Finally calmed down after that run of horrible results, a 2 week cooling off period, and another exasperating 8 minutes.
-
It was a good gameplan by OGS, perhaps showing glimpses of how he indeed has the ability to set things up correctly according to the opposition as well as making the best of who we have available.
Was watching the pre-match buildup, and saw AxelT. Next moment, in the tunnel, I see MarcosR. Duh. Another new player starts getting this cursed "injured during warmup" symptom? Last I remember, players who got this were names like LouisSaha, OwenHargreaves, PhilJ, LukeS. And we all know how the first 3 careers panned out.
Perhaps OleGS finally found the position that AndreasP is best used in. He's not amazing, but he has the energy to do the job behind 2 quick forwards. I'd like to think the early scuffed shot by him was on purpose - to draw defenders to close him down whenever he advances to open up space for the sides. Execution was meh though.
Fred was... underwhelming really. Energetic but technically really quite a liability so far. I really don't like midfielders losing the ball in our own third. Actually, I don't like midfielders losing the ball due to slowness at all.
I still remember seeing the timer at 84th and thinking the team just needs to keep it steady for another 8mins or so. And next moment they all stood flatfooted to let them score. 3 central defenders who let the ball pass by them to the far post. Fantastic defence isn't it? AshleyY was bested by the one he was supposed to mark, but one of the 3 central defenders should really have cut it out.
Extremely disappointed with the manner we let slip 2 points. I'd eat bittergourd if it was some wonder strike, but for the defence to not do anything about what seemed like a simple cross is just duh. Would it have been different had it been AxelT? Maybe, who knows. All I know is that apparently ChrisS is now an anchor player in Roma's defence.
It has been a while since I've felt that the squad depth is way too thin. But the biggest problem remains - we don't have alternative type of players who can offer something different.