When Juventus’ players try to make game under the opponent’s high pressing, they can’t use centre midfielders geometrically well.
When Juventus tries to make game under the opponent’s high pressing, wingers close to their defense line to pull the opponent’s full backs and one centre midfielder run to the full back’s behind which one pulled by the winger. This movement can be very productive to make game but Juventus can’t use it productively.
For example, let’s say Juventus’ players try to make game under the opponent’s high pressing from the right wing. Bonucci has the ball and the opponent’s centre forward pressing to him.
As you see, the opponent’s left winger takes position in half-space so he cuts the connection between Kulusevski and Bonucci. Bonucci can’t use any one of their centre midfielders too because the opponent’s centre forward cuts the connection between Bonucci and Bentancur. And also the opponent’s other players take great position too. So Cuadrado is the only player who is in Bonucci’s visual angle and free.
When he passes to Cuadrado, the opponent’s left winger shifts to Cuadrado and covers him. And the opponent’s centre forward closes to Bonucci to prevent Bonucci from being a pass option for Cuadrado. Kulusevski closes to Cuadrado to take the ball and also pulls the opponent’s left back. And Bentancur closes to right half-space to take the ball too and pulls the opponent’s one defensive midfielder.
In this situation, because the opponent’s left winger closes to Cuadrado centrally, Cuadrado can’t pass to Bentancur. If he wants to pass to Bentancur, the opponent’s left winger can cut the connection between Cuadrado and Bentancur. Also Cuadrado can’t pass to Bonucci because the opponent’s centre forward cuts the connection between Cuadrado and Bonucci. So the next pass will go to Kulusevski from Cuadrado.
Now Kulusevski has the ball. When he takes the ball, he faces to Cuadrado. So he can’t see forward players’ moves. But if he was closing to Cuadrado little bit diagonal, before Cuadrado passed to him, he could see forward players’ moves. Because with diagonal move, his visual angle would be more productive and he could see more spaces. And he could make connection with Morata. But in this situation, the opponent’s left winger takes position centrally, so it means, if Kulusevski closes to Cuadrado diagonal, the opponent’s left winger can cut the connection between Kulusevski and Cuadrado. So Cuadrado’s only pass option would disappear and Cuadrado can’t pass the ball to any of his teammates. So Kulusevski’s diagonal move is useless for this situation.
Kulusevski’s only pass option is Bentancur. Kulusevski can’t pass to Morata as I explained why. Kulusevski can’t pass to Cuadrado because between them the opponent’s left winger takes position and even Cuadrado can take the ball from Kulusevski, because the opponent’s left winger was already close to Cuadrado, he can press to Cuadrado quickly. And this time, Cuadrado doesn’t have time to pass the ball productively. If Kulusevski passes to Bentancur, they can be more effective because the ball’s distance won’t go too much and it means, the ball’s speed will be more. They can pass to each other quickly. So as a result, Kulusevski can pass to only Bentancur.
And also not any of the opponent’s players can cut the connection between Kulusevski and Bentancur. The opponent’s left back closes to Kulusevski but he can’t cut the connection between Kulusevski and Bentancur. The opponent’s one defensive midfielder closes to Bentancur but he closes from Bentancur’s behind so he can’t cut the connection either.
But in this situation, there is a problem. When Kulusevski takes the ball from Cuadrado, as I explained, he pulls the opponent’s full back and Bentancur runs to the full back’s behind. This run is so sensible but this move doesn’t get result for them because when Bentancur runs to the right wing, also he pulls the opponent’s one defensive midfielder but not any Juventus’ player uses the free space which one created by Bentancur. This time, Kulusevski has to try to pass the ball to Bentancur directly because there is not any closer pass option. And because now Kulusevski faces to Cuadrado, Bentancur remains in his back so he can’t pass to Bentancur comfortably. And when Bentancur is in the right wing, the triangle between Kulusevski, Cuadrado and Bentancur becomes geometrically unuseful. So they can’t make game effectively.
If we make a triangle which occurs by Kulusevski, Cuadrado and Bentancur, when Bentancur takes position in right half-space, as you see the triangle’s angles have balance. And because the triangle’s edges are not too much, they can pass to each other quickly.
When Bentancur runs to the right wing, the triangle becomes so unbalanced. As you see, Kulusevski has too much angle but Cuadrado and Bentancur hasn’t much angle. It means, Bentancur can’t take the ball from Kulusevski. And also in the connection between Kulusevski and Bentancur, the opponent’s left back takes position, so he can cut the connection between them easily.
In this situation, Bentancur’s move is not a problem to make game. The problem is, when Bentancur runs to the right wing, not any Juventus’ player closes to Kulusevski and is a pass option from centre. And when not any player closes to Kulusevski, Kulusevski and Bentancur can’t make a triangle. They need one more player. Cuadrado was this player to make a triangle but to pass to Bentancur, Cuadrado can’t do anything. So after Kulusevski takes the ball from Cuadrado, Cuadrado is not this triangle’s part anymore. They need a new player.
To solve this problem, Morata has to close to Kulusevski diagonal and when Morata starts his diagonal move, Bentancur has to change his direction and move diagonal to half-space and escape the opponent’s defense line’s back. But of course he has to be careful about offside.
Morata’s role is so important because he makes the connection with both Kulusevski and Bentancur from right half-space and if Morata can’t be effective, they can’t make a triangle. Morata has to make different decisions in different situations. And of course other players have to react in these different situations.
First situation is, if Morata closes to Kulusevski like a false 9 and the opponent’s stopper follows him, what does Morata have to do?
In this situation, Morata can take the ball from Kulusevski comfortably. Yes the opponent’s stopper will be in his behind but Morata can take the ball.
When he takes the ball, as you see, Bentancur approximately in his visual angle. But the problem is, Bentancur runs to the opponent’s behind. So Morata has to pass the ball to Bentancur, which is Bentancur’s run’s endpoint. And as you see, Bentancur’s run’s endpoint is not in Morata’s visual angle. So Morata can’t use Bentancur directly. And also the opponent’s stopper can prevent Morata from passing to Bentancur.
But still they can be effective in another way. When the opponent’s stopper followed Morata, the defense line’s balance was gone. As you see, there is so much distance between the opponent’s two stoppers. And as you see, Ronaldo matches with the opponent’s stopper 1 by 1. In this situation, they can make game from Ronaldo effectively.
After Kulusevski passes to Morata, if Kulusevski closes to Morata a little bit to take the ball again, he can pass to Ronaldo diagonal. Because he can see Ronaldo directly. So Morata has to pass the ball back to Kulusevski. And Ronaldo can take the ball with a diagonal movement in a lot of space against the opponent’s stopper. So he has a big advantage. With diagonal movement, Ronaldo will be closer to the opponent’s goalpost after he takes the ball, so he can score goal more comfortably. And remember, Bentancur was running diagonal to half-space. So after Ronaldo takes the ball, also he can support Ronaldo effectively. Because with diagonal move to half-space, he can be closer to Ronaldo and closer to the goalpost.
Second situation is, if Morata closes to Kulusevski like a false 9 and the opponent’s stopper doesn’t follow him, what does Morata have to do?
In this situation, Morata can take the ball from Kulusevski more comfortably and when he takes the ball, he will be free. When he takes the ball, he can turn around and see all spaces at the same time. Because he is in half-space and he can make connection with wing and centre.
After he turns around, he has two pass options in forward: Bentancur and Ronaldo. Ronaldo can’t take the ball comfortably like the first situation. Because this time, the opponent’s one stopper matches with him 1 by 1 and the other stopper is free. So the other stopper, with a great positioning, can cut the connection between Ronaldo and Morata.
But Morata can pass to Bentancur comfortably. Because when Bentancur pulled the opponent’s defensive midfielder to himself, also the distance between the opponent’s left stopper and defensive midfielder increased. And because after Bentancur pulled the opponent’s defensive midfielder to the wing, running diagonal to half-space to the opponent’s defense line’s back, he will take the ball from Morata before the opponent’s defensive midfielder. Because with diagonal move, he will be closer to the ball. And when he takes the ball in half-space, he can go to score goal directly or pass to Ronaldo. If he wouldn’t run diagonal to half-space, if he would keep using the right wing, when he takes the ball from Morata, he could just pass to Ronaldo with crossing. Because he wouldn’t be close to goalpost. And the opponent’s defensive midfielder can catch him before he goes to the goalpost.
