I still feel Conte needs to learn to play in multiple competitions better. The injury list is pretty dire given we lost about 1/2 our depth at the same time. Ogbonna/Giovinco/Marchisio/Barzagli/Peluso out all at once is simply horrible and I would have a hard time subscribing to the idea that it is merely bad luck.
I'm not sure how I feel about Conte at this point. He managed to take us from a couple of hellish seasons in 7th to a dominant 1st place team and originally scrapped his 4-2-4 to accommodate for our players. Yet now he seems to be in a tactical rut. When his go to plan doesn't work he doesn't seem to be able to fix it on the fly. Even worse, his rotation policy, or lack there of, is absolutely killing our players. Had we made it into the CL knockouts we would've crashed out due to exhaustion. I'm fearful of our EL campaign because of it. I'm certainly thankful for what he's done. I'd give him another year, two tops, to see where the project goes (I know we are already leaps and bounds ahead of our original back to serie A schedule) before we need to look into finding us a true world beater.
Litch - Bonu - Chiello - Caceres - Vidal - Pirlo - Marchisio - - Pogba - Tevez - Llorente This is the line up I would like to see.
Its not a bad formation but its impractical now for a couple of reasons for the rest of the season. First, I'd rather Barzagli start in a 4 back than Bonucci. Second, our Midfielders all have been acting exhausted already. Would it not be better to rest at least one of them? Play Asamoah as one of the CM and Giovinco at the CAM. Also Caceres at LB? No thanks....
That formation lacks the wide players we need, unless you want to keep having long balls from the back.
Without taking into account injuries, form or fatigue.... IMHO, it's a something I have been waiting to see all season and seems like a probable/normal selection. They would get some width from Litch and Caceres. With 3 CB's Litch would be covered and able to maraud down the right side. Also, all these guys can pass and hold the ball, we would increase our possession and not be as tired. Basically Conte should start his best players. Barca plays a similar formation, but they play a trident with Iniesta on the top left. This could be done with Pogba or Marchiso: - Vidal - Pirlo - Marchisio - Pogba - Llorente - Tevez or - Vidal - Pirlo - Pogba- Tevez - Llorente- Marchisio Barzagli, Bonu or Ogbona next to Chiello.
At this point we have players better suited for a 4-3-1-2 than a 4-3-3. Tevez, Pogba, or Marchisio really shouldn't be out wide on top (assuming a Barca-esque formation). If you play Ancelotti's 4-3-2-1 from a few years ago it'd be better but we'd again have major issues with width.
2013/2014 Strikers (41): Tevez 19, Llorente 16, Giovinco 2, Vucinic 2, Osvaldo 1, Quagliarella 1 Midfielders (30): Vidal 11, Pogba's 7, Pirlo 5, Marchisio 4, Asamoah 2, Padoin 1 Defenders (6): Chiellini 3, Bonucci 2, Peluso 1 2012/2013 Strikers (34): Vucinic 10, Quagliarella 9, Matri 8, Giovinco 7 Midfielders (34): Vidal 10, Marchisio 6, Pirlo 5, Pogba 5, Lichsteiner 4, Giaccherini 3, Asamoah 1 Defenders (2): Caceres 1, Chiellini 1 2011/2012 Strikers (27): Matri 10, Vucinic 8, Quagliarella 4, Del Piero 3, Borriello 2 Midfielders (33): Marchisio 9, Vidal 7, Pepe 6, Pirlo 3, Lichsteiner 2, De Ceglie 1, Estigarribia 1, Giaccherini 1, Krasic 1, Marrone 1, Padoin 1 Defenders (7): Bonucci 3, Chiellini 2, Barzagli 1, Caceres 1 Better production from the striker department but still not a side dependent upon strikers scoring all of the goals.
Considering how much playing time they got, it should be expected. The improvement can also be attributed to Vucinic getting hurt and sitting out most of the season.
The numbers from Tevez & Llorente are decent but far from earth shattering. The drop in production for Quagliarella & Giovinco are due to cut playing time. We still get a lot of goals from the midfielders. The defenders did well this season too. It is the system Conte employs. Our strikers are always running, chasing defenders, tracking back. I was watching Balotelli last week and noticed this in other games. If he loses the ball, he stops. His teammates may be pressing, especially when behind and he just stands there. Conte would not allow this. He played in midfield and his mentality is that, regardless of one's position on the pitch.
BTW @Dante, have you ever thought of creating a sub forum where your threads with season records would all be in one place? The season fixtures, results threads are a great reference tool.
So Sinisa Mihajlovic will replace Conte? Never quite understood the reasoning behind going after a coach who just saved a team from relegation but I guess their thinking is if he could do what he did at Samp, maybe he could work miracles at Juventus. They are completely two different animals though so I don't see the correlation. Juventus, Conte pensa di fermarsi. Agnelli contatta Mihajlovic
That has been brought up but also reports that he is staying or extending with Sampdoria. Rag fiction most likely.
Couldn't ever imagine either him or Mancini ever going to Juve. Conte was in charge of Atalanta and Siena and then won at Juve so if a coach has a good background and organization behind him not to mention money to buy , maybe Sinisia could do well there too. The CL will be a tough to prove his worth though.
Given where Juve are as a club, if Conte were to leave I'd rather they bring in someone with CL experience. Otherwise it will be another few years of having a coach go through that learning curve. I'd also be worried that players would seriously consider leaving if Conte were to go unless an important experienced manager is brought in to replace him.
I'm thinking back to a time from 1986 to 1995 when it took Juventus 9 years to win a scudetto. Given the fact that they were stripped of their titles and relegated to Serie B and back up, it didn't take them that long to start winning again after they moved back up. I think managers like Del Neri, Ranieri and Ferrara just had too many older players on the team that may have made it difficult to win a title. I'm sure whomever is in charge at Juve though , if given enough time, money and the right circumstances , will end up winning sooner or later.