Quag's injury was not the sole cause of our shocking form after the christmas break, but coming as it did with Melo's dismissal and suspension, that game definitely had a massive effect on the squad as a whole...We had not lost, or looked like being overun and deserving to lose in any of our previous 13 games in the league. Yes we were drawing many, but never been horribly embarassed by a very wide rang of opponents. That Parma match...destroyed the spirit and belief in the team. A huge defeat, at home, losing to serious injury early on the one offensive player who had been on fire all season, then losing for that game and 3 more games, our most consistently useful midfielder...The thing with Quag's loss, is the movement. He moves around the pitch very intelligently, is very hard to mark, ends up pulling defenders out of position, and as much as he has a lot of flair for shooting, his passing is also a high standard. Dp is too old to be creating openings through impressive movement, amauri is static, iaquinta is dead...indeed, quag coming deep, through the middle, heading out to the flanks...we missed that hugely.
I agree, Bjerkness...we have hardly improved on depth at all, but we have improved our first team...slightly. And we have removed and look like removing more of our dead wood. And we have lowered the wage bill and general age of the first team squad...Real positives are hard to find. Sorensen is a definite one...as is return to regular strong form of Melo. Quags was also a massive positive, before his injury, and was playing some of the best football of his career in our squad, under DN...de ceglie looked OK for a few matches before his injury. Before Christmas there were clear signs of the grinta returning to the ranks...hence the unbeaten run.
Maybe I am clutching at straws, and the negatives obviously outweigh the negatives. 7th last season, 7th this season...if DN is not sacked come the end of the season, it sends the message out that we are satisfied with mediocrity..NOT building a winning team.
No matter how spirited we looked in the first half of the season...more noteworthy for me is what happened when we had a player sent off and out best striker injured. We completely capitulated, and thoroughly merited a heavy home defeat to one of the weakest teams in the league. Its strangely more rare for me to see a decent team go down to ten men and actually play worse than with XI...decent teams at worst, more often than not, when losing a player to a RED, grow in determination, rather than wilt like suddenly very nervous prepubescent girls...THAT game was a better indicator of how much belief and motivation DN has managed to put into the squad.
Marotta has made some mistakes, some successes...i am content to see what he can do this summer. But DN has to be fired...as many of the current playing squad need to be sold...de ceglie, motta, pepe, marchisio...as starters??? we deserve 7th with such a piss weak best XI.
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we're 7th right now in the table, how is that an improvement over last few seasons !!
Can't give you rep anymore though.
