Torino disappeared after the opening Juventus goal and made it simply too easy for the Bianconeri to control the Derby della Mole.

Words: Ciro Di Brita

Max Allegri was forced to reshuffle his deck with the likes of Paulo Dybala and Federico Bernardeschi deemed not fit enough to start the game, Mario Mandzukic out with the flu and Blaise Matuidi and Juan Cuadrado out for a few more weeks.

Torino disappeared after the opening Juventus goal and made it simply too easy for the Bianconeri to control the Derby della Mole.

Words: Ciro Di Brita

Max Allegri was forced to reshuffle his deck with the likes of Paulo Dybala and Federico Bernardeschi deemed not fit enough to start the game, Mario Mandzukic out with the flu and Blaise Matuidi and Juan Cuadrado out for a few more weeks.

Allegri went with a 4-3-3 bringing in Kwadwo Asamoah into the left-back position and pushing Alex Sandro further up the field on the left of a three-man front line. Daniele Rugani replaced Medhi Benatia in the centre of defence and Stefano Sturaro came into the midfield.

Walter Mazzarri also went with a 4-3-3 which spent more time as a 4-5-1, making one change from the 2-0 home win over Udinese last week, replacing M’Baye Niang with Cristian Ansaldi. Perhaps he thought Ansaldi’s defensive qualities outweighed the benefits of Niang’s unpredictable physicality up front.

In the early moments of the game, the Granata looked more disciplined than they had in the last derby under Sinisa Mihajlovic where they lost 4-0 after having Daniele Baselli sent off in the 24th minute. Joel Obi pounced on some defensive hesitation by Giorgio Chiellini and found himself running at goal with Andrea Belotti in support, but failed to pick the striker out with a decent pass.

Gonzalo Higuain, who had picked up a knock in the first few minutes when challenging Salvatore Sirigu in Torino’s goal, was replaced by Bernardeschi.

Douglas Costa moved to the middle of that front three to play as a false nine and the former Fiorentina man went out on to the right wing.

Il Toro’s defenders took a bit too long to figure out who to pick up playing against the false nine, and the rest of the team failed to decide whether to stick or twist by pushing forward now that Higuain was off the field or to stick to the original game plan.

Torino’s defenders found themselves with more time on the ball and started to mix up their passing, seeking out Il Gallo with the long ball. Initially they found some joy in that style, but soon began to take more unnecessary chances at the back while trying to play the ball out. Lorenzo De Silvestri was guilty of a loose pass that led to a free kick, which in turn led to some sustained pressure by the Old Lady.

Soon after Bernardeschi won the ball in midfield with a challenge that might have been deemed a foul and played it forward, received it back from Alex Sandro on the edge of the box, beat his man and crossed in for the Brazilian to tap in from close range.

Allegri’s men were now in their element having a lead to defend, while Mazzarri needed to change something up and get some support up to the isolated Belotti. But unsurprisingly at the restart, the ex-Napoli and Inter manager elected to keep with the same personnel and formation as the first half.

After finally having enough of watching his side labour and flounder for the first 10 minutes of the second half, Mazzarri threw on M’Baye Niang for the ineffective Daniele Baselli, and the Frenchman got involved straight away.

Niang’s direct running down the wing was their only attacking outlet but there was to be no end product. Belotti became even more isolated than before and the series of crosses that were sent in never came close to causing Juventus any problems.

Allegri surprisingly replaced Douglas Costa with Paulo Dybala, the Brazilian having been one of the Old Lady’s best players in the first half.

Mazzarri’s last throw of the dice was to bring on youngster Simone Edera for the hapless De Silvestri, moving Ansaldi to right back, but still nothing changed in their game play.

The home side were too predictable, the tempo too slow and they were too happy to pass the ball around in areas that they could never hurt the Bianconeri. The Old Lady controlled the game without ever really setting the match on fire, relying on that one piece of skill by Bernardeschi to seal the three points.  

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