Luciano Spalletti Tactics At Juventus 2025/2026: Can His Exciting Philosophy Spark A Late Title Push? – Tactical Analysis

Luciano Spalletti attracted a lot of media attention when he formed a very strong team at Napoli, which won the Scudetto in 2022/2023.

A Scudetto many people did not see coming to Napoli, but rather Inter Milan, AC Milan, or Juventus.

After one season at Napoli and one Scudetto, he left the club and became the manager of the Italian national team, but has now returned to club football with a new challenge at Juventus.

His average term as a coach is relatively short at 1.5 years, and his Juventus contract runs until the end of this season, so it remains unclear whether he will stay in Turin beyond this season.

Across his 1039 matches as a coach, he averages 1.8ppm and a 1764:1154 goal ratio.

In this Luciano Spalletti at Juventus tactical analysis, we will take a look at Luciano Spallettis 3-5-2 tactics at Juventus, as they sit in fifth place with 36 points, trailing league leaders Inter Milan by six points.

Can he get Bianconeri on a purple patch and a run of form to compete for the title this year?

Luciano Spalletti Tactics & Philosophy

Luciano Spalletti is a big fan of the 3-5-2 formation, and he believes systems no longer exist in football; it is about the spaces left by the opposition.

He was one of the first to pioneer goalkeeper involvement in build-up play and helped revive the false-9 role with Francesco Totti at AS Roma.

Luciano Spalletti Build-Up Play

Something Juventus have struggled with in the past is their build-up play.

They have not had consistent build-up play that can, game after game, advance them forward confidently.

Spalletti likes to draw the opposition in his build-up, then exploit the space behind them with chipped passes and high balls to start the switch play or transition.

This season, Teun Koopmeiners and Manuel Locatelli are playing essential roles in helping the build-up.

Spalletti has the full-backs and midfielders swapping positions coming in and out of wide zones, so they can look for passes on the width to beat the opponents press.

As below, we see Andrea Cambiaso move inward, and Khéphren Thuram move to the width; it depends on the side they are trying to build up.

This way, Thuram or whatever midfielder is playing at the time has more space on the width as they overload the middle of the pitch.

Now you see the end product of the first image, the ball is switched to Thuram after overloading the middle, and he has all the space and time on the width to move the team forward.

It is swapping a technical player on the width to give you better passing opportunities across the pitch.