The 2013-14 Calcio Saga Episode II

Lupi wrote:insigne goal vs Atalanta in CoI was the most bizzare goal i have ever seen in my lifetime , the passed the ball to higuain is clear offside position , players stpped thinking offside then the ball hit the back of defender and insigne scored and it somehow accepted   and then a red card for complains      this is disgrace

Me wrote:Immediately with the 4-2-3-1, to which changed into a 4-5-1 in defence, our pressing was organized and far more aggressive than under Max. Attack was composed of quick transitions in a side that was effectively built around Ricky, to which he had a role without any shackles, and it worked very well. Robinho played the El Shaarawy role yet looked out of his depth there considering he cannot take half of the responsibility SES has on and off the ball at this point. Honda had a SOLID game yet looked isolated on the RAM role, obvious given it would be like that with a free role Kaka. Birsa on-paper looked to be the right choice considering he is a far better choice than Honda IN THAT ROLE. He was not spectacular, but Birsa linked up well when coming in.

Problem lay with our dual pivot, in which Monty and de Jong both lack the pace to perform with such responsibility, despite Monty having quite a good game on the offence. de Jong was below his usual as he was overrun along with his distribution missing the mark a few to many times.

Defence was suspect aside from De Sciglio, who also looked off his tangent as times, struggling with the unbearable conditions.

Milanisti quite simply did not realize what an excellent team Verona is, a team that attacks with deadly venom and who are organized within the defensive flank. Yet the sheer fact that we dominated a team who has dominated the better teams in Serie A, is a very positive sign.

Problem is we lacked the urgency to make a midfield transition from defence to attack. I would have thought Poli is the perfect man to troubleshoot that crisis yet he was not even subbed in tonight. We lacked guile in most parts of the matches yet that is expected given Seedorf has had less than a week to prepare along with not even having his desired training staff on board. His changes quite obviously will be incremental rather than drastic in the course of this season, which works given that our players will be under far too much inertia to reach that zone of mentality.

Yet there IS a clear and concise idea that Clarence aims to implement based on what we saw tonight, despite it portrayed in all its raw form.

Notes:
-Right from the get-go we have understood the side will be built around Ricky Kaka. He lacks pace and stamina (as displayed by his 2nd half fatigue) yet carries the responsibility with perfect elegance and creates very well.

-Robinho's SES role was confirmation to me, that Stephan will have a large role in this, especially given his ability to speed up play and have us look better as a team will be vital to crux the system within the left-to-central side.

-Honda will find it hard to perform if he is placed on the right again, benching Kaka is not an option. Honda can play deep very well yet prefers to be an attacking midfielder, as his one-touch play, dribbles and vision is better utilized there.

-Dual pivot with Monty-De Jong might not work solely based on their lack of pace, their understanding of the game will be their only saviour if success is within that department.

-Rami-Mexes must be implemented as soon as possible.

-Balotelli has disgusting movement off-the-ball often expecting the ball to traverse to him as Pazzo's movement would have been much appreciated tonight. Balo on the ball is a magician yet being the central focal point of the 4-2-3-1, he will not succeed if he does not improve his finishing or off-ball movement.

-Defence WAS more aware than usual and chose to anticipate rather than react as usual.

-Conditions such as these make it further hard to judge us, considering players calibrate themselves to compromise based on the muddy conditions, severely hampering our ability to execute such a ball-playing system. Keep this in mind.

-Seedorf's arrival has just injected a new energy to the club and fans. Our stadium despite less than 50k was as loud as any other stadium and chanted non-stop. Its about time we have a manager who both sets can appreciate and support as the split between was tiresome. It transcends to our training, to our atmosphere and to the pitch. That extra tangent can make all the difference.

-Have concerns on how close Seedorf is to the squad as evidenced by his more than friendly approach to the senatore and some of the stars. We need him to be more a leader than a friend to our players as otherwise this will be Montella at Roma V2.0