Roma was so effective on the counter-attack last year. The transition from defense to midfield to attack was very quick and it caught teams off guard.

This year, the strategy against Roma is to sit back and soak in the pressure to frustrate Roma and prevent any space for quick movement. They can then hit us on the counter-attack with the few chances we give up.

The reason our build up appears slow is because opposing teams are drilled to get back into defense quickly and not commit many men forward so as to be susceptible to counters. Therefore, we pass horizontally with the hope of drawing players out and hitting them quicker. Well, if teams don't bite and open up, then we are stuck with trying to break down basically 10 men behind the ball. And we just haven't been effective at it.

You could almost say it is a compliment to Roma that we get so much respect. Look at the Juve game. They sat back and soaked up pressure and tried to counter us. But they were never interested in maintaining possession and playing an open game.

With opposing teams playing so deep, Gervinho and Iturbe - who are great on counter attacks - are just less effective. While losing the Benatia-Castan partnership in the back has been significant, I think the losses of Strootman and Maicon (for most of the season) are more significant. Also, Pjanic's positioning is a complete mystery to me. Strootman was so effective at transitioning from defense to attack. He was amazing. Also, Maicon doesn't get enough respect for how impactful he is attacking as a fullback.

So you put all these issues in a blender and you get what looks to be a boring side. It is the same issue that Barcelona had when they were at the absolute height of their powers a few years ago. Barcelona's football looked somewhat boring because they played heavy possession and pressed on defense. Teams sat back and soaked up the pressure, so the games moved slowly and it wasn't that entertaining. The difference is that they had Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. So they could unlock teams multiple times a game.

So the truth is, we get so much respect that teams don't want to go toe-to-toe with us. But our inability to break such teams down has been our Achilles heel.