Empoli vs. Juventus: Key Issues and Decisions That Will Shape Serie A Game

Having limped through the month and endured a string of bad results, Juventus will be glad to see the end of October. It began with a loss to Atletico Madrid, which was followed by further defeats to Olympiacos and Genoa, with a draw against Sassuolo along the way.

Victories over Roma and Palermo failed to mask their ailing form, dissected in detail in the monthly report card column found here. The attack and the midfield have been especially poor, with each match seeing the Bianconeri look stale and devoid of ideas when in possession of the ball.

An injury-ravaged defence has done well to cope with the absences of both Andrea Barzagli and Martin Caceres, but Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal still look short of fitness. November begins with two important matches, offering Massimiliano Allegri and his players a chance at instant redemption.

While Greek champions Olympiacos visit Turin on Tuesday, La Madama must first take care of business away to Empoli. The newly promoted Tuscans have struggled on their return to Serie A, sitting just a point above the relegation zone as a result of winning just one of the first nine matches.

Over the following pages is a look at the decisions and the issues which will shape the encounter, with the Bianconeri hoping to recapture their dominant early-season form.

Allegri has continued to select Fernando Llorente as the regular partner for Carlos Tevez in attack, believing the duo can rekindle their excellent work together. However, despite the Basque striker playing well, he has clearly struggled in front of goal this term.

With his only goal of the campaign coming in last week’s win over Palermo, Llorente still lacks the clinical edge, a problem discussed at length here. In stark contrast to his missing sharpness, fellow Spaniard Alvaro Morata has looked superb in his limited playing time thus far.

Whether starting matches or coming off the bench, the Real Madrid product has added the spark which has otherwise been missing in attack for the Bianconeri. He, too, has netted just once, but stats site WhoScored shows he has played just 102 minutes in 2014-15, far below Llorente’s total of 624 minutes.

Tevez will also need resting at some point, and there may well be a case for doing so against Empoli, but Morata deserves to start, irrespective of Allegri’s other attacking choices.

The inclusion of Morata should help, but Juventus need to use the Empoli match to rediscover their attacking potential, an attribute they appear to have lost recently. After netting 11 times in September’s five matches, the Bianconeri failed to score in three of their six October fixtures.

Atletico Madrid, Olympiacos and Genoa all held the Turin side goalless, and lining up against Empoli’s porous defence should offer hope that the barren run is set to end. Only Parma (21) and Palermo (17) have conceded more goals than the Tuscan minnows (16) this term, and Allegri will surely urge his side to punish them further.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Juve’s recent struggles is the ineffectiveness of the 3-5-2 formation against teams happy to sit back and defend. All three losses—and the Sassuolo draw—came against such sides, and the Bianconeri seemed unable to find a way to break through.

By adding an extra attacker, Allegri could see his side enjoy greater success, and the latter stages of the victory over Palermo showed just what that could mean. The coach swapped to a 4-2-3-1 shape, and immediately, the team displayed far more attacking intent and appeared to have far more attacking potential.

Such a framework—perhaps even a 4-3-3—would allow some playing time for the underused Sebastian Giovinco, while also allowing some rotation in defence. With Patrice Evra joining Romulo on the injury list, a switch to a back four would allow a chance to rest Kwadwo Asamoah or Stephan Lichtsteiner.