We should have won this match on the basis of fouls by Roma (2 pens, 1 red, and multiple yellows to prevent them from pressing). BUT in-spite of that there is no way we should have not won. I mean the 1st half we were shocking. WE ARE AT HOME AND ROMA ARE MISSING 3 KEY PLAYERS.
For me, Toure doesn't work in europe. Not anymore. Neither in a 3 man midfield and definitely not in a 2 man. In a 2 man midfield you need incredibly hard working players who should also be technically good if you want to dominate the game. We don't have them (yaya is not a work horse, fernandinho is Ok technically, and Fernando while superb at defense in not what you'd all a technically gifted player). In a 3 man midfield Yaya isn't effective since he (or Manuel makes him) plays off the striker and that nullifies his ability to control games. For me the way forward at should be the Ferns in a midfiled 2 and silva in the hole at home, away we should flood the midfield (Milner, the ferns and no yaya) and play silva wide.
Further more, I get that we wanted to make a statement by playing 2 strikers but that just shows the naivety of our manager and a lot of fellow poster who were arrogantly proclaiming a 5-0 victory. WE NEEDED the win and 1-0 is as good as 5-0. And its not that you can't score many with 1 striker only.
Look at PSG today, they played 433 and although barca dominated, they still won. Hard work in midfield, taking chances off set pieces and counters. I believe we are better (slightly) than PSG. I also believe that Barca is miles better than Roma.
Which bring me to the last part - set pieces. The amount that we get and with the sort of physical players we have we should be scoring a shit load from them. I honestly believe we can average 2 goals per 3 games from set pieces alone because of the amount we get and the playes with aerial prowess that we posses. We need work on them (the delivery and set up) and need a proper set piece taker. Set pieces in the box with proper pace and curl cause defenses a lot of problems. In Europe against big teams that is the best chance to score (look at Athletico - hard work and set piece proficiency).
I am beginning to think this season is a write off for us. Memories of the 2012-13 season even though we prepared better. Hopefully it will change but I am not too optimistic.