Melo has been brilliant so far this season, and one of the main reasons is that his partner is Aquilani rather than Sissoko. With Sissoko, a player who is technically severely "crippled," Melo's characteristics cannot be displayed, which is understandable. Indeed, when Sissoko is in good form, he can play a role as a lone defender, but over all these years, the Mali international has never improved his passing skills, which is quite baffling. Sissoko, who was already marginalized, is now being given heavy use again, which could be considered a tragedy for Juventus.
And recently, a piece of news emerged that was even more laughable. "All Market" revealed that Real Madrid is dissatisfied with Lass Diarra's performance, and Juventus executives have recommended Sissoko to Real Madrid as a replacement for the French defensive midfielder. The Juventus executives are obviously eager to get cash to sign new players, but with Sissoko's level of skill, would Real Madrid and Mourinho really consider him? Aston Villa once had close ties with Sissoko, but in the end, they chose Makoun from Lyon, which fully explains the market's attitude towards Sissoko.
During the match, it was often seen that Melo tried to take on 2 or 3 Roma defenders alone. Once Roma players successfully intercepted the ball, they would quickly exploit the space left by Melo to launch high-speed counterattacks. In the 11th minute, Melo was taken down in midfield by a combined effort from Brighi and Perotta. In the 12th minute, Melo lost possession in midfield after trying to dribble past Roma's midfielders, but the referee ignored it, and Melo raised his hands to complain to the referee. In the 25th minute, Melo attempted to break through two Roma players in midfield but was intercepted, allowing Roma to launch a dangerous counterattack. In the 82nd minute, an aggressive Melo was still trying to showcase his personal heroism, but unfortunately, he failed to get past three closing Roma players.
Defensively, Sissoko's presence was akin to air. Throughout the game, Roma players tirelessly passed the ball around Juventus' midfield players. Sissoko's running was hard enough, but most of the time, the Malian was just making ineffective runs without purpose. Juventus was completely outplayed by the visiting team, and this was undoubtedly closely related to Sissoko's failure to disrupt the game effectively.
In fact, Sissoko's start in this decisive match against Roma has surprised many media outlets. With Melo back from suspension, Aquilani should have reformed his previous默契 partnership with Melo this season. However, Del Neri might have been overly cautious about Roma's ability to control the game, so Sissoko, who has stronger defensive capabilities than Aquilani, started alongside Melo as the double pivot. However, football games are far more complex than mere talk. Sissoko's appearance did not achieve Del Neri's intentions; beside Melo, the Malian appeared indecisive. In the first half, Sissoko almost disappeared, and even in his signature move—tackling—he couldn't show any standout performances.
For January this year, it should be considered a lucky month for Juventus' Mali central midfielder Sissoko, because teammate and direct competitor Melo received a red card for violent conduct in the match against Parma and was suspended for 3 games. Sissoko not only became an irreplaceable midfield iron gate for Juventus but also saw the originally planned Juventus management withdraw him from the transfer market, giving Sissoko a new lease on life at Juventus. His blocking in the matches against Bari and Sampdoria was quite eye-catching, but in this match against Roma, his flaws were laid bare. His presence directly impacted Melo's performance.
Throughout the first half, Sissoko made only 18 passes, with only 2 tackles, a stark contrast to the 4 or 5 tackles per half in previous matches. Sissoko has never been known for his passing skills, and in this match against Roma, his performance on the field seemed even more cautious. Most of his passes were short passes to defenders, but even so, throughout the match, Sissoko misplaced 10 passes, and his key passes were 0. In terms of tackling, Sissoko only succeeded once in the second half, with only 3 successful tackles throughout the match, which is clearly not a good answer for a dedicated defensive midfielder.
More importantly, Sissoko's appearance significantly affected Melo's performance. Without Aquilani beside him, Melo seemed to revert to last season's "Golden Junk Award" winner, playing in a position he wasn't accustomed to. From the number of passes alone, it can be seen that Melo kept trying to play the role of the organizing core. He made 67 passes in the entire match, but disappointingly, he also made 15 passing errors, even surpassing Sissoko.
Next, Juventus will only be competing in the league, and the schedule will become less dense, but Sissoko's existence over the years has already proven that he won't make Juventus stronger. When necessary, the Juventus management must not repeat the hesitant attitude of the past half-month.