This forum would be so much better if there was more of these kind of posts. This I can respect. But I disagree.
You mention identity. And the fact that Allegri's style isn't suited to these players. This I kinda disagree with. In my opinion, Allegri has optimised this team. This is our identity as a team. And this is as good as this team is, and can be. As soon as we try to be pretty and play, we fault on our own. Especially with a midfield that isn't comfortable with the ball at their feet, and our only pretty player is an 18 year old. This has led Allegri to realise that the best way to gain as many points as possible is to play this way. That has been the case. We're above everyone else, expect Inter. With a very healthy 53 points. Something that's very acceptable this year. This is the job he has this year. Build a team and secure Champions League qualification. That hasn't changed because we lost to Inter.
Building is about something more than you make it out to be. We're not better this year than last season just because some players decided to get better. It's exactly because of tactical and idealogical changes. Players know their roles and structure. And on top of that, there's been a mentality change that's been missing since Allegri's last term. It's been a huge step forward this season, regarding almost everything, except being pretty. And this where the discussion tends go a little haywire.
I think people got a little lost with our good season so far. The fact that we were there, playing against Inter in a so called title decider is very misleading. The fact is that there's huge gap between these teams. That was very well known before the season started. And it showed. Almost all over the pitch. We're not there yet. Nor should we be.
There's no way we could've dominated Inter at their home at this time. This was always gonna be an uneven match. And our best chance at a result was to avoid their counter attacks at all cost, and hope for one ourselves. One that Vlahovic got. As soon as we tried to push 3m further forward, Inter countered again and again and Tek had to keep us in the game. That's not because of Allegri. That's because our players couldn't string together three simple passes without losing the ball and crumbling from Inter's pressure.
Inter sat really deep. In a very similar way we did. The difference was their quality. Too many players in our team just crumbled and lost their one vs one battle. Simple as that.
Not losing this game WAS more important than winning it. And I feel like you got it wrong. Allegri does realise that we don't have the team that we once had. Which is exactly why he set this game up in the way that he did. People who expected us to dominate Inter at their home turf, I question if those people realise.
There's really not a huge difference between how Allegri set us up, vs how Inzaghi set Inter up. As we were essentially mirroring them. They just came out on top because their players completely dominated ours all over the pitch. Vlahovic looked like a second divisional player compared to Lautaro on the night. Thuram was causing all sorts of trouble on the counter while Yildiz was having a nightmare. Their midfield were making absurd quality passes, while Locatelli and Rabiot offered nothing. Our players looked scared of the occasion.
Thankfully. The board seems to realise that letting Allegri go would be a mistake. They acknowledge the good job done this season. Not let this loss affect us in any way is the best way forward. Securing second is an accomplishment. And showing up next season with much needed reinforcements will be much appreciated.
This Inter side is extremely strong in my opinion. One of europe's strongest. Capable of competing against City and the others. We're not there yet.
Marotta has done incredibly well to build this Inter team. Meanwhile Paratici ruined ours. That's where the difference between Inter and Juve lies.
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They looked more like prime Juve than they did "prime Barca". Not that you'd realise it. But you don't sound like someone who knows that he's talking about. So...
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