This from The Sportsman is interesting.
For their encounters against Real, Conte had switched to a 4-3-3 and, unsurprisingly, Juve produced their best football of the season. Real, never a team to implement a reactive strategy, left gaps defensively that undoubtedly played into Conte’s hands, and yet despite only picking up a point from both games, it gave him another tactical alternative.
-I think we saw evidence of that this season v Liverpool in particular.
But the alternative was put in a drawer and never used again. He reverted to type for the remainder of the season. Conte’s 3-5-2 was rigid and lacked fluidity, with wing-backs Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kwadawo Asamoah performing the same rehearsed instructions time and again; Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba tried to operate in overcrowded midfield areas as lesser-quality teams became difficult to break down.
Nevermore was this crystallized than in the semi-final of that season’s Europa League. Having lost the first leg 2-1 against Benfica at the Stadium of Light, the return required Juventus to score a single goal to make the final – to be played at the Juventus Stadium.
They laid siege to Benfica’s goal for 90 minutes and failed to create anything meaningful, snatching at half chances as Benfica held on. The lack of invention, of spontaneity, in his system was never more evident. The league meanwhile was a procession, making history by winning the league in triple digits.
-And evidence of this v Burnley and Watford away the latter which I thought we were lucky to come away with 3 points.
Conte, whilst able to get his teams to grind out results in a league season, has been accused of lacking the ingenuity to change the outcome of a game mid-course, an ingredient so integral in cup competitions. Certainly that was the case during his time with Juventus, where he would make substitutions too late in games for them to have any real effect. What exacerbated Conte’s European-allergic reputation was his successor Max Allegri taking what was ostensibly the same side to within 90 minutes of a treble the following season.
-This refusal to change formation got quite a few on here frustrated me included, hopefully It's a good sign that we seem to be looking at bringing in players that will give Conte different options.
