Conte needs a Conte

by DeviAngel Wed Dec 07, 2011 7:56 pm

A change in tactics means that Juventus boss Antonio Conte needs a player of his own ilk when the January transfer window opens, argues Antonio Labbate.

It was the autumn of 1991. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Lecce boss Carlo Mazzone picked up the phone. On the other end of the line was Juventus chief Giampiero Boniperti and the topic of conversation was Antonio Conte.

The Old Lady, then bossed by Giovanni Trapattoni, were on the lookout for a new all-action midfielder and the Lecce-native had caught their eye. At the time Conte was a promising 22-year-old playing his football in Serie B, but a youngster who had only just recently recovered from serious injury.

“I told Boniperti to sign him,” Mazzone recently revealed. “He was the type of player that you would buy without hesitation. If anything, the injury only improved his character. I said that Conte had talent and I was proved right.”

Twenty years later and Conte the Coach could well do with Conte the player at his disposal for the last six months of the season. Not many people were saying that back on August 31 when the summer transfer window was slammed shut.

Back then, the Juventus in the mind of new boss Conte was a little different from the side that presently finds itself at the top of the table. While they are still shy of a defender – whether that be a centre-back or a left-back – a shift in tactics means that the 1994 World Cup player is arguably now a central midfielder short too.

“Before I arrived at Juventus I had never abandoned my 4-2-4, but I had also never been in charge of a great squad before,” the former Bari and Siena tactician noted. “Here, my most important players perform in the middle and so I had to adapt tactically in order to get the best out of their characteristics.”

Having realised that Andrea Pirlo was not really the type of player that would give the balance required to his trademark and elastic 4-4-2, the tactician understood that combining Pirlo with Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal – rather than with just one of them – would make it possible for Juve to challenge again. In doing so, Conte’s desire for his teams to play possession-based football would be facilitated, while it would also allow him to use Simone Pepe in a more fruitful role.

In unearthing such a solution, Conte has inadvertently uncovered a potential weakness which has come to light over the last two games – the problem being that he has no adequate replacement for Pirlo, Marchisio or Vidal. Against Napoli, Conte brought Pepe inside to cover for the suspended Marchisio, while Michele Pazienza was given the nod against Cesena as Pirlo served his ban.

Pazienza and youngster Luca Marrone are the only other two central midfielders presently in the squad, but Conte seems to have reservations. While Pirlo, Marchisio and Vidal have played in 12 League games each this term – used for 1145, 1089 and 931 minutes respectively – Pazienza, signed on a Bosman from Napoli, has totalled 159 minutes across seven games and Marrone is unused.

With Conte’s present tactics hinged so heavily on his three central midfielders, who incidentally cost the club just €10.5m in transfers – more accurately Vidal’s summer fee, it is understandable why some may start to be regretting the summer departure of Alberto Aquilani and why the outfit are now not just being paired with defenders for January.

Fiorentina’s Riccardo Montolivo, who is contracted to the Viola until June 2012, has been associated with more frequency over the last few weeks, as has Sampdoria’s Angelo Palombo. The latter, like Conte all those years ago, finds himself in the Second Division after the port club’s relegation last term. With a possible Scudetto on the line, It might just be worth a phone call.