Round of 16 - Roma vs Porto

How were we @McLewis??? I didn't watch the whole game. There were some intense Porto pressure during the patches I caught.

That away goal would/could prove disastrous, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I have no real complaints beyond the away goal conceded. Mirante looked OK, Florenzi deputized well for Karsdorp, Manolas looked assured on his return, but Fazio looked poor again. Kolarov was a bit off defensively, but still very solid going forward.

DDR brought calm to the midfield along with the steel needed to allow Cristante and Pellegrini chances to get forward.

Dzeko looked more like a false 9, playing a bit deeper than I'm used to seeing, but created quite a few chances, including a great assist for Zaniolo's goal. The kid himself was actually rather quiet for most of the match and looked a bit awkward as a winger opposite SES, who just doesn't look himself playing on the right.

Porto, for their part, inexplicably allowed us to control the flanks and had their chances, but weren't as good as I thought they would be. Got their away goal though and home advantage. They'll be a different proposition at the Dragao.

Utterly BAFFLED no one may be tuning into this (bar maybe Rincon)

1-1 tonight HT Roma through AS IT STANDS.

De Rossi made San Iker look like such a mug for the penalty and played with such ridiculous class and composure until he came off at the end of the half with a calf strain. Shame. Easily their most important player tonight.

Roma's right side with Karsdorp and JUAN JESUS :smh: getting ripped to shreds.

potential penalties in this one.

Arquitescu wrote:Utterly BAFFLED no one may be tuning into this (bar maybe Rincon)

but no, missed tonight's matches. Just tuned in to the ET now.

Thought Zaniolo was injured but he made the match?

Now I see Pellegrini injured out for Schick, and the commentators saying that De Rossi and Marcano had to go off injured as well.

Seems like Roma has been surviving.

Both sets of players are dead, except for Porto's CF. I think there won't be pks here, so much space and both teams trying to score.

Jesus Christ I fear for @McLewis

Dzeko has had two clear chances in 2 minutes at the 110', missed the first one and Pepe cleared the second one on the line.

Zaniolo has been a baller in this ET

Unreal from Dzeko

VAR about to call a penalty for Porto at 113'

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

No complaints tbh. That was definitely a pen so VAR got it right.

Jesus poor. Florenzi poor. Perotti poor. Dzeko poor. This team is unworthy of advancing. The right one is going through.

That's no pen on Schick tbh.

Ref right again. Schick went down way too easily.

FC Porto through to quarter final.

Shame. Much prefer Roma to go through but it does sound like Porto were good for the win.

Porto!!!!!!! Pepe and Iker keeping my Madridismo spirit alive. Also, Dzeko fluffed 2 excellent chances before all that, oof.

Also, Iker and that cross in the final moments, serious 2014 PTSD flash backs with that.

Vintage Casillas fluffing that cross.

Agree, that was no penalty on Schick. Ref got it right. Dzeko should have buried the game in ET.

Glad that's over and done with. Now we can focus on actually qualifying for this thing next year and that's already looking grim.

Oh and this is probably sayonara for EDF.

Happy for Casillas. The lad deserves it.

What. A. Tie

Roma will not be given credit for the performance they gave and the hardest one will feel for is Di Francesco but where the game was lost was putting a three-man back line with Juan Jesus in it who exposed Karsdorp who chose to be forward yet had no communication with Jesus in the back who drifted in aimless positions.

Roma looked 2x better when Schick came on to provide Dzeko support as Dzeko's height and strength is his curse as at heart he is a false nine with creative tendencies and played as such at his best season per say with Grafite but his chances fluffed from the overhit curler to the underhit chip was clearly a moment of tired legs.


Where was the game truly lost? The moment De Rossi came on who singlehandedly won their midfield battle initially, kept them calm, provided marvellous passes to ease the pressure on them as Pellegrini was not up to the occasion and the moment he came along with Cristante to assist Nzonzi (who was poor) they provided too little, as only the front three provided chances that were missed.

The teams sails were fluttering low after a humiliating 0-3 defeat as that truly did influence their mentality coming into this match as Di Francesco has nothing to give Roma despite what will be a very overlooked tenure at Roma and surely will receive the sack after this, with Monchi even further being pushed out.

What an utter shame.

Excellent insight, as always Arq.

To put it succinctly, this team is just not good enough at this level this season. Porto spared us getting annihilated by Ajax, Spurs, United or any other team still in it. We went out respectably and that's all I can really ask for. I 100% don't care about the VAR calls. Ref did get both right, for what it's worth though. I care about missed chances, blown marking assignments and poor passing. All features of this team today.

Oh and I am still a huge fan of Florenzi, despite his mistake. I am utterly convinced that the malignment he's suffering from fans is down to him being played in a position we never brought him to this club to play. He's a midfielder who can play all across it. He's not a RB. Never was and never will be. And he's getting shit on because of it, despite busting his ass game in, game out. I firmly believe that if played in the right position, he's a significantly better player. The biggest shame we'll never see him realize that at this club. Had he left last summer, I would've been happy for him.

Your objectivity and that coming from a Roma fan is just superhuman. The team I see from what they have is more than good enough yet when you add glaring weaknesses in the form of Juan Jesus (rather than Marcano who is finally slotting in correctly being he is given time), a highly immobile Nzonzi (who was thought to be an element of calm earlier this season) and a lot of the players not being used to their strengths, from Dzeko (who will never be #9 despite his obvious characteristics) to Zaniolo as an inside forward to even Florenzi who has been shamelessly used on the right due to his versatility far too much; and of course counting all the rest of the problems you have seen for years as a Roma fan that simply will not erode; it comes to make a case on why Romanisti are increasingly erratic, emotional and impulsive as fans given what they have to go through every consecutive seasons as no season without any flare comes upon them hence why I continue to watch them now officially as a neutral because I cannot pick a team beyond my own teams who are just this fascinating.

Sadly the replacements for a still exciting EDF are very underwhelming. Thankfully Sousa took the Bordeux contract, and whilst Mancini and Ranieri are very tactically astute, the latter especially cannot be any more of an uninspiring candidate if so whilst Sarri will requite mounds of patience for reasons we all know.

This tie though could have gone any way and deserved for either and came down more to individual mistakes from Roma rather than the team overall who played well given their circumstances.

Cannot shake the feeling off that this stadium needs to be gotten out of the way and faster than ever to provide Roma the umbrella they need to launch them into the status they have strived for, and deserved for years.

You guys need to stop watching the games on your phones from questionable reddit streams. The Porto guy clipped Schick's heels. Intention and how hard it was are irrelevant, it was a clear trip and a penalty. I have no idea what the fuck was the VAR doing. Like Pallota said after the match, we asked for VAR because we were screwed last year, we got it and still got screwed.

With that said, Roma were terrible and EDF is a disaster. His defenses were always bad, even at Sassuolo and his teams regressed from year to year. I guess Monchi hired him because he's good with young players, but, unless Roma wants to be Atalanta, then he needs to go. It's time for Sarriball.

Dzeko? A fucktard, who blasts the ball into the stands when he could very easily place it into the corner and, then, tries a lob from 11 yards out but he shanks it and it goes only 5 yards.

And wtf is this fascination with Florenzi at fullback? Dude is a numpty, always a good bet for a terrible mistake, but he keeps playing in defense where his mistakes are amplified. Every fucking coach played him there, even the guy before Spalletti.