3x3: Serie A winter break, Champions League contenders and World Cup alternatives

The Roma Question: Has the winter break come at a good or bad time for Roma?

Matteo / @MatXIV: “Definitely a good time. The players need to charge their batteries and recover some energy, especially mentally. They looked tired and confused in the last month. Hopefully Di Francesco will benefit as well, having time to think about solutions to the team's scoring problem. Moreover, it could be annoying playing when the transfer window is open as the players’ performances may be influenced by the many rumors always surrounding them.”

Lee / @Lee_R1989: “Good time! We are in terrible form, the players and manager alike. We need to rest, recharge and work out what has been going wrong the past few weeks and attempt to fix it.”

Laura and Steve / @UKLupi1927: “In view of the recent run of results, it would have been better to have had another match this weekend for the chance to get it out of the system quickly. Hopefully the players will come back rested and motivated to work hard on the training pitch in the preparations for Inter.”

The Serie A Question: Which four Italian teams will qualify for the Champions League this season?

@MatXIV: “Juventus and Napoli are the favourites for the top two positions and Roma have everything to make top four. Lazio and Inter will fight for the fourth spot, but I believe the Biancocelesti are a better team right now. Atalanta looks too far behind, otherwise I would have not counted them out.”

@Lee_R1989: “Juventus, Napoli, Roma and Lazio. The form our neighbours are in, I can see them 3rd at the moment and 4th being between Inter and ourselves. It is vital that we don’t lose at the San Siro and also win our game in hand.”

@UKLupi1927: “Roma, Inter and Lazio are playing for the final two places, but Inter have been lucky up to this point, so we expect they will fall behind. So Napoli, Juventus, Lazio and Roma.”

The General Football Question: Should there be an alternative tournament to the World Cup over the summer?

@MatXIV: “First of all, Italian media should accept the idea of not having Italy in the World Cup and stop talking about the remote possibility of bans of other national teams. A tournament with the Netherlands, Italy, USA, Ghana and the like would be only interesting, but only if played with a development team to give young players the chance to get international experience. However, I think that will not get enough exposure and success as the competition from the World Cup is too strong.”

@Lee_R1989: “I don’t think so, although I guess something involving Italy, Holland, Chile and the USA could be quite entertaining! It won’t be the same World Cup without the Azzurri.”

@UKLupi1927: “No. In an already tight schedule, there is no room for another tournament and if held after the World Cup it would disrupt the players' return to club training. It would make a mockery of World Cup qualification to hold a made up tournament for non-qualifiers.”