Roma v Cagliari: Post-match discussion.

So it's definitely not the result we wanted to see, boys.

It's part of becoming a team though. I saw some real positives and a lot of negatives unfortunately.

As Narbez said in the matchday thread, Rosi looked quite solid on the right and may get more time there. Stekelenburg was decent, made some sharp saves and had no chance on either of Cag's goals. Burdisso and Heinze just won't work at CB. We're gonna need Kjaer soon, very soon. Jose Angel really stood out for me to day. Yes he got sent off for a harsh decision, but before that, he was the best of the back 4 and really caused problems for Cagliari down their right flank. He looks every inch the replacement we needed for Riise and will probably be even better than him.

As for midfield, one word came to mind at times: Lethargy. Pjanic, DDR and Perrotta looked rather pedestrian at times. Pjanic was definitely the livliest of the 3 however and made some great runs driving forward, playing some great balls over the stop for the strikers. DDR was a mixed bag today, but really came into his own with Gago's introduction, which gave us a bit more balance in the middle and got his just deserts with a goal. Perrotta was not good enough today. Full of running and really did try hard, but nothing came off for him. There may be calls for Gago to start soon.

Up front, we were quite wasteful and toothless. Totti was his ever-present, creative self. Always looking to get on the ball and make things happen and he did just that on a few occasions. Bojan wasn't in the game at all. He was shackled far too easily by the opposing defenders and never looked like opening his account. Osvaldo is probably the most guilty culprit. Wasted a slew of chances and was just not inventive enough to get in behind the men infront of him. He's gonna need a lot more guile to get the better of Inter's defense and he needs to get a bit more clinical if he wants to replicate his Espanyol form.

---------------------------------

Thoughts, guys?

- whole team is new and you can tell they're not in sync
- lack of speed is a problem
- Burdisso and Heinze are complete fails as CBs and should really just be bench players.
- Pjanic is a good creative midfielder. He'll be very good. Gago is not a solution... trust me on that. He will get injured within a month. What the team needs is a solid DM and another CM that can go B2B and add some creativity. Never seen Lamela... but it wouldn't hurt to give him a chance as the other CM. DM... no idea who you guys have.
- None of the strikers are CF quality in that they lack the instincts and efficiency. Osvaldo has never scored much and Bojan is a project. Hopefully, one emerges... i think Bojan is the only one that really can because Osvaldo is what he is at this point of his career.

The problem is Enrique, most of the game he sits down and watchs the game

So he needs to be up and shouting at the players all game in order for us to do better?

Not sure I understand what you mean, Cam.

No that was just an example, Luis Enrique is the problem in general.

^^ lol I'm not sure that's the whole problem, he was pretty active on the sidelines after Conti's goal...

We held a lot of the possession, and I liked the pressure our midfielders put on the ball for most the game.

The play where Totti runs the whole pitch to Agazzi causing him to carelessly boot away, is epic. I can't see how this guy can be anything but a team player.

I wished Pjanic got more opportunities to free kick tonight. I only noticed him step up once and it was knocked down by an elbow.

We just need to be more clinical in front of goal. Borini looked good, I think Osvaldo just needs some more time.

Bojan hasn't impressed me. His game doesn't look very natural.

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:No that was just an example, Luis Enrique is the problem in general.

How exactly is Luis Enrique the problem though?

What exactly did he do that makes you think that he's the problem?

McLewis wrote:

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:No that was just an example, Luis Enrique is the problem in general.

How exactly is Luis Enrique the problem though?

What exactly did he do that makes you think that he's the problem?

Not playing Totti was a huge mistake in Europa. His mentality of La Liga tactics.

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:

McLewis wrote:

Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo wrote:No that was just an example, Luis Enrique is the problem in general.

How exactly is Luis Enrique the problem though?

What exactly did he do that makes you think that he's the problem?

Not playing Totti was a huge mistake in Europa. His mentality of La Liga tactics.

What bearing on THIS game does not playing Totti in the EL have? None. Totti looked just fine today.

His tactics, which is true of any new coach coming to change the way a team plays, requires time and patience. Impatience and fickleness are ripe in Italy at the moment and it doesn't help this team get to where it wants to be.

If Totti played more in the past he would of gained more form. As he didn't, that's how it effected the game today. Sure he was good, no doubt, but we could of seen a better Totti if you ask me.

Enrique seems to be very tactically naive. He has good ideas but doesn't appear to have the capacity to implement them.

It doesn't help that historically quintessential Spanish tactics fail against Serie A teams- you need a different approach.

I believe Enrique should be given a bit more time particularly due to the amount of talent going to Roma due to his presence- however I don't see him being at Roma in the future.

I think Guidolin would be absolutley fantastic at Roma. Imagine his 3-4-3 system at Roma.

As for Bojan it's a matter of time. Osvaldo is a bit average to me but the directors at Roma are very clever so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Totti needs to take a step back and let the new young attacking talent gel.

Not all negatives though- It's just a matter of time for Roma becoming a real force.

Explained privately to Mclewis ^

(probable)
Borriello Totti Borini
Pjanic
DDR Gago
Heinze Kjaer/Cassetti Burdisso Rosi
Stekelenburg

(alternative)
Borriello Totti
Pjanic
Simplicio DDR Gago
Heinze Kjaer/Cassetti Burdisso Rosi

for next game...

LE is a problem, but he wasn't at fault for today's game. we still haven't won a single meaningful match under his reign. we might have won some friendlys vs some minnow serie D clubs, but we still lost to branislov, valencia, etc. today however, was one of his better games. he did what he had to do, and took the risk by only playing 2 natural defenders after the red card. the lack of a left back ultimately cost us the 2nd goal, but it was a risk he had to take

aside from those 2 individual moments, angel was easily the man of the match. i forgive him for today even though it was him who effectively cost us the match. the 1st goal was a 50/50 mixture of misfortune and naivety. the red card was deserving and i can't fault the ref for that. it was a rush of blood to the head and i would've given the red if i ref'ed the game myself

i predicted osvaldo/bojan would be flops from the start but i still hope they'll prove me wrong in the future. but after their performance today, they don't warrant a starting spot next game. borriello should start. borini also if LE insists on 4-3-3. otherwise, a 4-3-1-2 with borriello/totti up front and pjanic behind them would be ideal IMO

like mezzo said before, LE is very tactically naive, even more so than montella. but at least montella was flexible whereas LE is stubborn

regardless of which league is "better", 2' division Spanish football and 1' division Italian football are just simply... different

***on the bright side, anyone else see the flick by Pjanic at the start of the game?*** i had to get off my chair and clap for that one, which is saying a lot for a lazy prick like me

I don't know if you guys will agree with me but i would sort of like to see Borini start next week against Inter he played very well when he came on..Osvaldo and Bojan on the other hand were very poor I really think Sabatini *bleep* up by getting this guy he wasn't very good a few years back in Serie A and it seems not much has changed some players are not suited to certain leagues.. it's just the way it is.....

Yes Fonz!

PLAY BORINI! HE WAS A BEAST WHEN HE CAME ON!

------------------------------------Stekelenburg-------------------------------------------

Rosi----------------------Kjaer--------------------------Burdisso-----------------Heinze

-------------------------------Gago--------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------DDR----------------------------
------------------------------------------Pjanic----------------------------------------------

-------------Borini----------------------Totti-------------------------Lamela-------------

Maybe throw Lamlea in next week..and see what he can do ...

Borini!!!!!!!!!

The Fonz wrote:Maybe throw Lamlea in next week..and see what he can do ...

we're playing inter next week. i'd rather not experiment

Borriello and Totti start up front please

schnix wrote:

The Fonz wrote:Maybe throw Lamlea in next week..and see what he can do ...

we're playing inter next week. i'd rather not experiment

Borriello and Totti start up front please

Borriello and Totti won't work .. never has,never will...

You can't play with Three Prima Punte

I mostly share Neal's thoughts on the match. First of all, this talk about Enrique being tactically naive and whatnot is way too premature. Don't make assumptions about someone we haven't had the opportunity to study all that much (meaning, let's not have the Zamparini mentality).

Man of the match for us was Totti. Whoever says that he only thinks about himself is delusional. He ran like crazy today and at one point, around the 90th minute, even chased back an opposing player all the way back till he was leveled with Burdisso. Too bad he didn't get to see much of the goal, but he did well, as usual, in distributing the ball and putting in quality touches. Angel played very well also, until his disastrous 2 minutes which cost us the match. He ran forward very often and was excellent on the ball. His inexperience showed when heading the ball straight to Conti, followed by his clear frustration thereafter.

Burdisso and Heinze didn't do anything wrong today. They were a little uncertain at times, but cannot be blamed for the outcome. I actually found that Heinze played well, even going forward on a few occasions. Rosi was his usual self; got himself forward but lacked finesse and experience.

Midfield was not spectacular, but there were some moments of brilliance. De Rossi did well, was a little limited until Gago came on. Perrotta covered a lot of ground as he always does, but failed to add any quality or creativity in our midfield. Pjanic, on the other hand, put in a great first performance. Quality on the ball, dangerous going forward and nearly scored in the first half with a shot from outside the box (he could be quite dangerous from distance as we've seen so far). Look forward to seeing him play often.

Bojan and Osvaldo disappointed me. Bojan put in quite a bit of effort, but failed to settle into the game. It will take him quite a bit of time to get settled into Serie A. Osvaldo was slightly better as he got into more dangerous positions. But his biggest problem was his dribbling; he just showed way too much of the ball and was too predictable, so he was stopped with minimal fuss. Borriello was decent, but wasteful. He had the chance to go one on one with the keeper to grab the equalizer, but completely missed his attempt at controlling the ball. Borini was quite lively, almost scored after a handful of seconds, look forward to seeing more of him as well.

All in all, the result was disappointing, but let's not exaggerate just yet. We know that its going to take time to implement this new style, so let's not crucify Enrique just yet. And as for Daniele Conti... once was acceptable, twice was possible... but now your just pissing me off.

+1 to erpurpone

I think we could play more regular 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1
I want Totti to play closer to the goal or would like the ball played to him when he has a shooting chance. He seems /Pjanic too/ the only forward player who can actually shoot. Likes of Boriello are capable only of tapins.. And those things dont happen against teams like Cagliari

Perrotta was useless in midfield - why did he play? when a team controlls the possession like barca, they dont need a player like him. A DMF (DDR), creative midfielder ( Pizarro, Gago) and a linkup AMF (Pjanic, Lamela).

Osvaldo clearly lacks the pace to play wide, so does boriello. Lamela is our hope in that deparment, also playing Borini (or what hes name was)..

Rosi was suprisingly good.

positives for next week:
1. juan/lamela/kjaer will be back
2. inter have a UEFA fixture mid week. we dont
3. we 'usually' play better against the big teams