Roma-Milan post-game comments

Bad loss...who knows what this means in the title chase, but I'm not giving up the ship. Juve sooner or later has to give up some points down the line. They are good, but c'mon they aren't the Gods of the game!

What I saw today was a Roma team able to run at us like it was a track meet. Carlo needs to fix our midfield, and fast. The defense is just getting exposed way too much. Yes, we need defenders but the midfield situation is way too imbalanced for my taste. Maybe flatten it out or what, I don't know. Any amrchair tacticians out there I'm open for discussion. I dunno, I think we need to see Ambro and Rino out there at the same time playing central distribution and Rui and Kaka out wide. Yes, an Ambro-Rino partnership hasn't worked in the past but we need some steel in our midfield. What do you guys think?

With the exception of Gattuso, the rest of our midfield are quite light-weight, you don't expect to see Pirlo, Seedorf or Kaka making crunching tackles. There are some games (usually away from home) where you have to sacrifice some playmakers for a solid platform that will protect the back 4 ... this becomes more important now our back 4 aren't as reliable as they were.

Can Rui-Costa and Kaka really play wide ? Rui doesn't have the pace plus he would be more suited in the middle as that'll make the most of his passing. It's time for Jankulovski to be given an extended run in the team in my opinion, he's too good to be wasting away on the bench.

Let's face it, Goose: only a miracle could bring us the Scudetto. We are playing in a rather schizophrenic fashion, without the necessary cohesivity and organicity between defence, midfield and attack. It's also pretty clear that we are in bad need of reinforcements, not only on defence, but on midfield to, 'cause we need a new attacking midfield to pair with Kaka.

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

Can Rui-Costa and Kaka really play wide ? Rui doesn't have the pace plus he would be more suited in the middle as that'll make the most of his passing.

That's the precise reason why we need a new attacking midfielder, someone like Sneijder or Robben, capable of playing out wide with pace and skill.

Look people, it's not like this defeat had any fundamental meaning. Serie A was decided before winter break, there is no way anybody will catch Juve this season, they are way too good and will deservedly take the scudetto. Our only hope is the CL.

Win the CL being in such a mess, playing fine one day and atrociously another? I can't see how...

Originally Posted by GRE-NO-LI

That's the precise reason why we need a new attacking midfielder, someone like Sneijder or Robben, capable of playing out wide with pace and skill.

Sneijder is not a wide midfielder and Robben can't be priced away from Chelsea. There are very few really good wingers in the world right now and most of them (like Joaquin, Vicente, C.Ronaldo) would probably do poorly in Serie A.

Fact is, we have ****loads of good players in our ranks already. People like Jankulovski, Stam and Rui often sitting on bench...it's not like we don't have enough quality. We have a good and well-balanced squad, but things simply haven't turned out too well this season. It doesn't mean that a major reshuffle is necessary.

Originally Posted by GRE-NO-LI

Win the CL being in such a mess, playing fine one day and atrociously another? I can't see how...

Well, last season we managed to do it. Our form wasn't that great in serie a, but still we were impressive in CL and almost won it. Fact is that in really big and important games we usually manage to get our act together. Let's not forget that our best performance by far this season was against the most difficult opponent...Juve.

Another point: Gattuso and Pirlo played pretty bad today, not giving the defence sufficient cover.

We played superbly against Juve, that's true, but that was like an intense but brief dash of light in the dark.

Really bad game from Milan we weren't interested to win this game, we weren't running at all, but when we concede the goal we started to play i just hate that
i hope we do better in CL and reach the final because the Seria A is lost

problem is that kaladze had problems playing center back against parma, he wont be able to cope against bayern..... I agree with others here, our squad is small and flat this year. The year we won the scudetto and champ league we had alot more squad players like redondo, brocchi..... Juve are doing so well because they have a big squad, plus moggi has been trying to buy young players to release the ageing ones.

The thing that worries me the most is that Maldini is still having injury problems, he could turn round and say in the summer, enoth is enoth... what do we do then?

I think even qualifing for the Champ league next year is going to be a challenge, considering inter and florentina have both beaten as so far.......

Another thing, why is serghino playing left back?

Originally Posted by Graeme C

Juve are doing so well because they have a big squad, plus moggi has been trying to buy young players to release the ageing ones.

They have squad depth, what we are desperately in need.

GREN-NO-LI, we have quality midfield depth. Defenders, once again, we need to address that, soon, later, whatever. We definitely need help here if we want to play the tactics we're playing. When I see Barzgli or Oddo or Alex, or whoever defender-du-jour holding up the red-and-black shirt with Galliani, I'll be happy as a hog rolling around in the *** pen.

But back to the midfield. Vogel and Marek are international-quality players who will represent their respective countries in the World Cup. Ambro is finally over his injuries, when he's fully fit and confident he in my opinion is a far better option playing the midfield destroyer role than Rino. We've seen Rui Costa play extremely well recently. So why aren't these guys getting any play? I'm not saying pull out all of the starters and put in a totally new set of midfielders. Take out guys who aren't getting it done and plug in his most natural replacement. I agree with you GRE-NO-LI, Pirlo and Gattuso stunk it up today. So on Wednesday, Carlo, field Vogel and Ambro! Carlo said some time in the past that Milan's problems are character related. Well, put you $$ where your mouth is. It's time to start really putting pressure on some people who think their ****e doesn't stink. They (Pirlo and Seedorf) are too attack-minded and that's dangerous because they're constantly getting caught upfield. They need to balance their mindset. You look at Ambro, Vogel, and Marek and they think defence first. Perhaps that's what our midfield needs right now. What do you guys think?

Graeme, Serginho is playing left back because it gives Carlo an overlapping option on the flanks, like Cafu was on the right side. Stan and Simic aren't as effective because they're not as pacy or well-conditioned to do it for 90 minutes. Did you know that before Serginho joined us in 1999 that left wingback was his natural position?