Well I decided to make the thread a little early. We just won 3-0 against Cagliari and personally Cagliari does not look very good, maybe they just didn't show up but Mertens was killing it like usual. This game is huge because it's an important away game. It's going to be a really tough game because Roma just won away vs Milan and to be honest, it was a shit game but there were spells where Milan was just all over them. Right before the goal scored by Dzeko it looked like Milan was close to scoring. Defensively Roma looks pretty good, better than last season, offensively they're a bit weaker but losing Salah's speed would be huge for any team. Schick is a good buy and we should be careful. Nainggolan is the team, the man is an absolute beast, Allan is gonna have to have an incredible game to keep him quiet. I would definitely start the usual 3 in mid for this game. Reina Hysaj-Maksimovic-Koulibaly-Ghoulam Allan-Jorginho-Hamsik Callejon-Mertens-Insigne I'm praying to god no one gets injured this international break
I think Albiol will definitely play, it would be a mistake not to play him. Maksimovic can get his chances, I'm all in for it, but in other games. Insigne was terrible against Cagliari, so I think he will be astonishing against Roma, hopefully it won't last longer than the game against Cagliari.
The thing about Maksimovic is that he's a tank. He's like 6'4 and I'm pretty sure Koulibaly is either 6'4 or 6'5 as well. That should cover us defensively when they cross it in to Dzeko. In a game where Roma has El Sha and Perotti on the counter, having a defensive (let's just call him defensive cuz he can't attack if his life depended on it) right back in Hysaj is very important. This game will be decided off of 1v1s Mertens vs Manolas Allan vs Nainggolan Dzeko vs Koulibaly/Maksimovic/Albiol Thank god Allan is in incredible form right now. Hopefully Hamsik woke up against Cagliari cuz the run he made for the 1st goal is more and more impressive every time I watch it, the pass was exceptional don't get me wrong but the run was perfect.
That's a good point you have, I was looking at it in a different way, considering experience to be the most important factor. But Roma will play through the air, I can see that, and Maksimovic with Koulibaly could be the recipe. We'll see what Sarri decides to do. Hamsik is getting more and more dangerous with every game he plays, so hopefully his confidence and ability will continue to grow. If I am to be perfectly honest, I think that Nainggolan has something more than Allan, whose perfect form I personally cannot vouch for. He's good, but I just don't see where does the excessive praise concerning him come from.
Allan has been great defensively and offensively. He's our version of Casemeiro for Real Madrid, there's more talented players all around him but he offers the perfect balance
I personally think that he's been very solid defensively, although sometimes he commits an entirely useless foul rather than a useful one. I can agree with the offensive part only to a certain degree, as I think he can do much more, but the problem is that he often tries too hard to attack individually. But overall, he's a very good player, I just think that he's still capable of more, if not in defense, then surely in offense.
No Hamsik-Ziel midfield please use it against butthole goon midfields who want to bus wank, Roma aren't bus wankers (unless they are?) Insigne-----Mertens------Callesexy -------Hamsik--------Allan------------- -----------Jorginho---------------------- -Ghoulam--K2----Albiol----Hysaj--- --------------Reina----------------------- not the game to experiment.... Maksi will have his work cut out for him against ManCity (K2 suspended)
I didnt watch the game but can someone explain to me how Juventus got a penalty in the 7th minute of extra time when the ref only added 4 mins?
Ref went to the replay box and watched the replay. I watched the game and can confirm it was a penalty. Stupid tackle in the dying seconds
Higuain hitting the bar on a goalie joke play, and Dybala hitting the post dying minutes plus missing a penalty. Pure fun.
At this rate it'll be easier for us to get Higuain in winter than call Inglese back lol. btw Ciro contributing more to Napoli's season than most our bench players.
Roma: Alisson; Peres, Manolas, Juan Jesus, Kolarov; Pellegrini, De Rossi, Nainggolan; Florenzi, Dzeko, Perotti Roma bench: Skorupski, Lobont, Karsdorp, Fazio, Nura, Hector Moreno, Gonalons, Gerson, Under Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Mertens, Insigne Napoli bench: Sepe, Rafael, Maggio, Maksimovic, Chiriches, Mario Rui, Rog, Diawara, Zielinski, Ounas, Giaccherini