Conte used the 4-3-3 against Real Madrid to counter their wing play. What that does though is limit our wing play as the two midfielders anchored with Pirlo do not play wide. Some wing play should be picked up by the 3 up front but it depends who Conte puts there.
I was not happy with the results. The performance was good overall. We could not score to put us through unfortunately. Shit happens.
I agree. It is very difficult to judge Conte's ability to adapt tactically if he doesn't have the players to do so. For the most part, he has like for like substitutions. Going into this year, the ability of the wide players came into question so it isn't as if this shortcoming wasn't anticipated. Relying on Isla, Asamoah, and Peluso for their main source of width was always going to be risky. Juve really needed for Isla to develop, but he has been poor. Asamoah could be dynamic if paired with an offensive player who is more comfortable on the wings (Alaba and Ribery relationship as an example). Juve have much to gain tactically if they can find the wingmen they seem to lack. This would not only open up a 4-3-3 but a 3-4-3 (Italy vs Spain in the confeds cup as an example). I don't think Tevez or Ribery are too dissimilar. Tevez played in wider areas when at United (Tevez-Rooney-Ronaldo). Such a formation also plays to Juve's strengths in that they have an abundance of CBs. It would also allow for Litch and Asamoah to open up space via overlaps rather than 1v1 dribbles. So the transition doesn't need to be too costly. They aren't that far away (2 players?). If they sell Vucinic, Quags, Gio, Peluso they could redirect those funds toward a Di Maria/Cuadrado/ Reus type player.
Clearly no one was happy with the results; and it's hard to say we were impressive in the two legs against the Turks and the away leg against the Scandinavians. We went out in embarrassing fashion, and therefore, criticism was warranted. In my view, anything short of retaining the Serie A and winning EL makes this season a failure, given the way we were ousted in CL.
The last leg vs Gala is hard to blame on them. The first game vs Copenhagen was a dominant performance that was squandered by very poor finishing. If anything the home leg vs the Danes where they needed two PKs to score was a poorer display. The game at home vs Gala wasn't too different to what we just saw vs Lyon. They didn't create many chances (needing a soft PK to tie), but didn't allow many either. Gala capitalized on two horrible defensive errors. At this point the EL becomes very interesting. They not only get to play vs a top side in Benfica for a chance to participate in their first European final in years, but the winner of the final gets a shot at the eventual CL champion. This is the type of experience Juve missed out on by being eliminated so early in this year's CL. Now they have the chance of getting all that experience back in a different form. We will get hints at what this team is capable of and where they are going next year.
How impressive can a performance be when you dominate a squad that you should dominate, but are unable to win? Performance and result go hand in hand. That's not to say that you can't win, and play poorly; however, we should not take any "moral victory" in playing well and not getting a result against sides we should beat. Any way you want to look at it, our CL ouster was a massive failure, because we failed to qualify from a group in which we were within the two best sides. I wholly agree with your second paragraph, though.
For the most part I agree. Juve certainly underperformed in the CL, but I think there will be room to reevaluate this campaign after we see how they finish off the EL. If they win the EL and have a strong showing in the UEFA Super Cup, then it could support the idea that the premature elimination was a bit of a fluke as well. A lot of strange things happened in this year's group stage. Many things went against (Chiellini red, Gala away) and for Juve (4 PKs won). Benfica, the potential EL finalists, and certainly the European champions will each be important tests. If Juve fail, then it suggest that this squad just isn't good or deep enough at the moment to compete on multiple fronts. Let's give this team the benefit of the doubt until the EL and potential Super Cup is over. Passing these tests could give this set of players the swagger they seem to lack in the CL. If they don't though there could be a lot of nervousness in their first group stage games.
Yeah, I agree. I think that if we win the EL, the core of the squad will gain a great deal of confidence going into next season; and that will only help when we play the truly elite competition. I don't think this team is that far off. We have real world class talent in Buffon, Barzagli, Chiello, Vidal, Pirlo, Tevez. and Llorente; and good support for them. I think we are lacking in depth when compared to the best sides in the world (Bayern, Barca, Real, etc.) and Conte has not yet proven that he is the guy to take us to the next level. He has done well to get this team back to dominating Serie A. We can only hope he is able to replicate that in Europe. So far, he hasn't.
Depth in particular areas is definitely an issue. They are stacked in the center of the park and at CB. Give the transfer rumors, I think management understand that they have needs to fill. Management needs to step up if they are serious about challenging in the CL next year. As for Conte, if he wins the EL after taking Juve back to a CL quarterfinal defeating the defending champions along the way while only being ousted by the eventual winners then I'd say he has actually done quite well in Europe. They have it all to play for. Conte has his chance now. I'm confident he will take it. If they do, that CL elimination might be remembered as a vital learning experience.
The real difference between us and the final 8 in the CL: Last year of transfer windows: Barca - 70 + million euros Bayern 62 + million euros Atletico 36 + million euros Chelsea 120+ million euros Dortmund 52+ million euros Man U 78+ million euos Real 163+ million euros PSG 135+ million euros In the same amount of time we spent around 32+ million euros (all data from http://www.transfermarkt.com/) Most of those teams were negative in the transfer market (besides Atletico). The two lowest spenders (Dortmund and Atletico) we would probably be able to compete with financially and neither have done as well as us in their national leagues over the years (for obvious reasons). Dortmund is based on a system like Roma is trying to build with the buying of kids with potential and making them fit into the system. People here would all commit suicide if we did that. Atletico were financed this season by the Falcao sale and hit the jackpot again with Diego Costa. Conte may or may not be able to coach well in Europe but he hasn't really been given the budget to compete with the top teams. I also doubt he will get it in the near future. Expect us to be top of the league, top 16 in the world for a while unless we spend big by selling Vidal or Pogba. Both Klopp and Simeone seem to be wonderful coaches. I'm not sure if Conte's record is quite as good but I'm also too lazy to look right now
How was the money spent? For instance, Real Madrid paid 100 million for Bale. Nice player but really that much? PSG spent over half of their transfer fee for WHO. Then there is Manchester United. They really spent that much on that terrible roster? Has any big transfer made any significant contribution to any of these teams that made a big difference?
Well, we might be spending big this summer if all it takes is the sale of Pogba, cause i'm almost 100% sure he's gone this summer
Yes and no. A lot of it was depth signings or slight improvements in the starting XI. But imagine how much better we could be if our bench was worth 70-100 million vs. $45 and a gift card to subway. We've already proven we have what it takes for 1/comp at a time but there is a serious quality drop off after our starting XI plus a player or two.
Spending money doesn't equate to silverware, we know that already. That's why we need patience. There is no way we can win anything by spending 70m, 100 or even 500m.
Building a successful operation involves many different variables coming together. Management needs to find and develop solid players, the coach/staff need to build a solid training regime, the coach needs to create a winning philosophy and style of play, and even then randomness plays a role. That said, it isn't as if I'm qualified to speak about what it takes to build a team. I know that having financial resources is important, but so is playing philosophy, mentality, and group experience. Otherwise City and PSG would have been more successful by now. I think it's just too early to tell what this Juve team is. Winning three league titles is pretty ridiculous in itself because Serie A isn't nearly as weak as some make it out to be. Secondly, they may even win the EL which is still a European trophy. The CL is a tricky competition because the teams are so evenly matched at times that the little details settle matches, groups, and knockout ties. Unlike in a league format, I think a team's performance in such a competition requires years of games to get a good feel to where they stand. The CL seems to also be pretty cyclical as well. Patience is requires, but I'm confident that at some point Italy and Juve will shine. It just might take a bit more time than we fans can tolerate.
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. is a publicly listed company. The financial reports can be studied on our website and it's quite evident that our financial situation does not allow for big spending. We have been making losses year after year after year. When Marotta and Agnelli took over, they first restructured the squad by getting rid off the players who were old, often injured and/or underperforming while being on huge salaries. I'd call this the restructuring phase. Then we basically bought a new team when Conte was hired. The transfers of Vucinic, Lichtsteiner, Vidal and Elia all cost good amounts of money. I think we also exercised the options for Quagliarella and Matri that year. These transfers as well as the finishing of the stadium were financed by a capital increase of our shareholders as well as a loan from our majority shareholder, because we did not have the resources to do that ourselves. We made a ridiculous loss that season. I'd call this the expansion phase. Our success increased our revenue significantly, but it's not like we froze spending. We bought players like Tevez, Ogbonna, Llorente, Asamoah or Isla who cost significant money and/or have significant wages. Our success and the performance of some of our players led to increased wages for them (e. g. Vidal). And we are investing a lot of money into developing the surrounding area of our stadium. We have reduced our losses, but while revenue grew faster than expenses, we are still spending more than we earn. I'd call this the consolidation phase. We are consolidating our position as the best team in Serie A and a decent team in Europe, while reducing our losses to more sustainable amounts. I think this consolidation phase will continue this summer. Let's say we were like a developing country with lots of potential or a former developed country after a war. We were performing significantly under our natural capacity. We fixed the biggest problems and grew very fast, but this growth trajectory cannot continue beyond a certain point. Most of the low hanging fruits are gone. Now we are back among the developed countries and much closer to our natural position, so growth will be slower without additional boosters. Fortunately, such boosters might be right around the corner. Some of our sponsorship deals are old and do not accurately reflect the improvements we have made. This will change with the Adidas deal in 2015 and I expect our shirt sponsorship deal to follow that path. And, hopefully, the development of the stadium area will be finished soon and earn us money instead of costing us investments. This will hopefully provide more resources for investments in our team. But we will have to wait for this for another 1-3 years. One think people need to forget about for another while is the fantasy of us going out, buy a couple of world class players and spend our way to a CL triumph. It's not going to happen. Barca, Real, ManUtd, Bayern, PSG, City etc. are far, far away in terms of money. Financially, we are a CL last 16/quarterfinal team. We cannot outspend the competition and compete for world class players with them. We will have to be smarter (or luckier) if we want to get further than the quarterfinals. We will have to be more like Dortmund or Atletico. We will have to form a collective that is stronger than 11 more expensive individuals. We will have to make opportunistic bargains. We will have to develop our own world class players. We are already on that path and we will and we should continue that path. Anyone who expects anything more will be disappointed for the foreseeable future A couple of shrewd purchases this summer in key areas, and assuming we win this EL and get more experience and then put it a good performance in the Super Cup, add to that a bit of luck and we could be contenders next season in the CL. But that is a big IF. We can pull it off though I'd be pleased with a push for the semis next season, anything more would be just gravy
Perhaps the most excited I am for a Benfica European set of games in a very long time. The Portugal vs. Italy undertones are very intriguing and I think people are going to get more excited and realize how big this really will be. Both countries last, and best, respective representatives pit against each other when Portugal could over take Italy in UEFA rankings. To make it even better, both should officially already be champions of their respective countries by the time they meet. Hope you guys are just as pumped.