Juventus vs Napoli

The Italian title-race was thrown wide open on Sunday night when Napolis centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly powered a header from Jose Callejons corner into the Juventus net to give Napoli a 1-0 win in Turin. Only a solitary point separate Juventus in first from Napoli in second with four games to go. The game itself was a very even contest with two strong defences going up against each other and restricting the other team to few opportunities. Lets take a look at the main tactical aspects of the game.

Teams

Max Allegris Juventus set up in a 4-4-1-1 with Gianluigi Buffon in goal, Benedikt Höwedes, Mehdi Benatia, Giorgio Chiellini and Kwadwo Asamoah in defence, Douglas Costa, Sami Khedira, Miralem Pjanic and Blaise Matuidi in midfield and Paulo Dybala acting as a number 10 behind centre-forward Gonzalo Higuain.

Maurizio Sarri didnt surprise and chose his trusted 4-3-3 with Jose Reina in goal, Elseid Hysaj, Raul Albiol, Kalidou Koulibaly and Mario Rui in defence, Jorginho as the deepest midfielder behind Allan and Marek Hamsik while the front-three as always was Jose Callejon, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne.

Napolis positional pressing

All through the game, Juventus had trouble to build attacks efficiently and that was largely caused by Napolis superb pressing. In their 4-5-1 defensive shape, centre-forward Dries Mertens would start the press against one of Juves centre-backs while the ball-far winger would then push up to create a front-two when pressing against Juves two centre-backs. The remaining four midfielders then created a four-man midfield behind the front two and pushed up to give the first line of pressure sufficient backing. This created a very compact Napoli side high up the pitch and minimized Juves space when trying to build up.

As you see below, Mertens has started the press against Benatia whos played the ball across to Chiellini. This is Callejons cue to press the Italian and a pressing front-two is created. Note the proximity of the midfield line behind the initial press to deny Juve space to get out.

Below is another example of the press as Callejon this time starts the press against Benatia with Mertens anticipating the pass to Höwedes and sprinting towards the German. Again note the superb positioning of the midfield behind the front-two to create a stable second line of pressure if the first press is broken.

This positionally-orientated pressing from Napoli is one of their gr