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Wtf are you guys talking about? Valero is a 70 player max? He can't fucking sprint even once and when he does it he still goes slower than a turtle.
I felt he made a big mistake in taking Valero off for Esposito.
Not that Valero or Vecino are particularly defensively competent, but they're at least bodies in midfield. With one of our "passers" replaced with a forward, we lost all ability to retain the ball and build attacks. The last 15 minutes or so were a fucking shamble. We were trying desperately to attack, but we couldn't even link 3 passes together and kept losing the ball while moving it forward.
Furthermore, it meant that we were ultra vulnerable to the counterattack. With all our players forward, all it took was one vertical ball and all of a sudden they were running at our naked defense. Perez completely fucked one of these dangerous 4v3 chances. But they easily could've scored before Fati's goal, and they easily could've scored more after Fati's goal.
I felt we were doing OK until Valero came off. We were slowly getting chances and Barca's defense was starting to give the ball up cheaply. Conte got impatient and decided to force the issue by taking off a midfielder for a forward at the 77th minute. It immediately felt early to me. If he wanted to bring on Esposito, he could've even taken Lukaku off.
Of course, the flip side is that if he'd waited longer and we didn't score, people would complain why he waited so long to bring on Esposito. But I honestly think we should've persisted with what we had, instead of going all gung-ho.
Conte single handedly cost us the Dortmund away game and also cost us two relatively easy points vs Slavia.
Tonight was not entirely up to him but he deserves most of the blame for sure.
He fielded a very defensive lineup against an opponent with zero chemistry and too many inexperienced players. There are hardly any excuses.
He also lost us the game with his subs at the end of the day. Not winning is one thing, but losing is a whole another story.
This CL campaign has been by far our biggest choke job in the Champions League, ever.
maybe a little harsh. I did feel like he pushed for the win, we just didn't have many options sadly. We needed some people on the pitch to step up today who didn't. I don't know how much I can blame Conte for that.Cowardly
maybe a little harsh. I did feel like he pushed for the win, we just didn't have many options sadly. We needed some people on the pitch to step up today who didn't. I don't know how much I can blame Conte for that.
I see your point, but I think 3 CBs is pretty integral to our structure on the pitch. Although given the gaps in midfield I guess it didn't really matter that much anyway..There's no reason to have three center backs on the pitch when you're getting destroyed on the counter and are chasing a goal.
He will never do well in the Champions League, no matter the team he is coaching. The Slavia tie, the Dortmund collapse, the Nou Camp collapse, and to a lesser extent tonight...all embarrassing. I don't feel sad or mad about this CL campaign, I feel EMBARRASSED.
We have our best midfielders out, why does that mean we HAVE to play Borja Valero lmao? Why do we HAVE to play 3-5-2? Why not make up for the lack of midfield depth with a 4-4-2 or similar? We had no midfield subs on the bench, our last 3 midfielders are on the field, 1 of them who is 34 going on 45, and the other who is fucking useless.
There's no reason to have three center backs on the pitch when you're getting destroyed on the counter and are chasing a goal.