I'll absolutely admit to being someone who thought that label was a bit overblown and unfair, being drawn from a still small-ish sample size when seeing other people parrot it, especially when it would come on the heels of a game where the team played decently well but the results were lacking.
But 0:0 in 180 minutes against Shakhtar just a few months after putting five past them? Being responsible for two of Real Madrid's three wins in this group? Gladbach put 10 goals past Shakhtar, and this team couldn't score one. Some of that was their 'keeper, but what the fuck? Maybe some of it is players choking in the biggest moment - this is nothing new with this club - but part of Conte's appointment was to bring a "winning mentality" here (for the sake of argument, just look the other away on Juve/Calciopoli matters). Evidently, that's been a failure. While I could've told everyone here that Gladbach weren't some podunk Pot 4 team but actually a team that could be a bother, that really didn't change what expectations were. We avoided one of the behemoth Pot 2 teams, and that should've mattered more than drawing the toughest Pot 4 team. Instead, we actually finished one point even worse than last season!
I mean, look, if you want to talk Scudetto, all I can say is that, aside from a few Coppa matches, we have no second half distractions. No Europe whatsoever. So, guess what? If there were already no excuses, there sure aren't any now. Juve and Napoli have European commitments, as does Milan. They might have real fixture congestion, increased risk of injury, need to use more squad depth, etc., while we're sitting and watching these games on television. There's a shame in that but there's nothing that can be changed about it now. Take full advantage of it. That's not a request, it's a flat out fucking demand.
10 years of FIF
Nostradamus
Most Passionate Member
