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Carlos Tevez celebrates victory at the end of the Serie A match between Juventus and SS Lazio at Juventus Arena on August 31, 2013 in Turin, Italy. (Getty Images)
Solid defence
Let’s not take anything away from Lazio either. The score line is a bit flattering to the home side, but Lazio did put their own in. The difference between the two sides was the clinical character of Juventus; they knew how to take their chances.
But Italian sides are known for having solid defences; Juventus and Lazio showed this on the night. The game witnessed just below 60 tackles, which is above the regular average. The likes of Vidal, Asamoah, Giorgio Chiellini, Pogba, Lorik Cana and Lucas Biglia all had more than five tackles each, an example of the physicality of the game.
Lazio made the game tight from the start, attempting to narrow the playing field in the middle of the park. There were three men quickly to position themselves around the Juve man in possession, attempting to force him off the ball.
Juventus did overcome this with their use of the width, but it did reduce their general influence in midfield. Juventus on the other hand were no less defensively solid. As Juventus continued to control the tempo of the game, Lazio tried to calm things down and take control when in possession.
This resulted in Lazio slowing the game down and opting to keep possession in their defensive third; this could also have been due to lack of personnel in the attacking third. But Juventus weren’t going to hang around and invite Lazio forward, this isn’t 2002 Italian football.
The Juventus attackers, along with the attack-minded Vidal constantly pressed the opposition, forcing them to make quicker passes. While this tactic favoured Juventus, for a neutral it livened up the game as we forcibly saw Lazio also adopt a smoother, slick game.
Hernanes made 3 interceptions in dangerous positions in Juventus’ half. He, along with Antonio Candreva, looked the most threatening Lazio players. Candreva in fact, finished off with the most shots, most on target and he created the most number of opportunities as well.
Carlos Tevez
The Argentine has appeared in three games for the Old Lady, and has got himself on the score sheet in each and every game. Not only his record, but the smoothness and fluidity with which he has transcended into the Juventus side is immense. He has fit the system, with ease, and has developed a good understanding with his midfielders and fellow attacker.
We need to understand here that Tevez isn’t forming a traditional two man strike partnership. He loves to drop behind the striker (Vucinic in this case), and play a more ‘second striker’ role. Often he found himself playing alongside Vidal who opted to advance forward.
As he showed against Lazio, Tevez loves to take the ball and use his strength to run at defenders. Nothing fancy, no unnecessary footwork, or over the top skills, just a plain and simple dash towards the opposition.
This made Juventus almost play in zones with three distinct zones ahead of the deep midfield duo of Andrea Pirlo and Pogba. Vidal ahead of him, Tevez further advanced and Vucinic in the final zone.
Tevez had an incredible understanding with Vucinic against Lazio, which was evident for the thrid and fourth goals.
