Last night we saw Serie A match of the week on a Friday night in Milan at the San Siro. Inter Milan was just coming off a victory that pushed them into the top of Italian football re were looking to extend that against a Roma team who continues to be a contender for Champions League football. Inter Milan has been the best team in the league this season largely because of the influence of Antonio Conte on the side. They were playing with much higher confidence and have the players and resources to capture the league title. Meanwhile, Roma is a much different team under Paulo Fonseca who is taken their attacking football to a different level. With all the hype surrounding this match, it was expected to be an absolutely stunning match of football. Last season the teams split the season series with two drawers. In fact, Roma has done remarkably well at the San Siro whether it was against AC Milan or Inter Milan. They have a fairly long unbeaten run at the San Siro against inter they would provide their own set of challenges against the league leaders. It was truly a battle for 90 minutes as both teams had their moments. But mostly it was a wasteful Inter Milan that stole the headlines. Roma was without their most explosive player Justin kluivert, they’re starting goalkeeper Pau Lopez, and edin Dzeko had the flu starting the game Off the Bench. This forced Nicolo zaniolo a midfielder to play the striker position because of their lack of options. This was set up perfectly for Inter Milan to light them up. Giving everything going for Inter Milan this match should have been something they were able to deal with. Roma’s backup goalkeeper Antonio Mirante made a great save on a romelu Lukaku in the opening minutes of the game. The save gave Roma momentum going forward as there was a time-space of about 10 to 15 minutes in which inter barely touched the ball. They won The Possession battle and got onto the counter-attacked once in a while even though they were unable to break through it gave Roma certain confidence about them throughout the match. Near the end of the first half, Roma made two mistakes in their backline essentially giving Inter Milan two relatively easy opportunities to score they squandered both. Chris Smalling and the Roma backline would make it incredibly difficult to manage. Romelu Lukaku was almost a non-factor with the defense his former teammate supplied. It was a goalless first half in the second half it seemed more of the same. Inter Milan that came out a little bit more energized and created several more chances but Roma’s backline and goalkeeper were able to deal with it. Roma did enough to secure a massive point at the San Siro against Inter Milan. Even with all the missing pieces Roma went to the San Siro and escaped with a point. Roma was short-handed and still managed themselves away from home against the best team in Italy in a 0-0 draw on Friday night to kick us off into the weekend. After a wasteful performance from Inter Milan. Had Roma been fully healthy they very well could have come away with all three points and what was an outstanding performance collectively from the Roman club.
Inter’s Midfield Problems
Inter Milan failed to get the job done even though there were opportunities for them in the game. Despite that one part of their team has been truly identified as a weakness. Even though Martinez and Lukaku were shot down by Chris Smalling and Roma’s backline that’s going to happen because they were one of the best defenses in the league. Not to mention they have an amazing center-back partnership with Chris Smalling and Gianluca Mancini who might be worth over 60 million in the transfer market. This is a very formidable backline so occasionally when you come up against teams like this with a strong defense they’re going to struggle. That does not excuse them for not picking up the three points and I’m not making excuses for them but they’re not going to face challenges like this all the time. They will face those types of challenges in the Midfield because it is significantly the week is part of their team. Several of the midfielders from yesterday should not even get into a team that Antonio Conte is in control of. Without Nicolo Barella who I still think is one of the most overrated players. Roma has better midfielders and it was incredibly obvious during the match on Friday. They have to figure something out because the middle of the pitch is a Borderline Disaster for inter and in tough games against some really good teams, this is going to be a problem. Antonio Conte has to find a solution before January they will not be allowed to strengthen their team until then but they could be in a heap of trouble if this is not addressed before that. It is an average Midfield with one Superstar without Sensi & Barella they are useless. Every time Inter Milan plays your eyes is drawn to that position because of its weakness that is why Roma attack it and that’s why other teams will attack the same part of the team. They will score but facilitating opportunities is going to be incredibly difficult. If Only They had players like radja nainggolan and Ivan perisic this team would be in a much better position to win the league title. I believe Inter Milan will still find a way to lift the trophy because of how poor Juventus has been but none but nonetheless Antonio Conte clearly made some catastrophic mistakes in the Midfield that he’s now paying for with those decisions.
Chis Smalling outduels Lukaku
Chris Smalling was without question one of the best performers in Italian football this week with a tremendous display against the mighty Inter Milan. Chris Smalling is on loan at Rome after Manchester United felt that he wasn’t going to get into the team. Since he has started playing regularly for Roma he has been one of the best center backs in all of Europe. The center-back partnership of Chris Smalling and Gianluca Mancini may be the best in the league this season. He was at his Peak over the last few games and has played incredibly well which is why Manchester United in all likelihood will not get him back next season. It was a battle between Manchester United teammates Chris Smalling and romelu Lukaku. They both exited the Red Devils for greener pastures and have both been vital parts of their teams this season. This was a massive match for both teams as Inter Milan had recently gone to the top of Italian football. Meanwhile, Roma tried to enrich their Champions League campaign with a massive display against inter at the San Siro. Chris Smalling was the biggest X-Factor in this game romelu Lukaku had an early chance saved but outside of that, he provided absolutely nothing. The large majority of the match ended up in the pocket of Chris Smalling. The English Defender made him work for everything and there wasn’t much he could do to stop him. Chris Smalling got in front of him played physical with him and made things as difficult as he possibly could. This was the biggest matchup in the game largely because Martinez and Lukaku struggled to do much of anything against Roma’s defense as a unit performed admirably. However, Chris Smalling was the star of the show he allowed nothing to get past him he caused romelu Lukaku to be visibly frustrated. Things have come very easy for the big Belgium Striker at home against a strong Roma team Chris Smalling made him miserable. Having gone up against him so many times in practice over the last 3 season Chris Smalling had the cheat code and used it against him. He made a massive difference in the match and was a large reason why they ended up getting a point at the San Siro. Chris Smalling has truly been one of the best signings of the season in Italy and one of the best defenders in the entire league against one of the best strikers he got the upper hand showing his unbelievable quality he was absolutely world-class against Inter Milan as a short-handed Roma get a huge point at the San Siro he was sensational.
Inter Milan wasted Chances
Inter Milan just recently went to the top of the league in Italy after waiting for Juventus to screw up. That happened last week and they were able to claim the top of Italian football. They followed that up with a goalless draw against Roma. They wasted opportunities in this game and because of this Juventus has the opportunity to reclaim their spot at the top. There’s really no excuse for what happened in the game yesterday. Roma deserves a lot of credit for the matter in which they played nonetheless it never should have occurred. Roma was shorthanded without their most explosive player in Justin kluivert and without the top goal scorer Edin start who started off the game on the bench. Not to mention their goalkeeper got an injury prior to kick-off and their backup was forced into action. Roma’s back up and Antonio Mirante made some really big saves in that match. This was not a match in which there were a lot of changes between the two teams but they had some incredibly high-quality chances throughout the game they failed to convert on any of them. This included two terrible defensive Mistakes by Roma who overall had an incredible defensive display against them. However, the moments in which they made those mistakes Inter Milan failed to convert on them. Both were clear-cut chances that most teams would have scored. Romelu Lukaku spent the entire match in Chris Smalling’s pocket. Not to mention Martinez inter the most explosive player spent most of the game on the ground and provided next to nothing offensively that included a chance in the second half that he should have done better with. Wasteful opportunities give Juventus a chance to reclaim their spot on the top. All of this considering how shorthanded Roma was. To only get a point from that game is utterly embarrassing Antonio Conte certainly not happy with the result which begs the question is Inter Milan for real? Or did Roma expose them at home in the San Siro Inter Milan let everybody down.
Antonio Mirante
Roma starting goalkeeper Pau Lopez got injured in the warm-up and could not play against Inter Milan. This proved huge concerns going into the match. Antonio Mirante was thrown into action without warning which makes it a very precarious and difficult situation to handle nonetheless he came through and delivered for his team. Mirante has over 300 appearances in Italian football and has been a very consistent keeper for a long time. Last year he came in during the back half of the season came in for Robin Olsen and performed at a higher level than nearly got them into the Champions League their entire season turned around when he took over. This is a different situation there’s no debate that Pau Lopez is a better goalkeeper then However having a player of his caliber as a backup can be incredibly useful and despite having only played one game all season he was one of the best performers for Roma this week. In the opening minutes, he denied romelu Lukaku on an early chance. Then he made a brilliant save on Martinez and Vecino. He was asked to do an unachievable task and yet on hostile ground against the best team in Italy he was incredibly special. He made some mistakes but he more than enough made up for it with 3 magnificent saves that would end things for Roma. He gets a clean sheet and a match he wasn’t expecting to play. He was called upon and he delivered played a really crucial role in the final result at 36 years old against an Antonio Conte Inter Milan team that has only dropped two games all season he comes through and delivers as Roma managed to get an unlikely point.
Everything Roma 