Roma vs. Juventus

Alright then, Juve is up next. Stick with the 3-5-2 or back to the 4 man back line. Andreazzoli claims that he chooses his formation based on his players. Given that Castan is out through injury, I think he'll choose the latter solution unless he decides to bring De Rossi into the back 3. Here's my opinion (keep in mind I'm incredibly pissed off at the moment):


Up for discussion, here's my reasoning. I don't think Andreazzoli is going to keep Pjanic sitting back which is fair. Against Sampdoria, he played more of a free role (sometimes sitting in between the lines, sometimes moving to the left with De Rossi moving centrally). In the case Pjanic moves up, Florenzi drops back. Going forward, it would be a lop-sided 4-3-3. When defending, it would be a flat 4-4-2 dropping deep. Osvaldo to the bench, he's clearly not in the mental state to go into a match against the league leaders.

Juve have Marchisio and Peluso out, while they should have Asamoah back. With their set up, the effectiveness of what I suggested is definitely debatable, I just don't want to see Stekelenburg and Osvaldo among all, while Bradley should also be kept aside as a sub. Bring up the primavera ffs!

Even though Juve may be fatigued from their CL clash on Tuesday, we are going to get ran at home in this game.

This won't be fun. If we were to snatch points, I'd say it would be the upset of the season.

I'm starting to develop a disdain for some of our supposed "top players". I see a lot of players not proud to wear the shirt/giving their all.

Burdisso can sod off, same goes with Stek, Osvaldo is a time bomb every game, and lets face it our midfield has really contributed to Zeman, and this teams downfall this year.

I long for a fresh start, and I can't see that happening with a guy that's been in the Roma system 10 years.

I was willing to give everyone time, but the management blowing the team up firing Zeman is really just embarrassing to be honest. I hope it's their(Baldini/Sabatini/Fenucci) last mistake for Roma.

a traditional 4-3-1-2 would do.

Stek
Torosidis - Marquinhos - Burdisso - Taddei
Bradley - DDR - Florenzi
Pjanic
Lamela - Totti

Anything with 4 at back that isnt 4-3-3 would do. 3 man defenses are for the past.

Roma suffer Castan loss
By Football Italia staff

Roma will be without Leandro Castan for the next six weeks, the club confirmed on Tuesday.

The defender picked up an injury in the defeat at Sampdoria on Sunday. Subsequent tests have shown knee ligament damage.

The South American will thus be sidelined for the next month and a half.

The 26-year-old, one goal in 19 League appearances this term, joined the Stadio Olimpico outfit in the summer from Corinthians.

Roma face Juventus on Saturday in Serie A.

i think DDR in defense is a better option , simply because burdisso can be really sloppy

McLewis wrote:Roma suffer Castan loss
By Football Italia staff

Roma will be without Leandro Castan for the next six weeks, the club confirmed on Tuesday.

The defender picked up an injury in the defeat at Sampdoria on Sunday. Subsequent tests have shown knee ligament damage.

The South American will thus be sidelined for the next month and a half.

The 26-year-old, one goal in 19 League appearances this term, joined the Stadio Olimpico outfit in the summer from Corinthians.

Roma face Juventus on Saturday in Serie A.

Yup, so my calls for the 3 man backline goes to shit. Castan was the one most suited to the 3 man defense, while Marquinhos seemed to be a little put off by it. This pretty much forces us to switch back to the 4 man back line. Also, the use of Lamela on the right kind of went against what I was trying to say, in terms of defending better with a flat back 5 like against Fiorentina.

Flameas, do you mean in the past with respect to our club or for football in general? If you mean the latter, then Napoli and Juve beg to differ.

Vocegiallorossa today reported that Andreazzoli may actually opt for the 4-4-2 (with a few tweaks evidently).

Stekelenburg; Taddei, Burdisso, Marquinhos, Balzaretti; Lamela, De Rossi, Bradley, Florenzi; Totti, Osvaldo.

Selection Doubts: Taddei/Piris, Balzaretti/Torosidis, Bradley/Pjanic, Florenzi/Marquinho

- Balzaretti is still in doubt for the match.

Lamela would have to give a huge hand defensively, while Totti and Osvaldo would have to press more than usual (especially when Pirlo is on the ball). The main doubt I have here is how we're going to track Juve's runs through the middle, especially Vidal. Bradley or Pjanic would have to be on top of their game.

4-14-1 is better against juve

Epoto wrote: 4-14-1 is better against juve

Yup, but with Totti alone up there against Juve, I don't know if it will work. He needs the support, hence Lamela's presence in my first idea. When defending:


Going forward, Lamela has the license to roam freely, Florenzi picks up the space left open by the former, and Taddei stays wide, hence the lopsided 4-3-3 I mentioned.

3 man defenses never work to the end. Not in Europe atleast. Chelsea, Bayern, Barca, ManU, Real.. have they used a 3 man defense in last decade? Nope. The current obsession with 3 man defense in Italy is linked to Juves success, which is more down to players and coach, not to the defense.

Juve were extremely lucky to win at Celtic, so we can get something out of this. Against Celtic there were tons, and tons of space in the wings. Celtc just didnt get their shooting right - straight at Buffon. Otherwise, Pirlo looked poor, so did the wings. Marchisio and Matri were at the top of their game.

----------------stek
Piris--Burdisso-Marcos-tosaridis
-------------------DDR
Lamela--Bradley-Florenzi-Marquinho
-----------------Totti

well juve wont have marchisio but Pogba is doing great for them , im afraid the mid wont hold up.

any news for Balza , how long he will stay out

Juve are such an adaptable team. Can absorb pressure, defend very deep like a provincial Serie B side and counter attack swiftly or just posses the ball, wear down the opponent with incisive runs and just attack, attack attack. They showed it yesterday against Celtic, who had over 60% of the possession for almost 3/4 of the game, had decent chances as well and still got smashed.

For us, I think it will be the latter. We're going to need DDR and Bradley in the middle to break up play and protect that virgin of a back 4. If Pjanic plays, he must be played further forward to help Totti and Lamela in attack.

I still think Juventus is overrated.

4-3-1-2 please for Roma. With Lamela and Totti upfront. Both can drift wide.

What ever we do - please play Taddei on instead of Piris. That rules out some stupid errors.

last time i saw taddei on the pitch , he didn't really prevent anything

Epoto wrote: last time i saw taddei on the pitch , he didn't really prevent anything

This

now i'm thinking this
----------------stek
Piris--Burdisso-Marcos-tosaridis
-------------------DDR
Lamela--Bradley-Florenzi-Marquinho
-----------------Totti

might actually work because i think Juve would be fatigue after these games and if we manage to hold them in first half , we have a high chance of taking the lead . on second half id bring osvaldo for marquinho and go 4-3-3 /4-3-1-2

I Actually wouldnt mind seeing us in a 4-4-2...Denis Mangia has been using a modified 4-4-2 with the U21 team to pretty good success lately. Insigne plays in the midfield 4 and offers extra attack when going forward. Lamela would basically be that role for us...


Taddei----Burdisso----Marcos----Toro
-------------------------------------
--------De Rossi-------Bradley-------
Lamela ----------------------Florenzi
------------------------------------
---------Osvaldo------Totti---------

Dosent look bad IMO as long as the fullbacks play a more stay at home role. Lamela clearly looked out of position in a wing back position last game, but he did prove he can track back a decent amount and still have energy going forward. As long as Taddei dosent get over ambitious behind him we might be alright.

I want Taddei on the pitch, but not as a full back.

I accidentally forgot to add in Marquinho to my 4-1-4-1, basically he can slot in anywhere in that 4 man midfield. In this game, I think he's a solid option even from the bench, as he could provide that extra drive late in games especially when he has fresh legs, possibly replacing a Florenzi who tends to run out of gas late in games (which is normal since he makes a lot of runs forward and is more heart than anything else).

No confirmation on Balzaretti, but it's not looking too good. He left training early, I doubt he could last 90 minutes against Juve. He'll most probably start on the bench.

We cant play defensively either, because..cmon..with our defense. So our only option is to do a Celtic. Put Juve under pressure and hope that we can finish some chances.

That's one risky hope though, considering how profligate we've been in front of goal since the start of the year. Our finishing belies our goal tally right now.

If we do a Celtic and rely on strikers who just don't have the confidence to finish chances, this could be another Samp....controversial decisions nonwithstanding.

flameas wrote:We cant play defensively either, because..cmon..with our defense. So our only option is to do a Celtic. Put Juve under pressure and hope that we can finish some chances.

Agreed that we can't just sit back and defend, for two reasons: we can't defend and our players are not at all accustomed to doing so. But, we could play a balanced game, but this requires a lot more effort and legs capable of lasting 90 minutes. We need to track back quickly and close out Juve's options, while we need to be quick to counter whenever we can, through the pace of guys like Lamela, Marquinho, etc. Someone like Pjanic will have to maintain the tempo of the match and pull off his splitting passes quickly.

Interesting to note, Andreazzoli tried out the 3-5-2 in training today. He's been mixing up his cards so it's anyone's guess how we'll line up. Balzaretti looks ready to go, while Osvaldo is dealing with a knock and might start from the bench.

ErPupone wrote:

flameas wrote:We cant play defensively either, because..cmon..with our defense. So our only option is to do a Celtic. Put Juve under pressure and hope that we can finish some chances.

Agreed that we can't just sit back and defend, for two reasons: we can't defend and our players are not at all accustomed to doing so. But, we could play a balanced game, but this requires a lot more effort and legs capable of lasting 90 minutes. We need to track back quickly and close out Juve's options, while we need to be quick to counter whenever we can, through the pace of guys like Lamela, Marquinho, etc. Someone like Pjanic will have to maintain the tempo of the match and pull off his splitting passes quickly.

Interesting to note, Andreazzoli tried out the 3-5-2 in training today. He's been mixing up his cards so it's anyone's guess how we'll line up. Balzaretti looks ready to go, while Osvaldo is dealing with a knock and might start from the bench.

well Juve does not really rely on pacy players , they do the build up play so in one way i say Roma can hold them

Judging from today's practice, it looks like we're heading into this one with a 3 man back line.

(3-5-2): Stekelenburg; Piris, Burdisso, Marquinhos; Torosidis, De Rossi, Pjanic, Bradley, Balzaretti; Totti, Osvaldo.

Piris was tried out in the 3 man defense, with Balzaretti and Torosidis on the flanks. Definitely a more defensive approach compared to Sampdoria, with Lamela and Marquinho in those positions. Pjanic is most likely going to push up, creating a 3-4-1-2. Seems like we're going to try to shut down Juve's build up and hope to grab at least a point. My worries with this set up is lack of movement up front (I'm not convinced by Osvaldo and Totti alone up there) and Piris at the back. Might as well play Romagnoli at the back.

What`dropping Lamela? The only player who has speed and talent to break down Juve? Should play Lamela with Totti. No clear striker, hard to mark.