people right now are acting as if they knew that we would have won with other players on the pitch.
please don't live in denial... you guys think "del piero would have burried the situation when giaccherini had the chance", but that is just fiction. fiction because you combine the best attributes of both players (giacch & alex) to build your image of a better outcame.
the higher probability is, that alex would not even have been at that spot where giaccherini was to get that ball. he does not even have 80% of the speed giaccherini has. so, giaccherini fucked up a counter or two ? of course he did, but on the other side he often took the ball at the halfway line and just bursted until 20 metres in front of the goal, which alex would not have done. while playing counters alex is the least player you wanna have as any player that is not the last to touch or shoot on goal. if alex gets the ball at the halfway line he too takes too long to pass it on, because he just has it in him to do a hook here and a feint there and gives the opponent time to regather.
on top of that this ref could have easily nullified anything alex does. hell the ref did not even whistle when fighters like lichtsteiner or vidal got fouled... people who dont fall that easily... with alex' tendency to fall and hope for a free kick so appaerent it is very probable that alex would have lost most of the balls because romas players would just hack him down and the ref would wave "play on".