Is There Ever a Good Loss?

By: Jeremy | December 15th, 2008

What a tough loss to take yesterday. It would be real easy to make some kind of comment about homosexuals considering Vucinic’s post goal celebration, but there are other blogs you can read if you are interested in those kinds of comments so I will just stick to the football with my latest medicore post….

Sometimes you just have to give props to another team for pulling victory from the jaws of defeat or atleast a draw anyway. That is what Roma did yesterday. Now I am not one to think that there is such a thing as a good loss, but we showed that unlike past years, they just werent going to push us around. Totti is simply amazing and his play in the first half, culminated by a calm finish in minute 39, put them up 1-0 at halftime.

You would expect Cagliari just to pack it in from there. Once we substituted Acquafresca for Larrivey(Allegri just because you get a new contract and Larrivey scores a couple goals in a scrimmage does not mean you play him), the team gained more confidence. Contis goal from a set piece has to be goal of the week, despite some other great goals, in this game especially. Game tied 1-1. We arent getting pushed around in Roma this year.

Roma still controlled the run of play, and they seemed to have a defensive lapse when Jeda snuck in unmarked on a counter attack and hit a nice calm finish in minute 69. Cagliari 2-1. This made up for an earlier chance where Jeda missed a wide open goal. It has to be frustrating to see the easy chances missed, especially when you see the player is talented enough to finish tougher chances so nicely. When you arent finishing your chances, you cant complain about a result.

Up 2-1 in Rome against an in form team with Totti on the field, expecting to hold on and win is a tough proposition. At home against teams not in Romas class, like Palermo for instance, if we get an early goal we can often manage to hold on despite the pressure from the other side to equalize. The difference between teams like Roma and others is that they have the talent to make something from nothing even when their overall play is below standards. Did I like Perottas goal in minute 77? No. Should Marchetti have played it a little better? Yes. But bottom line is the guy did a bicycle kick and knocked the equalizer into the net 2-2. What can you say.

With about 15 minutes left, you would hope you could hang on and get that vital point, a point which sends another message that we arent just going to be the pushovers we have been for so long. Of course it takes a stoppage time goal by Vucinic to give Roma a victory. Great finish by him, but why cant the stupid ass defender clear the ball from his box rather then try and dribble it out which leads to a flub and the ball goes to a good player with a chance to finish.

When luck might be with you one week, other weeks it is not. While we got three points against Palermo that was not clearly deserved, we lost a point or more to a tough Roma team. Any Roma fan will tell you they didnt play their best, but the good teams get wins in these kinds of situations. We still have work to do to get out of the relegation mindset and win more of these kinds of games. Overall we have done well to get points in similar matches so some weeks it is not meant to be.

Ultimately a loss is a loss. While there can be good wins you dont necessarily deserve, there are no good losses. You can whine or cry about the refs and hurl insults or get frustrated over missed chances or dumb plays by your players, but all that matters is the scoreboard and what needs to be done to get ready for next weeks opponent. As good as we would look with 23 points, we are still on 20 with relegation still part of the analysis and its back to Sardinia to prep for Reggina.

Reggina could be coming to our place at a good time. They just lost to Samp at home where their record is strong and Samps road record is weak. When you are fighting relegation, these are bad losses. Does that effect their mindset for the positive or negative for the trip to Cagliari? Who knows, but we cant take them lightly. This is a team that sits second from bottom and will need their magical powers to survive again this year. Dont forget this is a club that thumped us in the Copa and made us look bad. They are not to be dismissed just because we are so strong at home especially when three points before a game with Inter is really a must or we likely are going to be on a losing streak and taking relegation even more seriously again.

I hated to lose that Roma game, but we are still in a strong position. Chievo, Reggina, Torino, and Lecce are 7-8 points below us with each of their own seperate problems. There is just too much talent above us to think a European place is possible so who cares if we finish 10th or 13th. The goal is to secure safety as quickly as possible and build on the success. Ultimately until Cellino wants to add the next level of players in multiple positions, the result in Rome will be typical of games against teams that are better then we are and our expectations will have to remain limited. However, we must be positive in that we are overall a much better team then we were early in the year and we are going to fight for everything.

FORZA CAGLIARI!!!