So That Sucked

By: chris | April 1st, 2008

I’m not angry about the game. The better team won. Maybe not the better team on this day – Roma surely deserved more (even Ferguson said ManU was lucky) – but ManU is the best team in Europe right now, and really the only team that could possibly convince me otherwise is a Barcelona squad firing on all cylinders – including that cylinder named Messi. A defensive lapse and a keeper with a penchant for doing stupid shit cost Roma this game. Problem isn’t that Roma didn’t play well, in fact they did play well, but that they left holes. Two, to be exact. And good teams make you pay for those holes.

What killed me was watching this team quit after the second goal. At that point, in the standard universe, the quarterfinals were effectively over. But that doesn’t mean the second leg was going to operate in a standard universe. Manchester could somehow see two quick red cards, maybe even a penalty, and Roma would be back in this game. Maybe the difference would be in a goal. Never quit. More so, never want to quit. They should know at least that much after last year. That, to me, is more disheartening than a loss.

After today, I’m ready to see two highly inconsistent Brazilians shown the exit door. I feel like saying Amantino played horrible would be giving him too much credit. Just seemed lazy and unaware of what the hell he was supposed to be doing on the pitch. And then Doni. I just don’t know what to say. He had a spectacular run for two months around the turn of the year and I thought a lot of people started drinking the kool-aid again. Today? What was that? Where was he going? How many brain cells does he have? Far too inconsistent for the likes of a true contender. Maybe I’ll feel different in the morning, but if Rosella sold them tonight I wouldn’t shed a single tear.

Would Totti have made a difference? Probably, but Vucinic was the brightest spot of the day, and was really the only consistent scoring threat. Clearly deserving of the left wing spot over Amantino this weekend, and possibly much longer. Surely a consideration going into the summer.

(And what I find funny is two players whose contract extensions – or lack thereof – have incited a good deal of criticism over the past months both severely shat the bed over the last two games. Interesting, is all. Perhaps it’ll be the right move in the end.)

What else do you say? Not much, really. I still can’t wrap my mind around what happened.

Barring a miracle, it’s time to start thinking about the domestic trophy hunt – they’re still in the chase for two, after all. And considering the performance they just put up against a very good team, and the fact that they won’t see a team in Italy close to that level for the rest of the year, all hope is not lost. That performance would have been enough to beat most, if not all, of their remaining Serie A opponents. It’s the thinnest of silver linings, but it’s still something.

Maybe someday soon Journey will get brought back out again, but right now, this is all I can come up with: