Player Focus: Dybala Firing Rejuvenated Juventus Back Up the Table
Patience is a rare commodity in football. Club hierarchies demand instant success from some managers or they run the risk of finding themselves out of a job, regardless of how long they have been at the helm. Take Garry Monk for example, who was shown the exit door at Swansea City earlier this week, despite last season guiding the club to their highest finish and best points total in their history.
However, they’re disastrous downturn in form - the south Wales side have won just one of their last 11 league games - meant Monk was under increasing pressure in recent weeks. It so proved that a 3-0 home defeat to league leaders Leicester was the straw that broke the camel's back. The Swans aren’t the only side in Europe struggling this season, either. Chelsea have melted in their defence of their Premier League crown, while Juventus were another to stutter early in the campaign.
Fans were quick to jump on Max Allegri’s back after a laborious start to their own title defence, with the Old Lady winning just once in her opening six league games of the season, taking five points of a possible 18. Juventus hovered perilously above the relegation zone a little over a month after the season began, languishing 10 points behind then table toppers Fiorentina. Allegri, though, was afforded the time to turn the club’s fortunes around, a luxury in today’s game.
The team losing three of their most influential players - Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo - in the same summer was always going to affect Juventus, regardless of their standing in Italian football. Fast forward to the present day, however, and the Turin side now sit just six points off top spot. Five successive wins - currently the longest run of its kind in Serie A - has lifted them back into title contention.
A host of summer arrivals have contributed to the upturn in form, with Alex Sandro, Juan Cuadrado and Mario Mandzukic each playing a part, both in the league and in Europe. It’s the much-coveted Paulo Dybala who has really upped his game in recent weeks and been stealing the limelight, though, and deservedly so. The Argentine signed from Palermo on the back of a stunning season for the Rosanero. Juventus required a new striker to fill the Tevez-shaped void on the frontline and in Dybala; they are getting just that.
It was not an easy process for the 22-year-old, though. Allegri was lambasted for not throwing him in at the deep end, particularly when Juventus were struggling for goals in the early stages of the campaign, this coming despite Dybala netting three goals on his opening six appearances for Juve. However, of his first six competitive appearances for his new team, Dybala started just two. As with any new signing, a settling in period is required and Dybala, despite his experience in the top-flight of Italian football, was no different.
Allegri managed his integration with caution and the club are now reaping the benefits as a result. Only fellow summer arrival Alex Sandro (7.38) has gained a better WhoScored rating than Dybala (7.33) of all Juventus players in Serie A this season. Of the 22 league goals Allegri’s side have scored this season, Dybala has been directly involved in 10 (seven goals, three assists). Manduzkic (3) is the only other Juventus player to have scored three or more league goals this campaign.
While Allegri continues to flit between systems, alternating between a four-man and three-man defence, the consistency in Dybala’s performances of late has not faltered. However, what is noticeable between his Palermo and Juventus form is that he does not feel a need to shoulder the attacking burden on his own. Naturally, the move to the defending Serie A champions means he is plying his trade for a better team, with all due respect to Palermo.
Granted, this means he is no longer linking up with Argentina-born Italy international Franzo Vazquez in the final third, the duo forging a hugely impressive partnership last term, but instead the quality of those around him has risen. No longer required to carry the attacking load on his lonesome, Dybala’s successful dribbles per game have dropped from 2.7 to 1.9. He’s still happy to run at opposition defences as and when it’s required, but he’s blossoming into a more well-rounded striker.
This is highlighted best in that the number of key passes per game has risen from 1.7 to 2.2. Both his goalscoring quality and his ability to bring others into play is prominent. Only Gonzalo Higuain (41) has been directly involved in more league goals than Dybala (33) since the start of the 2014/15 Serie A season. It’s the tenacity on the frontline, though, that has returned to the Juventus attack that was lacking when the campaign was in its infancy, which has helped propel the team back up the table.
Tevez is a striker happy to press the opposition defence at any given opportunity and while Dybala does not do this to as high a standard as Tevez - the now Boca Juniors attacker averaged 0.8 tackles per game last season compared to Dybala’s 0.4 this term - he offers energy in attack that desperately needed replacing when Tevez returned to Argentina over the summer.
It’s this aspect of his game and his goalscoring ability that will need to be on show when Juventus face Fiorentina on Sunday. The Viola have impressed under Paulo Sousa this season and sit just one point behind league leaders Inter going into the weekend’s round of fixtures. They, though, will have their work cut out if they are to come away from the Juventus Stadium with a share of the spoils, particularly with Dybala now spearheading the Old Lady’s attacking with aplomb.
Is Paulo Dybala beginning to find his best form following his switch to Juventus? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
