An incredibly decorated player, Thiago Motta has also made his mark as a head coach in Serie A.
He certainly piqued interest by discussing his 2-7-2 formation last year, discussing positional play from a horizontal perspective and his view on the sidelines rather than traditional vertical lines.
Motta always discusses formations including 11 players, with the goalkeeper considered as an outfield performer when his side is in possession of the ball.
This summer also saw him leave a highly successful stint at Bologna to join Juventus, and fans of the Old Lady are looking forward to a fun and exciting campaign in 2024/25.
In this post, however, we’ll look at Motta’s tactical approach and what Juventus can expect this season!
Who Is Thiago Motta?
Having managed Spezia, Motta joined Bologna as head coach on September 12th, 2022.
He quickly hit the ground running and earned the Serie A Coach of the Month accolade the following February, before leading Bologna to a record 9th-place finish with 54 points.
In his first full campaign last season, he earned two more Coach of the Month awards (in February and March).
His team finished the season strongly too, earning their first top five finish in Serie A and qualifying for a UEFA Champions League berth for the first time since 1964/65.
He left for Juve after failing to sign a new contract in Bologna.
However, he managed to win 35 of his 76 matches and lost just 17 at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, while his side plundered 107 goals and conceded 74 in all competitions.
He won 46.05% of his matches as head coach, while capturing the imagination of fans with his tactical brain and penchant for attacking football.
Thiago Motta Formations – Low and High Build-up Patterns
During the low build-up, Motta tactically sets his team up in a 4-2-5 formation, with the keeper positioned in-between two centre halves and a box midfield.
Motta’s teams typically start with a simple 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 shape.
This period of play may also see attacking midfielders to drop and create numerical supremacy, forging new passing lines to beat an opponent’s press effectively.
In the high build-up, Motta prefers a more expansive 1-3-2-5 formation, with the keeper sweeping behind three defenders and one full back inverting alongside a single midfield pivot.
Two offensive midfielders then attack the half spaces alongside a striker and two high wingers, while this shape can fluidly shift into a 3-2-4-1 or 3-2-2-3.
Thiago Motta Tactics – Attacking the Half Spaces Constantly
Under Motta, Bologa were an attack-minded team who were constantly probing and exploiting half spaces in the final third.
They created a significant number of chances under Motta’s leadership, leveraging numerical supremacy and underlaps from midfielders and inverted full backs.
Motta coaching style also looks to create central overloads by dropping his striker into an advanced midfield position.
This creates an additional player in a compact, box midfield, while Motta will invert his wide forwards so that they can make regular runs in behind.
This is something that Juventus fans can expect in 2024/25, while it may suit the technically excellent Serbian forward Dušan Vlahović.
One thing’s for sure: this will be an exciting and rollercoaster campaign for the Old Lady, who now have one of Europe’s most promising and innovative head coaches at the helm!
