MD32: Roma vs. Udinese (April 13th, 2019)

Yet we still conceded 7 goals in his first 3 games, I wonder why.

 

haha well , we gave up 4 to Napoli for starters. Lets see how Mulder does against Inter.

You're smart enough to understand nuance, I know that you know it's not just because of a GK change.

Shutting out Samp and Udinese is great , but c'mon. Olsen is crap , but Mulder isn't that good either.

 

Claudio needs to park the 4-4-2, Dzeko/Schick combo. Whenever we've played it we've looked shit. Of course, it doesn't help when you have JJ playing RB.

Night and day the difference in performance when we switched to the 4-2-3-1 after Lo Pelle and Florenzi came on. We dominated that 2nd half and it's certainly not the first time we've dominated a half under Claudio playing his 4-2-3-1. Sure they hit the post, but I never really felt overly concerned that we'd concede in that 2nd half. That sure beats feeling like we could concede at any time in any situation from a few weeks back.

This team is fighting but remains in a very tough spot as any one defeat between now and seasons end could be the one that ruins our chances of top 4. The next match against Inter is a huge game for us. On paper, with all things considered, it's our toughest fixture left. A draw is probably OK but also means we'll likely have to win out the rest of the season to finish top 4.

 

Out of those 7 goals one was directly his fault, 2 would have been saved by any self respecting serie A Gk, and the fourth he froze on the line instead of stepping up and closing the angle which would have given him a big chance of saving Milik’s shot.

So yeah, the GK change is the biggest influence, and its not a surprise to anyone paying attention. Even under EDF, Mirante played 2 league games and conceded 1 goal, while Olsen averaged 1.5 goals per match!

I’ve said earlier that there is no tactic or system that can work with Olsen playing, and our result won’t improve until he is dropped. Now its too late, our season is over.

Its really a shame because at some point we were actually playing good football, but nobody could pay attention to it with the crap Olsen was pulling. The shitty goal he conceded against Milan will be the difference between us and them.

Mirante is a Bologna level GK and he looks like prime Buffon in comparison to the Swede, which just shows how terrible Olsen was. I have no doubt that EDF would have kept his job and we would have 7+ points if he dropped him back in November.

 

Easier schedule and we lost the H2H against Milan & Lazio and tied Atalanta (but they have a much better GD) which could come back at us in the end. I'd say next week is a must win.

 

Important win, but it seems that this has happened too late.

 

@Salmeen10 . That was a solid read/take. I enjoyed it. Doubt people want to read another long post from me , but how I see it is below.

GKing (open) GKing (close)

For me, we went from a F keeper , to a C-. Our entire tactical setup has been created to stop shipping goals since Ranieri's started. To suggest that the team isn't capable of improving in this regard with time (Olsen started right after the change , and we were still a mess everywhere on the pitch/had no idea how to operate Ranieri's system yet) , is kinda silly. Yes, his communication could definitely help us become more organized in certain aspects (set-pieces especially and 1st 3rd) - but not nearly as much as Solano's attributing. It's much more likely it's a combination of Ranieri's coaching and tactics , the benefit of more time, certain players actually giving a fcuk, and Mirante.

And even after all of this is said , it's still an extremely small sample size , and we haven't played anyone good with Mirante yet (sorry Samp). Say we lose 3-0 to Inter , what would the narrative be then?

Starting Mirante doesn't make our press miles better than it was initially. Starting Mirante doesn't make our midfield more compact. Starting Mirante doesn't make our defending on the wings better due to having WM's covering for our shoddy fullbacks more than our IF's did.

Furthermore, if Olsen was clearly the only thing a coach would consider wrong with the side, why the hell did Claudio start him for 3 games? It was a ton of things he needed to address to cut the goals down , and one of them was benching Olsen, yes , but it was a ton of other things too. Things that had to be changed/improved irrespective of who the keeper was. Things that needed time , and a mentality shift and a coach being fired (apparently).

We play ugly, risk-free football now - even at home against the likes of Udinese. We're still trying to hide the fact our midfield is lethargic and our defense is slow and subpar. That's obvious to anyone paying attention. Fazio didn't suddenly become a good defender because of Mirante. We just went back to hiding the shit out of him with our tactical setup like we did with Spalletti. We'd still be royally screwed without Manolas' pace to cover for him being the slowest defender in Europe.

Maybe starting Mirante for the entire season would make us a top 4 side , I really can't say with certainty. I think it would've helped for sure, but we needed a superman Allison to cover for our defense to make us a good side last season. .... And he's not even close to being that.

 

So Mirante already proving he is twice the keeper Olsen is. Yet, so many were huge fans of his. If Mirante had played earlier we would probably be in 4th. Thanks alot Mon-idiot and his disciple EDF.

 

Many of the people here lack the mental capacity to count from 1 to 10 without their fingers, yet you expect them to grasp complex football concepts and players' abilities without said abilities being helpfully mapped down in FIFA... How dare you, sir, how dare you harass the bald geniuses of this sacred echo-chamber!

 

At least hes creative with the excuses

 

What a loser.

 

De Rossi out 2-3 weeks https://t.co/FzxuiPJ3Eb

— RomaPress (@ASRomaPress) April 15, 2019

 

every time it happens this year, you wonder if you have already seen him play his last game in a Roma shirt.

 

I don't believe he would go out like that.

 

He may not have a choice. From what I understand his knees are in bad shape and he's at the end of his contract. I suppose they could give him some kind of 1 game contract for next year but at his age with those knees and with how he plays....

 

Yes that's what i would imagine in worst case scenario if he wasn't able to be back before season end. He will be given a grand occasion even if it means a game by game contract next year or like you say a one game thing if he's really done. But there's no way he just goes away without an occasion.

 

Serie A: El Shaarawy vs Chiesa

Presenze 22-31
Minuti Giocati 1598-2581
Gol 9-6
Assist 3-3
M.Tiri 2,4-3,8
M.Passaggi 28,5-23
Passaggi Riusciti 81,9%-73,1%
M.Cross 0,4-0,4
M.Occasioni Create 1,4-1,5
M.Falli Subiti 1,4-1,7
Dribbling riusciti 33/66-70/158
Tackles Vinti 23/36-36/61 pic.twitter.com/VUSBe5xLWE

— pallottoledicalcio (@PdiCalcio) April 15, 2019

 

Lazio won their delayed game, this is how the table looks now:

 

We still have Inter and Juve... I'm not feeling too confident.

 

We wasted too much time, our results will improve but it won’t be enough.