QUOTE (Fillipo Simone @ Feb 27 2021, 11:05 AM)
Firstly, I think the management made several mistakes up until now:
1) Rebić is completely out of shape this season; having suffered 2 injuries and COVID19 seemingly did their thing but Rebić is also known to be inconsistent. I'm also beginning to think that injuries took their toll and his speed is suffering. This was very well evident and we should have gone forward with signing an additional winger/RW. This would give us at least an additional option and not just the numb Samu and Hauge who seems to be out of the picture entirely.
2) Some very bad singings have been made. I don't think it was completely necessary to send Conti away on loan. Yes, Calabria is very good this season but looks now completely out of steam. Whereas signing Dalot was a big mistake and I cannot believe that our management was still considering buying him out come season end. Meite is yet another junk player who offers too little to be considered even a rotational option. At the same time Bennacer get's injured time after time and we don't have the slightest idea how to fill in his position.
4) We should have signed Mand?ukić during summer. It was obvious we lack a striker alternative, but we stubbornly entered the most dense schedule ever with a almost 40 year old star and two kids and the ever unreliable Leao. Now it seems like a lost thing with Mario, he's out of shape and rusty not having played professional football for months, and who know when he'll be able to regain form, if at all.
We had no money. Did you forget how we struggled to sign a CB and eventually ended up with no one else? Only with the endless injuries did management decide to sign Tomori, Meite, and Mandzukic in January.
And what were you exactly expecting? The January transfer window is made precisely for signings like those we made. Though I agree with you that we should have kept Conti. It was stupid to let him go.
We have to accept the fact that financially we're in deep sh*t.
QUOTE (Fillipo Simone @ Feb 27 2021, 11:05 AM)
Having said this, I also think Pioli is a big part of the problem. These things happened before: with Lazio and Fiorentina. Remember how Lazio played good under Pioli and then suddenly collapsed? Pioli seems like a nice guy but I would place him in the "Spalletti category". Good transitional coach who guarantees some results but will never manage to exceed certain limitations.
Yes, Pioli definitely is also to blame. But it also falls on the players. There's so much a coach can do to motivate his players.