It’s Juventus with five defenders: the playmakers get just 20 minutes, here’s why

In Genoa, as in Lecce, Spalletti will again use a 3-5-2, which can become a 3-4-2-1 with minor adjustments.

Juventus will stick with a 3-5-2 away to Genoa tomorrow, the same formation they used in Sunday's away win at Lecce. We take Luciano Spalletti at his word when he says "the players are serious and he would not be disrespecting them" by asking for a change of formation. Even so, Spalletti, who has championed (good) attacking football for much of his managerial career, prefers a little more defensive cover at this delicate stage of a delicate season.

With the ghosts and chill of the night of the 0-3 against Lazio still fresh, it's not quite a case of "first, don't concede", but it's close. Spalletti looks set on starting with five specialist defenders, who will in all likelihood be Gatti-Bremer-Lucumi in the centre, with Kalulu and Cambiaso on the flanks.

The small rotations

At his pre-match press conference, Spalletti used Kerim Alajbegovic to explain how Juventus might change shape during a match: "How can the Bosnian fit into the rotation in a 3-5-2? That’s a fair question, because the 3-5-2 is based to some extent on an assessment of the players, and of course it doesn’t mean forgetting the make-up of our squad. We mustn’t disadvantage those with different attributes, because all it takes is a very small positional shift and it becomes a 3-4-2-1. Any of them can play in the two positions behind the striker. You can do that with Kolo Muani too: he can play in that half-space, either more as an attacking midfielder or more as a wide forward. Alajbegovic is one of those players."

The 20 minutes

A side can start one way and finish another, but without wholesale changes (no back four, for example). Spalletti calls for small adjustments, or "very minor rotations". That makes the players coming off the bench crucial. Spalletti added: "It's possible to change something up front. Especially with the five substitutions in mind. The 16 who will play are easy to identify; what matters is how the substitutes perform in the 20 minutes they play."