THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[vtec]

[vtec]

[vtec]

[stefano]

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

Ireland kicking-off Group 8 of the World Cup qualifiers in a few minutes, although in a neutral venue in Mainz, and we should be confident of getting maximum points against a down-heartened Georgian side. On Wednesday we travel to Montenegro, and obviously, come face to face to with none other than The LitM himself, Mirko Vucinic. Not sure what to make of that one. Should be a good game against the Georgians and set us up with a good start, and then we get sit back and see what the Italians are made off. Don't worry, my Italian friends, we don't play you's until well into next year. What an intriguing group.

[maro]

lol, Shield. What you actually mean is this: for any football-mad Irishman, whose second team is Italy, and whose favourite (or just about) player is Montenegran, and who has a quarter-interest in Georgia because he'll be interested to see Kaladze lining up against one or two of his club team-mates, it's an extraordinarily interesting group. I guess that means that you and bazza will be fighting the crowds to watch every game.

[oily]

i thought steve finnan retired from international football...

[maro]

He was coaxed back out of retirement by the Trap.

[maro]

Apparently the combined effect of playing for Liverfekkin'wankscum and Steve Staunton had destroyed his footballing soul. He's doubly revitalised now.

[oily]

well.. 2-1 against Georgia isn't that bad... well.. its not a good result either.

at least they won.

[aba_bab]

[aba_bab]

[romawi]

[aba_bab]

[maro]

[aba_bab]

Well i'm obviously asking because there's been curiously little said of Cassetti's performance so far in the den thus far... surprising considering he's one of our men playing for the azzurri. Granted Maro, that noone really had a good game... but Barzagli and Cassetti were by far the most clueless players on the pitch.

[maro]

dibdib, curiously little said? What, you mean among the plethora of comments on DDR's performance or Mexes' and Vooch's? Cassetti was very poor last night, but then Zambrotta wasn't much better on the other flank and Pirlo and DDR were hugely disappointing too in the middle of the pitch. Camoranesi was all over the place, making it extremely difficult for the fullback he was playing in front of (and, of course, he played on either side at various points) to get any sort of rhythm or shape to his game. No-one, I imagine, is going particularly to defend how Cassetti played, but given that I've praised him for being generally quite accurate and last night he was one of perhaps 9 or 10 who were anything but accurate, it would seem a bit strange to load all the stick on him. Incidentally, how did Cicinho go for the Brazilians? Seriously, you have to be a true Cicinho nut-hugger not to be able to see what Cassetti brings to the table, and I think Tuna and I, among others, would be all too happy to accept that those were exactly the things Cassetti didn't show last night.

[aba_bab]

Well, now that you mention it, i was going to comment on Mexes performance, but i wasnt watching the French game, nor was i watching the Montenegrin game. What i was watching was the Azzurri, and yes they were disjointed, clueless and absolutely all over the place. Maybe we can easily argue that if the fullbacks had ever looked like doing their duties down the flanks properly than Camo neednt have been all over the place. Zambro didnt have a good game, but he looked much better than Cassetti did. Pirlo and DDR again were below average much like 5/6 other players, but Barzagli and Cassetti were just plain awful. ARe you telling me, that Tuna wouldnt have been all over Cici had that been him putting out that sort of performance?

Anyways, call me a nuthugger for not lambasting Cicinho after his performance in the FIRST game of the season... but i can say the exact same about Marco's gem last night. And i agree on the attributes that cassetti brings to Roma.. but the debate is who should be our starting RB.. him or Cicinho.. and in debates like that its hard for me to accept that Cicinho doesnt bring with him a whole new dynamic to the team that it all to often needs when we get stuck playing against a team that parks the team bus in front of their area.. and over the years, its these sorts of games that have more often than not hurt us in our bid for a scudetto

[maro]

First, Napoli caused us problems quite precisely by not coming and parking the team bus, even when they went down to 10 men. Secondly, I think many would agree that Cassetti's performance last night was exceptionally bad; Cicinho's defensive weaknesses against Napoli, rightly or wrongly, struck Tuna and me as characteristic, not exceptional. Thirdly, the play of the midfield last night clearly dictated the play of the fullbacks rather than the other way round. You only need to look at the totally unbalanced '4-4-2' (4-2-4) which Lippi sent out to see that.