Serie A Campaign 2015-2016 Thread

[Lupi]

I think this is needed so here it is.

[McLewis]

Thanks Lupi.

Literally anything can happen tomorrow. Digne is projected to start at LB by virtually all publications, but I still wouldn't be super surprised if Rudi goes with Toro again.

What I'm looking for out of this match is hunger. We have to create more chances, take those chances and keep that consistent. Juve will have their chances, we can't stop that, but we need to make sure they don't stop us from getting ours. The biggest question mark from me is the midfield, they have to track back and help that defense. They didn't do that well enough against Verona and that can't happen again with Juve.

Lastly, Rudi must get his subs right. I'm fine with Totti not starting, but he's got to get in this game at some point. Gervinho needs to be dropped as well.

[gb]

Lastly, Rudi must get his subs right. I'm fine with Totti not starting, but he's got to get in this game at some point. Gervinho needs to be dropped as well.

Spot on. Digne will start w/o a doubt. If I see Ibarbo and/or Gervinho start this game I will scoop my eyes out with a spork!

[Lupi]

I think its fairly obvious what juve will do. Stay back and wait till we run yourself to the ground. They wait till Maicon and digne step up and take advantage of stretched defence to score. we need dzeko to keep juve defence on their toes with his of the ball movement and Ljajic to take advantage of the probable space.

[McLewis]

Dzeko can really only do so much with his OTB movement before Juve defenders wise up on him. In order for him to consistently challenge them, he needs to be getting proper service from both wide and the middle. I'm quite sure Juve are going to force us to play ball down the flanks since that is where we are weak both offensively and defensively.

[Lupi]

Falque didn't seem to have problem finding dzeko at least from what i saw in the friendly game.

[Lupi]

"Ci sto pensando Torosidis ha un affaticamento muscolare e se sarà al 100% giocherà lui al posto di Digne. Gli altri li scoprirete domani. Inizieremo con una strategia, ma ne avremo 1-2 per vincere la gara. Siamo ambiziosi e faremo di tutto per prendere i 3 punti".

yes Rudi reads Goal legacy

[flameas]

Grazie Roma! It took a smoking ex-arsenal keeper to save our asses since Keita had given Juve a goal, but other than that a great performance. Digne already a 100% improvemnt over Cole and co. Thank you Edin and Miralem

[McLewis]

Sabatini redeeming himself today. Dzeko, Digne and Falque all looked fantastic.

Keita gifting Juve that goal though ....all in all, a great display from this side. We need this now against the Empolis, Torinos, Sassuolo's, Genoas etc of the league. Can't just do this against the likes of Juve, Napoli and Lazio. It won't be enough to achieve what we ultimately want to achieve.

Most importantly, this group (Rudi included) need to stay humble. We didn't even beat Juve in this fixture last time around and yet Rudi still shot his mouth off. We need to stay grounded, take it one game at a time and just play our game.

[flameas]

2 week break too. Hopefully Salah will get into goals too. His footwork looked fantastic, definetelly a huge upgrade on Gervinho.

[Lupi]

Nice touch by Rudi by using DDR at defence , De rossi is not a regista and his usage at that makelele role could have gave Juve the Upper hand in midfield. He made a right decision by adding keita(Even though I still prefer a better and younger player) that significantly improved our build up play while giving pjanic more freedom to get forward . I was surprised by how good digne was and made me to almost forget its his first game with very little training with the team. Falque did well specially made the most of having digne's support. I still need to see more of salah especially more link up between him, Pjanic/Dzeko. we had more passes in our team than most of the 2015. I think Garcia is right to say “This is the Roma that I wanted,”

[McLewis]

Scrappy win against Frosinone, but the 3 points are what matter.

Iago looking excellent in this game today. 5th highest goal return for the calendar year in Serie A.

Rudiger looked solid, but will need to work on his tackling. Not sure we can play with 2 uber physical CBs against a side like Barca. We won't end those games with 11 men otherwise.

Digne and Shez continue to their excellent form as well. We're gonna need it on Wednesday, that's for sure.

We're now joint top on 7 points with 4 other clubs.

[McLewis]

Not at all surprised with the result against Sassuolo. Totti and Salah's goals were important and well-taken, but Rudi's got some real problems.

I really want to know what's up with Castan getting benched all of a sudden, Manolas and Rudiger might've been a good pairing against Barca, but they didn't have enough in the tank this weekend and it showed. Manolas especially had a rough game as he was turned twice, resulting in goals.

I am not at all sure why Toro is continuing on at LB when we just bought an actual LB in Emerson. Nainggolan was a passenger in midfield while Pjanic was energetic, if not rusty. Iturbe should be kicking himself and not the water cooler as he's simply not better than Falque in this team. He's too eager on the ball and need to use his brain more to consider options around him. He's got one gear right now and it's the highest one.

Most importantly and as CDT pointed out, if Dzeko doesn't play, we are toothless in attack. Totti's no prima punta and the False 9 setup has been found out and then some. We need another striker behind Dzeko if we're going to rest him. Ponce isn't that striker yet so we should've left him with Newell's Old Boys for this season.

All-in-all, I'm not too surprised by this draw, but we looked ponderous up front and porous at the back. A familiar story.

Away to Samp isn't at all easy. Never is. And so soon after this game as well.

[RealGunner]

Not the best defending by Manolas on that own goal.


Seeing people want Garcia out.

[McLewis]

Meh, it ebbs and flows. Against Barca, he was hailed for his tactical genius and now the pitchforks are back out because he doesn't have a plan B (something I agree is a huge flaw with him).

As for this game, can't blame Manolas for that. Sliced his clearance and was just unlucky. We were heading for a pretty disappoint draw, but at least that would've been a point.

A tough result to take, but I'm used to it unfortunately. It's going to drive a lot of Romanisti into a rage, but this was a classic Roma loss. The opposition was right, the venue was right and the mood of the game was just right for this. I've seen this story a thousand times before. And something tells me that unless Rudi finds a plan B and actually stops talking about rotating his squad and actually does that, I'm gonna see this again and again.

[flameas]

Mr. Ancelotti is watching this theard with growing intrest

[gb]

The fans have a right to be upset with Rudi. We have seen the same crap transpire over two seasons without any adjustment. If he would just try to adjust his tactics/formation I think he would be given a little more slack but that just isn't the case. He's stubborn and his tactics are ineffective and he deserves all the fuss.

With that said, the only two managers I would replace him with are Montella and Ancelotti. Signing Carlo would mean we would win the league this season or next but he may not be a long term solution as it seems he moves around to the next job every few seasons. Montella would be the long term solution and we would play beautiful, exciting attacking football.

[McLewis]

Signing Carletto also means it will cost us a lot of money in wage, as he's super expensive.

I'm not sure about Montella. If we're going to bring back another former coach, I'd go for Spaletti personally.

In truth, I'd love to see what a coach like Di Francesco or Ventura could do with a side of our caliber.

[gb]

I understand Carletto is expensive but that can be countered with the fact that we are paying Dzeko 4.5mil annually on top of the 14mil transfer fee. And don't forget that Rudi has a pretty sweet deal himself so this really shouldn't be a discussion. It can be done.

Also if you're so unsure of Montella then why would you love to see Eusebio Di Francesco or Ventura? Montella would hands down be the better pick. Eusebio coaches a bunch of nobodies who work exceptionally well as a team and the same goes for Ventura (with one or two players being the exception). Montella has some experience coaching in UEFA competition (although limited) and has produced some pretty good results domestically with a side like Fiorentina who are heads above the likes of Sassuolo. McLewis, I'm just curious why you're unsure about Montella?

[McLewis]

It's not a matter of pedigree honestly. It's a matter of playing style and tactics. I like how Ventura sets up his team and how well he reacts to changing scenarios, as we saw last season. With Di Francesco, his style of play is pretty progressive, but not suicidal attack-minded a la Zeman. Both men can get teams playing the Roma way, with verve and ruthlessness.

As for Montella, my uncertainty with him doesn't stem from what he's done with Fiorentina. I'm just not sure returning to a guy so close to the club is the best way to go. The Yanks had the right idea moving away from this after his first stint, although honestly he did quite well in his limited time. It would be great to have a player with Roma in his heart like Montella (personally my favorite Roma player), but I think we should weigh this with getting too close to the club, too emotionally invested...especially if/when things go wrong. The divorce could be ugly to say the least. I digress though. Perhaps I'm trying to look to hard into the future. I just think our coach need a degree of objectivity when managing this club. This is why I'm not sure Totti as coach would be a good idea, as great as many thing it would be.

As you said, Rudi has a pretty cushy deal and I personally do not think he's in any imminent danger of being sacked...not after 2 bad games. Hell, we had 15 or so and he still didn't get canned. That's a testament to what Uncle Jimmy thinks of him. The guy just needs to learn to do as he says he will do. He seems to know the answers to our problems, but for whatever reason, he's really poor at implementing those solutions.

[flameas]

I like Rudi. But I think we have given him enough time to make things happen, though injuries have not been kind on him - Strootaman, Castan.
Carlo would still be my first choice. No matter the wages. Its been a while since Roma has had a world class coach. A true champion.

[McLewis]

Stay of execution for Rudi, it seems.

Palermo are a poor side who can't win to save their lives right now. Not much more for me to say as I wasn't entirely impressed with that display, especially in the 2nd half.

We were expected to beat them and we did it. Empoli should be more of the same, but you never know. They might just show up to actually play us a la Samp.

For me, the problems have not changed and nothing was resolved. Those same problems will show up again when we face Leverkusen. The pitchforks haven't been put away, but they have been lowered somewhat.

Now that Liverpool seem close to Klopp, that leaves Ancelotti as now almost certainly the favorite as replacement for Rudi. A costly one on both sides of that equation given we'd have to pay 18m to get rid of Rudi and then turn around and pay roughly the same amount for Carletto to join as well. Is that a hit we really need to take financially? Especially when we're already in the red? I'm not so sure.

I know the rot needs to stop, but I think Rudi will keep us in the CL at least and that's the ultimate goal. Will we finish 2nd again? I highly doubt it though.

[flameas]

We managed to get 3 points against Empoli. Seemed like a classic match were Roma would lose points, but all went well.

Next matches against Bayer and Viola will (already) show what we can and what we cant do this season. Forza Gervinho it seems

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