Prince was terrible. After complaining about his lack of playing time he went out there and justified the coaches decision to leave him on the pine.

Antonelli the best player out there. Niang/prince the worst. Good 3 points though. But with Rome having won and the form they have been in coupled with the fact that they are gonna get bounced from the cl means our shot at 3rd is gone. Would be nice to finish above Inter though considering how cocky they were about being in first place.

I really disagree on calling it shameful. It wasn't pretty but we got through. This is exactly the kind of game we would have lost the past couple years bits these ugly wins that allow us to get within striking distance of third.

Even Balo played better and he was on for less time. Poor prince (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) he was great in his first spell with us..

Oh we have the Coppa on Tuesday? Thought is was later on in the month...

Anyway, it will be good to get that out of the way so we can (hopefully) have the final to look forward to for this season.

I don't think we're getting that CL spot.

But I do think we'll get 4th, which is a very good effort for us this season considering how we ended last and started this one.

Next summer we really need to look into investing on another CB and 2 top CMs for that to happen. Also, Roma tend to go on hot streaks and really cold ones. So they could still give us an opening, it's just a matter of whether we'll be ready to take any opportunities given to us


It's not about scrapping to get a win that's got me p!ssed off. It's more the players on this team who continually seek personal glory ahead of team play. Kucka, Prince and Niang all do it regularly, and I'm personally sick of watching them over run plays, keep the ball too long while locking themselves into corners and lose possession and general neglect the most important aspect of this game that the team always comes first.

How many times does Kucka need to run into a cull-de-sac before giving up on trying to barrel his way into the box and shoot? How many times is Niang going to try to "outsmart" his opponent but instead ending up on his @ss and instead just play it simple? Prince is also just irritating me to no end. Give it up man, stop trying to do tricks and just play that ball, that sh!t was fine when he was actually useful to the team, but it's really grating when he's as useless as he is now and on top of that doing needless stunts that can put us in trouble when they go wrong.

Like I said in the Napoli game, I don't care if we have to play it ugly to get the points we need. I'm so far beyond that point as well. But it's just so frustrating to see such a lazy and entitled performance like that one in such a crucial round of fixtures for us. Points could have been easily lost tonight and we'd have no one to blame but ourselves.

I'm not saying that all the players are guilty of this, far from it, the entire defensive line was great tonight. Zapata had a couple of moments but recovered on them. Abate has been absolutely phenomenal, Alex as well has been on an amazing purple patch of form, I hope he can stay fit for the entire season. Antonelli does his best at all times. Donnarumma is a huge worry for me, he's just so unpredictable. Anytime there's a decision to make in terms of whether to come off the line or stay, whether to punch/parry or catch, it's just a situation waiting on a mistake to be made.

Bertolacci... What can you say about him, bless his heart the boy does try. And sometimes he does pull off a couple of really great and smart passes. But the rest of the time it's just a bit of a stink fest from him. He gets knocked over way too easily, his right leg is completely dead, I counted at the least 3 opportunities where he ruined great chances for counters because he couldn't get the pass out with his right foot.

Bona and Honda have been really good though, it's just that the centre of the midfield was way too irratic today and they didn't really have any support

Whaddaya know, we won. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

I doubt we'll get it too but we are only 6 (maybe 7 after Fiorentina-Napoli Moday) back with 11 to go so it's not impossible. We definitely need a long term partner for Romagnoli and I agree on two great CMs. Kucka I can forgive. He puts in a ton of dirty work in the midfield and puts himself into good positions going forward. Unfortunately he's a head down dribbler. He really needs to work on that. Niang was off all game and is incredibly frustrating to watch. If Menez was more than 70% fit I'd say he should start the next game. Prince had a shitty outing. he needs to focus on his hustle and being a spark plug with fresh legs. Donnaruma is going to have to play his way through those decision making lapses. It's the only way he'll get better. Given how gifted he is and the way he has been able to recover I am 100% fine with letting him learn on the job. I truly believe we have a generational level keeper on our hands. We'd be morons to bungle his development. Berto tries hard and hes a pretty decent dribbler but he gets knocked off the ball too easily and he cant carry the creative weight of the midfield by himself. Monto is better suited for that roll.

All in all I mostly agree with you. I just think the "shameful" characterization is a gross exaggeration.

We got the three points now on to the next game.

I care very little, as this team develops its confidence, in other players. The essence of success in football depends on a cohesive group. Obviously I won't complain when we add/sell players this summer, but I'll know that the team has a core which it can base future success on.

As such, I'm very much considering Milan's CL chances. The race is tough, but I see a tough Milan these days (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

Juve helped us out. I see Inter in a bit of a crisis, and will probably sink deeper. However, Roma and Fiorentina appear to be in good form. Bottom line, EL possible, CL unlikely.

Apparently Niang just crashed his Ferrari again and is out for 2 month. Even his driving skills are bad ...

That might actually be a blessing in disguise for us. Niang is terrible.

Exactly what I was thinking. European football maybe isn't that impossible.

Yeah. OTOH, now we get Balo instead, which may not be much of an improvement. FWIW, this feels like Balo's "last chance" (before he is shipped out to China), so hopefully he will step up.

So:
-1 from Inter (expecting them to drop more points until they sort themselves out, and that may take a while)
-5 from Fiorentina (good team but inconsistent)
-6 from Roma (doing very good right now, but traditionally inconsistent + Spalletti seems to be making enemies left and right)

Could be worse ...

Balo is tenfold better than Niang.



*-6 from Fiorentina (tied 1-1 with Napoli tonight).