The Fabio Borini Show Continues

Having been distracted much of the game, a large chunk of, oh, seventy-ish minutes missing from the memory banks, I returned in the final minutes to find, untinkerably, AS Roma, coached by one Luis Enrique Martinez Garcia, stuffed into its own box, defending like an Italian relegation fighter.

And yet one day later, the universe still exists. Go figure.

Actually, this has happened before, notably in the finally assault by the mighty Parma (a similar 1-0 away victory) way back. Way, way back. Back B.B. (Before Borini)

The replay needs a watch, of course, but Borini needs mentioning in the meantime.

See, back when Roma was hum-gumming - yes, completely made up so do pass it along - over the potential of Barcelona WestinSpanish, the passing of the attack, the much ballyhooed tiki-taka, took center stage. However, passing, the possession, is only part of the mechanism which defines their philosophy, while their pace and off the ball runs often rest under-appreciated in the shadows.

Those two attributes, along with his Bizarro Perrotta finishing booties, remain the jelly in Borini's doughnut. (It's a Simplicio thing. Expect this to go on until finds Jesus or Jenny Craig.)

Is this so surprising, then? A metronomic passing sequence across the center of the pitch is butterflies and cupcakes and unicorns, oh my, but it does little if that's all it achieves over the course of ninety minutes. It could be argued that in order to truly achieve Luis' vision of a style relying upon the pass, they needed to find the one who couldn't.