Il Danielista 11

By: Michele | January 12th, 2009

Roma – AC Milan

…or Roma entertain Silvio’s traveling circus……

……..or Mirko 2 Pato 2

It was very much a game of two halves.
So in that respect much like any other football game you’ve seen…

I was really looking forwards to this game after what felt like months of having to feign interest in the premiership and was sure Roma would win.

After all who does Milan have who can stand up to DDR?
With Gattuso out, Pirlo playing like an on form Brocchi, Flamini not being given a chance, ‘Dinho playing like a circus seal, golden balls being an underwear model, Seedorf being a bit a bit past it and Kaka… Well I guess Kaka but on good day Daniele can hold his ground against anyone let alone the cast of
Last of the Summer Wine…

Roma dominated in the first and should probably should have scored at least two but they decided to relax a little after the first goal.
In the second half AC remembered they weren’t playing subbuteo and began to move a bit.
The result was two very quick goals by Pato (48th and 53rd).
Then Roma looked a bit shell shocked before Pizarro came on and woke them up half way through the second. I have never been so happy to see little David. He won free kicks, gave Roma a much needed jab of creativity and this all led to Mirko popping the ball into the net.

Fact - Mirko is now AC’s bogeyman with 4 goals in his past 3 games against them.

On to the ratings.

DDR Rating 7.5

Daniele bossed the midfield in the first half and even went so far as to humiliate ‘Dinho round the 20th minute. His performance was near perfect – the only blemishes being his off target long balls and a couple of cannon balls that went way over the bald fascist in the Milan goal.
In the second half Daniele gave a solid performance but had to be Roma’s all. Whenever a team-mate ran into trouble he had to be there, when no one had any ideas he had to hoof the ball up and hope for a Mirko-acle ( I know…) and of course DDR could not keep tabs on both Kaka and Pato at the same time. Looked much better when Piza came on and took over the offensive duties allowing Daniele to focus on covering the back four and make up for the Peruvians lapses.

Great game from Capitano Futuro.

Less Reputable Ratings:

goal.com

De Rossi – 6.5
Plays with his heart on his sleeve each and every time he takes to the field, and this showed again tonight. The stand in captain was a little wasteful at times; however he never gave in and fought to the end.

La Gazzetta

De Rossi – 7

King of the midfield. Pulled off a trick right under Ronaldinho’s nose before launching the attack that resulted in the first goal. Shines more brightly than any of the stars fielded by AC Milan.

Romanews.eu

No Rating.

The Rest of the Team:
(per La Gazzetta)

MOTM
MIRKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 8
Scores as soon as he’s given a chance to take on a defender. Reeks of selfishness but he is the one attacker the AC defence fears. When ASR seems out of wind he knocks in his 12th of the season.

Grande Mirko.
Not sure if going it alone instead of passing to Baptista is all that selfish…

Doni 6
Maybe Milan decided to let him freeze a little before surprising him. Either way after giving him no work for a long stretch Pato beat him twice. Good save on Kaka towards the end.

Neither goal was really his fault but he looked a bit shaky at times.

Cassetti 5
A dignified first half and then a nightmare start to the second. He found himself swarmed like it was the first day of sales. It was on his flank that Milan scored both goals.

Roma’s worst first team player.
My worst nightmare come true; Cassetti vs Kaka, Pato and Ronaldinho (even though he did manage to successfully grope the latter for the first 45).

Mexes 5.5
A few elegant tackles, as usual. However was left for dead by Pato on the second goal. In his defence he is often up against players sprinting down the pitch who should have been stopped before (see above).

A bit unfair but not Philou’s best game. He was pretty much alone against Kaka and Pato but really looked like he’d had a turkey (a duck?) too many on the second goal.

Juan 6.5
This time he was the better of the central pairing. This time it looked more like Mexes was leaning on him. Great performance considering what he was up against.

Juan-ito played very well and really made Kaka his bitch in the first half. He performed one stupendous tackle on his international team-mate to save ASR going 3 down.
Class, hope it lasts and he stays injury free.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise 6.5
Saw Beckham in front of him and remembered how he played in the premiership.
Starts well with a good run, a real cannon ball shot and an assist.
A good surprise.

Good game from our ginger giant.
Roma badly needed some muscle and he provided it. No surprise that both goals came from the other side.

Taddei 5
Picked over the geometric Pizarro to assault the Milanese ball passers. He did none of this and gave Milan an easy choice with regards to which flank to attack.

Does Taddei fit into this system?

DDR
Above

Brighi 6.5
Ancelotti would love to grab him and drag him to Milan even if he wouldn’t sell many shirts. Always bites and was instrumental for the second Roma goal.

Good game but I wonder if he hasn’t reached his plateau.
I want Aquilani back…

Perrotta 6
Marked in good faith. Does a lot on the pitch especially when off the ball even though he doesn’t manage to slip through the defence and tap one in.

Ran a lot, tackled a fair bit, did what he was told.
Solid.

Baptista 5.5
Too many mistakes, too much confusion and few useful contributions. Starts wide facing Beckham (beauty and the beast – not my line) and ends up playing as a striker. Involved in the first goal but by accident.

Brings muscle to the team and that’s about it. Does not seem to know where he’s supposed to be playing. I’m not sure its entirely his fault.

Pizarro 6.5
Comes on and the team notices, his ideas, from behind the strikers make manoeuvres more incisive. In the absence of Totti and Menez was Spalletti right to sacrifice him?

Came on and Roma scored.
I never knew how much Roma needed him.
Maybe Spal’s crush isn’t so delusional.

Aqui
Came on very late and showed his Roman brother in arms how to take a shot without blasting it over the goal – just slightly to the right.

Cici
Said he wants to leave then said he didn’t.
Does anyone care?

Interviews

DDR says 4th place is still the objective.

Spal points out the obvious…

Other

Jokes.

…………….and best till last

pop the bubbly……………….

TOTTI is back in training!!!!!!!!!

Sampdoria return to Rome for 84 minutes on Wednesday and Roma are minus Mirko which evens things out a bit.