unlocking the two newcomers in attack, but Spalletti needs certainties. Under the management of Thiago Motta, in 42 games, Yildiz scored 6 goals and 5 assists in the league and cups. With Tudor, however, the class of 2005 increased his personal performance with 8 goals and 8 assists in 22 matches. While with Spalletti – immediately after the goal scored against Udinese with Brambilla on the bench – the number 10 scored 2 goals and an assist in 5 games.