Not a overall good match, but important 3 points.

MOM is Ambrosini for me. Was a rock in midfield, made brilliant interceptions and started 2 of our 4 goals. MDS, Mexes, Pazzo - did also good.

Flop is Nocerino. Han is right, overall he wasn't that bad, he repaid his mistake with the nice finish and did everything he could to appear active and engaged. Yet...this horrible mistake makes him the flop for me.

It's difficult to choose a MOM since everyone was subpar today, but I'm going with Ambro as well. Flop definitely Yepes. His mistake in Torino's second was as bad as Nocerino's IMO, and overall he shouldn't be a starter.

Don't know who MOM is for me. No one stood out unless you're talking in a negative way

And with x-off on Yepes. What a douche! Can't believe he's (supposedly) a sure starter for us. These decisions really reflect the intellect of our coach, I have to say

I think Yepes is crap and was our worst player. But 'definite starter'? He's played 3 games in our last 8 games. And oddly we only won 1 of those 5 he didn't play, won all 3 that he did.

He has that record because he was rested in the CL game and he was suspended last week in the league. It's pretty obvious that Allegri has picked him as the starter (at least until Bonera is fit again, then I don't know what will happen)

And you have to stop it with the stats here. They have nothing to do with Yepes, Sometimes you actually win IN SPITE of someone being on the pitch.

PLAY ZAPATA!

I played as a defender for a while in Sunday league. Defending is about partnerships and units, very little to do with individuals. Yes an individual may make a mistake, but a poor individual who fits a unit well can make a team better. And stats are facts. Fact.

That is really terrible justification for Allegri's stupid decisions, sorry.

We've seen Mexes and Zapata together and they form a very good unit DEVOID of 99% of the idiotic mistakes one expects from all of the other CBs we have in this team.

Yepes's mistake could just as easily cost us 3 points on another day. Yesterday it didn't matter while on another day it will.

No, it's how football is. As I said, it's about partnerships. Yes, poor individuals will still make mistakes, but poor individuals can make a good partnership. Zapata and Mexes were an embarassment against Udinese when paired together, and Udinese are a pretty scrub team right now.

For example you think Bonucci is crap. You think Barzagli is crap. You've always been critical of Ranocchia. Yet Bonucci and Barzagli were a fine partnership when Chiellini was out last season. Bonucci and Ranocchio, as kids, were arguably one of the best CB partnerships in Italy at Bari.

That's football han. It's not about putting the best 2 centre backs together - it doesn't work like that. As I said, if we keep winning with Yepes, I'm happy to have him playing. Zapata has barely played this season and fucked up numerous times. It's "the best option is the one that isn't playing" syndrome, simply put.

Would I rather Zapata played? Yes. But to say "there's no reason to play Yepes" is ridiculous. You don't fix things that aren't broken. The team is winning.

I agree completely. It's one of the things about Bonera that I've been trying to put across. Thanks for the far more elegant explanation.

answers in bold.

Well the one match argument is what I would put for Yepes as well. There is a general tendency to bash experienced players citing age as the reason for a bad performance, while basic errors by 'youth' are put down to learning experience. For me non-performance is non-performance.

This is the first big marking mistake I've seen from Yepes this season. He's barely played 4 or 5 games for us. If you look at all the corners we've conceded goals to , I think we are in no position to cherry pick and can happily pull each player in our defence apart.

I agree with kurt. Everyone here is falling prey to the 'Player not playing is actually the best solution' approach.

As for Zapata, I'm pretty confident we shall see more of him as the season progresses. If, he's not meant to be a stopgap.

What makes you think we'll start relaying on Zapata?

Something Allegri said in an interview. I might be paraphrasing, but it was along the lines of 'Zapata is fast becoming ready' or something.

Yepes has already cost us two goals against Anderlecht and Torino. Zapata's only mistake, as William mentioned, was that red card against Udinese, where he payed a very fine match nonetheless. Did you see him against Zenit? He completely shut off Hulk. His positioning and anticipating are those of a great defender. He's good in the air, he's fast and he tackles well. His only problem is that sometimes he tends to lose his concentration and make a bad pass or something, but that's a trait of all our defenders, and can easily be improved.

Listen, I didn't say that you are wrong when saying that football is about units. I talk about this all the time in regards to Juve because I do believe that their team's strength is 100% based on the unit and not just the quality of their few top players. Even when playing for Italy those same 3 are not the same as when playing for Juve, so I wholeheartedly do agree with you on that bit

However, in this case nothing shows that Yepes and Mexes are a good Unit, we've been lucky in terms of the opposition we've faced. Even Juve who played terribly against us, with the most predicatable 1 dimentional gameplan I've seen them put out on the pitch in a while. But do you really consider Torino a team where Mexes and Yepes need to be the best unit they can be? The results we've been getting so far are mostly based off some luck and the quality of opposition, and yet you fail to mention that aside from the Juve game we've struggled to maintain clean sheets. THAT is the stat you should be looking at when telling me that Yepes and Mexes are a good unit, winning in spite of Yepes making a ridiculous mistake is mostly because the attack is compensating for those mistakes. The amount of clean sheets is what truely indicates how strong a unit our defensive line is, and I'm sorry but that stat is completely in the cr@pper mostly because Allegri has been switching around the CB pairing in each game we've played and now that he's settled on one, he's picked WRONG!

You can't tell me that Zapata and Mexes were horrible in a game that was played when they were playing together probably for the first time, one of them was recovering from injury and Zapata was just coming into the team. Units and partnerships need time to form, you can't just play 1 pairing and another the next game and decide based on just those 2. Of course Yepes will look slightly more decent right now, because Allegri for some idiotic reason has given him time with Mexes, if Zapata were allowed the same courtesy he would as well, and do everything a million times better as well might I add.

Also when has Zapata f@cked up? The only clear mistake I can think of is when he got sent off, and he was having a really good game that day as well. And like I said, we'll kep winning as long as the strikers up front can compensate for whatever f@ck up happens at the back. Had we not been able to score all of those 3 ridiculous goals in the second half, Yepes's mistake would have cost us 3 points. But that's football, either luck is on your side or it isn't. And if Yepes keeps making these mistakes, it WILL cost us

Great post, nailed everything.

Why thank you kind Sir!

But now you're cherry picking.

You're saying that this goof up from Yepes is proof that he is going on the downhill. While criticising Allegri for a similarly grave goof up by Zapata saying that's possibly too much punishment.

And I'm only pointing out the Yepes situation. I won't deny our defence is in a bad state. But that is mostly due to our CB combinations having been changed non-stop. Yes, that's definitely on the coach though.

Yepes has always been a hole plugger in this team, he was brought in with that intention. He's an average player at best, he's not adequate to be the starting CB for us, and his mistakes showcase that fact.

I never said he was going downhill. I always accepted Yepes for what he was, a back up. his mistakes are nothing short of what is expected from a player like him. You make anyone who criticises the older players look like they're criticising based on a number. I don't care how old Yepes is. I care about what he brings on the pitch, nothing else. Do you think I cared if Nesta was 34 last season? I wanted him to stay on and if he did I'm confident we wouldn't be in such a huge mess. Yepes is not Nesta or Maldini though. He has experiance, but that's about it. He doesn't have the other traits which set him apart from the rest like those 2 did. He will most likely be gone come summer.

Our main points are that there is a far better player sitting on the bench at this point, and there is no logical reason as to why anyone would choose Yepes over him. Kurt brought up the partnership excuse, but if Zapata is given the same luxury as Yepes .i.e more then a sparrodic game next to the likes of Acerbi, then he and Mexes would make a really strong unit together

Again, I will point to "player not playing is the best option" syndrome. Zapata has barley played, cost us a game and hasn't exactly been outstanding. He was alright against Zenit, but then Yepes was great against a much better team in Juve. As Jack said, it's easy when you cherry-pick.

We'll just agree to disagree on the matter. I think Zapata is better, but I don't have a problem with Yepes playing if we keep winning.

I don't see it that way. Zapata is clearly the better of the 2 and given time him and Mexes could be very strong together. And your reasoning is all well and good until his direct mitake costs us. Zapata didn't cost us the game against Udine, WE cost us the game because WE were so terrible and had Zapata not gotten sent off we would have still managed to f@ck it up in another way. We were just THAT bad during those months.

Anyway, we'll see how super Yepes holds up in the coming weeks, we have Roma coming up. Next weekend should be a breeze against Pescara but like I said, we'll most likely conceed because we DO NOT have the strong unit you speak of

Hence the constant Yepes-Mexes pairing.

Problem is, you make Zapata sound like a world class defender, while in fact he isn't tested yet. Allegri found his pairing for now, and even if Yepes makes those mistakes I'd rather accept it. I think it brings stability on a level we're in fact really bad.

That said, Zapata should be tested in the Coppa game and against Pescara. This should be a way to decide if he's up to it.

The problem is, he will be played next to Acerbi, and Zapata in the CL game was more busy covering for him in that game than anything else. We need to see him and Mexes play for a few games in a row to come to any conclusions, esecially ones where Yepes is accepted as our best option.

I don't make Zapata sound like a world class player, just the best option from the bunch WE have.

And like I said to kurt, it might not have mattered in previous games where mistakes are compensated for by the attack, but in other games his mistakes and the fact that him and Mexes are shaky together could, and most likely will, cost us