Di Maria-addiction, but Juve must find Vlahovic again | The comment

As long as Di Maria goes, let him go as he solves many problems in this Juve. Maybe everyone. From small Nantes to modest Freiburg, the Argentine always travels to another dimension with respect to his teammates and opponents, expanding his already fantastic repertoire beyond imagination: even goals from center forward in the area, with a header, from behind, with power and advance. Mentally it is as if Di Maria were still in Real Madrid and PSG: offensive, cheeky, almost unsettling for Juve’s Italian mood. Just score him. The only problem that he will never be able to solve is that of his possible absence. The day he’s not there due to injury, disqualification or turnover, or suffers a logical physical decline for a thirty-five year old, there’s trouble. Because Juve is set on singles. So it is if you like.

Attitude

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And therefore it is better to recognize that the success against Freiburg is neither exciting nor reassuring in view of the second leg: a goal is not enough, with at least ninety minutes to play in Germany in a week, Chiesa in strong doubts, a curse also for Mancini, and Vlahovic in total tactical and “philosophical” confusion: a “to be or not to be” that is tormenting and draining him inside. Luckily, excluding the paisà Grifo, the figure of Freiburg is really far from that of Juventus. On the other hand, it’s not a great season for German football after the World Cup. Apart from Bayern – who play a championship of their own and would win the Bundesliga with eleven on the bench – the others, weakened by this excessive power, are losing their way in Europe: Eintracht was put under by Napoli well beyond 0 -2, Borussia Dortmund couldn’t handle the impact of Chelsea, Union Berlin stopped at home against St. Gilloise. Fearing this Freiburg incapable of shooting on goal, if not from handball assists, is actually a problem entirely for Juve, as it had been in the end with Nantes: as if the Bianconeri wanted to impose themselves a painful first match, even with all the bad luck of the poles etc., to then restore the values ​​in the second half. The question is: why wait? Why not try a more continuous pressure after the first goal, instead of choosing the back management of the advantage with possible restarts? There is no doubt that the defense is protected and the risks minimized, but the flip side is drastically moving away from the opponent’s area.

Dushan, where are you?

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Vlahovic is a bit of the litmus test of this attitude, the one who suffers the most from it. Arrived a year ago with the label of centre-forward of the future, perfectly framed in the Fiorentina system, a volley goalscorer, the Serbian has for some time been showing a very dangerous involution that his facial expressions shamelessly betray: the team does not play for him and he is now untied from the team. He is never a reference in key passages, they don’t try to head him and, given the hesitations in easy supports, he isn’t even involved in the maneuver. In a word: depressed. A dispersion of potential goals and value of the “card” that requires serious reflection in a Juve in difficulty: if you have someone like Vlahovic you should set an important percentage of your game on him.

Footprint

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Instead, the offensive maneuver continues to develop on the initiative of individuals. Di Maria does everything, even too much. The fact that the second source of solutions is Cuadrado’s “downhill, dribbling with shift to the right and diagonal” says a lot about the limits of the maneuver. Vlahovic would need close attackers, not scattered raiders who surprise him more than the defenses. The totem of the island center forward and a crowded midfield like Times Square is a choice. It would be interesting to know if Di Maria likes to make the 10 back or if he would prefer to move up front with more company.