Igor Tudor guided Juventus back to the UEFA Champions League after taking over from Thiago Motta near the end of the 2024/2025 season.
He breathed new life into the squad, and Juventus lost only one of their remaining nine matches of the season, which allowed them to secure fourth place on the final day of the season.
Tudor has managed some elite clubs during his career.
The 47-year-old has recently worked at Olympique de Marseille and SS Lazio and was an assistant under Andrea Pirlo when he was in charge of Juventus.
Thiago Motta’s tactics got stale, and the goals were starting to dry up for Juventus, with his build-up no longer being effective.
Tudor changed things formation-wise and tactically for I Bianconeri, which has gotten them good results, but there are still some concerning signs.
Now, they are coming off a thrashing at the hands of Manchester City at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, and the question marks going forward will be whether Juventus are truly back to being one of Serie A’s elite clubs in 2025/2026.
Thats what our tactical analysis is here to explore and determine if Juve are actually better off under Igor Tudor tactics compared to Thiago Motta.
Igor Tudor Build Up Tactics
Motta was a big fan of relationism and had Juventus dominating possession in Serie A.
During his tenure, Juventus averaged almost 60% possession, but this often didn’t lead to many high-quality chances.
They racked up the goals and expected goals against lower-tier competition, but in 15 matches against the top half of Serie A, Juventus only created a total of 15.8 expected goals.
What Igor Tudor did was change Juventus away from that extreme possession style of play and made them into a more direct team.
He switched them to a 3-4-3 formation, with the buildup being a 4-2 base, sometimes a 5-2, bringing Michele Di Gregorio out as a +1.
Khéphren Thuram is the key to making this whole system work, thanks to his ability to play in a single pivot or a double pivot alongside Manuel Locatelli.
His ability to receive the ball, turn, and progress the ball up the pitch allows the dual number 10s in the system to push further up the pitch.
![Lazio Vs Napoli [0–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: Maurizio Sarri Zonal Marking Weaknesses And Unsuccessful Attacking Choices – Tactical Analysis](https://totalfootballanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Lazio-Vs-Napoli-tactical-analysis--350x250.png "Lazio Vs Napoli [0–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: How Antonio Conte Tactics Exploited Structural Flaws – Tactical Analysis 6")
