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What a goal by Cassano.

He caused havoc in our defense and once again our goalie could have done better.


We are facing seroius troubles in defense.
 
nooooooooo Cagliari match is repeating


3-1 to Samp...and again from the cross.
 
We can't defend for sh!t...how the hell can Cassano score from between four of our men. And then nobody marks Stankevicius in the corner. Something needs to change in the defense or we can kiss any chance of getting into Europe goobye. Not that it's too surprising, changing four of the five in defense (including keeper) is a desperate move, especially as they didn't have the usual time train for the match...
 
Penalty for us, again underserved.
 
Hah, Italian refereeing is at historical low.
 
The problem is in the head, not in who gets for who ?
 
Zarate had no business doing that so it was deserved. Frustration just boiled over in the end. What a horrible match once again...I hate losing like this, when the other team is clearly no good either. How on earth did we manage to concede three + a penalty to a team that doesn't even put strikers in the box...
 
Another generous piece of rescueing from Lazio, just to keep the balance fair in the list of teams who benefit from the biancoceleste tendence to help the needing teams. And us? Who will resurrect us now? A new coach? A new set of defenders that Lotito will buy in the next three days? Another massive changes in the starting 11?

The second half began with the bad news of Rocchi injured (just as we haven't enough troubles), and went on with another ridiculous defensive act that allowed Cassano to cut Lazio defense like a knife cuts a mozzarella. Then, Siviglia presented our opponents again with a corner kick, and Stankevicius scored the 3-1, once again with our defense sleeping.

The referee was pretty bad, but blaming him for this defeat is absolutely wrong. I think that Zàrate was shown yellow card, right? Or was it Foggia? Or both? If it was Zàrate, then he will miss the next game against Milan. And the same goes for Lichtsteiner and Dabo, I think.

O well, not that at this point it matters much...
 
Remarkable how things can change so suddenly. Just a few days ago we were just a few points away from breaking into the top 5 and now, after two heavy losses, it all seems to far away.

There isn't any consistency in the team, apart from the recent poor performances by the defense. Rossi still doesn't seem to have made up his mind on a definite starting 11 either. One week the 4-3-3, then back to the 4-3-1-2 again.

Carrizo hasn't lived up to our expectations and neither has Muslera. Both have their moments, like stopping the penalty tonight, but they're far from being the dependable No. 1 that Peruzzi was.

Against this defense Milan will have a field day. So unless Lotito signs Superman as a central defender or Rossi figures out a brilliant tactical change, we can already chalk up a loss for the next match as well. :(
 
The referee was pretty bad, but blaming him for this defeat is absolutely wrong. I think that Zàrate was shown yellow card, right? Or was it Foggia? Or both? If it was Zàrate, then he will miss the next game against Milan. And the same goes for Lichtsteiner and Dabo, I think.
It was only Foggia who got booked in the end, but he is now suspended. A bit lucky with Zarate because he certainly deserved a booking as well. Lichtsteiner indeed also misses Milan. Dabo just missed the Cagliari game because of a suspension so he's available on Sunday.
 
I didn't watch the game but I told you it was the organization in defence that's the problem, not just individual players. Which is quite baffling as in Rossi's first two seasons we compensated the not so solid defenders with decent organization, at least most of the time. I guess Peruzzi was really the leader in defence and not just in leading by example. This season when we have been solid in defence it has usually been due to our players being dominant in the air and not allowing dangerous balls to reach the opposition's attackers in the first place. Or when Ledesma, Dabo and Lichtsteiner were playing as men possessed and their endless runnnig made up for the lack of good organization. We are really paying the penalty for Rossi tinkering with the defence too much. Siviglia's injury didn't help, true but playing a different left back in every game didn't help create cohesion either. If this chaos continues, I think it will be time to part ways with Rossi.
 
While I agree about the effect on too much juggling of the line-up (today's defensive line-up was an act of desperation above all else, four changes with two days to prepare) it has to be said in Rossi's favour that the players haven't made the job any easier. Take the left side for example. Had either Radu or Kolarov played on his top level the choice would be easy. Indeed if there was a clear difference in quality that would be the case. But this season neither of them ever seems to put up a good performance. Sure it's possible to stick with one guy, but one can imagine the criticism Rossi gets from fielding a player after several bad performances...

In central defense I think Siviglia's absence was a bigger issue than people realize. It was that last year and it continues to be. Rozehnal and Cribari are too similar, and Diakite cannot be counted for full time responsibility. I believe Siviglia-Rozehnal is the best pairing we can field this season, but how many times have we been able to do that? Again, it hasn't been an easy job for Rossi to stick with a duo for a long time.

Meanwhile, on the right side Lichtsteiner has been great and he always starts even though the other option is our own golden boy and a great talent. Rossi doesn't juggle when there's no need.

And what you said about Peruzzi, spot on. The guy was hugely underappreciated for his ability to lead a defense. People that know football also know the difficulties that keepers have that aren't apparent to TV. Carrizo didn't speak any Italian when he arrived, he came from a different league, plus he has a very unorthodox style. We should have expected that he can't reach his level in Argentina immediately. Perhaps it was a good idea to give Muslera the start today in order to let Carrizo cool off a bit, I don't know. But Carrizo should be our guy, and I'm sure Rossi thinks so as well.
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
A loss is a loss but this defeat doesn't feel as tough as the one against Cagliari because atleast our players seemed to care this time. There were a shole different attitude and willingness to fight and thas a step in the right direction, atleast.

However, there are so many other things still wrong with our team. The defence is a total mess and we need a leader. Siviglia has his limits but he must play because he is much more of a leader than Cribari, Rozehnal or Diakite. Rossi has to foucus on defence on the training ground.

Ledesma was decent last night but I was kicking myself every time he delivered a set piece way off the receiver. He was once a great weapon when he delivered dangerous freekicks right in the head of Siviglia.

And finally it looks like we could dribble on forever but not string three passes together in attack. We're not very effective.
 
It was only Foggia who got booked in the end, but he is now suspended. A bit lucky with Zarate because he certainly deserved a booking as well. Lichtsteiner indeed also misses Milan. Dabo just missed the Cagliari game because of a suspension so he's available on Sunday.
I remembered we had an ocean of "diffidati" (including Lichtsteiner), but I did not remember Dabo was not amongst them. I guess the game against Milan has a completely different perspective now :)
Still a few media (Corriere della Sera, for example) claim that Zàrate has been cautioned, not Foggia. In fact, it was pretty difficult to tell whom the referee showed the yellow card, since he kept it showing for a good dozen seconds. I guess we will have to wait until the judge issues the banned players to have the 100% certainty.
 
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