GoGo is a decent keeper I will give you that but he is no where near the keeper we should have at our club. He's one of the most uncomfortable keepers I have seen going for crosses and when coming out to gather balls under pressure. Lets not forget as well the first goal of the Lazio game should have been saved but he did a doni. I favor Labont of all 3 of the keepers.
Have a feeling this will be another game like Torino and Pescara. Siena aren't going to attack us unless we score. Even though it might not work I'd go with Totti-Osvaldo-Marquinho. We really need some speed up front and Marq is the closest player style wise to Lamela we have.
I haven't been impressed with him for awhile. It's just there have been way worse players on the field then Balz up until now. More people have been busy focusing their hate on Piris and Tachtsidis up until recently instead.
Balza is fine. Remember the first goal against PArma when Dodo took a wild swing at a kick-out and missed, Parma scored from that mistake. Defensively Balzaretti is doing nothing wrong at the moment.
I still like Balzaretti, and I think he was one of our better acquisitions over the summer, second only to Marquinhos (though at the time nobody knew a shit about him). Yes, Balzaretti's crosses might not always be perfect and towards the end of the games he looks dead (which is when Dodo should come in), but no one in our team comes close to the amount of running Balza does in one single game, and it's not just useless running 'a la Rossi', I believe that large part of the reason for Totti's resurgence is Balzaretti running around him all the time like a little dog, the one twos they execute are gorgeous and he is always there as a forward avenue for Totti to spark the attack and push forward like Zeman wants. I am tempted to say that 9 out of 10 assists Totti gets, Balzaretti has been involved in the lead up to it... if our forwards would just bury those assists we'd see Zemanlandia more often and be a top 3 team.
Sorry but "Zemenlandia" is not just about scoring goals, it's the built up, it's the style of play, and this team is anything but "Zemanlandia."
Maybe it's time for Zeman to rest Florenzi, looks burned out the last few matches. That's just my opinion
I didn't know much about Zeman before this year, but after learning his tactics I really loved learning about it and understanding them cause they are superb. Once you understand how really everything is supposed to flow in an offensive phase and defensive phase, it's jagged vertical play like a bolt of lightning and as quick as one too.
I agree with that and I agree that some elements in our team are lacking that push forward, north-south vertical football, and of course I know it's not >JUST< about goals (though you can't be serious when you say it's not about goals, the man said it himself, it's about outscoring your opponent, let in 3, score 5) - all achieved through lightning fast attacking football. ...but I beg to differ when it comes to Balzaretti, Yes his crosses have been sub-par but I disagree with the notion that he isn't creating chances and isn't pushing forward fast enough playing Zeman's vertical football enough... in my opinion he along with Lamela, Florenzi and Marquinho (and Tachtsidis as the regista) are our most north-south, incisive, forward attacking players that we have...
Yeah Balz definitely makes good flank movement, I don't know if you can argue against that. I noticed when Dodo' plays, which think Zeman prefers, is that Dodo' cuts in a lot and gets involved in the play instead of just an up and down outside back.
Osvaldo may miss the game after getting an ankle injury at training... A lot of you guys will probably be happy due to his performance last weekend.
2003-2004: Siena-Roma 0-0 2004-2005: Siena-Roma 0-4 (Montella, Montella, Totti, Totti) 2005-2006: Siena-Roma 0-2 (De Rossi, Mancini) 2006-2007: Siena-Roma 1-3 (Taddei, Pizarro, Okaka) 2007-2008: Siena-Roma 3-0 2008-2009: Siena-Roma 1-0 2009-2010: Siena-Roma 1-2 (Mexés, Riise)2011-2012: Siena-Roma 1-0
Yeah, Dodo although a great prospect, is far from being match fit or ready for Serie A, gotta give the young'n some time. The only other, possibly better option I can see, which I would like to see Zeman explore more, is playing Marquinho as a left fullback with Florenzi up front. Unlike Balza, Marquinho does create those runs into the box that rip defenses apart, and the guy's got a bloody howitzer on his left foot, 3 out of 5 shots he makes are 1) on target and 2) always sting keepers' hands, rarely can they hold on to it, like Totti's old shots, these can be easily picked up by our forwards and converted into goals. The only thing that remains to be seen are his defensive skills. He can be a little hot headed.
GoicoecheaPiris - Marcos - Castan - BalzarettiBradley - Tachtsidis - MarquinhoFlorenzi - Destro - Totti