Very poor performance.
It's true we had the ball for large parts of the game, but the lack of compactness, intensity and general quality prevented us from really taking advantage of it. With Barella and Sensi still needing time to get back in shape after their respective injuries, our team looked too disjointed and overstretched. That slowed down our offensive plays, while at the same time providing Lecce with acres of spaces to attack whenever they recovered the ball, which helped them relieve the pressure on their defence.
Aside from a few combinations involving Lukaku, Lautaro and Brozovic, our offensive output consisted mostly on crosses from the flanks, which we should know from past experience aren't particularly effective against a team that defends with ten men inside their box. Candreva and Biraghi can make themselves useful so long as they have a plan to stick to, but their limitations become apparent as soon as they're left with no other option than to improvise (read: spam endless crosses into the box). As I wrote in Young's thread, none of the wide players linked to us for this mercato represents a significant step up in terms of quality compared to the ones we already have. Hence performances like today's are to be expected in the future if Conte doesn't start exploring new tactical solutions. The 3-5-2 brought us this far, allowing us to make up for several deficiencies of our roster, but we can't really expect that things will forever go our way. We need a plan B.
In football, just like in life, you always need a plan B to turn to when things don't go according to plan (A). Unfortunately, it's clear that the coach has put all his eggs in the 3-5-2 basket, to the point that he often ends up tying his own hands due to his stubbornness. Think about it. He often refrains from subbing any other forward on because we can't accommodate another offensive player in our setup without pulling out one of the strikers already on. So he usually subs Alexis on only when he's desperate. He also never renounces to the 3-men midfield, not even when we have only four midfielders available (including two who just came back from injuries and a 35yo Valero). Let alone our 3-men defence, to which he sticks even when the opponents play with a lone striker. This lack of tactical flexibility is what cost us the win today, as it did against Atalanta, when we let them get us against the ropes for the whole second half and we were unable to come up with anything that could help us turn the tables or relieve our suffering.
Also, he should really make his mind up with regards to Godin. Is he still a starter, as he was supposed to be when we signed him, or has he lost his spot in Bastoni's favour? If it's the latter, he should use him as a normal reserve, playing him when he sees it fit, but without displacing other players (Skriniar) in order to accommodate him. What else to add? De Vrij and Handanovic were probably the only two without blame today, and the referee was a muppet as usual, but I don't feel to impute the draw on him.
Lastly, please do something about these fucken corner kicks. Today we've moved from not being able to beat the first man to kicking them straight into the goalie's gloves. I don't expect us to score from them every other game, but our routines are pathetic for a professional team.
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