The Weekly Take, Issue 40: Another Defensive Masterpiece

The latest edition of the Derby d’Italia finished with the result many expected – a Juventus victory. Mario Mandžukić scored the only goal of the game to sink Inter Milan and extend Juve’s Serie A lead to a massive 11 points.

However, the real stars of the match were Juve’s back four, who collectively produced an outstanding defensive performance, completely neutralising the threat posed by the likes of Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perišić. João Cancelo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, and Mattia De Sciglio simply would not allow themselves to be beaten by a scrappy Nerazzurri.

Cancelo played arguably his best game for Juventus since signing for the Bianconeri this past off-season. The Portuguese right-back tormented his former club throughout the match with two interceptions and successful tackles apiece, while also helping out on offense by setting up Mandžukić’s goal.

Having returned to Juve after spending a year at AC Milan, Bonucci has shown that he hasn’t missed a beat, and his performance this game was no exception. His steady defensive play and superior technical ability for a centre-back shone through in this game, and indeed, has done so all season long. Bonucci’s centre-back partnership with Chiellini clearly helped set the tone for Juve’s victory.

Chiellini was the clear man of the match. In a previous post, I already wrote about Giorgio Chiellini’s defensive excellence, so I won’t go into too much detail here. Nevertheless, the Pisa-born defender was in top form. Thanks to his efforts, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny was largely untroubled throughout the match. Chiellini also caused trouble at the other end, posing an aerial threat and coming close to scoring with some headers. The 34-year-old once again defied his age, looking like a man a decade younger.

Deputising for the injured Alex Sandro, De Sciglio was clearly unfazed by the magnitude of the occasion. Despite playing in just his fourth league game of the season, the former AC Milan left-back was composed and assured until the final whistle. His defensive play on Kwadwo Asamoah and Perišić was especially impressive.

Although the majority of the headlines regarding Juve this season have been about Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time World Player of the Year has not had as much impact on Juve’s success as have his teammates at the back.

The four defenders who played against Inter, as well as Alex Sandro and backups Medhi Benatia and Andrea Barzagli, have all been absolutely terrific this season.

This Juve defense has established itself as arguably the finest in world football. Over 20 Serie A and Champions League games thus far this season, Juventus have conceded just 10 goals – the lowest figure by any team from one of the four major leagues.

Although it may not be as glamorous as offense, defense is half the game. A solid defense will set the foundation for the rest of the team to take off.

Every backline wants to develop something of an “aura” around them; a general expectation that there is no striker alive that they can’t stop. The current Juventus defense are well on their way to doing so.

Club legends Chiellini and Bonucci have already developed such a reputation, while Cancelo, Alex Sandro, and others have certainly contributed to this formidable defense.

They may not hog the headlines the way that Ronaldo, Mandžukić, and Paulo Dybala do, but without them, Juve would not even be close to the team they are now.

Unlike many other teams, Juve clearly put much emphasis on and take much pride in their defense, and it clearly shows.

It should not come as a surprise that Juventus have taken a defense-first approach; after all, this is a club that has had some of the greatest defenders of all time on its roster, such as Fabio Cannavaro, Claudio Gentile, Jürgen Kohler, Paolo Montero, Lilian Thuram, Gianluca Zambrotta, and many others.

Juventus will almost certainly win Serie A for the eighth consecutive season and remain among the favourites to clinch their third Champions League title.

While the exploits of their attacking trio will go a long way in helping them achieve this target, this team’s success begins and ends with their remarkable defense – one which no striker on the planet will look forward to facing.

The Weekly Take, Issue 6: The Great Wall of Turin

Juventus have advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals after beating Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 on aggregate. The Bianconeri won the second leg at Wembley by a score of 2-1.

Naturally, as the scorer of the winning goal, Paulo Dybala will receive the majority of the attention and command the most headlines.

However, he was not the Juventus player most responsible for their victory.

Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini had an absolute masterpiece of a game to lead the Italian club to victory.

In an utterly dominant defensive performance, he had four successful tackles, three blocks, and 13 clearances, and also won all four of his aerial duels.

His man-marking and positional play was on point all night long, and his outstanding defensive play almost completely shut down the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, and Dele Alli.

On top of that, even though last week I railed against intentional fouling, in the context of the current rules, even his yellow card was a positive play, as Alli was about to launch a dangerous counter-attack before he was ruthlessly chopped down by Chiellini.

In his 13 years at Juventus, it is unlikely that Chiellini has produced a better individual performance.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that his performance against Tottenham was one of the best individual displays in a football match that I have ever seen, whether offensive or defensive.

This is why it’s such a shame that, because of his defensive role, his immense contributions will largely be overshadowed.

Defenders will often receive much criticism if their team concedes many goals, and rightly so.

However, if the team wins, the defenders almost never get the praise they deserve – that often goes to the “glamour” positions: attacking midfielders, wingers, and, of course, centre-forwards.

Unfortunately for clubs like Juventus, who pride themselves on being a defensive powerhouse, this works against them in the eyes of the public, as their defense-first approach does not predispose them to public acclaim, regardless of the tremendous skill displayed in their defensive play.

Many people will criticise defensive-minded teams for playing “ugly football”, but this is an unfair categorisation.

Why shouldn’t a defensive approach be held in the same regard as an offensive one?

Great defense can be equally as exciting to watch as great offense.

Think of a last-ditch goal-line clearance, a fingertip save from a difficult position, or a ferocious, clattering tackle.

Are those not entertaining to watch?

Furthermore, some of the greatest football teams of all time favoured a defensive approach.

Think of teams like Italy’s 1982 World Cup-winning team, the AC Milan team that won three Champions Leagues between 1989 and 1994, and, of course, the godfather of defensive-minded teams: Helenio Herrera’s legendary Grande Inter team of the 1960s, which won two European crowns by pioneering the iconic playstyle that came to be known as “catenaccio”.

But more important than that, defense is half the game. It’s not as if it takes more skill to excel in attacking play than defensive play.

No team in their right mind would say that attack is more important than defense.

Yet, that’s how the vast majority of fans act.

The more fans heap credit upon goalscorers while at the same time ignoring defenders, the more this situation will be perpetuated.

FIFA is guilty of this too.

Not since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 has a defender been named the world’s best player.

However, dominant defensive performances like Chiellini’s against Tottenham deserve to be lauded just as much as an outstanding offensive performance.

Chiellini set the tone for a dogged, determined Juventus team as they ground down a talented but tactically-lacking Tottenham.

His play clearly got into the heads of the Tottenham players, with players such as Harry Kane missing chances they normally would have had no problems converting.

Ultimately, that’s what great defenders do. It’s not about directly preventing opposing strikers from scoring, as much as it is about sowing the seeds of doubt in their minds every time they touch the ball.

That is exactly what Giorgio Chiellini did.

It’s time to rethink what is considered “entertaining”, “beautiful”, or even the cliché of “good football”.

An approach that prioritises defense can easily be all those things and then some, as Giorgio Chiellini and Juventus have demonstrated.

It’s time for the unsung heroes of football to start getting their due.