First match, first blame is placed on Ranieri for the loss of two points. The match was in our grasps and we could have won provided that the right substitutions were made, but like usual, they were not made. While I cannot stand Molinaro on our left flank, subbing this player at 70 minutes is not a logical thing to do. He's a player that can run, one who doesn't get tired, so subbing him instead of Nedved or Del Piero is just simply foolish. Iaquinta for Camoranesi is a very strange and bold thing to do while leading 1-0 at 80 minutes, and it turned out to be a mistake as we needed another player in midfield and someone who could hold the ball to take time off the clock. That was the move. But Ranieri, in his typical foolishness from last season, didn't see the obvious problem out there. Which is why people such as myself doubt him as a manager. And rightfully so.
I saw promising football in the first half, but as I said during halftime, we would not be able to keep our offensive movement going for the whole second half. That's why we needed subs about 60 minutes in. Viola had more and more of the ball, and our fullbacks were not doing the best of jobs closing down flank players, especially when Jovetic came in. What should have been done was either Nedved or Alex subbed 60 minutes in and brought on Salihamidzic and Giovinco, a weighted couple of switches that would cause Viola problems and Hasan would have added the grit to secure hopefully secure the win.
When people have concerns about the defense, they should not be taken lightly or joked around with. The concerns from people such as myself are our opinions; they are facets of our club which we could have protected against. Signing a classy partner for Chiellini and upgrade to Molinaro were important matters over the summer, yet we did not address them and we are already feeling the effects of it even in the first match. Mellberg was completely and utterly owned by Gilardino. I'm willing to give him more chances though, but he needs to change my overall opinion on him. Same with other individuals.
The result was not poor per se, but we really should have won the match. The best football clubs secure and win those matches, not dropping points, especially in a situation such as this. We need to do a better job winning matches we should win, closing out results and not dropping points if we want to challenge for top honors. We are capable of better than this today, so we need to improve quickly.
Buffon - Made some good saves multiple times, like usual. 7
Grygera - Slotted the cross home for Nedved's goal but at the back he's too much of a liability. Zebina makes less errors than him without a doubt. 5
Mellberg - Made a few big errors, especially against Gilardino, so he needs to shape up quickly. While he did make a few good tackles/headers, more performances such as this will make it apparent why nobody from the top Prem teams wanted him. 5
Legrottaglie - Did not made that many mistakes at the back and was good in the first half. 6
Molinaro - Comedy as usual but didn't commit any fatal mistakes like he did in some friendlies. 5.5
Camoranesi - Very active, full of running, switching positions, which is what I like to see from this player. But he didn't have the best of matches. 6
Marchisio - Solid in the midfield and impressive. I think he needs to get more involved with the attack, however, and improve his passing. 6
Poulsen - Very solid in midfield and even played some good balls to various players. 7
Nedved - Good goal and good running like usual, but he needed a sub. 6.5
Amauri - Beast of a player, but sometimes I think he tries too hard to score. I hope he can put the ball in the net soon so he isn't labeled as a flop by the retarded Italian media. 6.5
Del Piero - Wasn't himself today. Should have scored the breakaway. Looked unfit after halftime. I hope he hasn't lost his spark from last season because it was crucial to our game. 5.5
De Ceglie - Didn't really impress when he came on but that would have been hard to do at that point in the game. Start him over Molinaro next match without a doubt, please. 5.5
Iaquinta - Didn't do much. 5
Ranieri - The Substitution dilemma is once again our problem. It's almost as if he never learns. Wrong substitutions is the reason why we lost 2 points, and that is the fault of Ranieri whether people like it or not. 3.5
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