Thiago Motta is in the news a lot. Next season, he will coach Juventus for a fee that is said to be three times greater than what Bologna can pay.
Juventus finally dared to declare divorce to Massimiliano Allegri. A decision that ends the excruciating wait for Juventus fans.
This coach is indeed full of titles, but his boring football makes La Vecchia Signora look like a machine from the 18th century, which is stiff and monotonous. There is not enough creativity, improvisation, let alone beauty.
Thiago Motta is perhaps the most talked about name in Serie A this season. The coach, who is still 41 years old, has succeeded in bringing Bologna into the Big Four zone – the traditional zone that has been controlled by Juventus, Milan and Inter Milan for years.
Thiago Motta has actually only been at Bologna for a short time. He was contracted in September 2022. But his short performance managed to make the club that once played for a famous name like Giuseppe Signori become the headline news.
Motta was even called “one of the brightest prospects in football”.
In the 2023/2024 season, the combination will make Bologna, with its minimum squad, successful in playing football characterized by possession-based style.
This character is played through a build-up process where the goalkeeper and the four defenders have a central role. Especially by playing short passes.
Several reviews or reports said that Francisca Motta’s husband played a strange “2-7-2” formation.
It would be better not to understand this formation as having two defenders, 5 midfielders with 2 wings and two attackers, if read from back to front. However, this formation should be read from right to left and will appear as 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3.
If we look at how Bologna plays, we will see dynamic movement between lines, a fluid work mechanism, as well as dynamic short passes.
With this kind of game plan character, Who Scored noted that Bologna is the second team to play possession of up to 56.1% in Serie A, behind Napoli. Their passing accuracy reached 86.4%. They only rarely create kicks on goal.
The second characteristic is his counter-pressing which is quite dominant as the main character. Football tactics analysis sites such as The Coaches Voices say that Bologna’s combination of duels, tackles and interceptions, per minute of possession of the opponent’s ball, is the highest in the 2022/23 Serie A season.
We can see this characteristic when Bologna was held to a draw by Juventus. For example, in the first chance that failed and in the process of Calafiori’s third goal, a defender moved from behind. All indicate effective counter-pressing.
For these two characteristics, Motta is said to be influenced by the ideas of Marcelo Bielsa and Joachim Loew. Quoting Football Coin as saying:
From Bielsa, Motta learned the importance of collective belief and the idea that every player has a role in the team’s attack. Motta’s player management received a lot of praise. From Lw, Motta took the concept of counter-press, which involves winning the ball back as quickly as possible after losing it…
As a result, Motta succeeded in boosting Bologna’s status in the standings. The club, which was founded in 1909, is in fourth place with the same number of points, wins, draws and losses as Juventus.
So, it becomes clear why Thiago Motta was chosen. He changed the history of Lilliput among giants.
This figure is clearly expected to revolutionize Juventus’ defensive, monotonous and pragmatic style; at least since Allegri’s return in the last two seasons. A season that could change Bologna hints at this revolutionary capacity, especially in developing a combination of attacking football and effective defensive capabilities.
Apart from that, Thiago Motta also has the ability to develop young talents. At the same time, Juventus from Allegri’s legacy is on the path to optimizing young talent from the academy.
Last but not least, don’t forget, this person is a figure who has experienced the title of champion while he was a player. He has played for Barcelona, Inter Milan and PSG. He has a winner’s mentality.
Among just a brief analysis of Thiago Motta’s achievements, from which we can see a project being designed by Juventus management after the financial report scandal, there is one thing that is also important to pay attention to.
Matters that are not related to football science but are something that is macro in nature and is an active force in shaping the history of a club.
In that framework, at the age of more than a century, the existence of Juventus or most of the old clubs in Europe is not sufficiently interpreted as football and sports business.
At this point, Thiago Motta is clearly not the only one. We know that there is Simone Inzaghi or Roberto De Zerbi whose attractive football model is being targeted by big European clubs.
This also represents the growth of a new generation in Italy, after the era of Marcello Lippi, Fabio Capello, Carlo Ancelotti, just to name a few top names from Serie A. In this kind of transition configuration, Thiago Motta’s arrival is not just any transfer.
ASL
