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The best coaches are able to invent solutions almost out of thin air in times of need, and that certainly applies to Massimiliano Allegri.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Allegri is someone who believes in the simplicity of football in the sense that players have roles they should be in. Despite this, he has also shown a propensity for tactical experimentation, but not all have actually works.
Mandzukic as a winger
The 2016-17 season saw Juventus reach their second Champions League final in three years. They were an experienced, well-oiled team with a deep, high-quality squad. The tactical sliding door arrived in January, when Allegri switched to a 4-2-3-1, deploying Mandzukic as a left winger in a win over Lazio.
Allegri had thought about it since early 2017, wanting to use the Croatian alongside Dybala, Cuadrado and Higuain. It worked immediately and led to Mario scoring an overhead kick against Real Madrid in the Champions League final, a defeat for the Bianconeri in the end.
Emre Can at centre-back
Behind Juventus’ historic comeback against Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the 2018-19 Champions League round of 16, there wasn’t just a hat trick from a phenomenal Cristiano Ronaldo, but also a small but brilliant idea from Allegri: Emre Can as a centre-back.
The German midfielder quickly settled into his new role, protected and guided by the experience of Bonucci and Chiellini. It was a decisive move: Juventus was able to exploit Can’s dribbling and running ability to break down the pressure from Griezmann and Morata, while also ensuring numerical superiority in building from the back.
Allegri worked on it for just three days, from a game against Udinese on March 8th until the night of March 12th against Atlético. Can himself called it ‘a brilliant move from the coach, a true chess player’. In the following match, against Genoa, he returned to his natural role as midfielder.
KPB No.10
Milan’s 2010-11 team had no shortage of attacking flair. Ibrahimovic was the leader, flanked by Pato and Robinho. Kevin-Prince Boateng was a bit overlooked, who arrived the previous summer and was transformed by Allegri from an aggressive midfielder into a quality attacking midfielder.
The experiment began in early November 2010, in a 3-1 win against Palermo. Flamini, Ambrosini, and Seedorf operated behind him. Of his 118 total appearances for Milan, Boateng played 50 of them behind the strikers, scoring five goals and being instrumental in winning the Scudetto in his first year.
Curiously, Silvio Berlusconi would have liked to see Boateng as a mezzala and Robinho as an attacking midfielder, but Allegri repeatedly reiterated the Ghanaian’s usefulness behind the attackers, an intuition that proved to be a winning one.
Sturaro at full-back
Stefano Sturaro’s first move from midfielder to right-back was at Camp Nou in the Champions League against Barcelona. He came on at the start of the second half in place of De Sciglio, on a difficult night: the match ended 3-0 to the Blaugrana.
It was 12 September 2017, a test that gave Allegri pause for thought. From that moment on, Max began testing him regularly in training with the back four, eventually starting him just eight days later in the league against Fiorentina. Juventus won 1-0, with Sturaro playing the full 90 minutes.
The performance convinced the coach, so much so that the 1993-born player earned two more Champions League starts, against Olympiacos and Sporting CP. A few league games as a full-back followed in an experiment that lasted four months.
Dani Alves on the wing
Dani Alves doesn’t have great memories of his season in Turin. Just one year, 2016-17, a Champions League final loss, and a farewell peppered with bitter words: ‘I left because of the way I was played’.
During that season, Allegri deployed him first as a right wing-back in a 3-5-2 formation, then as a right winger in a 4-2-3-1. This position didn’t suit the Brazilian, who was always accustomed to starting further back. The experiment took shape in a league match against Milan in March 2017, which they won 2-1.
In that match, Alves played as a winger, while Barzagli played right back in the back four. Allegri used the same solution in the Coppa Italia final against Lazio, which Juventus won, and then in the Champions League final against Real Madrid, which they lost 4-1.
Constant shifted
Kevin Constant arrived at Milan in the summer of 2012 as a midfielder. Previously, he had played primarily as a midfielder at Genoa, Chievo, and Toulouse, occasionally as a winger. He had never played as a full-back until he met Allegri.
Max launched him as a left-sided defender for the first time in the Champions League in October 2012 against Malaga, convinced that would be his permanent position. Constant made 48 appearances as a full-back, but his performance wasn’t entirely convincing.
Clarence Seedorf, who replaced Allegri in 2014, also kept him as a full-back. The experiment lasted two seasons, until his departure to Trabzonspor, where Kevin returned to playing as a midfielder, his natural position.
Vidal trequartista
The idea of using Arturo Vidal as an attacking midfielder was born on a Champions League night: Juventus 3-2 Olympiacos on November 4, 2014. Allegri was in his first season with Juventus and, at times, alternated between a three-man defence and a 4-3-1-2.
In that match, won via a comeback thanks to Pogba, Vidal delivered a convincing performance behind Tevez and Morata. In his only season with Max, the Chilean played twelve times as an attacking midfielder, scoring two goals and providing three assists. His last appearance in that role was in June, in the Champions League final loss to Barcelona.
The Leao mission
Now, Allegri wants to make Rafael Leao into a striker. He hasn’t succeeded so far, partly due to the Portuguese’s precarious condition, having recently returned from a calf injury. Giampaolo and Pioli had already tried Rafa as a centre-forward in the past, with poor results.
Playing with his back to goal and link-up play are certainly not Leao’s outstanding traits as a player. Allegri repeatedly criticised him against Juve, and the clear feeling is that completing the transformation will be no easy task.
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