FT the only good thing is 3 points.. We were quite poor overall

Nevertheless we are third. There was no service at and didn't get the extreme defensive contain in second half

I never denied that Suso was any of those things, but h's been new level of bad as of late, and we have to acknowledge that it has become the norm for him to play half a season and then completely drop off after December, it's becoming a trend, and we can't go anywhere if our main creative player falls asleep half way through the season. Maybe it's his fitness and he can't play so many games in a season, but this is clearly becoming a problem.

He was marginally better today, but still overall quite poor imo. I disagree about Castillejo, he's actually skillful and fast on top of that. We've seen him generally played on the left when imo he's much better on the right. I don't care if he's given us 2-3 years of being our best player atm, what I care about is winning, and Suso is not performing up to standard, you don't keep your place in the starting 11 based on sentiment for what you did in previous seasons, you keep it based on how you're playing now


Last 5 minutes? We slept through the entire 90! That red card helped us out tremendously as we were going to concede if things kept going the way they were

We played badly again, just like we did against Lazio. Hakan was absolute dog cr@p if you ask me, ever touch and every pass was poor. Bakayoko also looked leggy while Kessie was his usual self. Buzzing around but not helping in much of anything. Paqueta also looks like the games are catching up to him. Let's not forget that he's already played an entire season in Brazil and he's played non-stop for us as well. Rodriguez was taking ages on the ball and his passing was bad as well. Just a really disappointing performance from everyone aside from Donna, Calabria, Musacchio and Romagnoli imo

I just don't understand why we kept sitting back, allowing them to practically tiki taka around us at one point with no one bother to press. And when we were trying to move the ball forward it was one huge cluster f@ck

Thankfully we have a full week to prep before a relatively "easy" fixture against Chievo (unless we make a meal out of that one as well) and then the derby. I honestly cannot see us getting anything out of that if we play like we did today

Awful match, good result. I hope Rino actually sees the problems we inflict ourselves.

And sorry X-O, but Han is completely right. Suso just checked off right now. Samu is the better pick until Suso regains form or whatever he needs when he reaches his second part of the season slumber party.

I think he sees, he looked about ready to burst a vein at one point

The game plan was not good today and that's on him, I don't understand why we kept sitting back and let them play and play, we were really lucky. In such a game where our season could take a major turning point, I don't get how we could go out there and play a slow lethargic game with no one even pressing the opponent. That needs to improve and quick

I'm personally even more worried about some of the individuals. The touches and passes are bad from almost everyone atm and that's really worrying. Even Bakayoko who has been a beast for months now is seemingly dropping off a bit

Things need to improve and quick, we were lucky today, but we won't be lucky every week. Thankfully our defense is extremely reliable atm or we wouldn't have gotten the points today

Hakan, Suso, Rodriguez and Kessie need to wake up and fast or we're going to start dropping points

I want to see a great performance next week against Chievo. We cannot afford to take out foot off the gas now and I'm 100% sure that Rino will do what is necessary to prevent this from happening

I still stand by this. Castillejo just doesn't do anything for me.

As for the game, I think the players were tired. Sassuolo completely overpowered us physically, we couldn't keep up with their high pressing and hence conceded a lot. I hope it is just temporary.

I'm not saying that Castillejo is better or that he should be a definite starter ahead of Suso long term, but right now Suso is struggling. Samu is relatively still very fresh, he's pacey and has a good few skills of his own. He might not be as creative as Suso, but sometimes a more direct approach is enough

And yes, we looked leggy, some of the bad touches and passes reeked of tired legs. Thankfully we have a full week ahead of Chievo and another full week to prep for the derby after that, but we definitely need to see a reaction in the Chievo game. Looking at the post match comments from the players and Rino, they're acknowledging that it was a scrappy game, so they know they need to improve. Rino also said that results won't continue to come if we keep playing as such, so his realistic take is very refreshing

We're not going to play pretty each wee and sometimes a scrappy win is needed. Heck, Juve have practically won the league for 4 years running by winning such scrappy games. But I need to see more focus from certain players, messing up simple passes and touches is worrying for me

Lazio currently winning btw! Great result for us if things stay this way

Lazio are 2-0 up 85 minutes. So very good results.

3-0

Roma will be without Dzeko, Fazio and Kolarov next game, not to mention Manolas being injured. Sadly it's only against Empoli, but that could throw them off enough to lose some points there.

We need Roma, Lazio and Inter to f@ck up enough that we create a bit of a gap between us before we have to face Inter, Juve and Lazio

So I come back to MF and Milan go to sh*t. Coincidence?

We would have lost this game any other season. The fact we managed to get the 3 points albeit in a dirty manner is a good sign. Thing is, games like this should be isolated episodes. I want a convincing win against Chievo.

Agreed

Our defense is a big factor in this. Even just a few months ago we would have lost or drawn, but our back 4 have become extremely reliable since Romagnoli and Musacchio have gotten back into the team and played consistently for the last 2 months. We're the second or third best defense (can't remember which) in Europe atm and that's not by coincidence. We leaked in a lot of goals at the start of the season mainly due to multiple injuries and Donna still being shaky, but Rino has found the right balance while players have been fit and getting in form.

Wht's hurting us right now is the complete lack of form of Suso and Hakan mostly, every touch and pass they make is defective in some way, and it stops the momentum of our attacks as we rely on them heavily for creativity. Piatek in both this game and the one against Lazio was barely able to get a touch on the ball and that is worrying. We can't have a striker who is in such lethal form not being given at least 1 or 2 decent balls per game

Very dull start..

Very dull start..