The Expert: Pjanic progress untimely for Roma ahead of title clash

When the news broke in the summer that Miralem Pjanic had decided to leave Roma for Juventus, his good friend and teammate Radja Nainggolan joked that he would never speak to him again. Asked for his reaction to Pjanic's and Gonzalo Higuain’s moves to Turin, Roma captain Francesco Totti put it like this: “Today’s footballers are a little like nomads. They follow money. Not their heart.”

Pjanic, however, didn’t see himself as a mercenary. Nor did Higuain. Glory is what lay behind their decision not greed. “It was time to go,” Pjanic told La Repubblica. “I always believed the promises Roma made me and kept extending my contract. They kept telling me that they were building a title-winning team but unfortunately in 5 years we didn’t win anything. I’m 26. Careers in football don’t last forever. I couldn’t wait any longer.”

Although disappointed, Pjanic claims Totti understood where he was coming from. He didn’t keep Juventus’ offer a secret from them. Unlike Higuain, Pjanic was up front and honest about it all, making sure to sit down and talk it through with Luciano Spalletti, Daniele De Rossi and Totti. To him, it wasn’t betrayal. “I will always love Rome and Roma. The only shirt I could never wear is Lazio’s,” he insisted.

Spalletti has since said he believes Strootman and Leandro Paredes are better than Pjanic and he didn’t stop there. “The kitmen are better than him,” he laughed. There’s no malice behind such a statement, only an acknowledgment that as coach of Roma he has to think that and make the fanbase believe they’re just fine without him too. Besides Roma seem to miss Pjanic less than Juventus miss Paul Pogba.

Before the 3-1 defeat to Genoa at the end of November, Juventus general manager Beppe Marotta admitted to Mediaset Premium: “Pjanic hasn’t been performing quite up to expectations, but he is slowly settling in.” Recent history tells us this is nothing unusual for new signings at Juventus. Alvaro Morata, Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala and Alex Sandro all needed an adjustment period and didn’t start to make a consistent impact until the late winter and early spring. Higuain was an outlier of sorts, scoring seven goals in his first nine appearances before everything suddenly caught up with him and a relative lean spell followed.

But what were people really expecting from Pjanic? He got into double figures in goals and assists last season but is a different player to Pogba, most notably in physique and in how they play when their team doesn’t have the ball. Welcomed as Andrea Pirlo’s successor, sure the comparison holds in terms of free-kick prowess but Pjanic is not a classic deep-lying playmaker who demands 100 touches a game, setting a team's tempo, nor is he a Claudio Marchisio style player who balances and organises Juventus’ play so well. True he has things in common with all of them but it also can’t be said he is a like-for-like replacement or alternative for any of the three.

All this confusion over exactly what kind of player Pjanic is - the blurred lines - haven’t helped the judgement of his performances.  Nor has our tendency to take a player’s transition from one club to another for granted as if they just plug right in. 

At Juventus, Pjanic has found a new coach, new system[s] and new teammates. A tough pre-season and increased workload in training took it out of him. By his own admission he has taken time to get used to it. Then came a hip injury on the eve of the season. But Pjanic couldn’t be out for long. Juventus missed out on Axel Witsel on deadline day and wouldn’t get Claudio Marchisio back from an ACL tear until the end of October. Marchisio's return was welcome but it had to be gradual and coincided with Paulo Dybala and Leo Bonucci getting hurt.

That has meant a lot of the responsibility for Juventus’ playmaking has fallen on his shoulders early, while he is still learning the ropes. Being such a big player for Bosnia as well has meant he has been unable to catch his breath in the international breaks either.

At Juve, he has struggled in front of the defence. Historically the midfielders either side of Pirlo made runs into the box. Pogba and Arturo Vidal were tacklers too. Sami Khedira and whoever else it was - Mario Lemina or Kwadwo Asamoah - instead often left Pjanic too exposed for comfort. Pjanic has missed a figure like Daniele De Rossi beside him when playing in that position.

When deployed on the left of midfield in a 3-5-2, he has found it very different to occupying the same role in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. In those systems he has a full-back and a winger to help out when defending his flank. In a 3-5-2 there is only a wing-back and Pjanic has to cover more ground, which means he has tired quicker than at Roma and lacked the lucidity to play that telling final ball once in possession. 

Such was the conundrum Pjanic posed Juventus, Sky Italia pundit Beppe Bergomi even used a post-match interview with Spalletti in October to ask where his former midfield maestro is best suited to playing. Spalletti replied: “in front of the defence.” However, this was in the 2 of a 4-2-3-1 with De Rossi nearby to protect and cover Pjanic should anything go wrong. “But,” Spalletti suggested, “when you put him further forward he scores goals because he can really thwack the ball. In that case you just to have to be careful about how you balance the team.”

Allegri appears to have arrived at a similar conclusion. Pjanic’s best performances in black and white have come either as the 10 in the 4-3-1-2 Juventus adopted against Atalanta and in spells against Genoa and Sevilla or central in the 4-4-2 they played against Chievo. Futurologists believe the team is evolving into a Christmas Tree which will see Pjanic and Dybala played behind Higuain. It's one of several options Allegri has available to him. We shall see.

But things gradually seem to be coming together. Pjanic has been involved in eight goals in his last nine appearances. Put a different way seven of Juventus’ last 17 goals have either been scored or assisted by the Bosnian who delivered the coup de grâce in the Derby della Mole on Sunday.

Not all of them have capped fine all-round performances. Some have been corners headed in by Daniele Rugani. Others have been trademark free-kicks like the ones he scored against Chievo and Genoa. Pjanic has now curled in as many [13] as Pirlo since 2011. He is level with Michel Platini on the all-time list, and one behind Diego Maradona in Serie A. Pirlo and Sinisa Mihajlovic incidentally hold the record [28]. It’s a useful weapon to have for any team particularly to resolve close games. Set-pieces have won Juventus points and bought Pjanic time while he completes his integration. Roma will have to be careful not to give away any fouls close to their penalty area in Turin. Higuain has already come back to haunt Napoli this season. Is it Pjanic's turn to spook his ex on Saturday?