Antonio Conte's striker woes set to continue at Juventus despite Carlos Tevez joining
Antonio Conte
Juventus fans will welcome the news of Carlos Tevez joining the Bianconeri ranks. At a transfer fee of 9 million euros, Tevez is a steal. He will be joining Fernando Llorente, who is moving to Juventus on a free transfer. After winning the Scudetto last season, it is good to see Juventus wanting to build on their success.
After the two latest additions to the Juve squad, manager Antonio Conte will have six forwards to choose from. The other four being Alessandro Matri, Mirko Vucinic, Sebastian Giovinco and Fabio Quagliarella. This will be a cause for concern because all of them are experienced and well-established players, who are in their prime.
It must be tempting to build a giant slingshot and launch them at opponents like Angry Birds, but playing six forwards in Juve’s 3-5-2 formation will remain a fantasy.
Anyway you look at it, only two forwards or, probably, a maximum of three will start a game. The most obvious solutions to this conundrum are changing the formation, rotating players, and selling the extra players.
Juventus had six forwards on their rooster in the previous season, too. But two of them – Nicolas Anelka and Nicklas Bendtner – arrived on loan. Anelka came in the winter transfer window and Bendtner was injured for most part of the season. Matri and Quagliarella missed a few games due to injury, hence it was easy to rotate the squad. Moreover, a sizable chunk of Juve’s goals came from the midfield.
Juventus maybe a battle class destroyer, but its gun barrels don’t pack much heat. Its joint top scorer from last season was Vucinic with 10 goals from 31 games. Their new signing, Llorente, started just four games last season for Athletic Bilbao. And, moreover, Llorente is not the 20 goals per season striker that Juventus are looking for. At the top of his game, Llorente scored just 17 goals in one season. He will take time to adjust to the Serie A and possibly more time to find the goal regularly.
Tevez, on the other hand, is like a donkey chasing a carrot. His first two seasons at Manchester City were eventful with a combined total of 43 goals. But his last two seasons were dogged with controversies and poor form.
If Conte lays down all the six aces he is holding on the table, it will be difficult to decide who will make the final cut. If he decides to hold on to all the six forwards, then what formation will he deploy?
Conte was once known to be a 4-2-4 man. When he joined Juve, he initially used the 4-4-3 formation and quickly abandoned it for a more effective 3-5-2. Last season, he experimented with the 3-5-1-1 formation, but it lacked the same tactical edge as the 3-5-2. When the rest of the world was using the much preferred and popular 4-2-3-1, Conte stuck to his guns and crafted his brand of attacking football.
Retaining all his strikers will send a strong signal across Europe that Juventus are ready to challenge for Champions League next season, but the challenge lies in rotating them regularly. Imagine a starting line-up featuring Quagliarella, Llorente and Tevez in a revised 3-4-3 formation. The team will be so strong that it will leave anyone reading the team sheet with a paper cut.
But, with Juve’s rigid wage structure, combined with the poor gate receipts in Serie A, will it be financially viable?