I love Tottimerda's impotence look!!! Roma about to make history with a treble of their own...three major loses to the kings of Italy/Europe in 2010. Scudetto, Coppa, and Supercoppa!!!
Absolutely agree. Honestly, I'm still trying to get the feel of what Benitez has the guys doing - how far are they allowed to get out of their areas and so forth. I like a lot of Rafa's changes, it's just that Mou had them so regimented and disciplined that it's a little strange to see some of the runs they're making and the positions they're ending up in. For instance, it seems in the first half Maicon was possessing the ball up the right a lot more than last year when the attack went typically through Cambiasso & Sneijder, while Maicon was making dangerous overlapping runs, then getting the ball in the attacking third. This might be the reason Milito has looked a little slow or hesitant in a couple of spots. Instead of being the tip of the spear with 3 other attackers, he now has a RB possessing the ball through midfield, making him extra conscious of getting caught in an offside position. It surely must be an significant adjustment, but the good thing is that the chemistry between Sneijder-Eto'o-Pandev-Milito is incredible, as much of the play has shown in the second half. It's going to take an incredible defensive effort by a team to stop that combination.
Agree and it still needs some work, we will see in the next few games how things look. Big Ben started good and we have our first title, hopefully second will arrive in a few days against Athletico!
Good analysis. I was glad to see Eto'o more often where he should be in his traditional central position (+ some occasional freelancing) where he has been most lethal. Like I had mentioned in a pre-season thread, that this level of fluidity is not something I was accustomed to last season. There is one thing though -- as good as Maicon is, I have seen repeated plays that he has made that betray what appears to be selfish individualism. He will take aim at goal even at very tight angles, when Eto'o and/or Milito and Schneider are waiting to be supplied. Granted that some of the goals Maicon has scored have been awesome, but its like he needs too many attemtps to come up with something like that.
Our very own magic square? Anyway I agree with everything you said, the team looks a lot more flexible under Rafa, I mean we finally saw some rotation between the front 3 (something I had been crying out for under Mou) and both Pandev and Eto'o got on the scoresheet and generally played well. After the season he just had, Milito is going to be marked like hell now and we won't be able to rely on him as our sole goal scoring option, we need the others to step up as well, Rafa knows this as well and no doubt we will see Eto'o and Pandev playing more centrally alot.