Genoa v Milan

Ah, I thought it was a straight red.

Abysmal half. I missed Genoa's goal, what happened?

Montolivo having a stinker out there. Also Zapata has to be the worst player on the ball I've seen in my whole life. This guy can't make simple passes, and loses the ball in the slightest bit of pressure.

Dzemaili takes the the FK, deflects off of Jack and goes in

First half analysis:

1- Bonaventura is wasted on Honda's spot, his best attributes are not being used, and he is poor at passing the ball forward. Honda, despite his limitations, is better at that spot.

2- Bertelocci isn't doing anything to suggest proficiency at all, Bonaventura is much better used in that spot, and Honda is a better player to have in the team than him.

3- NDJ is not very good as B2B and shouldn't be used unless we are playing stronger teams. Against teams like Genoa, we don't need the defensive cover and rather have an attacking edge.

4- Romagnoli, despite being our best defender by a mile, is still too young and brash. True, the situation only happened because of a Zapata miss-pass, but he went in with his hands up and fully deserved the second yellow.

5- Montolivo is basically owning his position, which puts NDJ in the awkward reality of being one of our best players, yet not favored at all by the coach's formation.

6-I can't say much up front, I think Balo played well, even if not spectacularly. I think Bacca should start always, with Balo and Adriano rotating.

Looks like Miha gave them a good shouting at HT.

Bertolacci you *bleep* *bleep* pass it to *bleep* balo

Is Bacca injured or something?

BALO COME ON FFSSSS

Forza wrote:Is Bacca injured or something?

Rested, played 2 games last week us International break

El Shaarawy wrote:

Forza wrote:Is Bacca injured or something?

Rested, played 2 games last week us International break

Need to get him on for 20 mins at least.

HOW WAS THAT NOT A GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

We are stringing some great attacks but ffs

Adriano doesn't move well with Balo at all

Kucka on for Montolivo

Were the last 2 wins fake wins?

Save us Bacca!

I think we played well after the break.

Genoa goal was a lucky deflection, and we didn't get as lucky with our attacks.

I think Honda's influence is understated, as Bertolacci doesn't offer much in the game, and Bonaventura is wasted as AM.

ffs, why Zapata starts over Ely I will never know. Paradoxically, by getting Roma sent off, Zapata will start next game too.

Thank you Tagliavento.

There really isn't much to say. Everyone apart from Bonaventura, Balo and LA to an extent played like shit. We just couldn't pass, couldn't control a ball, couldn't tackle, couldn't do anything right at all. I don't know what exactly happened to all the players but it was bewildering to watch. Zapata was, is and always will be a braindead idiot. Calabria was dodgy as and just looked completely out of his element, but that's no surprise from a 19 year old who has played only two Serie A games. I think Bert looked better today than he did in the first two games. Montolivo was disgustingly bad, looked completely disinterested. NDJ as a B2B was a worse idea than pay toilets. LA and Balo were the only ones who had decent games, but even then it wasn't much. I don't get why Sinisa is angry with Lopez, if anything he should vent his anger towards Romagnoli who was rash and abysmal in his challenges today.

Now we have Napoli next week, and we'll have to field Ely-Zapata which is still a question mark. At least Inikucka is back so which is good (still can't believe i'm saying that), Bona needs to go back as our LCM and Honda behind the strikers not because he's good but because he's shiniest turd we have (Also i admire his work rate, and we need that). The January window cannot come sooner, we'll have to make do until then.

^ Eh , that bad.

El Shaarawy wrote:There really isn't much to say. Everyone apart from Bonaventura, Balo and LA to an extent played like shit. We just couldn't pass, couldn't control a ball, couldn't tackle, couldn't do anything right at all. I don't know what exactly happened to all the players but it was bewildering to watch. Zapata was, is and always will be a braindead idiot. Calabria was dodgy as and just looked completely out of his element, but that's no surprise from a 19 year old who has played only two Serie A games. I think Bert looked better today than he did in the first two games. Montolivo was disgustingly bad, looked completely disinterested. NDJ as a B2B was a worse idea than pay toilets. LA and Balo were the only ones who had decent games, but even then it wasn't much. I don't get why Sinisa is angry with Lopez, if anything he should vent his anger towards Romagnoli who was rash and abysmal in his challenges today.

Now we have Napoli next week, and we'll have to field Ely-Zapata which is still a question mark. At least Inikucka is back so which is good (still can't believe i'm saying that), Bona needs to go back as our LCM and Honda behind the strikers not because he's good but because he's shiniest turd we have (Also i admire his work rate, and we need that). The January window cannot come sooner, we'll have to make do until then.

I actually disagree with a lot about this.

First, I don't think we played terribly. Genoa's goal was luck deflection, and we were by far the more dangerous team. We had a number of chances even at 10 men, and if we managed to convert them it would have been a different game. It was far from our worst performance, with even our victory against Empoli being a worse game.

Second, I disagree about your assessment of Calabria and Bonaventura. The first was solid, if not spectacular, and his limitations were inherent to having the support of NDJ and due to no fault of his own. As for Bonaventura, this was his worst game by far, which is understandable because this position does not fit his best attributes.

Lastly, I don't think Montolivo played that bad (and I am one of his most critical observers.

Seriously, this display is by no means one of our worst, and I am in fact not terribly upset by it. My only concerns is that our defense is not looking any better, and that Romagnoli should have had the head not to get red carded.

Lord Spencer wrote:First, I don't think we played terribly. Genoa's goal was luck deflection, and we were by far the more dangerous team. We had a number of chances even at 10 men, and if we managed to convert them it would have been a different game. It was far from our worst performance, with even our victory against Empoli being a worse game.

We played abysmally in the first half, we couldn't get the ball out of our own half, and when we did, we usually got dispossessed (LA), mispass (NDJ) or a flick that went awry (Balo), we were only really dangerous in the 2nd half but even then it was too late attribute this as a 'decent' performance or whatever you want to call it. I never said anything is being our worst performance as well.

Lord Spencer wrote:Second, I disagree about your assessment of Calabria and Bonaventura. The first was solid, if not spectacular, and his limitations were inherent to having the support of NDJ and due to no fault of his own. As for Bonaventura, this was his worst game by far, which is understandable because this position does not fit his best attributes.

Calabria is too green and you can see it in how Laxalt lures and aggravates him into challenges, could've easily gotten sent off (legitimately) had the ref accounted those rough challenges. My criticism with him is mainly his 1v1, i expected much better from him today. When i said Balo, LA and Bona were great, i meant that they were the best out of a shit lot. Most of the team undererformed, but Bona was one of the few who was composed on the ball, despite being played behind the strikers. Like i (and you) said previously, his attributes are more suitable for the LCM role.

Lord Spencer wrote:Lastly, I don't think Montolivo played that bad (and I am one of his most critical observers.

I had to keep reminding myself that Montolivo was actually playing

Lord Spencer wrote:Seriously, this display is by no means one of our worst, and I am in fact not terribly upset by it. My only concerns is that our defense is not looking any better, and that Romagnoli should have had the head not to get red carded.

I for one am upset, as should a lot of the fans. We lost to Genoa's semi B team who were on a 3 game losing streak. We got Niang, Berto, Matri and Antonelli and we still couldn't beat them lmao. Its just all so infuriating.

Its the ghost of seasons past, everytime we're in the backfoot, we can't manage to make a comeback, no matter the odds against us or in favor of us, there's a deep rooted stigma there

Well that was quite shit. I am not optimistic about Napoli game at all. This is no jinx or anything, Zapata-Ely is not going to be able to handle Higuain who is now in form the best striker in the league. I can only hope our attack some manages to bail out a draw. And I hope we don't waste Bona at CAM ever again. It's better to play Bertolacci there because even if Bertolacci sucks, we won't really miss anything as he adds next to nothing at CM any way.

Honestly, watching the 2nd half again, I thought Bertolacci did quite well at CAM. It was a marked improvement at least from his performances at CM. On Napoli match I would not mind either him or Honda starting there but it is crucial that we play Allegri on CM when he has been probably our best player so far this season (a very short period of course).