How so? I said I think he can still come good. A club like Roma doesn't have the depth of Juventus. We need to rely on youth if we are competing on two or three fronts. Under came in and made an impact in a similar situation last year. Zaniolo. Emerson recently, but not to long ago. I'm just saying before the season there was a ton of hype/hope around Kluivert and he has looked completely out of his league for the most part. If there are parts of his game I am missing, please let me know. His decision making, his confidence, his defense. None of it looks good. El Sha has been our best presence on the wing this season and we all complain about his inconsistency. Under has had growing pains. Diego has barely played. Kluivert has been a non entity most of his minutes. If we don't think this play from the wings has affected Dzeko and Shick (remember he had a 6 game stretch as a starter and was at best mediocre in his "true" role) in their play this year I think we are fooling ourselves.
I'm with you on Cristante. And I've said a dozen times here how I feel relying on Fazio and Kolarov to replicate their form from the past two seasons was Monchi's biggest mistake. And then they go ahead and become our 2nd and 3rd best goal scorers on the season to spite me. But whatever. Kluivert will come good. I just don't see how anyone can view his performance this season as anything other than disappointing.
Kluivert, like Schick and Gerson before him, suffers from being over hyped when signing and not living up to that expectation on the other hand players like Under and Zaniolo have flourished having little expectation attached to their performances I think it says something about the player's character, but necessarily something bad Kluivert/Schick/Gerson had all performed well at their old clubs in similar low pressure environments It's probably just a case of them not being managed properly at the time, the way Monchi is now going hard on talking down Zaniolo's performances
Firstly Bologna are a seasoned decent side. There is very few really poor teams in Italy, teams that tactically don't know how to work you that is. No free dinners in Serie A. He was never supposed to get this many minutes but unfortunately due to Diego's injuries he has been thrown into the fire early. He was perfect as a super sub for this season against tired legs in the final 20-15 mins for the majority of his appearances but football never works out to have the ideal situation. I disagree with your whole lost season conclusion. He is a determined boy, not the most naturally talented imo but its his attitude that will make him succeed and now he knows what hes up against this season will only benefit him. So just about the total opposite of a lost season.
Yes, Bologna is a seasoned side. Sure, they have professionals. They also had 15 points in 23 games against teams not named Roma coming into todays game. They had given up the 6th most goals in Serie A. They were in what, their second or third match under Mihajlovic? Of course there is no free dinners in Serie A, but given the circumstances and the opportunity I wished to see more from Kluivert. I agree with you that he'll probably come good. I can believe that and also call out his poor form this game and much of the season.
My God what a brutal game. Thankfully Bologna might be the worst team not named Chievo in the league.
I agree.. our forwards have been as much a problem as our defenders this year. Our wing play has been atrocious outside of SES and as you point out he's inconsistent. Under hasn't built on his great 2nd half of last season. Perotti has been injured all season. Kluivert is just a kid and honestly I didn't expect much from him this season. He had to get acclimated to a new; team, league and country. He also had to do that with his fathers name on his back. I don't see it as a lost season, I see it as a transitional season.
I feel like during last season's winter break there was A LOT of hatred for the Under signing on here until he was given a run of games and had his purple patch. Kluivert hasn't really had the same opportunity yet. Though I do share your opinion in that I wish we were getting more out of him
That's the problem with this team... no balance. We either open it up and leave ourselves exposed in the back scoring and conceding a lot of goals. Or we have lock it down in back and have nothing going forward.
Expectations. Everything is relative. The standards are so low. A striker performing the bare minimum in holding up play and scoring the odd goal is praised as unsung hero in Roma.
That is the narrative that is circulating around, that Dzeko is under-appreciated for what he does and that those who had criticizesed his sucky attitude, poor conversion rate and extreme selfishness at times are just ungrateful. However in reality he he is far from being "unsung" or a "hero". He is simply doing his job to various degrees of competence depending on the day. The other related argument is that he is too good for Roma or that Roma can not afford any better, and responding to that depends on how one views Roma and the ambition of the club. If one accepts Monchi's/ Pallotta's vision of us being a midtable farm club that is happy to make CL while selling its products to the highest bidders with no plans to compete in the foreseen future, then that argument might hold some truth.
This is a strawman argument. The argument is not that he's underappreciated. The argument is that if we sell Dzeko we don't have a reasonable replacement and we cannot afford anybody that is assuredly better.
And that is a causal fallacy. Monchi's likely shortcomings in finding adequate replacements should not bear any weight when evaluating Dzeko's performance. Monchi bought Schick and Defrel for a combined 50 mil give or take when all included. While Milan bought Piatek for 35 mil (when Monchi himself said a week prior that he is not a realistic target because he will cost 70 mil lol). Another example was Zapata who was available for less than 20 mil. But yes, if you want accept Monchi's shortcoming as unchangeable fact- I agree. We can apply your argument on every other play. We should not sell any one because Monchi will likely fail to find a better replacement.
17: Roma have now picked up 17 points from their last seven games in Serie A - winning five, drawing two. No side has a better record than that in the same span, with Juventus also picking up 17 points. 15: Roma have now seen defenders contribute 15 of their goals in Serie A - no defensive unit has been so prolific. 7: Aleksandar Kolarov has scored more goals than any other defender in one of Europe's top five leagues (seven). 2nd: The Serbian defender now sits joint-second in the club's goalscoring lists for this season, as he and Stephan El Shaarawy have both scored eight. Edin Dzeko leads the way overall, with 10. +1: Kolarov has now scored seven goals in Serie A - making it his most successful goalscoring campaign of his career and putting him one ahead of his last three seasons with Roma and Manchester City (where he scored six in total). 3 in 3: Kolarov has now scored all three of his penalties for Roma, and four out of the five he has taken in his Serie A career. 4: Federico Fazio has now scored four goals this season, as many as he managed in his previous two seasons with the Giallorossi (two each in 2016-17 and 2017-18). 150: Edin Dzeko's third-minute shot at the Olimpico was Roma's 150th on target of the Serie A season so far. 10+10: IRoma have started fast so far this season - no side has scored more goals in the first 15 minutes of either half (10 in each of them). 453: With his substitute appearance, Daniele De Rossi passed Roberto Baggio for appearances in Serie A (453) - he now sits 30th in the all-time list, and just one appearance behind the only active player ahead of him in the rankings - Chievo Verona's Sergio Pellissier.