Milan of course spent big this summer, which was supposed to immediately elevate them to a top 4 team, at least on paper. However their results have not been terribly impressive thus far. Weighing up those results, against Roma's ambition of a top 3/4 finish at the bare minimum, and this match up starts to look not too dissimilar to the ones against the Veronas and Beneventos of this league. In other words one in which Roma really need to be getting all 3pts and nothing less. Obviously Milan at home is a tougher opponent than Verona/Benevento anywhere, but this is a side that lost 4-1 to Lazio, recently fell to Samp 2-0 and barely scraped a win at home against the mighty Rijeka last night. Nonetheless this looks like the toughest fixture Roma have had for awhile. Match fitness has undoubtedly come on since the Inter/AM games. Now is the time for Roma to put a more meaningful looking result on the board too.
I watched Milan a bit against Samp and they seem to struggle when pressed in their own half. Nainggolan's role here could be decisive. Perotti and Defrel are injured so I expect we'll go with SES-Dzeko-Florenzi up front.
We went into the last international break on the back of a shitty result against Inter. We dont want a repeat here. Nor an end to the bit of momentum we've got going on. Nor do we want to give, what would appear to be, a much needed confidence boost, to a (potential) top 4 rival. Gotta win this and start this tougher stretch in the right way.
I actually have a good feeling about this game. Only problem is no Perrotti. Montella is under enormous pressure. If Roma can beat him here, the owners will have to decide whether to sack him now or wait for the Inter game. I say 2-0 with goals from Dzeko and Ninja.
Interested to see how Montella lines up. If he goes with a back three like he has lately, I think it could be a slaughter for us. We should get a lot of 3v3 situations in our favor. Their midfield has been very weak so far and we should dominate there no problem. I'd love to see us embarrass Bonucci. Edit: EDF has gotten a couple Milan coaches fired. Perhaps it's destiny
Optimistic. Wished we had a bit more tailwind from a stronger victory in Azerbaijan... but a W is a W. This is a very winnable match, and I hope Roma and EDF continue to prove the doubters wrong that expected a year of "transition."
Now Pellegrini is with a fever and also in doubt for the game. The injuries are piling up. Thankfully, there's an international break after this game.
Milan has turned it over like 5 times around their own 18 and we've yet to generate a chance from it. Frustrating.
Crap half. Need more from SES and Florenzi. Dzeko has 3-4 players on him every time he gets the ball and no outlet other then just shooting from far.
Awful quiet round here. Also a pretty awful first half of football. 2nd half can only get better. 3pts are there for us.
Tough situation, but we were playing conservative the whole half. We should pick up the pace in 2nd half, but Florenzi is not finding himself in attack so far.
Milan so far look like a team desperate not to lose. We look perhaps a little hungover, Azerbaijan-style. 2nd half should open up a bit.
Well , if Borini is playing RWB there's got to be opportunities for SES. He needs to take guys on wide instead of playing it back all the time. A little more Martial in his game would be nice.
Yeah , the announcers on my feed said Montella has a Champions League or bust clause in his contract. That does you no favours. What a club.