Maybe it was mentioned already, but compare Conte's approach in serie A/ Europe, to Mourinho's approach in serie A and Europe when Inter won it.
Mourinho realized that what worked for him in serie A fails in Europe, so he even put Pandev and Eto'o on the wings of a 4-2-3-1. In Serie A he was using another system, but in Europe he chose an entirely different formation. He adapted. Conte couldn't adapt and he used Pepe's absence as an excuse.
I feel sorry for this Juve generation. Individually we have really strong players. But with Pirlo, Barzagli, Buffon, Vucinic, soon Chiellini, Licht, Tevez in their 30's, it's gonna take some other Juventus to do well in the CL and make the last stages. Last year things could be blamed on inexperience in the CL. That's why we were happy with the 1/4 finals. But this year we simply had to adapt to European football. Conte stubbornly refused to do so, both in the summer mercato and after it.
I wouldn't worry about players ages. key players of that inter side were all in their early 30's, late 20's.
and iirc, he used Eto'o on the left and altered his formation a bit when they faced barca and some part of the final facing bayern defending their result. I think he played the same setup (snejder playing behind eto'o and milito) for the most part and some knockout matches like against chelsea. anyway what I'm trying to say is their wonderful season wasn't all down to his tactics (although it was executed flawlessly) as he failed to repeat the same success with a better side in madrid and his new chelsea side look inconsistent and flat at times both in Europe and domestically to do something meaningful this season,
but also his man management and great relationship with players, them willing to put that extra effort. stuff that are often overlooked and taken for granted.
I don't think Conte is that much stubburn to be honest as the players themselves are more comfortable playing this formation. ( Tevez playing off Llorente, more freedom for our cm's and that back three shape which is solid enough when they decide to not do fck ups). He does adapt like the way we held our own against real and has had his fair share of experiments with formation (not in an amaturish way like ferrera to fck everythings up) but can't blame them for mostly playing the 3-5-2 with this squad. I don't think Pepe ,being the only right winger and not availabe in his disposal, was just an excuse.
obviously this whole campaign wasn't good enough, the man admited it himself, but it's unfair to put all the blame on him as the players had also their moments, enough to put us in the situation we were in. I agree not completely building/focusing on 3-5-2 (trying to get some wingers perhaps) is needed and I believe Conte will change things up like he has before when he sees fit .
I understand the dissappoinment and we're all pissed but as of now all this 'limited', 'I miss deschamps' , 'how about Prandelli' (what about him?) is just beer talk.
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