When I saw that in real-time I thought he had prodded the ball away with his arm and that we have got away with it. I couldn't believe what he had actually done when I saw the replay. Beast.
Not much to add really but I thought Ljajic gave a very good performance and was very professional, if he played like that all season there would be no problems with him. Totti is evergreen and De Rossi was phenomenal last night. The challenge on De Luca in the box and the block in Denis stand out. He even contributed going forward, assisting Ljajic. Futuro Capitano was man of the match for me. Also all of our goals showed great link up, and were team goals. With our squad depleted with suspensions and injuries team goals show this squad is together and not just the first 11. PS. It was nice to not see Denis bully our defence as per usual, Castan took him out of the game and even flattened him once
I just watched Gerrard in the City game and he was fantastic. But the answer is no, Daniele is the best in position without a doubt. Gerrard seems to have adapted his game like De Rossi, ie dropping inbetween the CBs, covering the channels and shielding the defensive areas. Gerrard is maybe better at playing the long ball forward but De Rossi holds the ball better, a la Pizzaro and plays it better on the ground. No other midfielder beats De Rossi in terms of defending, his awareness, tackling and in the air are all superior to his contemporaries.
If De Rossi wasn't great at breaking up plays I think he could have become a very good deep play maker like a Xabi Alonso or Gerrard. His technical ability and vision is way higher than I think his position allows him to showcase.
Wasnt long ago DDR was being slated for a number of reasons on here. Can't pass, no disclipine, never captain material etc... Its funny how one good performance can bring out the DDR love. Football fans are a fickle lot!
A season ago maybe. The truth is that DDR is fairly fickle. He will fight to the death for a manager he believes in or a team he believes in. He's a unique player. Few players can lock down a defense and also knife a defense open with a pass.
I don't think anyone would ever complain about De Rossi for his qualities. He's a superb player , he's one of the best in the world in that position and has been for a long time , the thing is that if he doesn't like the manager (and he tends to be VERY selective , as we've seen lately), he can break the dressing room in half and kick the manager in 2-3 fixtures. But if he believes in the manager and in the team , he'll give it 300%
I like DDR but have either of you forgotten how thin we were in midfield because Strootman was injured and De Rossi decided to punch an Inter player? He is a great player when he wants to be but way too often he lets his team down.
A few matches ago! I have mixed feeling s about him because of last season and I don't think he will ever win me over fully again.
De Rossi is like the chick who will make you feel like a million bucks when everything is going well but miss one anniversary and she's banging your best friend and texting you about it.
Yeah, last season made me question his professionalism a great deal. I was never fond of Zeman, but I still can't support the BS DDR pulled. He was always very high/low with little in between, but that stretch where he got divorced and someone close to him died made him freakin bipolar. He's still my favorite player though. Everyone's got their tragic flaws. I still have a 3'x5' poster of him hanging on the crossbar after Toni's goal against Inter in my office.
Don't know why only last season made you guys question his professionalism. what about 2010/11 and 2008/09?
He wasn't alone in either of your examples, and he wasn't bitching in the press and through his girlfriend whenever a journo asked her.
He's a Romanista. In big games specially against the North his love and passion get the worst out of him. Rudi needs to work on taming that passion.. Agreed, though for a while I thought we had lost him to his inner demons... He is after all a player that is massively mercurial, and more than skill or training his gameplay depends on how motivated he is, more than any other player I've ever see — when motivated he is the world's best, when that motivation is not there, and he lets his inner demons take over him he is far below average as we saw in the LE and Zeman era. Agreed, I, for a moment, a couple summers ago thought his time at Roma was over, and thought it'd be best for both club and man to move on... the look in his eyes seemed as if he wanted out and couldn't be bothered with Calcio any longer... and after LE and Zeman and the terrible seasons we had I simply could not see who would motivate him again to be the DDR we all knew he could be... And this is when this man, (motivational) powers unknown to us, arrive in Rome...