What did everyone think of Rafael? Bad news first, was he to blame for Immobile's goal? The goal first, let's not beat around the bush, the finish was great and Toloi or De Sanctis couldn't have stopped it. Could Toloi have done better? I think so. When watching the game I immediately blamed Toloi for not marking tight enough. I thought he was switched off but I've watched it a few times and Toloi begins to cover as the pass is about to made. His awareness, or reading of the game is not to be questioned, he knew the danger that was encroaching from the pass about to be played and moved to cover the space in behind. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get tight enough to Immobile to pressure or challenge him for the ball, perhaps due to a lack of peace or desire. However I don't think it was the latter as the man's passion was clearly shown in the celebration of Ale's goal. It's too early to vilify him or write him off, he wasn't fully to blame for the goal but I think he could've done better to get tighter however he was aware of the danger and that's something at least. Due to the outstanding performance of Castan, also Maicon, he didn't have a whole lot of defensive work to do but he does seem to have a hell of a shot for a defender. He is still young at 23, and this is the only opportunity we have seen so far, hopefully he gets more games before the end of the season to fully judge his capabilities and whether he is worth is arranged few of 5.5 million.
IMO he stood of because 9/10 times the striker takes the ball down to dribble, thats what Toloi was anticipating
Toloi definitely was not positioned properly and wasn't ready to make the run, but even Benatia gets beaten to a ball like that in many games. The main blame should be on MDS as his positioning was horrible, he was standing next to the post and the shot went in the middle of the goal. His reaction was not existent too. Toloi is out of shape and hasn't played a match in 5 months, so he should get some slack for now. He seemed slow and passive, but great with the ball with rocket like shots. Great win after all, and great finish by Florenzi. We are on our way to reach 85+ points for the 1st time in the club's history, shame it's not enough for #1.
I think we are over analyzing what was a moment of brilliance that happens once in a blue moon. There were no obvious mistakes leading to the goal. It is really harsh to point fingers.
Yeah we are, though I think De Sanctis was at fault here and it's not the first time he forgets where he is standing.
1:25 .. Look at DS positioning. He was great last 2 matches so we can't be too harsh on him, but he gets the main blame for this goal. It wasn't a great shot at all, if he was positioned properly he would've stopped it without even having to jump.
De Sanctis reaction was like everyone's else.. holy ******** where did that shot come from. I have seen Buffon does that more than once. Totti's rocket last season comes to mind. As for positioning, keepers are always instructed to position themselves close to the near post. Maybe Morgan over did it, but again it was not an obvious mistake.
When we will be playing CL, there will be plenty of moments of brilliance. Playing against world class players requires top notch defending.
Agree 100%. Sometimes you have to just sit back and applaud a wonderful piece of skill - and that is what we saw. The guy scored off a volley on his weaker foot. It was just really classy. In a way, it might be a great teaching moment for Toloi. He sees what can happen at this level and he will have to push himself to be better.
If a keeper was not positioned to his near post on that angle he would be labelled an amatuer. What you're actually saying is if he was slow and out of position he would have got lucky and caught it without jumping
Not at all. Yes he should be closer to the side where the ball is, but in this instance he was way too close and the goal was wide open. The shot went in the middle of the goal, you can't cover a corner and open the middle of the goal to the attacker, you are shooting yourself in the foot like that. But it wasn't intentional, most of the time you will see him better positioned.
Disagree, its just one of those perfect shots hit at the right time, makes it look bad but I can't blame him or Toloi
[quote="Salmeen10, post: 29823576, member: 235045" This image is of the goal, it shows the difference between how Castan marks his attacker and Toloi.[/quote] If you watch a video with a wider angle, you can seen Toloi dropping back as that ball is about to be played, he might not have been man marking Immobile 100% but he definitely had the awareness to know where that ball was going go. On De Sanctis' positioning, a GK has to protect his front post first and foremost, it gives him a better angle and there is nothing more embarrassing when a GK gets beat at the near post. You'd rather have a guy curve a shot around you for the far post than to just pass it into the near post for a goal. At the end of the day Gervi and Ale got us the three points. We are going into microscopic details over a great strike, it shows what we've come to expect from our defence thanks to Rudi, perfection! unfortunately nothing is perfect.
Aside from Castan, Gervinho, and Maicon, and Florenzi, I wasn't too pleased with the rest of the team. I thought they looked sluggish and/or tired, and there wasn't too much movement. I thought they should have been a bit more dynamic, a bit more... Zeman.
My heart was in my throat when Nainggolan cleaned out that one Torino player. I was expecting a straight red. I don't think Toloi was at fault for the goal, per se, but he definitely lost track of how close he and Immobile were to the goal. They were way too close to goal for Toloi to be daring Immobile to take a shot. That wasn't like Totti's Sampdoria volley where you let him take that shot and tip your hat if he takes a brilliant, one in a million strike.
I thought Toloi was OK and I loved his passion... Both him and De Sanctis are to blame on the goal, but just barely, more than anything, that goal was pure brilliance from Immobile, he isn't the current Capo Cannonieri for nothing, don't forget this. Toloi's shot is incredible, funny how Romagnoli let off a screamer as well, on a day where we didn't have a Superman on goal against us those two would've been brilliant goals form defenders... seems our back line has been hanging out with Totti during training
Side note: 2.5 minutes of the 3 minutes of stoppage time were us celebrating Florenzi's goal. Bergonzi still blows the whistle at 3:00. LOL
Their goal? I'm sorry but that was poor defending from Toloi. To allow Immobile to get that far away from him on a long ball over the top was poor. A possible explanation is that Toloi thought that Immobile's position was wider than it actually was and therefore he didn't make as much of an effort to get as tight as he could of done. Their goal notwithstanding I think Toloi had a sound game, especially when you consider it was his first game of football for some time. It was an excellent finish and to blame MDS positioning is just wrong. As was mentioned above if he doesn't cover the near post and then gets beaten at the near post that's when you start talking about bad positioning. Talking about who was good and who was not so good. Castan, DDR, Mike and Gervi were the picks of the bunch. Radja had easily his worst game in a Roma jersey thus far and after what I thought was a below average performance by his standards vs Chievo I think Totti was not even close to his best again last night. That's the reason we needed a 92nd minute goal to win the game.