Let's take a look at the first couple of Juventus predicted lineups under Igor Tudor
03/25/2025 12:35 AM
The Italian press is already cooking up some things.
Monday wasn't just the beginning of a new work week, but also the first day in which Igor Tudor led a Juventus training session at Continassa. The Bianconeri's new caretaker manager, who reportedly drove nearly 10 hours from his home in Split, Croatia, to be able to get to Turin in time to get things going on time, was on those same fields four years ago, but now his role is a little bit different.
As you can probably imagine, there's been a whole lot of talk about what Tudor might do with the squad that Motta had struggled to consistently get a lot out of prior to his dismissal. And certainly the video footage that Juventus posted on YouTube of Tudor's first training session Monday afternoon provided a very minor glimpse into what the former Bianconeri defender is doing right off the bat in his return to Turin.
What has some of that Tudor-related talk included?
Well, you can probably guess: What will things look like for the remaining nine games of the 2024-25 season? And especially what could things look like when Juve take the field at the Allianz Stadium in their return from the international break against Genoa this Saturday evening?
Luckily for us, the Italian press is already thinking along those lines. And they've blessed us with a few lineup and formation options of what Tudor could do this weekend.
First, let's go ahead and check out what Sky Sport Italia has rolled out:
From what we know about how Tudor likes to play, the predicted lineup from Sky Italia seems pretty much on point. The three-man defense is not ideal but it is the three best center backs available to Tudor at the moment, the double pivot of Manuel Locatelli and Khephren Thuram is something that has done good things this season and the potential for a return to regular playing time for Dusan Vlahovic is very much in the cards now that Motta is no longer employed by Juventus.
Plus, there's Kenan Yildiz, Juventus' No. 10, very much in the center of things, with the potential to play behind the strikers or drift out wide to make it more of a 3-4-3 — something that Tudor has shown to do in the past with Lazio and his other coaching stops.
So now, let's go ahead and check out what La Gazzetta dello Sport has rolled out:
OK, so slightly different formation but one that essentially serves the same kind of purpose and will likely be flexible when it comes to the offensive and defensive phases of play. The most notable difference besides between what Gazzetta has thrown out as compared to Sky Italia — and when it comes to the GDS lineup is that it's them also trying to predict who will be available against Genoa rather than a more general predicted lineup — involves the midfield.
Nico Gonzalez as a wingback?
Francisco Conceição, known to not be great defensively, as a wingback?
A clearly struggling Teun Koopmeiners in a double pivot with Locatelli rather than Thuram?
Interesting! Very, very interesting!
It's all very much a guessing game right now because Tudor has not held any sort of meeting with the media so there's no hints to totally read into when it comes to his squad choices. It's all a puzzle to try and figure out with the players on Juventus' roster and what Tudor has done in the past. For all we know, he could go away from a formation with a three-man backline and roll out with something like a 4-3-3 and all of this is wrong. But at this point, going off what Tudor has done at his previous managerial jobs is all we have — and that means any sort of 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1 is the way the Italian press thinks he will go.
