This was by far the biggest test of the season, and we failed MISERABLY. So many real issues to discuss yet we only talk trash to each other about Ibrahimovic or Del Piero...let me break it down for you: every single player was poor last night, some worse than others. Then we have a manager on the touchline who is praised no matter what with people saying "good move fielding Chiellini" or "well done Capello for keeping Zlatan on the pitch for him to score"...all a bunch of bullshit and I do not think Capello made one right move last night apart from making sure his tie was fitted right.
The first half is really not even worth talking about because there was only one team out on that pitch...one team that actually looked like they wanted to win, one team led by one manager who made the right decisions and set his team out to win. The blame for the first goal rests solely on Abbiati's shoulders and even though he made a few nice saves over the course of the match he's still a liability. The second goal for Bayern was just imbecilic defending on our part...two players, namely Ibrahimovic and Emerson, standing outside of the six with back towards goal marking absolutely nobody, making Trezeguet mark space in the crucial area of the six...is just poor communication and inept defending. Then you have Giannichedda or someone backing into an already-marked attacker allowing Demichelis to have a colpo di testa di solo in front of our goal is more rubbish individual defending. And FFS at least advise Zlatan or one of the other lackadaisical players to cover the back post. Abbiati was at fault for both goals, as well as some supposed markers for the second.
Then at half-time Capello had the brilliant idea of subbing one of our better players of the first half only to bring on a player who did absolutely nothing over the weekend in Chiellini...what the hell was that? Only noticable thing Chiellini was able to accomplish was a foolish volley back-pass that could have easily been an own-goal. Capello also insisted on letting Nedved play the entire match again...for what? As somebody already correctly stated Nedved's play was reminiscent of a chicken infected with H5N1 running around with his head cut off. Then we have Capello's initial decisions of fielding Blasi at right-back and leaving Del Piero on the bench after a great display over the weekend. Not to mention keeping Mutu off the pitch until it finally struck Capello that his plans failed...how much longer will it take for Capello to realize that we cannot enter every single match with the same mentality???
This is why Capello is not the best coach in the world...you just cannot advise your side to play the same way every match, disregarding certain circumstances and cherishing the same complacent mentality. A great coach will take every single match one at a time, field the players who are on form and who could make a difference in the respective match, and form tactical plans before the match that fit the match and the respective opponent...Capello seemingly rather just let the team play the same way every game and watch to see what happens. What an absolute joke. As only a select few have stated here before, we will not win the Champions League with Capello's complacent and archaic mentality...we just won't.
Abbiati Abeeshmaati...no use wasting time and energy describing his performance.
Blasi is not a right-back and I hate to say it but we really miss Zebina...actually hopefully we will sign Sagnol over the summer because he is superior to both of our aforementioned players.
Thuram the terrible...certainly last night...even worse than in the first leg against Liverpool last season. Fecking around with the ball at the back just before making a terrible back pass to Abbiati was just the beginning of his inept performance...not to mention he was lucky he was not sent off. We will surely need a competant replacement next season.
Cannavaro was much better than the Frenchman last night, however that is not saying much. Made a few nice tackles to save us from further embarrassment.
Zambrotta was below par and had trouble containing Deisler in the first half...looked fairly out of sorts.
Camoranesi was one of our only threats in the first half yet Capello substituted him...should have kept him on.
Emerson once again looked slow and inept with the ball, very much like the Liverpool performances of last year (sorry for keep bringing them up, but this match is just as bad). As somebody already stated it looked like he shat his pants.
Giannichedda is no better than Manuele Blasi...what is the point of fielding two defensive midfielders when one is not entirely skilled to begin with and cannot even stay in position to stop shots from the top of our box? We need a better option than this..
Nedved was poor, however he had some decent shots.
Trezeguet was fairly poor as well and did not touch the ball very much.
Ibrahimovic was a complete joke last night and I'm sorry but performances such as this warrant a place on the friggin bench. In the second half he gave the ball away six straight times and his passing rate had to be just as poor as our overall performance. Almost every time he recieved the ball in the second half he gave it away...yet people still say he deserves his spot in front of any other forward on this Juventus...what a laugh.
Del Piero came on and at least completed some passes and created some chances.
Mutu came on and he barely even touched the ball...not surprising when you have a player who cannot complete a pass to save his life in attack and a midfield that was fairly uncoordinated.
Chiellini was brought on by Capello even though he did basically nothing over the weekend against Messina. What did he do last night? Basically nothing. This is what happens when you suddenly start playing players who have not been used before in previous matches...another worry I had that people just laughed off.