Juventus vs Napoli: The tactics board - Long-range strikes and super subs hand Luciano Spalletti victory over his former club

FBL-ITA-SERIE A-JUVENTUS-NAPOLI - AFPLuciano Spalletti got the better of the club he once led to the Scudetto as Juventus beat Napoli 2-0 at the Allianz Stadium, with Kerim Alajbegovic and substitute Jeremie Boga both scoring from outside the box. The win lifted Juventus above their visitors, who had arrived level on 14 points, and extended their run of home clean sheets against Napoli to four matches. It was a tight, scrappy contest decided by two moments of quality rather than a flood of chances. Juventus finished with 18 shots to seven and an expected goals (xG) figure of 0.79 against 0.41, but their two goals were worth just 0.05 xG combined. The decisive breakthrough also came before the game turned numerical: Alajbegovic struck in the 70th minute, five minutes before Luca Marianucci was sent off.Juventus' tactical setupSpalletti named a 4-3-2-1, but by the 22nd minute his side had settled into a 4-4-2, with Weston McKennie on the right of midfield, Alajbegovic on the left, and Nick Woltemade and Randal Kolo Muani up front. Douglas Luiz and Teun Koopmeiners held the centre.The hosts did their most dangerous work down the left. Juan Cabal pushed on from left-back, crossing for Mathias Olivera to head clear in the 18th minute and getting in behind Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the 33rd, while Alajbegovic drifted inside to shoot. Juventus' attack map was weighted towards that flank, and it was where both goals eventually came from.Set pieces were their other weapon. Juventus won 13 corners to Napoli's four and sent in 29 crosses to 14, with Luiz delivering most of them. Cabal turned a corner onto the post off his shoulder just before the half-hour mark, while Jhon Lucumi, McKennie, Federico Gatti and Bremer all had headed or close-range chances from dead balls. Juventus also had the territory, completing 99 passes in the final third to Napoli's 56 and taking 36 touches in the opposition box to 10.Up front, Woltemade was the reference point, dropping to receive and drawing fouls, including the tug that earned Marianucci his first booking in the 38th minute. Kolo Muani could not make the most of the service. He was caught offside twice, overhit a pass that wasted a promising counter in the 54th minute, and was booed off on the hour.Napoli's tactical setupMassimiliano Allegri's Napoli, with assistant Marco Landucci in the dugout, lined up in a 4-3-3 with Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Anguissa and Scott McTominay in midfield behind Matteo Politano, Lorenzo Lucca and Noa Lang. They edged possession, 51% to 49%, but most of it was played in midfield, and their attack map shows little sustained presence in the Juventus third.Their threat came almost entirely through the air. Lucca forced a fine save from Guglielmo Vicario with a header in the eighth minute, Di Lorenzo headed over from the resulting corner, and Lucca went close again from a corner in the 26th minute. That early header was Napoli's only shot on target all night, a striking return for a side who had scored 11 goals in their previous three matches. Their best open-play chance fell to Lang on the half-hour, after Politano and Anguissa worked the ball across, but he blazed over from the centre of the box.Without the ball, Napoli spent long spells defending their own area, making 34 clearances to Juventus' 21, and they won only a quarter of their tackles. Anguissa's evening was also disrupted early, when he needed treatment after an accidental stamp from Koopmeiners on his ankle.The tactical chess matchThe key battle was on Juventus' left against Napoli's right. Cabal and Alajbegovic targeted the channel behind Di Lorenzo throughout the first half, and that side of the Napoli defence was reshaped at the break when Amir Rrahmani replaced the captain, with Marianucci already on a yellow card.The duel in the air was just as important at the other end. Lucumi was booked in the 20th minute for chopping down Lucca and clashed with him again soon after, and Lucca finished as Napoli's most influential player. Vicario also had to rush from his box to tackle Politano after a Lucumi miscue in the 58th minute, one of the few times Napoli got in behind.Juventus eventually broke through on the left. In the 70th minute, Edon Zhegrova jinked away from a challenge and found Alajbegovic, who struck a left-footed shot from 20 yards past Alex Meret. Five minutes later, Marianucci was sent off for a second booking after chopping down Cabal on the left wing.In-game adjustmentsBoth benches acted at half-time. Napoli made a double change, with Rrahmani on for Di Lorenzo and Billy Gilmour for a quiet De Bruyne, while Spalletti replaced McKennie with defender Gatti, who was soon involved in attack with an effort from distance and a header from a corner.Spalletti's one planned attacking change proved decisive. Zhegrova replaced Kolo Muani in the 59th minute and supplied the assist for the opener 11 minutes later, before forcing two more blocks from range. Juventus then strengthened at the back, sending on Lloyd Kelly for the booked Lucumi.The other key changes were forced by injury, but they still paid off. Alajbegovic signalled to the bench after his goal and was replaced by Boga, and when Cabal limped off in the 82nd minute, Andrea Cambiaso took his place. Five minutes later, the two substitutes combined on the left: Cambiaso's pass set Boga free on the underlap, and he curled a right-footed shot into the bottom corner from distance.Down to ten, Napoli still pushed forward, replacing Anguissa with forward Giovane, while Sam Beukema came on for the injured Olivera. Rafa Marin headed wide from a set piece late on, but Napoli never tested Vicario again.ConclusionThis was not a game Juventus won by overwhelming their opponents. They won it because they had more of the territory, pinned Napoli back through their left flank and set pieces, and then found two moments of quality from distance that Meret could not keep out. Napoli, meanwhile, never found a route through beyond Lucca's head. Spalletti's bench, which has now produced six league goals this season, a figure bettered only by Roma, delivered again, and on the night he faced his former club, that was enough.