Bianconeri Bi-Weekly Breakdown: Tactical Insight I - Ramsey’s Role

Welcome to the bi-weekly tactical breakdown, where we take a deep dive into recent in game tactics deployed by Juventus. These will be based on individual players or the team in general. As always, we encourage the Bianconeri community to chime in and create discussion.

Introduction:

This week we will analyze what Aaron Ramsey provides as an advanced midfielder for Juventus. His attacking and defensive contributions will be examined. We will also divulge why he is the consensus starter, when available, game in and game out, for Manager Andrea Pirlo.

Figure 1: We see Ramsey in his position in the possession phase.

Figure 2: Ramsey filling in where needed in the defensive phase.

Defensive Role:

Ever since Pirlo took charge, he has demanded a high team press when the opponent has the ball in their own half. To me, this is the one of the main reasons why Ramsey starts over the likes of Dejan Kulusevski and Paulo Dybala in the advanced midfield role. Aaron can cover a lot of ground and he has the tactical awareness to do the job Pirlo wants. After Juve’s two strikers cut the easy ball out, Ramsey is tasked with pressing the next obvious pass as a zonal marker. He does this quite well. An example would be in the 4-1 win against Udinese. Juve press high up the pitch, Rambo snatches the ball and sends Cristiano Ronaldo on his way for Ronaldo’s first goal.

Another graphic example of Ramsey executing Pirlo’s high team press can be seen below. The Defender‘s back is turned and Rambo is on it.