Gonzalo Higuaín (67 Viewers)
- Thread starter Marc
- Start date
I expected it too. Allegri and the players expected it too. But in the second half they were dead. They wanted to, but their legs betrayed them, especially after the two quick goals. We improvised a lot in the second half of the season. We were forced to change the formation and that was a huge risk on so many levels. It might not have worked and if it worked, as it did, we risked fatigue in the latest stage of the season (due to not having subs) and we risked having to change it back again if injury crisis hit (fortunately, only Pjaca got injured). We paid dearly for it in the very last match.
If we search for the root of the problem, it's those two summer mercati in 2015 and 2016 when we decided to sell, or we were forced to sell, most of our stars. We didn't have the money to replace them and to add quality on the bench. We did add quality of course, because that's what Dybala, Alex Sandro, Higuain, Pjanic etc are, but we were left really thin on the bench and when you add everything, it leads to what happened in the final stage of this season - burning out our starters due to not being able to rest them.
If it's a lesson for the future, then, if the financial situation is allowing it, we need to keep the best and strengthen the bench. We don't just need Higuain as a starter and Kean as a sub. We don't just need Pjanic as a starter and Rincon as his sub. We need those on the bench to be of similar quality to those starting, as is the case with our defense. That way fatigue won't be a problem and an injury crisis will be survived.
If we search for the root of the problem, it's those two summer mercati in 2015 and 2016 when we decided to sell, or we were forced to sell, most of our stars. We didn't have the money to replace them and to add quality on the bench. We did add quality of course, because that's what Dybala, Alex Sandro, Higuain, Pjanic etc are, but we were left really thin on the bench and when you add everything, it leads to what happened in the final stage of this season - burning out our starters due to not being able to rest them.
If it's a lesson for the future, then, if the financial situation is allowing it, we need to keep the best and strengthen the bench. We don't just need Higuain as a starter and Kean as a sub. We don't just need Pjanic as a starter and Rincon as his sub. We need those on the bench to be of similar quality to those starting, as is the case with our defense. That way fatigue won't be a problem and an injury crisis will be survived.
Just a little note here, to put some things in perspective.
At the begining of the season, the fatman bailed us in many games, and he ended scoring goals in the mid twenties in his first season. The thing is, our opponents scored even more and the points between roma and us were not much.
What i want to say is that if instead of Higuain, we had someone like Matri or Quags for example... we would have lost the scudetto.
We take serie A for granted and we have reason to believe we are unbeatable...but from this last season, we can see that other teams are starting to punch above their weight and if it wasnt for the gazzilions goals higuain scored..maybe we would have been singing a different tune now.
At the begining of the season, the fatman bailed us in many games, and he ended scoring goals in the mid twenties in his first season. The thing is, our opponents scored even more and the points between roma and us were not much.
What i want to say is that if instead of Higuain, we had someone like Matri or Quags for example... we would have lost the scudetto.
We take serie A for granted and we have reason to believe we are unbeatable...but from this last season, we can see that other teams are starting to punch above their weight and if it wasnt for the gazzilions goals higuain scored..maybe we would have been singing a different tune now.
Higuain was alone upfront. What the fuck is he suppose to do by himself. If hes given chances he'll hit the target most times than not. His link up play is good, in fact it's better than I expected of him. Last summer I said all along our midfield was week/not strong enough. We all knew it was having been spoilt with Vidal-Pirlo-Pogba etc. We tried Matuidi to bulken that area but those qunts pulled the plug. Pjanic-Khedira was good but that was papering over the cracks. I said to my lot here, our midfield isn't good enough to win this CL but I'm always more than happy to be proven wrong. At times I have been surprised in how well the team operated as everyone was pulling a shift. That's what carried our team through. Individual brilliance, we have none of those. Just tactics and everyone pulling in the same direction. You wanna win those finals!!? You need a player or two who can pull the rabbit out the hat.
Bolded part. Cant agree more.
To win this shid, it seems we will need BOTH things..we have just one right now, which is cohesion and will...but to make things easier we need the other art of the equation...individual brilliance...at last 2 of them to pull the strings on midfield and we are good to go...the rest can be worked on accordingly after we fill this task.
To win this shid, it seems we will need BOTH things..we have just one right now, which is cohesion and will...but to make things easier we need the other art of the equation...individual brilliance...at last 2 of them to pull the strings on midfield and we are good to go...the rest can be worked on accordingly after we fill this task.
nah, if you look at Capocannoniere table, you'll find that many players scored 20+ goals and Higuain is not dominating Serie A all by himself. besides, before Higuain we had Dybala, Mandzukic and Morata as our starters not Quag and Matri (although, Quag would probably score atleast 20 if he was undisputed starter for us in Serie A 
)
Džeko 29
Mertens 28
Belotti 26
Icardi 24
Higuain 24
Immobile 23
It was Higuain's good-until-the final-CL campaign, involvement in build up and tireless running which was more impressive for me than the amount of goals, but it was all for nothing, that final game flushed it all down the toilet, when it mattered he came up real short.
)Džeko 29
Mertens 28
Belotti 26
Icardi 24
Higuain 24
Immobile 23
It was Higuain's good-until-the final-CL campaign, involvement in build up and tireless running which was more impressive for me than the amount of goals, but it was all for nothing, that final game flushed it all down the toilet, when it mattered he came up real short.
Hmm.
If you look at the European players who played most minutes this season, we've got 5 players in the top 100, and so does Real (http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2016/190/en/).
The "tired" excuse just doesn't cut it with me.
If you look at the European players who played most minutes this season, we've got 5 players in the top 100, and so does Real (http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2016/190/en/).
The "tired" excuse just doesn't cut it with me.