[han2503]

Football is really failing me atm. After the big Azzurri disappointment. All that's left to do now is a big drubbing from Napoli and I'm set

[Fillipo Simone]

Thankfully he’s gone now. Sometimes it’s the coach, other times it’s the players and sometimes it’s a combination of both. But this time I really have to lay the blame at his feet.

I rather think it's a combination. I've said it numerous times, half of our team is simply inflicted with loser mentality and a altogether negative attitude that goes way further then just Montella.

I really do think these players are much better than they look now. I think someone like Rino will definitely inspire more out of them, I just question his tactical know how.

I'm not so sure. I think we're all overvaluing players like Bonaventura or the (already gone) De Sciglio. These players never even played the CL for God's sake! If we want to seriously step up we have to, step by step, replace our current "leaders" with real ones. Look at PSG for example. They were a mediocre team at first with two gems - Nene who was their creative alpha and omega (plus a veteran Giuly) and Hoarau as a poacher. Already in the second season of the big takeover both were ready to be replaced by bigger names; in came players like Lavezzi, Menez, etc. Then next season these guys were also ready to be replaced by Cavani, Lucas, etc. We have to start doing that. I'm telling you, Bonaventura is a good player but he's (IMO) a classic jack of all trades - solid shooting, solid passing, solid free kicks, solid accuracy, etc - but none of these characteristics is at top level nor will it ever be. We should stop breaking our head with solutions of how to integrate these kinds of former leaders in our team and coming this winter and next summer we should ship them off and get younger, greedier, more talented and more ambitious players.

I still disagree about the transfer campaign, and for me, the one major blunder is still Kalinic, but I still feel like the rest have heaps of talent and are all still so young that they’ll come good if coached right. Kalinic is simply not clicking with his team mates. And this from a striker who over the years has shown that he can be a great team player and is more of a team contributor than he is a goal scorer. Maybe this is just a general problem with the tactics Montella was deploying, which were leaving our strikers isolated and trying to scrounge for scraps, but Kalinic had chances on Sunday which he proceeded to squander, thus getting the fans on his back as well now. I think Cutrone and Silva work much better together from what I’ve seen so far also.

I think we did a lot of business but it's evident that we didn't hit the right balance. Not all the blame should go on Montella. Clearly he had one vision of the team and our transfer moves and the signings we made enabled a completely different vision. All I'm saying is that we didn't hit the right mix. Kalinić is a fail and we should have kept Bacca because he's better then Kalinić, with all his downsides. Biglia is another mistake. Keeping Montolivo and adding Hakan yet another. Etc etc.

Disagree about Kessie. And this coming from someone who has also been very critical of him. I don’t think he’s being used correctly and I also think that Montella has placed too much responsibility on his shoulders. If Rino switches to a 3-4-3 (which I’ve seen some rumblings of we can play a Biglia-Monto/Loca tandem in the centre of the midfield thus relieving Kessie for certain games. He’s been one of our most used players and a bit of a reality check plus res will do him a world of wonder imo

Perhaps. I give you that. But so far he hasn't played one consistently good game, yet managed to make serious mistakes. He also lacks intelligence and technique, which is worrisome IMO.

Hakan for me is still a question mark. He’s been used sporadically and each time he’s occupying different roles and positions in the team. I’d really like to see more of him but that depends on what formation Rino will be using. The next game against Benevento will be really interesting in this regard

Simply put - Hakan is a waste of time. I've been there, I've seen enough of him in the Buliga and know that now he's doing just that. He's the kind of player that never let's you think he's complete garbage because he'll do a trick or two, make a spectacular game and be saved by the bell. But he's unreliable, he's lazy, moody and completely inadequate for an ambitious team.

Really? Bacca?
Bacca was awful last season, and he certainly wouldn’t have performed any better than what our strikers are doing now had he still been with us. Last season he was lazy, petulant and his characteristics simply don’t fit into what we want. Cutrone is just as deadly a poacher as he is, works his @ss off and is a much better all rounder while also keeping his head down and not complaining about everything.
Montella created problems for himself during pre-season, that’s how long this has been coming.

Bacca was bad, yet managed to score a couple of goals. And Bacca was mostly bad because he has been sidelined by Montella and labeled as not suitable for his system. Okay, he behaved like a crybaby. But did Montella's "new" system ever work in that regard? No. Did we find a suitable substitution for Bacca? No. And finally, are Cutrone, Kalinić, Lapadula, etc. better then Bacca? No. Sorry. My logic is that unless you have a better option at hand or unless you are able to sign a better player - you should stick to the one that is best and you already have.