The Official Game Status Update Thread

[Nentsia]

Football Chess

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Immediately after the thriller against Inter Milan, my team had to face Juventus. For those who don't follow the Serie A - Juventus has dominated it for the past 5-6 years and remains by far the best team in the league. In my season, theyve had a lot of bad luck and are currently 3rd. Nevertheless, their team is qualitatively better than mine and they remain a dangerous opponent. In our first meeting during the season in Turin, my team won with 0-3, but the score is misleading. Juventus was much, much stronger, but my team stole the lead with a bit of luck. My team also received a penalty kick, if I remember correctly, and Juventus took 2 red cards if I'm not mistaken. The Gods favored me that day. In Italy, the referee is also one of the players on the pitch, and he plays for the highest bidder.

Cold War
Milan against Juventus is always a very tense game. These are the two biggest clubs of the country, and one could add that the cities they represent are also geographic rivals. In fact, these teams are so big, with such a rich history, that it was the Championsleague Final in 2003. My victory in Turin must have hurt badly, and with the season almost over, they had every reason to make revenge in Milan their number one priority for the remaining season. My team, having claimed the league title already in the previous match, is merely playing for its honor, one could call it a victory tour through the country. Nevertheless, losing at home against Juventus would put an ugly stain on this historical season, so I approached the game as seriously as I did against Inter Milan.

Italian football commentators such as Gianni Brera, and more recently Gianluca Vialli, once argued that Italy's obsession with defending was born out of a deep-rooted sense of insecurity, which had been formed over centuries of foreign invasions and domination (or more recently, Italy's military and economic backwardness in the 20th century). Such an insecurity helped to spread the defensive ''Catenaccio'' football throughout Italy in the 1950's - so goes the myth. There is some truth to it, perhaps, in the sense that the players who were part of the legendary Inter Milan during the 1960's, which conquered Europe with Catenaccio, later admitted they felt very insecure despite their succes. ''We felt the weight of the world on our shoulders and there was no outlet. None of us could sleep. I was lucky if I got three hours a night. All we did was obsess over the match and the Celtic players. Facchetti and I, late at night, would stay up and listen to our skipper, Armando Picchi, vomiting from the tension in the next room. In fact, four guys threw up the morning of the game and another four in the dressing room before going out on the pitch.''

To some degree, I can relate a bit to what Vialli calls the ''paranoia'' that pervades Italian football. The saying goes that ''fear has big eyes'', by which they mean that we tend to exaggerate danger and overlook the insecurity and fear that our enemies may have. I am perfectly capable of understanding that my AC Milan, on paper at least, is stronger than let's say Bologna. But when I actually have to face them in a game, tension grows and I start to worry that my players may have an off day, that Bologna does have dangerous players, and that I will look like a fool if they win, and how they probably have a sinister plan to lure me into a trap. This then justifies a cautious approach and careful preparation. Gianluca Vialli, and many other commentators, consider this mentality as the cause of why the Italian Serie A has become what Jose Mourinho called ''the tactical league''. Its not that they don't have tactics in other leagues, but in the Serie A, they take it to such extremes that every game is a tactical chess game. My fear of Juventus, and Juventus' fear of my team, ensured that our next meeting would become precisely that: a game of chess.

Massimiliano Allegri, the Juventus manager who hates me with every fiber in his body, began the opening move with psychological warfare directed at my players. I was too busy thinking of a method to thwart his 4-3-1-2 formation. The problem with teams playing 4-3-1-2 is that they have pretty much deployed the highest possible number of central midfielders, and are thus almost certain to dominate the central area of the pitch. I don't care much about midfield battles - ball posession is not my priority - but the central area is. If I surrender the central area to Juventus, it will become very difficult to defend against them. One solution could be to mirror Juventus and have equal numbers in central midfield. But I was convinced Juventus would try to control ball posession, and therefore press more than I was willing to, which would force my team to defend a lot. With only 2 central defenders, against 2 central strikers and an attacking midfielder, I found it too risky to defend in this formation.

The best way to ensure defensive security and to frustrate Juventus in midfield, I thought, would be a flat 3-5-2 formation.

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My back 3 would suffice against the 2 strikers of Juventus, 3 flat central midfielders to bother Juventus posession play, and 2 wingers with lots of space on the wing as Juventus lacked wingers. My 2 strikers would play 1v1 against Juventus' central defenders. In theory, my plan would work, but I will never know. Juventus had a little surprise for me.

Against my expectations, Juventus planned to field a 4-1-2-3 formation, as I did against Inter Milan. What worried me was that they deployed Kagawa and Cuadrado on the wings, and Morata in the centre. This meant that they had 3 very fast players, using the width of the pitch, against my narrow 3-man defense. I could not face Juventus this way and expect to do well. At the latest moment, I opted for an alternative. Ironically enough, I deployed the formation that I expected from Juventus; 4-3-1-2. If Juventus plays with only 1 central striker, I can play with 2 central defenders. And to thwart their wingers, I deployed real full-backs. I kept my 3 central midfielders and 2 strikers, to ensure it would be a difficult game for Juventus in case they might want to control ball posession.

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Opening Moves
Although I was playing a home game, I sticked with my plans to disrupt Juventus' posession-oriented playing style and focus on counter-attacks to create danger. Bonaventura played a key role in that. The defence was very organized and tasked with man-marking the front 3 of Juventus. The 3-man midfield had the role to shield the defence, stand in the way, disrupt the game and bother Pogba. Upon an interception then, every ball had to be sent to Bonaventura who would launch the strikers into space with penetrating passes. Juventus however, also played on the counter-attack and refused to let itself get drawn out much.

Juventus failed to build up well because once the ball reached my half, they had their passes frequently intercepted by my midfielders. Their wingers found themselves cut off from passes as they were permanently marked by my defenders. The frequent interceptions (reflected in the relatively low pass success rates) did not lead to very effective counter-attacks from my team, because Juventus did not give away much space. Suddenly, after 14 minutes, AC Milan scored. A counter-attack led to a corner kick. After a corner kick the ball landed before the feet of Andrea Bertolacci, who was waiting at the edge of the pentalty box. With a crushing shot he scored for my team. The game resumed its pace, and Juventus continued to struggle. They could not play through midfield, and there was no space for their counter-attacks either. My team continued to be dangerous on the break. In the 42nd minute, after a long time of ball circulation, my attackers and central midfielders began to tiki-taka their way through the Juventus defence. Bonaventura picked up a splendid through ball and scored - making the Juventus defenders look like a bunch of amateurs.

Leading by half-time with 2-0 and controlling the game like that was not something I had expected against Juventus. Everything was under control. The only downside was the fairly high amount of fouls on both sides and some yellow cards, but this was a consequence of telling the players to bite the ankles of their opponents in midfield. In the 60th minute, Buffon let loose of a free kick of my team, and it was Andrea Poli who got to the rebound and scored. With a 3-0 lead, things were getting humiliating for The Old Lady. Allegri switched his formation - probably thinking along the same lines I did, for he switched to 3-5-2 to stop my 4-3-1-2.

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With 3 central defenders, Juventus could better deal with my attacks, with a flat 3-man midfield they could duel with mine, and with 2 central strikers, they could create more trouble for my defence - which had until then not experienced any difficulties. The game changed immediately. Three minutes later, Hernanes scored a beautiful free kick; 3-1. Juventus began to dominate and press my team back. Their two central strikers began to pose a risk to my 2 central defenders. Meanwhile, fear began to take the upper hand again. A 3-1 lead in the second half might seem confident, but a good team like Juventus could easily make 3-2. This would put them right back in the game, and even give them the momentum to make a late equalizer. A comeback to 3-3 from 3-0 in my home stadium would be a tremendous moral victory for Juventus. So I replaced my booked players with some fresh players, instructed the team to remain deep and take no risk anymore, and waste time until the final whistle. The match ended in 3-1, and the media praised the cold efficiency of my players. ''Cold'' they say. They should've seen how badly I shit my pants for Juventus. Maybe my players don't though.

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AC Milan on the counter-attack in the 54th minute