The number of absentees is frightening. And yet Spalletti does not flinch. He is convinced that behind the trap of the emergency lies the opportunity to discover a different Juventus — one that draws on the hunger of players who have seen the pitch in dribs and drabs for different reasons. Because from here to the end of the season, everyone will be needed. Without exception. The Europa League’s own logistics impose that reality: in the best case scenario, playing on Thursday evenings, Juventus will have at most two training sessions in the week to prepare the following league fixture. Sometimes just one.
The Mechanism: Pairs of Similar Players Rotating Through the Starting Eleven
To come through this period intact, Spalletti is building a deliberate and considered rotation mechanism — pairs of players with similar tasks and characteristics alternating in the starting line-up. The idea is elegant in its simplicity: rather than forcing the same eleven to perform at maximum intensity across nine matches in 22 days, the manager pairs comparable profiles so that the tactical continuity is maintained even when the personnel changes.
The challenge is greatest where the squad is thinnest. Conceição’s natural alter ego on the right flank is Zhegrova — but the Kosovar has been excluded from the UEFA list, making him unavailable for European competition. The exclusion, unfortunate in timing, lands in the very week that Boga — Conceição’s alternative on the left — has suffered the hamstring problem that will keep him out for at least two months. With Cabal and Ekhator both targeting mid-October for their returns, the instruction is simple and non-negotiable: grit your teeth until the international break.
Sassuolo: Koopmeiners for Locatelli, Same Eleven Otherwise
For Sunday evening’s trip to the Mapei Stadium, Spalletti is most likely to confirm the eleven deployed against Milan — with the sole change of Koopmeiners replacing Locatelli at the base of the midfield alongside Douglas Luiz. The manager hopes to have both Sarr and McKennie available — Sarr completed part of Thursday’s training session with the group for the first time — but is unlikely to risk either from the first minute. When they return to full fitness, the dual midfield pair takes shape: Koopmeiners and Douglas Luiz as the construction-focused duo, McKennie and Sarr as the more physically dynamic and vertically aggressive alternative.
Owusu is the wildcard — a player who, in the light of the long-term absences of Locatelli and Thuram, will accumulate increasing minutes as the season progresses. Cambiaso’s recovery from his ankle sprain will be assessed in Thursday’s training session, with a positive outcome making him available for Reggio Emilia, and a negative one pointing towards the NEC Nijmegen Europa League opener on Thursday 17 September as his return date.
NEC and the 3-4-2-1: A Formation Dusted Off for the European Occasion
The Europa League opener against NEC Nijmegen provides Spalletti with both a tactical challenge and a tactical opportunity. NEC play with a back three — a system that invites a mirror-image response. The manager may well dust off the 3-4-2-1 he has used previously, deploying Bremer and Lucumí on the bench in favour of Gatti and Kelly, with Çelik and McKennie as the wing-backs at full stretch across the horizontal width of the pitch — the latter operating at left wing-back in a manner already tested during the previous season’s Champions League match against Galatasaray at the Allianz Stadium.
On the trequarti behind Kolo Muani, Woltemade is now being considered as a potential starter for the NEC match — his physicality and height providing a different threat against a Dutch defensive block — alongside either Nico González or Alajbegovic as the creative complement. For a player who arrived at the Continassa in the final hours of deadline day, a first competitive start in Europe’s second-tier club competition would be a rapid and significant statement of intent. The plan is taking shape. The emergency, managed with this kind of methodical intelligence, may yet become an education in everything this squad can become.
