AS Roma - Juventus

Had to avoid this place like the plague for the past few days, I was able to catch the game last night.

Firstly, and I think this needs to be said, we played excellent under the circumstances. DDR and Heinze played well to keep Juve at bay which really wasn't that hard with Matri up front. He has got to be the laziest striker in Serie A, Juve will go nowhere with him starting.

Now, a couple thoughts to ponder on our strike force....Osvaldo looked absolutely Brutal again. He did well to track back, and I noticed him more in our own half then in the final third. His reaction when he was subbed was Vucinic esque also...just absolutely disrespectful. I'm slowly losing my patience for him, I'd almost rather see Borriello start, at least he has some pace. Osvaldo is just as bad as Toni with the ball, but doesn't have the Aerial threat on set peices like Toni did.

Lamela looked terrible as well. I really think, even though this is a new strike force for us, that this is the worst offensive lineup we have had in years... Our main attacking players, lets face it haven't been doing the job. Everyone just seems confused...There was lots of quality crosses put in by Pjanic and Taddei tonight that should have and would have been in the back of the net last year...

Totti was good, but he still lacks match fitness, he was a hero to take Pirlo's free kick off his face and resume play almost immediately. His quick corner on the first goal and cross was majestic.

I have a hard time deciding between Pjanic and Stekelenburg for MOTM... Pjanic shut down Pirlo for nearly the whole game, excellent display by him. Stek was a beast all match...His ball striking was excellent today. He found our forwards numerous times from his goal. I wished Enrique would let the team play those long balls more, as we really lack a quality CB who can move the ball out from the back and is creative enough. I swear 90% of our possession comes from the short passes on GK's...

Viviani was encouraging...We need Rosi back, although Taddei was awesome until about the 75th minute...I still don't like Angels game at all...

Now...Napoli coming up...THAT is scary.

You can beat Napoli

theyre overrated

chaval wrote:You can beat Napoli

theyre overrated

Man City is Overrated buddy
Napoli isn't.

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:

chaval wrote:You can beat Napoli

theyre overrated

Man City is Overrated buddy
Napoli isn't.

Yes they are, been really poor in the league. Theyve been struggling with small teams.

Sure they beat Man City, but so what. You guys have definently beat them.

narbeZ wrote:Had to avoid this place like the plague for the past few days, I was able to catch the game last night.

Firstly, and I think this needs to be said, we played excellent under the circumstances. DDR and Heinze played well to keep Juve at bay which really wasn't that hard with Matri up front. He has got to be the laziest striker in Serie A, Juve will go nowhere with him starting.

Now, a couple thoughts to ponder on our strike force....Osvaldo looked absolutely Brutal again. He did well to track back, and I noticed him more in our own half then in the final third. His reaction when he was subbed was Vucinic esque also...just absolutely disrespectful. I'm slowly losing my patience for him, I'd almost rather see Borriello start, at least he has some pace. Osvaldo is just as bad as Toni with the ball, but doesn't have the Aerial threat on set peices like Toni did.

Lamela looked terrible as well. I really think, even though this is a new strike force for us, that this is the worst offensive lineup we have had in years... Our main attacking players, lets face it haven't been doing the job. Everyone just seems confused...There was lots of quality crosses put in by Pjanic and Taddei tonight that should have and would have been in the back of the net last year...

Totti was good, but he still lacks match fitness, he was a hero to take Pirlo's free kick off his face and resume play almost immediately. His quick corner on the first goal and cross was majestic.

I have a hard time deciding between Pjanic and Stekelenburg for MOTM... Pjanic shut down Pirlo for nearly the whole game, excellent display by him. Stek was a beast all match...His ball striking was excellent today. He found our forwards numerous times from his goal. I wished Enrique would let the team play those long balls more, as we really lack a quality CB who can move the ball out from the back and is creative enough. I swear 90% of our possession comes from the short passes on GK's...

Viviani was encouraging...We need Rosi back, although Taddei was awesome until about the 75th minute...I still don't like Angels game at all...

Now...Napoli coming up...THAT is scary.

Just to clarify, Matri isn't lazy he is just useless without a strike partner. Juventus missed Vucinic badly yesterday, Elia should have been brought on sooner and Quagliarella was an instant upgrade to Matri, Fabio showed him how to play.

Above all else it was a really good game, a lot of nervy moments- I was not crazy about the line up Juventus fielded one bit. Since I knew Matri would struggle and Estigarribia and Pepe do the exact same job, Esti just does it better, one of them should have been sacrificed for Elia, Fabio, Giaccherini even Del Piero would have been much better.

@ Narbez, good point in bringing up Pjanic's work defensively. Enrique did well in re-positioning him, especially since he went with an unfamiliar set up with Lamela in midfield. He played a big part in shutting down Pirlo, Pjanic could take the criticism on Pirlo as a compliment really.

As for Osvaldo, I already said the guy can't pass the ball. He put in a lot of effort but just couldn't get anything done. He did cover quite a bit of ground though so that's a plus.

@ Mclewis, Yea Viviani showed great maturity throughout the match. He was quite calm on the ball throughout. I also liked what I saw from Greco when he was moved to the middle. It's nice to see that he could take up that position as well. I would love to see the all-Roman midfield with De Rossi -Viviani-Greco.

Viviani wasnt great, gave the ball away countless times. Our midfield looked uncertain and crappy altogether anyway