re: AS Roma v. Catania, 1:45 CDT, No TV

I am not watching the game. Is mattia destro playing?

quote:

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I am not watching the game. Is mattia destro playing?

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Destro was serving a yellow card suspension carried over from the end of last season.


Mixed thoughts about the match overall. Roma should beat Catania at home but they are a quality side with the type lethal counter attack perfectly suited to take advantage of Roma's directness when errors are made. They also managed to keep their entire roster intact so the draw's no huge red flag either.


Bradley played ok but got caught in possession in very dangerous positions a couple of times and had a couple of poor touches that stalled attacks.

However, there had to be some first game jitters in a Stadio Olimpico filled with 60k raving lunatics. He alluded to so much in his post game interview.

Also, the midfield as a unit (de Rossi and Pjanic included) wasn't quite as fluid in spacing/ one touch passing as it has been the past few friendlies. It was, however, Bradley's long diagonal that saved the day to some degree as it found El Conejo for his superb equalizer.



Some other thoughts:


Castan (CB): excellent first match overall. Solid ball winner who plays tough and has a decent amount of pace. Seems like a fantastic signing made even more shrewd considering the low transfer price.


Osvaldo: as I've said since last year, he's just a small step in consistency away from being a truly elite striker.


Totti/Balzaretti: need to work out their spacing on the left side. Totti moved to the wing was a huge question mark under Zeman. More joy, as the British so foppishly put it, should be coming from 2 players of their quality.


Lamela: Messi-esque at times with the ball at his feet, chicken with his cut off-esque at times in his off the ball movement.