- Mr. Antonio Conte | Former Coach 2011-2014 -

elmystique wrote:

Davide Moscardelli wrote:Bale manages to jump into a team with 0 knowledge of the Spanish language and hardly any preseason practice....

llorente is still studying the dynamics of the Italian ball, its different from the International ball, we must be patient, Conte is always right....

@moscardelli and elmystique, as angry as you guys might be, we need to have faith in Conte. Like others have rightly pointed out, He has brought trophies..yes.. that means he knows how to build the right team.

If the man that trains and watches the players daily says llorente is not ready, and needs time to adjust, then so be it. I only feel its wrong not to give him time @ALL. Benching him if he isnt good enough is understandable; he hasnt played active football for a long while and needs time to get his fitness and other aspects of his game right . a poor showing could get him burnt by the press and yes...YOU two as well. So its better he makes the right steps later than makes the wrong ones now.

Maybe conte wants to take his time , on the other hand maybe conte wants to do a krasic on him. but we need to wait and see what happens and not judge yet.

elmystique wrote:llorente was at preseason Day 1,

Bale barely trained before Madrid move, isn't Llo the fitter of the two?

oh wait Conte said the ball in Spain is rectangular not round like the Italian version....

I must follow what Conte says, Llorente is not ready...

First you compare Llorente to Higuain and Gomez...

Now you compare Llorente to Gareth freakin Bale??  The guy Madrid paid $1 BILLION dollars for??

You see guys this is what happens when your girlyfriend refuses sex.

Kwame I suggest you kiss and make up with your girlyfriend for the sake of the forum. Just buy her a nice gift like a diamond ring and that should do the trick. Good luck my friend...

elmystique wrote:

nobionye wrote:

DeviAngel wrote:first of all glad to have you back since I haven't seen a post from you in a while bro, second Conte doesn't see him as injured the same was with Pirlo and Vidal and Marchisio last season when they say they are fit and can play Cone lets them that's the flaw that I don't like about conte. It's not about injury or not its tactics and Vuci is the only one who suits that game great player who can hold the ball and pass it

Hey Devi...its good to be here. Here's my tuppence;

Conte IS the king and deserves the confidence of the fans rightly. Juve's creaking trophy cabinet is my witness.

Secondly, if you dont sit on the vinovo fence during Juventus training, then relax bros...he sees something we don't. Perhaps saying that llorente trains well might actually be protecting a lazy player ( i am not saying he is lazy). Liken this to a school teacher telling the worried principal that a student having trouble adjusting to his new school is 'doing okay'. once again , not saying he is doing badly in training.

now on the other side,

dear conte, how the bleep is a player of Llorente's calibre allowed to sit on the bench for 3 matches straight. Even he hasnt made an official bow in the league this season. That's very disappointing.  If he didnt fit your tactics, then why did you bother bringing him in?. That makes him dead weight and a drain on the wages bill. playing an injured vucinic is the height of a lack of confidence in llorente, and gio by extension. LLorente needs minutes if he has to hit form and so does every player in the world!!. Soon he'll be playing with the reserves as well.smh

Conte has depth in his squad, then why didnt he rotate his squad for inter to have fresh legs for the champions league match?. That's poor player management imo. If the players suffer from fatigue early on in the season, we know who to blame then.

if we play thesame formation in every match ....we will have to win matches by sheer hardwork and persistence not by blitzing the opponents like seasons past. The 'mister' needs to be more flexible with his formation. remember bayern last season.

and yes, conte DID destroy Krasic, no doubt whatsoever on this one.That man did a serial rapist job of our opponents before conte came, changed formation and still left him on the bench. He has been on a downward spiral since then. that what happens when a man is low on confidence. Someone rightly pointed out this with a love affair thingie.
I just hope llorente doesnt lose confidence and does a Krasic because tbh, i'd have typed up a transfer request and left space for the date if i were him. I wont stand watching worse players get starting shirts and a rigid minded coach that forgets about substitutions till the dying minutes.

As proud as i am to be a juventini, Conte does have his failings, he is human and makes mistakes. I only hope he learns from his mistakes last season. the conte project is still rolling boys, lets give it time to breathe.
safe

one of the best posts in a long time....

you should have seen the video of our team landing in Copenhagen, llorente looked very unhappy......

I side with you he should ask for a transfer than have to deal with a one tactic/player preference mad coach.......

I feel for the guy, learning Italian taking insults from Bilbao fans just for Juve only to be placed permanently on the bench and have a lyng coach keep telling people you are not ready....... and keep playing sh*t players bar Tevez ahead of you...

Bale barely trained and started at Madrid and scored......

Llorente according to Conte forgot to iron his shirt because it takes time "adjusting" to the irons in Italy because they are different from the world version

in_b4_Conte_worshippers

So you were at Vinovo yesterday watching practice and you determined that a Llorente Tevez partnership is better than a Tevez Vucinic partnership?  This must be the case because you just said that Conte is playing sh*t players ahead of Llorente. So who are the sh*t players who are playing ahead of your golden boy?  Tevez?  Don't think so. Vucinic?  The guy has played in Serie A all his life and you want some Spanish guy who has scored zero goals in Serie A and who has barely played for over a year and a half starting over a Serie A veteran like Vucinic?  Don't think so. So you must be referring to Quags. Quags is a great option off the bench. He is a proven Serie A performer. He also scored 4 goals in 7 games last year in Champions League. So you expect Conte to play Llorente over Quags because why?  Because he is Spanish and was a stud in La Liga??  Christian Vieri once scored 46 goals in La Liga. So was he better than Baggio?

Why don't you tell us exactly, point for point, with very good arguments, as to why as of right now Fernando Llorente should start ahead of Tevez, Vucinic or Quagliarella.

I'll be waiting for your detailed response in paragraph formation...

nobionye wrote:

elmystique wrote:

Davide Moscardelli wrote:Bale manages to jump into a team with 0 knowledge of the Spanish language and hardly any preseason practice....

llorente is still studying the dynamics of the Italian ball, its different from the International ball, we must be patient, Conte is always right....

@moscardelli and elmystique, as angry as you guys might be, we need to have faith in Conte. Like others have rightly pointed out, He has brought trophies..yes.. that means he knows how to build the right team.

If the man that trains and watches the players daily says llorente is not ready, and needs time to adjust, then so be it. I only feel its wrong not to give him time @ALL. Benching him if he isnt good enough is understandable; he hasnt played active football for a long while and needs time to get his fitness and other aspects of his game right . a poor showing could get him burnt by the press and yes...YOU two as well. So its better he makes the right steps later than makes the wrong ones now.

Maybe conte wants to take his time , on the other hand maybe conte wants to do a krasic on him. but we need to wait and see what happens and not judge yet.

Thank you for your very accurate and intelligent post. You are spot on and 100% correct.

There is no logical reason as to why Llorente should be starting ahead of Tevez or Vucinic. And Quags has EARNED his right to be first option off the bench with his past performances. In Conte's system playing time is earned not given.  But it looks like a few people on this forum don't completely understand this as of yet.

Llorente needs to earn his playing time. I trust Conte our leader so I will assume he just hasn't earned that playing time yet. But you know what?  If a month goes by and Llorente still hasn't played much, then yes I will question Conte's motives and I will challenge his decisions. Conte is not above criticism. I understand he does have one major flaw and that is squad rotation. I would prefer he rotates his players more and also make more timely substitutions during a game. I do understand this and agree with posters on this. But I also respect the coach and the fact that he has led us to an undefeated season (the greatest Serie A season ever in Juventus history) and he has led us to two straight Scudetti and a quarter-final performance in the Champions League.

However, no coach is above fault and criticism including Conte. Even Mourinho who won 2 CL titles with 2 different teams is harshly criticized. So it is fair to question Conte and what he is doing regarding his decisions.

However unless someone can come up with a compelling argument as to why Llorente should be playing ahead of either Tevez, Vucinic or Quags at this point, then I will reserve my judgement on Conte's decision to continue to bench Llorente  until such criticism is warranted...

I agree Llorente should not be starting big games as of now. But if he never starts against the weaker sides or in the cup, then him actually earning a starting spot becomes impossible.

juve_gigi wrote:

nobionye wrote:

elmystique wrote:llorente is still studying the dynamics of the Italian ball, its different from the International ball, we must be patient, Conte is always right....

@moscardelli and elmystique, as angry as you guys might be, we need to have faith in Conte. Like others have rightly pointed out, He has brought trophies..yes.. that means he knows how to build the right team.

If the man that trains and watches the players daily says llorente is not ready, and needs time to adjust, then so be it. I only feel its wrong not to give him time @ALL. Benching him if he isnt good enough is understandable; he hasnt played active football for a long while and needs time to get his fitness and other aspects of his game right . a poor showing could get him burnt by the press and yes...YOU two as well. So its better he makes the right steps later than makes the wrong ones now.

Maybe conte wants to take his time , on the other hand maybe conte wants to do a krasic on him. but we need to wait and see what happens and not judge yet.

Thank you for your very accurate and intelligent post. You are spot on and 100% correct.

There is no logical reason as to why Llorente should be starting ahead of Tevez or Vucinic. And Quags has EARNED his right to be first option off the bench with his past performances. In Conte's system playing time is earned not given.  But it looks like a few people on this forum don't completely understand this as of yet.

Llorente needs to earn his playing time. I trust Conte our leader so I will assume he just hasn't earned that playing time yet. But you know what?  If a month goes by and Llorente still hasn't played much, then yes I will question Conte's motives and I will challenge his decisions. Conte is not above criticism. I understand he does have one major flaw and that is squad rotation. I would prefer he rotates his players more and also make more timely substitutions during a game. I do understand this and agree with posters on this. But I also respect the coach and the fact that he has led us to an undefeated season (the greatest Serie A season ever in Juventus history) and he has led us to two straight Scudetti and a quarter-final performance in the Champions League.

However, no coach is above fault and criticism including Conte. Even Mourinho who won 2 CL titles with 2 different teams is harshly criticized. So it is fair to question Conte and what he is doing regarding his decisions.

However unless someone can come up with a compelling argument as to why Llorente should be playing ahead of either Tevez, Vucinic or Quags at this point, then I will reserve my judgement on Conte's decision to continue to bench Llorente  until such criticism is warranted...

after this post,I will give Conte the next 4 matches to see if llo gets his chance before re-going bananas.....

and llorente better take his chance when he gets it and hit a brace to silence Conte and Conte fans or else they will silence me....

elmystique wrote:

juve_gigi wrote:

nobionye wrote:@moscardelli and elmystique, as angry as you guys might be, we need to have faith in Conte. Like others have rightly pointed out, He has brought trophies..yes.. that means he knows how to build the right team.

If the man that trains and watches the players daily says llorente is not ready, and needs time to adjust, then so be it. I only feel its wrong not to give him time @ALL. Benching him if he isnt good enough is understandable; he hasnt played active football for a long while and needs time to get his fitness and other aspects of his game right . a poor showing could get him burnt by the press and yes...YOU two as well. So its better he makes the right steps later than makes the wrong ones now.

Maybe conte wants to take his time , on the other hand maybe conte wants to do a krasic on him. but we need to wait and see what happens and not judge yet.

Thank you for your very accurate and intelligent post. You are spot on and 100% correct.

There is no logical reason as to why Llorente should be starting ahead of Tevez or Vucinic. And Quags has EARNED his right to be first option off the bench with his past performances. In Conte's system playing time is earned not given.  But it looks like a few people on this forum don't completely understand this as of yet.

Llorente needs to earn his playing time. I trust Conte our leader so I will assume he just hasn't earned that playing time yet. But you know what?  If a month goes by and Llorente still hasn't played much, then yes I will question Conte's motives and I will challenge his decisions. Conte is not above criticism. I understand he does have one major flaw and that is squad rotation. I would prefer he rotates his players more and also make more timely substitutions during a game. I do understand this and agree with posters on this. But I also respect the coach and the fact that he has led us to an undefeated season (the greatest Serie A season ever in Juventus history) and he has led us to two straight Scudetti and a quarter-final performance in the Champions League.

However, no coach is above fault and criticism including Conte. Even Mourinho who won 2 CL titles with 2 different teams is harshly criticized. So it is fair to question Conte and what he is doing regarding his decisions.

However unless someone can come up with a compelling argument as to why Llorente should be playing ahead of either Tevez, Vucinic or Quags at this point, then I will reserve my judgement on Conte's decision to continue to bench Llorente  until such criticism is warranted...

after this post,I will give Conte the next 4 matches to see if llo gets his chance before re-going bananas.....

and llorente better take his chance when he gets it and hit a brace to silence Conte and Conte fans or else they will silence me....

Haha, Kwame bro trust me if Llorente doesn't see the pitch in a month I will be the first one to post criticism of Conte, believe you me.

We usually agree on stuff, we used to agree on almost everything. I guess I'm getting older and more senile maybe now. Haha.  

But you teed off on my boy Conte and so I had to react. He got his wicked hair transplant in Vancouver, Canada you know. We apparently have the best doctor in the world here. So he kinda is my local buddy so to speak. So be nice to my boy Conte, well at least for the next 4 weeks anyways , okay??

Speaking of coaches in Vancouver my best friend who is a Milanista told me Ancelotti comes to Vancouver all the time. His girlfriend is apparently from Vancouver, he met her here a couple of years ago, so he comes to Vancouver all the time. Even bought a house here in our ritzy neighbourhood. Apparently he dines at my favourite Italian restaurant in Vancouver. Small world. My friend ran into him in the summer and talked to him for half an hour!!  He told him Milan will beat Madrid in Champions League!!

I am guessing if Llorente doesn't see the pitch it's solely because he isn't working with Conte's tactics or he doesn't fit in Italian football. If he is playing great, Conte isn't going to keep a great player on the bench.

I used to go nuts when Conte wasn't playing people like Elia, Krasic, Ziegler, and others, but look at those players now. Where are they? Krasic is with Bastia, Elia can't break through with Werder Bremen, and Ziegler keeps getting bounced to different teams.

Conte is a good evaluator of talent and who should be playing for the team. If anything, people should be upset at the decision to bring Llorente to Juve if he can't break into the starting lineup. I always thought Llorente was a risk to begin with. He struck me as a the type of player that's good for a small team, but not a big one. Hopefully, he proves me wrong, but I'm not expecting him to be a world class player for Juve. He never was one to begin with.

Juventude wrote:I am guessing if Llorente doesn't see the pitch it's solely because he isn't working with Conte's tactics or he doesn't fit in Italian football.  If he is playing great, Conte isn't going to keep a great player on the bench.

I used to go nuts when Conte wasn't playing people like Elia, Krasic, Ziegler, and others, but look at those players now.  Where are they?  Krasic is with Bastia, Elia can't break through with Werder Bremen, and Ziegler keeps getting bounced to different teams.  

Conte is a good evaluator of talent and who should be playing for the team.  If anything, people should be upset at the decision to bring Llorente to Juve if he can't break into the starting lineup.  I always thought Llorente was a risk to begin with.  He struck me as a the type of player that's good for a small team, but not a big one.  Hopefully, he proves me wrong, but I'm not expecting him to be a world class player for Juve.  He never was one to begin with.

The best poster has spoken

DeviAngel wrote:

Juventude wrote:I am guessing if Llorente doesn't see the pitch it's solely because he isn't working with Conte's tactics or he doesn't fit in Italian football.  If he is playing great, Conte isn't going to keep a great player on the bench.

I used to go nuts when Conte wasn't playing people like Elia, Krasic, Ziegler, and others, but look at those players now.  Where are they?  Krasic is with Bastia, Elia can't break through with Werder Bremen, and Ziegler keeps getting byounced to different teams.  

Conte is a good evaluator of talent and who should be playing for the team.  If anything, people should be upset at the decision to bring Llorente to Juve if he can't break into the starting lineup.  I always thought Llorente was a risk to begin with.  He struck me as a the type of player that's good for a small team, but not a big one.  Hopefully, he proves me wrong, but I'm not expecting him to be a world class player for Juve.  He never was one to begin with.

The best poster has spoken

Ha, nobody is better than Papa. Don't you ever forget that. But I am getting senile in my old age so Juventude is pulling alot closer to me. He is definitely a close second and should surpass me once my Alzheimer's kicks in...

juve_gigi wrote:

DeviAngel wrote:

Juventude wrote:I am guessing if Llorente doesn't see the pitch it's solely because he isn't working with Conte's tactics or he doesn't fit in Italian football.  If he is playing great, Conte isn't going to keep a great player on the bench.

I used to go nuts when Conte wasn't playing people like Elia, Krasic, Ziegler, and others, but look at those players now.  Where are they?  Krasic is with Bastia, Elia can't break through with Werder Bremen, and Ziegler keeps getting byounced to different teams.  

Conte is a good evaluator of talent and who should be playing for the team.  If anything, people should be upset at the decision to bring Llorente to Juve if he can't break into the starting lineup.  I always thought Llorente was a risk to begin with.  He struck me as a the type of player that's good for a small team, but not a big one.  Hopefully, he proves me wrong, but I'm not expecting him to be a world class player for Juve.  He never was one to begin with.

The best poster has spoken

Ha, nobody is better than Papa. Don't you ever forget that. But I am getting senile in my old age so Juventude is pulling alot closer to me. He is definitely a close second and should surpass me once my Alzheimer's kicks in...

Sorry Papa won't happen again

can't wait for llorente to hit a brace in his first game and then we can talk again.... 

elmystique wrote:can't wait for llorente to hit a brace in his first game and then we can talk again.... 

I think just about every Juve poster would love for that day to come.

Especially considering the fact Conte puts Vucinic and Quags in front of him in the pecking order who are .. not good this year.

Antonio Conte assured Juventus “will play to win” in Istanbul after beating Copenhagen 3-1. “Our destiny is in our hands.”

Tonight’s victory means the Bianconeri will qualify for the Champions League knockouts if they avoid defeat away to Galatasaray. The Turkish side lost 4-1 to a Real Madrid side that was down to 10 men for an hour.

“We knew Copenhagen were dangerous with balls flung into the box, from a free kick in the first game and a throw-in this time. We made life complicated for ourselves, but did well to get straight back on track with a second and third goal,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia.

“This was a deserved victory in every aspect, though I would’ve been much happier if we had not conceded that goal.

“Our European journey last season was virgin territory, as we hadn’t been in Europe before under my tenure. This year we made life difficult for ourselves in previous games against Copenhagen and Galatasaray, perhaps also against Real Madrid, so if we hadn’t dropped those points we’d already be qualified.”

Conte assured Juventus will not play for a draw against Roberto Mancini’s Galatasaray, even though that would suffice for qualification.

“It will be very fiery in Istanbul, but we put ourselves in this situation and have to deal with it. Our destiny is in our hands, so that is the important thing, as we don’t have to rely on anyone else’s results.

“Our DNA does not allow for calculations. We are going there to win and that is the only way we know how to play. If Galatasaray do better, then we will applaud them, but we are incapable of sitting back and waiting for opponents to come at us. We took the game to Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Real Madrid, so we’ll do it to Galatasaray, that is beyond doubt.”

Juve have been revived over the last few weeks, specifically since the 4-2 defeat to Fiorentina.

“Results have certainly improved over the last month and a half, but I don’t think the performances were that different. When you get that slap in the face we did against Fiorentina, which nobody expected, it perhaps shook up the pride and determination that had slightly settled.

“As I always say, I trust this team because I have great men even more than great players, so they know when something is wrong and are hyper-critical of their own performances.”

Antonio Conte revealed his tactics for an injury time Juventus victory over Udinese, but is worried about Andrea Pirlo.

“Zeljko Brkic put in a great performance, as did Gigi Buffon. It was an exciting game with one team attacking and another that was lethal on the counter,” he told Sky Sport Italia of the 1-0 result.

“It was entertaining, a good advert for football and had two sides who wanted to win. We believed to the end, even running a few risks, but we wanted this victory. Don’t forget we were coming off a tough Champions League match, but physically we held out well against an on-form Udinese side.”

Fernando Llorente scored at the 91st minute, but Conte shook things up by introducing Fabio Quagliarella for Paolo De Ceglie.

“I waited until the final 20 minutes and opted to risk it for the victory with an extra striker, making Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal more static midfielders with Claudio Marchisio wide. I had seen this option in my head if the game was still deadlocked, as I wanted all three points.

“It went well this time and I’ll admit I was fortunate rather than talented, as it could’ve gone either way.”

This was Juve’s sixth consecutive Serie A victory with six clean sheets, sending them three points clear at the top of the table. It is no coincidence that this run followed on from their 4-2 defeat in Florence.

“The Fiorentina game is an open wound that has not yet healed. We were 2-0 up and conceded four goals in 20 minutes. That was a wake-up call, though I honestly would’ve preferred to do without! If it gave my players a desire to fight back and prove themselves, then at least something positive came from it.

“We have been working as a team for three years now and have built an important mentality here that pushes them on towards victory. I am fortunate to have a group of players that want to be protagonists and make their mark, even after winning for two years running. We are all hungry – the Coach, players, club and fans.

“Every game is important. We are three points in front, but let us not forget a few weeks ago we were five points behind Roma.

“It is an exhilarating season in which every match represents a potential slip-up for each team.”

There was some bad news for the Bianconeri, as Pirlo limped off after just 15 minutes with a knee injury.

“We hope Andrea hasn’t hurt himself badly. I hope it is just a knock and not a sprain. He is an important player for us and I want to be optimistic, as Andrea is a champion and will do everything to be back as soon as possible.”

Conte: Business as usual

Antonio Conte has insisted it is ‘business as usual’ for Juventus when they face Galatasaray on Tuesday.

The Bianconeri play the Turkish side tomorrow knowing that a win or a draw will see them through to the Last 16.

But the Coach has claimed that his men will try and win at all costs.

“It’s a make or break match. It’s not the first one we’ve faced and I hope we’ll be able to play more of these games in the future,” he told a Press conference.

“It’s another step in our development, against a strong Galatasaray side who will want to make their home advantage count.

“We’ll try to dictate the game without thinking about the fact that a draw would also suit us. We’ll go for the win, just as we always do.”

Conte then paid tribute to Gala boss Roberto Mancini.

“Mancini’s an excellent Coach and Galatasaray are in good hands, just like they were with Terim. He’s only recently joined the club and it always takes a while to settle in and convey your philosophy to the squad.

“There isn’t a favourite for tomorrow’s match. We both approach it on a level playing field and I hope the team that has shown itself to be the best emerges victorious at the final whistle.

“We’ve certainly improved since the last time we met Galatasaray, but we know we’ll be up against a very good side.

“Players like Drogba and Sneijder are very dangerous and we’ll have to be on our guard throughout.”

Its allenatore )

http://www.goallegacy.net/t32855-conte-inter-and-juve-are-strong-llorente-needs-time-i-won-t-play-him-to-make-you-happy?highlight=conte

http://www.goallegacy.net/t32465-conte-favourites-dont-always-win?highlight=conte

http://www.goallegacy.net/t32600-conte-wanted-matri-to-stay?highlight=conte

How can a team with so much talent cant get through this group ? Conte has to take full blame for this.

Good times are over Conte, now u must take the blame. The attack is playing way too complicated and is trying to play a kind of football they are not able to do. Llorente is also slowing everything up, and not improving the Juve attack which has been lacking a super forward the last couple of years.

This is incredibly embarrassing, and there are no excuses. Juve should have beaten København in Denmark, but are disastrous against any team in Europe. omg

*bleep* disgrace when your coach is playing for a god damn draw

Its not this game but its our dreadful tactics in the first two games which ended our fate in this year's CL.

Playing 5 defenders against defensively weak teams.Yeah,right thats where we have lost the plot.

I just don't think Juve were putting enough people behind the ball in the last 20 mins tbh.  You had Vidal, Llorente and Tevez still trying to attack when Juve truly needed to park the bus at that point.  

Situational managing by Conte was poor in this one...

Overall, Conte thinks that Juve are a dominant European side.  Well that's not true until the club gets a dominant forward.  He needs to be more pragmatic...  When you play easy teams, go for the kill right away.  When you're facing tougher teams, get conservative unless you're forced to open up.  His tactics are too static.

For example, the only 2 true dangers with Gala are Drogba and Sneijder. Man mark Sneijder and have 2 defenders take on Drogba ffs. Who else is going to hurt you???

Antonio Conte thought it madness to play on that pitch, but admits Juventus “shouldn’t have left it all to the last match.”

Their 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray knocked them out of the Champions League. It had started last night, was called off due to snow after 32 minutes and resumed this afternoon with a pitch that seemed to be in even worse condition.

“We certainly tried to have the game postponed and met with the UEFA delegate beforehand, but nobody wanted to listen. Roberto Mancini said it was dangerous and I agreed with him, I said “I think so.” I don’t think my English is that bad...” Conte told Sky Sport Italia.

“At half-time I reiterated to the referee that it was not safe to play in these conditions. Didier Drogba said it was the same thing for both teams, but I pointed out it wasn’t, because we were trying to play football.

“I have to praise the lads, as they gave their all in a situation where we were enormously penalised, as the game resorted to a football brawl.”

“I will say our mistake was to get to the last game and play everything here. With a decent pitch, I am sure we would’ve played our game. We couldn’t have predicted these circumstances, so in my view our exit is unfair, but we also made life difficult for ourselves.”

The Bianconeri finished the group with just one victory, three draws and two defeats. They didn’t keep a clean sheet, though the Istanbul result was their first without scoring.

They now go into the Europa League and the Final will be played at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.

“We have to dive back into Serie A and the disappointment – and it is a disappointment – has to spur us on domestically. We have another two games before the Christmas break and will then start to think about the Europa League. We’ll try to do our best, as we wanted to do our best in the Champions League. Are we targeting the Final? You’re more optimistic than I am!

“Last season we had a slow start too and qualified top of the group with three final victories. This time we didn’t manage it.

“Let’s not forget this side rose from the ashes of seventh place twice. We won in Italy two years in a row and didn’t qualify this year because it was our fault, we shouldn’t have left it all to the last match when anything could happen.”

Wesley Sneijder scored the goal with an angled drive set up by Drogba, though Leonardo Bonucci was caught out in defence.

“There were many situations that needed to be corrected in that move. We shouldn’t have been three against three, as Kwadwo Asamoah or Stephan Lichtsteiner could’ve come back or Paul Pogba not allowed Sneijder to go on the counter. It’s always danger when there is a three against three and I told the team at half-time it was crucial to have an extra man.

“In the entire second half we had to attack on the side of the pitch that was impossible, whereas Galatasaray’s end was better.”

Conte became increasingly angry when pressed on how much the field had affected Juve’s chances of qualification.

“We are talking about a game played on a mudslide. There’s no ‘also’ when it comes to discussing the turf. It was everything. What made me angry was yesterday the referee suspended play because it was ‘dangerous’ and all of a sudden today it was no longer ‘dangerous.’ Maybe I need to improve my English, as the officials don’t seem to understand me very well.

“The only way of playing today was to kick it upfield and hope for the best. That is really not the sort of football we are accustomed to and it showed.”

I've said hundreds of things that I should really copy & paste but I can't be bothered to atm

What I will add is I find it incredibly stupid that we play an extra CB then end up telling one of our 3 CBs to come out from the back and join every attack

Chiellini is seeing way too much of the ball, and he's even making runs into their box from open play...

Why bother playing the extra defender if you're going to ask him to help out in the attack constantly?

It's stupid.