The obvious: The main cause of problems in our team has been injuries. We have made signings over the summer to improve us in various weak spots. Di Maria, Pogba and Bremer are top signings. But it doesn't matter who you get if they're gonna get injured.
Having said that, it's Allegri's job to manage the team. That includes man management ie keeping morale high, keeping the players happy etc etc. It also includes identifying the most effective way to assemble the available players into a formation of 11 with the tactics best suited to neutralise, stifle and ultimately overwhelm whoever our opponents are.
Can we blame the injuries for this awful showing tonight? Honestly no. Yes we were missing 5 starters - Wojtek, Bonucci, Pogba, Di Maria and Chiesa. Pogba as mezzala would contribute exactly what our midfield was sorely missing tonight. We saw what Di Maria offers up front, and Chiesa is one of the most exciting talents in the world atm. Even Bonucci at the back playing those passes instead of Rugani.
But if you think Allegri didn't have enough pieces to figure out a win tonight you know less about football than I do. A squad with Cuadrado and Kostic on the wings, Vlahovic up front and Locatelli in the middle can't create a single decent goalscoring chance? There's only one direction to point the finger for this game, and it's at Allegri.
There are a lot of huge tells. The late subs, the reluctance to throw Mirretti on from the start instead of a Rabiot we were trying to push out the door 5 days ago. Rugani still playing those long balls as well shows a tactical laziness. It's a copy/paste job. It really looks like no thought went into this at all.
The other part of Allegri's job as I see it is to stamp his brand on our play. In other words to give us an identity. We honestly have none whatsoever. He's supposed to provide leadership, and all of our players looked lost for most of the game. I haven't seen that since the Del Neri year, where the plan was to piss about and hope Krasic created something good. This year it looks like Di Maria will be that guy.
Locatelli was dropping back to get possession as Sampdoria were pressing high and effectively, but he was dropping back to CB in a back three. He was literally deeper than anybody else, and doing so when we had possession! "What was he thinking?" is the obvious question, but a better one is "Why did Allegri not shout at him to take possession and drive forward?" is a better one.
We have no identifiable gameplan, no identity, no swagger, no attitude and no ideas. Allegri is a top manager, make no mistake. He took what Conte built and took it to the next level. Threw out the 352 and built a brilliant 4312, and then after losing key players adapted into the excellent lopsided Cardiff formation - taking established WC CFs and making them into LMs and shit like that.
Perhaps he has an idea in his mind and is waiting for the injuries to be over with to implement it but that is nonsensical. We hired him because he's good, and part of what brought him success as Juve manager was his adaptability. We need that, and we need it now. Whatever his ideas are we're playing with they're shite and we need new ones. I'm sure he's as frustrated as us, and I'm sure he knows he needs to do better - but the changes need to be for the Roma game. Or this season is already gone.
Do your fucking job, Allegri. Fix this.
Buy on AliExpress.com
