[han2503]

Our bogey team, the team that got Allegri fired (thanks for that one Sassuolo (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) )

They haven't exactly been all that great this season, they've struggled a lot, have missed a couple of key players, most importantly Berardi and they've just not been the swash buckling little thorns we've gotten used to over these last few years.

That being said, it's still going to be a very hard fixture for us, we tend to struggle against them for whatever reason, and we've still got a lot of injuries through the squad

That being said, I saw yesterday that DS and Calabria could both be back so at least the situation at FB is not as dire as it was

Best line-up we can field imo

Abate--Gomes--Paletta--De Sciglio
Kucka--Sosa--Pasalic
Suso--Lapadula--Deulofeu

[han2503]

This is the problem with the midfield. Sosa's right peg aside (I really like his passing) you can take any of our midfielders off and put any on and it makes no difference. It's a bunch of mediocre squad players who are all about equal in quality to each other.

I totally agree with this, although I do think Sosa and Bonaventura are definitely a level or two higher in quality than the rest, too bad we've lost Bona for the season. I could actually see a midfield of him Sosa and Kucka working quite well actually, at least against the smaller sides.

Bertolacci won us the penalty didn't he? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) It's been a long time since Saint Gilardino that I've had to defend mediocre players on this forum. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Bertolacci and Pasalic generally both ghost through games. At least with Kucka you know he'll get stuck in, make a couple of good interceptions, some stupid fouls, etc. The other 2 are literally ghosts on the pitch.

Our defenders struggle because they're put under pressure by our midfielders.

I'd really like to see a Locatelli, Sosa, Kucka trio in there at some point. Locatelli is no regista, I don't understand why Montella insists on using him as such. His defensive qualities next to Sosa's passing would be ideal with Kucka as the joker card of course