I didn't mean to be offensive. As much pride as Lyon should take away from this game, they didn't play all that well and Juve still struggled to generate fluid play. I'm not saying Lyon are a poor side, but more that they didn't play all that well today. Lyon played far better in spells last week if anything. Despite that Juve never were fluid nor dominant. The comment wasn't so much a slight at Lyon, more that Juve are expected to perform better.
Talking shit? Pretty sure that was your buddy soccerr9. But yeah you got called out by one of your own last time too if I remember correctly.
Thank god we made it, but im still very disappointed in Conte and the way he runs this team. we are no where near ready for CL. why is our team SOOOO SLOW ??? we cannot put any speed into our game, we have NO counter abilities and we keep relying on long balls and waste possession. we get away with it with these average teams, but against top teams in europe, possession is very precious, we cannot afford to just give the ball away like this.
Regulations of the UEFA Europa League 2012-15 Cycle 2013/14 Season Titleholder 2.06 Unless the UEFA Europa League titleholder qualifies for the UEFA Champions League through its domestic championship, it is guaranteed a place in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. If the titleholder qualifies for the UEFA Europa League through its domestic competitions, the number of places to which its association is entitled in the UEFA Europa League does not change. If the UEFA Europa League titleholder does not qualify for either the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League through its domestic competitions, its participation in the UEFA Europa League is not at the expense of the contingent of its association.
I try to get you to understand but you refuse. Maybe this quote from Chiellini might help ..... “At times people take Juventus success for granted, but we saw that over two legs Lyon played to the death, man-marked us for 180 minutes and it becomes difficult to score in those circumstances.
Chiellini's words are certainly insightful and may hint at where Juve can improve. This strategy was most obvious when it came to Malbranque following Pirlo around without seeming to care where the ball actually was. This style of 1v1 defending isn't new to how teams chose to approach playing Juve. The question is why do teams chose to do that and why does it seem to work at times? I think it has a lot to do with Juve not having individual players who can beat that type of coverage. Their players don't have enough individual dribbling ability nor pace to prevent teams from man marking. With 3 CBs, a midfield distributors, two ball winners/off the ball runners, and a target man Juve end up relying on Tevez, Asamoah, and Lich/Isla to take people on. Tevez is the only one that can with any consistency. I don't think I'm saying anything too insightful as others have mentioned this before. Regardless an EL semi and a a sizable advantage in the league is still very commendable despite their limitations.
What limitations? How many teams have been successful with that strategy? We have more talent than many around here are willing to give credit. The team plays as a collective. They wear their opponents down. The only side that dominated us in the last three seasons won the CL last year.
I'd like to see Juve transition from the 3-5-2 to having two centre-backs. This will free up a ball player further up the field. Ideally a quality attacking midfielder who can provide another creative alternative to Pirlo but who sits closer to the forwards.
Every team has weaknesses and limitations. You can be a very good side and not be complete. Juve lack certain attributes that other teams have. Other teams lack characteristics Juve have. To suggest that Juve lack pace, 1v1 ability especially out wide, and can be neutralized at times if Pirlo is pressured doesn't diminish their strengths as a team. As Donadoni recently mentioned and Conte in the past, Juve's strengths are character and determination. The Lyon tie is a good example of where they didn't play particularly well, but were able to grind out the result. I'm fairly confident that Juve would have done the same at Gala if it were not for the circumstances. That said, they can and should get better because if the goal really is a deep run in the CL (as mentioned before by Juve management) then character and determination alone aren't enough. Each team at the later stages of these tournaments have that.
Two of Juve's strongest performances came against Real Madrid while playing in a 4-3-3 with Marchisio dropping into the midfield. Bayern's game was very interesting yesterday where they essentially played a 2 man backline with the outside backs covering out wide defensively but playing as CMs offensively. It was a 2-4 (diamond)- 4. Bayern crowded the center which allowed them to close down spaces quickly while dominating possession. Contrast that with Juve's two legs vs Lyon. Lyon man marked everyone except they left two forwards to cover 3 CBs. This gave them a spare man to break up attacks in the middle or double Pirlo. This also completely freed up Bonucci though. However when Pirlo would move out wide to bring the marker with him, there would be a huge gap between Bonucci and the player further up the field. The possession Juve had was in their own end. The possession Bayern had was in the opposing end. Furthermore when Bayern's strategy failed to create openings despite pinning United back, they switched to a 4-2-3-1. They still made sure to pack the middle, but they now had 4 wide players overlapping each other. The overlapping wideplay is difficult to do in the 3-5-2 unless Marchisio/Pogba and Vidal exploit the space out wide. Doing so though risks a turnover that leaves Pirlo isolated.
EL Semifinals: Sevilla FC vs. Valencia CF (Sevilla home first) SL Benfica vs. Juventus (Benfica home first)
Benfica are slight favorites given their experience in the tournament and how well they are playing in their league.
As if it is different at any other club. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. As I stated, only one club was able to dominate us in three seasons. That does not mean we are infallible but guess what, we won't ever be. Even in the years we reached the CL final three years in a row, we only won it once. That is the game. So all of this whining we see on our forum is nonsense. It is a damn good team and it plays to its strengths. Those who want to see Juve play a different style will not get the results we see now.
But Juve weren't able to win against Real so I would be cautious about labelling the 4-3-3 formation experiment a success until they can actually win some games with it. Bayern have different personnel and perhaps better financial resources to be able to build a squad that suits the 4-3-3, Ribery and Robben for instance are two of the better running/dribbling mids going around atm. Juve don't have wide players of that quality. As Falc says they play to their strengths. I would still like them to move towards a 4-3-3ish system, perhaps by experimenting against some weaker Serie A sides to start. But they will also need to invest in the right players to transition their system which will take time and money.