Back to the grind for us. Hopefully this break has served it's purpose and helped in halting the bit of a slump we were about to go into. Plus the Super Cup win is bound to have lifted spirits within the group so I'm expected a reinvigorated side to step out on Sunday

We're a point off Lazio and 2 off Napoli with a game in hand so winning here is a must especially with the Napoli game looming

Where's everyone?

Anyways, we've started well

I'm here but leaving in a bit ...

Nice shot by bacca 😃

We were playing better before, now they're just rushing and making unforced errors

We need better end product in the second half, or this will be a draw or a freak loss

Pretty sad if we cannot break through the leakiest defense in Serie A. And Cagliari is starting to get dangerous ...

Montella's changes are always so baffling

Taking off one of our most dangerous players instead of taking off Pasalic who's been anonymous for most of the game

That sub should have been Pasalic or Niang. Bonaventura is one of our most dangerous players. Bacca needs to come off next. He's been terrible again.

Ah, Borriello about to come in ...

Bacca !!!

BACCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Good assist from Lapa. And I take back what I have being saying about Bacca, looks like he is back .

Lapadula! This guy is pure gold!

Thing is, this is classic Bacca, he can score as long as a chance is offered to him on a plate, but otherwise he's pretty useless, as we've so clearly been shown today

Yeah, and that kind of player does not really fit very well in Montella's system. OTOH, if he scores a few more times perhaps we can sell him this Summer and get someone better suited for the team.

Good opportunity coming up ...

Back to winning ways! (no matter how we did it)

That wasn't pretty but a win is a win. We need to win ugly sometimes to keep up with our rivals for Europe.

We controlled most of the game, but struggled to close. Credit to Bacca, but I believe Lapa's entry helped. Ad yes, 3 points is 3 points, ugly or not ...

Also, I have to say how impressed I was with Locatelli, he's been improving in leaps and bounds over the last few games

Do you see him as a regista though? I mean a modern regista? He reminds me more of Ambrosini. Covers space, wins the ball back and releases it quickly to other players.

I think he can grow into the role. He does do very well at covering space, winning the ball, and releasing it quickly to others. He also does a few other things that are different from Ambrosini. He is constantly moving in the midfield to make himself a release valve option, often he just quickly moves the ball along to keep us from getting bogged down but he has also shown the ability to make very good cross pitch and up the wing passes that surpass anything Ambrosini ever routinely did. He's confident on the ball and does pretty well when challenged which are good signs going forward. On the other side of the coin, he doesn't have the same level of grit that Ambrosini had (although he has an acceptable level in my opinion) and he has not yet displayed Ambrosini's penchant for fantastic heading.

Well for me he's certainly not what I would call a regista in any sense of what we traditionally perceive as the regista role

milanbuf mentioned Ambro, but I think that Ambro was simply an old-fashioned style DM.

I think Locatelli is a modern CM who can play well on both sides of the ball. I certainly don't think he can be considered a deep-lying playmaker though, or a traditional DM who just wins the ball and quickly and efficiently moves it along to other team mates. He's not someone that will dictate the tempo, or pull the strings in midfield.

Either way, it will be interesting to see him develop into his style, atm he’s showing great signs of being a very versatile modern CM. It’s just a matter of what skills he will really master over the next few years.


I agree with your assessment regarding his skill set, but I certainly don’t liken him to Ambro. For me he looks more like a Gerrard style of player. Good on both side of the ball, can carry it forward, he can make long distance and short distance passes, he can tackle and anticipate the play and he’s shown that he can be a good striker of the ball from distance, especially if he works on his technique a bit more.

Like I said, it will be interesting to watch him develop, that’s for sure.