Juventus have found an additional route through the opening five rounds of the Serie A season: set pieces. Three of the Bianconeri’s eight league goals have come from dead-ball situations, a return that has given Luciano Spalletti’s side a useful answer while their recognised centre-forwards remain without a league goal.
A weapon given fresh importance
Set pieces have long moved beyond the old idea of improvised corners and hopeful free-kicks. Gianni Vio, once a bank employee with ambitions of becoming a coach, built his reputation through a thesis on dead-ball routines and became one of the leading specialists in the field. His work was also part of Italy’s European Championship triumph in 2021.
Maurizio Sarri had already earned the nickname “Mister 33” during his amateur coaching years, after saying his Sansovino side had 33 separate routines for dead-ball moments. More recently, Luciano Spalletti’s title-winning Napoli made similar situations a central part of their 2022-23 Scudetto campaign, scoring 24 goals from set pieces, including 17 from corners. That corner total was the highest across Europe’s five major leagues that season.
- Set pieces are now estimated to account for roughly 30% of goals overall.
- Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have devoted significant attention to such details.
- Brentford became particularly associated with long throw-ins, including those delivered by newly capped Italy player Michael Kayode.
- At Juventus, dead-ball situations have generated 37.5% of the team’s eight league goals so far.
The underlying numbers support the early return. Forty per cent of Juventus’ expected-goals output has come from set pieces, suggesting the goals have followed a repeatable source of danger rather than a brief run of fortune.
Martusciello’s work recognised against Atalanta
The importance of that preparation was clear after Bremer’s second goal against Atalanta. Juventus players, substitutes and staff turned towards Giovanni Martusciello on the bench in acknowledgement of the work behind the routine.
Martusciello, a long-standing Spalletti collaborator and formerly Sarri’s assistant at both Juventus and Lazio, has taken responsibility for set-piece planning at Continassa after Daniele Baldini did not follow Spalletti into the role.
His remit stretches beyond the corner routines that have already brought Bremer two league goals. A free-kick sequence also led to Federico Gatti’s 92nd-minute equaliser in Juventus’ match with Milan. Last season at Lecce, the same attention to restart situations produced an even more striking example: Dusan Vlahovic scored 12 seconds after kick-off.
Juventus also had an opportunity for another dead-ball goal at Frosinone, when Randal Kolo Muani headed Bremer’s near-post flick over the bar from close range.
How Juventus compare with their rivals
No other leading Serie A side has relied as heavily on corners, free-kicks and throw-ins as Juventus in the early part of the campaign. Lecce are a separate case altogether, with four of their five goals arriving from restarts.
| Club | Set-piece goals | Total goals | Share of goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Juventus | 3 | 8 | 37.5% |
| Napoli | 2 | 7 | 29% |
| Inter | 4 | 15 | 27% |
| Como | 2 | 9 | 22% |
| Roma | 1 | 14 | 7% |
| Milan | 0 | 10 | 0% |
| Lecce | 4 | 5 | 80% |
Opponents have already adjusted. In the previous week, Sassuolo coach Alberto Aquilani kept four players near the halfway line when Juventus had corners, preventing the visiting central defenders from committing numbers forward.
Delivery and aerial strength
Spalletti has a varied group of players capable of making set pieces count. Douglas Luiz, Zhegrova, Conceiçao and Koopmeiners offer quality from the ball, while Bremer, Nico Gonzalez and Weston McKennie provide serious aerial targets.
For a Juventus side still waiting for its strikers to open their league accounts, the corner flag has therefore become more than a secondary detail. It is an established part of the team’s early-season identity, and one their opponents are already being forced to plan around.
