Or at least his tablecloth.
I'd rather not peak early as long as we're surviving.
See: Bayern, errr, Ass Munchen
I'd rather not peak early as long as we're surviving.
See: Bayern, errr, Ass Munchen
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[CL] Sevilla 1-3 JUVENTUS [22nd November, 2016] (22 Viewers)
- Thread starter Marc
- Start date
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Suckas had the match with the upper hand and found a way to drop their pants and take it up the Panucci hole.
Exactly. Also, I recall that when we had arguably the best midfield in Europe with Vidal, Pirlo, Pogba, and Marchisio people came up with these analysis that a strong midfield was not needed to win CL in the modern area but rather a great attack. Haha. Well. We showed 3/4 of that midfield the door and replaced them with forwards and wingers. Lol. Lets see how that theory works out.
The point is that most of the nonsense lately on this forum, calling for Allegri to be fired, calling our performances disgraceful, calling our mentality disastrous and pathetic, our players utter $#@!.... this is beyond the pale. It's absurd and farcical.
After each win in the league against minnows, it's all about how we'll eventually lose if we keep up such "$#@!ty" performances, and that we can't hope to succeed against better teams playing like this. First we going to lose to Napoli because our performances our so bad, when we won, it was "undeserved" and a "terrible" performance. Then it was how we didn't have a hope in hell against Sevilla because we are playing so poorly. And now that we beat them 3-1 it was another "disastrous" performance where we apparently fluked the win because the ref was biased for us.
No one stops to think that maybe we play a style that works, which frustrates our opponents endlessly. Sevilla had 1 good chance on our goal in 180 minutes. From a corner. They scored it. All the same, 1 single chance in 180 minutes. We play in a way that gives very little in the way of chances to our opponents, while always creating a number of chances ourselves, even though this number is too few to make us an "entertaining" and "attacking" spectacle, and to allow us fans to sit comfortably through games. It's often frustrating to watch, as many of our spectacular players seem quite neutered at times with how we play.... but all the same, it is highly effective in the vast majority of games.
We've also seen against both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich the last couple years (to a lesser extent ManCity), that when we are faced with top sides and can't afford to play such a style, Allegri modifies his tactics, in general, very successfully. We haven't seen it this year, because we haven't really needed it. Instead, we've choked the life out of our opponents all season long, while creating just enough in attack to win. It's frustrating and doesn't look pretty. But it's certainly good enough to beat anyone but Real, Barca, Bayern, Atletico. Against them, I highly doubt we'd see this same sort of play.
But performance is very relevant too. It's not a matter of entertaining, or attacking or anything like that. It's a matter of simply playing well.
You say we didn't allow Sevilla many chances, and while that is true, we did play 70 minutes of the 2nd game with 11 x 10. I don't see us actually defending that well. Truth is we don't have an identity yet. Also, we were lethargic too many games so far. This is definitely not enough to beat one of the big clubs.
Now Allegri has bought time to improve, and the team will have to drastically do so if they intend to really contend. This is undisputed between guys like Bonucci and Buffon, it's a well known fact.
What I think you mean is that the most important thing can't be overlooked - the result. It was a great result, indeed.
But what I and others mean is that how you achieve the result has to be addressed. We did play like shit, and got bailed by referee's goodwill/Bonucci. It's something that has been happening throughout the whole season so far. If it was only related to a lack of quality/fit between players it would have been more acceptable. But the team's attitude is lacking every now and then, and that is not acceptable.
There is a glass half full or empty way at looking at this season. No-one either in the media, on this forum, or even many of the players themselves will admit that the team is playing well. However, we are just over 1/3rd of the way through the season and we have a 7 point lead in Serie A, qualified for the round of 16 and in the box seat to win the group. If we get far in the champions league and win the league by playing badly, then who cares. The thing is though, is that the team needs to play a lot better to go far in the champions league.
The thing is though. You look at our squad and we have many new players: Pjanic, Higuain, Pjaca, Alves. Yet none of those players have shown a lot of consistency (no fault of Pjaca though) - Higuain has still been good but you know he is better. Dybala got injured just as he was getting to top form and Marchisio has only recently come back on the scene.
The bottom line is, we STILL haven't seen anything close to what this team is capable of. That is the most comforting thing. Next phase of the champions league doesn't start until close to mid Feb - almost 3 months away. Current form teams may run out of form and teams like Juve might start to hit top form assuming all of our key players are fit and in form.
Also, we have a strong squad. First team is strong but our 2nd string team may actually be the strongest 2nd string team in Europe. Thankfully, that strength in depth we have has helped save a lot of points!
The thing is though. You look at our squad and we have many new players: Pjanic, Higuain, Pjaca, Alves. Yet none of those players have shown a lot of consistency (no fault of Pjaca though) - Higuain has still been good but you know he is better. Dybala got injured just as he was getting to top form and Marchisio has only recently come back on the scene.
The bottom line is, we STILL haven't seen anything close to what this team is capable of. That is the most comforting thing. Next phase of the champions league doesn't start until close to mid Feb - almost 3 months away. Current form teams may run out of form and teams like Juve might start to hit top form assuming all of our key players are fit and in form.
Also, we have a strong squad. First team is strong but our 2nd string team may actually be the strongest 2nd string team in Europe. Thankfully, that strength in depth we have has helped save a lot of points!
"got bailed by referee's goodwill/Bonucci"?
1. the ref was spot on.
2. that's why we have players like him, no? to make the difference?
and he did just that, and not for the first time.
1. the ref was spot on.
2. that's why we have players like him, no? to make the difference?
and he did just that, and not for the first time.
2. Sure. What I meant was it was an isolated play.
First Half - We played badly then Sevilla took the lead, we continued to play bad until the 30th minute +- and then we played ok but nothing more than that. We were lucky the ref saw that blatant shirt pulling on Bonucci as some ref wouldnt see it or even ignore it as shirt pulling is a part of every corner (even though this was was a bit different)...
Second Half - We played against 10 men Sevilla and it looked like we were playing for a draw and if the opportunity arrives we would be looking for a goal... Against 10 men Sevilla we should have destroyed them!
I couldnt help but think if it was Barcelona vs Sevilla and Sevilla got a red card how would the score sheet would look like... They wouldnt pass their half court!
It might be working against Sevilla but we would really need to step it up when playing the big dogs!
Right now if we face Bayern or Barcelona with this kind of game we would suffer a heavy defeat!
Second Half - We played against 10 men Sevilla and it looked like we were playing for a draw and if the opportunity arrives we would be looking for a goal... Against 10 men Sevilla we should have destroyed them!
I couldnt help but think if it was Barcelona vs Sevilla and Sevilla got a red card how would the score sheet would look like... They wouldnt pass their half court!
It might be working against Sevilla but we would really need to step it up when playing the big dogs!
Right now if we face Bayern or Barcelona with this kind of game we would suffer a heavy defeat!
Suckas had the match with the upper hand and found a way to drop their pants and take it up the Panucci hole.
Right now the one thing that seperates the big teams like Bayern or Barca with teams like us is that they can attack and create many opportunities without conceding too many chances in return. In our case, the defence is very solid - perhaps more than those but we find it difficult to unlock organized defences with skillful plays. Most of our play is fairly predictable and relies on a central forward(s) to hold up the ball for an on-coming mid OR from a good cross from Sandro or Cuadrado. Good defences with 11 men will not give us that opportunity.
Also, Juve is not so accustomed to teams attacking us. This is one of the weaknesses we have in the weak Serie A league. We tend to think about not conceding rather than using that as an opportunity to hit them back on the break. Morata really gave us that outlet in the champions league. Higuain is much more central.
These are issues that can be resolved but it takes time to tinker but most importantly, the team needs more self belief and willingness to really take the game to our opponents more aggressively. We are and should be much better than this.
Also, Juve is not so accustomed to teams attacking us. This is one of the weaknesses we have in the weak Serie A league. We tend to think about not conceding rather than using that as an opportunity to hit them back on the break. Morata really gave us that outlet in the champions league. Higuain is much more central.
These are issues that can be resolved but it takes time to tinker but most importantly, the team needs more self belief and willingness to really take the game to our opponents more aggressively. We are and should be much better than this.
