Just got home. Really think we are pushing too much in these games to try and score 10. Starting with 2 strikers is just not happening in Europe and it never will. Tonight stunk of the Bayern masterclass last year and I really think Roma also taught us a lesson in how to play football in the most simple fashion. We got absolutely mullered in midfield and the basics are what did us over and over. Roma were all about just simple passing and moving and they barely had their usual 11 out. We rather laboured on relying on fancy flicks and balls over the top to try and force some kind of mistake or similar but at this level your playing against great players who know how to deal with it. We had a few chances but the most worrying aspect is the total lack of dominance and control, Roma always looked more threatening and really on the chances they had they deserved the 3 points.
I think Pellegrini needs to latch on that Europe is different, don't forget the man has zero experience in Europe so this is a learning curve for him and I think yet again he got the selection wrong today. That pocket where Clichy sits is a MAJOR problem, Maicon had acres of space over and over in the first 25 minutes and he should really of scored when he hit the bar. The same happened against Hull and it's because we have 2 strikers on the pitch, we lose control over midfield and against these teams, it's not like your playing Hull, you have top quality strikers like Totti who just need a chance as we saw.
We just aren't suited to playing the way we did today and it was ALWAYS a struggle to get into the game and you could just see the players had to work that extra bit harder just to keep up. Did anyone else notice how comfortable Roma looked on the ball whereas we looked panicked and sometimes surprised at the way we were attacking. Most of the time for example Joe just got hold of the ball and had absolutely no idea what to do with it forcing us to go route one.
I can't really say I was disappointed in any players, everyone put a shift in but we looked laboured because Roma essentially had the better gameplan. They defended well and really were so dangerous on the break, we were lucky if you look at the chances they did miss. The tactical aspect of tonights game was all wrong and in the end we were outplayed by a decent outfit who just play the ball on the deck and moved men around it. Every aspect of our play was the opposite, Silva drifted around and linked up play but it just wasn't decisive, for us to score tonight it would of taken something special (or a penalty in the first case!)
Anyway Dzeko was my man of the match, he did really well in all the battles and it's just a shame he never got a chance but otherwise he was fantastic. Sergio I don't think really gets into these kind of games because he likes to have the space and you just don't get it here but he is always that player who if we had made him a chance he'd score. I think MP got that sub wrong because Dzeko was linking up well and you just never know from corners and what not. Let's face it, it's easier for 2 6ft somethings to mark a 5ft 8 player out the game and it's not like it was going to take a clean through type finish from Sergio because Roma were just sitting back.
Anyway I can only feel disappointed and it's hard to put your finger on the problem but I just don't think we gave any real account of ourselves and it was really as though we were playing West Ham or something and it was going to be easy after the penalty. It's just not good enough really and I dread to think what someone like Real Madrid would do to us the way we are playing at the moment.
