Week 33 : Juventus vs AC Milan - April 21th, 2013
#71
Actually Allegri might not be wrong. We might have missed some dynamism and quality up front, but in terms of the consistency of the performance then it wasn't a bad game at all, as we were in control pretty much all match, there was only one defensive mistake and there weren't any tactical errors from individuals. You also have to take into account the quality of the opposition, as this was Juve and not some relegation battler.

In this respect, the only game that really springs to mind as a better performance is Barca first leg.

It's worth having a think about imo, as it is hard to find many better performances. I'm not talking about results, but the actual performance from the side and this means bearing in mind:

1) Tactical discipline
2) Quality on the ball
3) Number of technical mistakes
4) Number of individual errors
5) Quality of opposition
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#72
(04-23-2013, 01:07 PM)ACMILAN1983 Wrote: Actually Allegri might not be wrong. We might have missed some dynamism and quality up front, but in terms of the consistency of the performance then it wasn't a bad game at all, as we were in control pretty much all match, there was only one defensive mistake and there weren't any tactical errors from individuals. You also have to take into account the quality of the opposition, as this was Juve and not some relegation battler.

In this respect, the only game that really springs to mind as a better performance is Barca first leg.

It's worth having a think about imo, as it is hard to find many better performances. I'm not talking about results, but the actual performance from the side and this means bearing in mind:

1) Tactical discipline
2) Quality on the ball
3) Number of technical mistakes
4) Number of individual errors
5) Quality of opposition

In terms of top 5 performances the reason we were so robust at the back was because Allegri made a good tactical decision to close down the runners. Rather than marking Pirlo out of it, Allegri shut off all his options instead. Clever move - it meant the defence wasn't actually tested much at all - so instead of us defending like kings as we did v Barca, we didn't actually have to protect Abbiati or Amelia that much at all.

Without Pirlo Juve are nothing.

A lot of talk they are 'back' to what they were - I can't agree. Milan and Juve are neck and neck in in Serie A - arguably we are superior in terms of results this calendar year, albeit the season is decided from August, not November/December.

And this Milan, while it has improved vastly over this season, is nothing on either of the sides that won the CL. So if Juve are equal to that, they're some way off their glory days of having Thuram, Cannavaro and Del Piero in their side.
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#73
Good post, I agree with pretty much everything you said.
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#74
(04-23-2013, 01:07 PM)ACMILAN1983 Wrote: Actually Allegri might not be wrong. We might have missed some dynamism and quality up front, but in terms of the consistency of the performance then it wasn't a bad game at all, as we were in control pretty much all match, there was only one defensive mistake and there weren't any tactical errors from individuals. You also have to take into account the quality of the opposition, as this was Juve and not some relegation battler.

In this respect, the only game that really springs to mind as a better performance is Barca first leg.

It's worth having a think about imo, as it is hard to find many better performances. I'm not talking about results, but the actual performance from the side and this means bearing in mind:

1) Tactical discipline
2) Quality on the ball
3) Number of technical mistakes
4) Number of individual errors
5) Quality of opposition

I must say I can't agree with you.

First, Juventus clearly didn't play with full strength. They had 8 points advantage over Napoli already, and all they cared was to take at least a point. We were at control, yes, but only because they let us to be in control, they defended well (and easily I must say), waiting for a mistake to exploit, which eventually came.

I don't know really how you'd expect us to do "technical mistakes" when we were only passing side to side. If you're counting technical mistakes, please count how many one-on-ones Milan players tried, how many through balls they tried, how many more-than-15 meters passes they tried, etc, etc. When you count all that you'll get "quality on the ball", which was non-existent, as noted above, no dribblings no through balls, no quick exchange...

You're right only for tactical discipline, but that's something we're used to from this Milan. I believe we would play better with less tactical discipline, i.e. when some of our players tried to dribble one or two opponents to make a space.

And this one is in general, it isn't related to any post specifically, but please stop looking at Juve like they're some kind of powerhouse, because they clearly ain't. They're good team, with no more than good players handled adequately (underlining "handled adequately") and that's it.

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#75
(04-25-2013, 08:38 AM)Revolver Wrote: I must say I can't agree with you.

First, Juventus clearly didn't play with full strength. They had 8 points advantage over Napoli already, and all they cared was to take at least a point. We were at control, yes, but only because they let us to be in control, they defended well (and easily I must say), waiting for a mistake to exploit, which eventually came.

I don't know really how you'd expect us to do "technical mistakes" when we were only passing side to side. If you're counting technical mistakes, please count how many one-on-ones Milan players tried, how many through balls they tried, how many more-than-15 meters passes they tried, etc, etc. When you count all that you'll get "quality on the ball", which was non-existent, as noted above, no dribblings no through balls, no quick exchange...

You're right only for tactical discipline, but that's something we're used to from this Milan. I believe we would play better with less tactical discipline, i.e. when some of our players tried to dribble one or two opponents to make a space.

And this one is in general, it isn't related to any post specifically, but please stop looking at Juve like they're some kind of powerhouse, because they clearly ain't. They're good team, with no more than good players handled adequately (underlining #"handled adequately") and that's it.

I don't see how you can say they didn't play with full strength. Conte clearly made tactical adjustments to counter us, they were evidently trying to press us in both halves and the individuals were working hard in the game and never looking to waste time, with Conte showing his usual intensity on the touchline. Thing is, I don't believe Conte would send out his team without a serious intention to win. They didn't press as well as they can, but this has been symptomatic of them this year where they've had to contend with CL and Serie A. When we faced Napoli, it was obvious they were content with the draw, as they wasted lots of time throughout the match.

What you're talking about are risks taken, not technical play. Our possession play wasn't poor, with some neat passages of play to keep the ball from Juve. We've seen against others, like Barca (second leg) and Fiorentina that we don't always do this well, with us making simple technical errors when playing out the ball. This didn't happen vs Juve. I will say I agree we didn't take many risks, which is something I've alluded to a few times in my previous posts when speaking of our attack.

About your last paragraph, I agree this Juve isn't a powerhouse, but we shouldn't ignore that they are the benchmark in Italy atm. In this respect, before we aim to challenge in Europe, we need to surpass them (something I think we can do, perhaps even in a year).
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