We were outsmarted. Granted, the early goal made it easy for Palermo, but their tactics were very good and they managed to soak the pressure and force us to rely on set-pieces which they defended well for the bigger part of the match.
Nothing new and nothing unknown from this match. Sucks that we conceded so many goals, but we already knew that we're a team that has to score more than once in order to win a match.
We'll do better on away matches where teams won't defend in numbers. We simply don't have the quality to beat teams that defend and counter.
Also, we were kinda unlucky tonight. We had many shots on goal but we weren't precise enough and we had a keeper playing against us who did very well.
Can and will be better. Just don't expect too much from our team.
Storari 4.5 - Not his day. He also failed to play it smart. Knowing what kind of defense he has, he needs to clear the ball away from the box, not inside of it. That cost us the second goal. He was too slow for the third.
Motta 4.5 - Assisted the consolation goal, but it was him who was the weak link at the back. Not enough spark and not aggressive enough for a defender. Stops to watch when he should run and act.
Chiellini 5.5 - Can't give him a bigger rating when he's a defender of a team that concedes three goals and allows 2-3 more great chances. The best of the bunch, though.
Bonucci 5.0 - Made some smart fouls but got skinned on more than one occasion. I think the first goal was his and Motta's co-production?
Grygera 4.5 - Troubled a lot. A noticed 1-2 good defensive plays, but that was it. A little better than Motta, but has the same rating due to Motta's involvement in attack, which we missed on Grygera's side, apart from one action where he won us a corner and almost earned an owngoal.
Melo 6.5 - Won us many balls. If the others played well this was gonna be a great match by Melo. This way all his work went down the toilet.
Marchisio 6.0 - I thought he was ok. His early yellow prevented him from being more aggressive.
Pepe 4.5 - Hot and cold with Pepe. He's not a LM and Palermo knew how to take advantage of that.
Krasic 6.0 - I might be generous here. Balza got the better of Milos. The Serb was still one of our most dangerous players. Not consistent though. Does something good and it was followed by something bad. Too bad he can't find his debut goal. Came really close on 2-3 occasions.
Quagliarella 4.5 - Tbh, I hardly noticed him.
Del Piero 6.5 - He realized that our chance was to shoot from distance or from set pieces and he earned us free kicks and corners. Did well in the little counters we had by employing the others well and putting them in excellent position to shoot or cross. Unlucky on two occasions when Sirigu saved his shot and when he could have been given a penalty. Held the ball a little too much than what I'd like but it might had to do with the movement of the others and the excellent marking from the opposition.
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Amauri 5.5 - Fought, ran, outjumped his markers, but it's annoying that he needs so many shots to score.
Iaquinta 5.5 - The worse one between him and Amauri. Equal rating only due to the goal he scored.
Aquilani 5.5 - We conceded the 2nd soon after he came in so there was little he could change. Didn't do anything good in particular but showed signs that he can improve this team.
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glad someone saw it too!
