THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[romawi]

[SPqR]

[maro]

[aba_bab]

[RomaShield27]

[pocari_fenrir]

wow........ wasnt expecting this result, missed the game though, went out and had lunch saying farewell to a good buddy of mine. hopefully Shield will provide that link to download the game. with DDR's penalty, im not gonna harp on him as much as i did with Mancini. same happened with Totti last season yet he ended up being Capocannoniere and there is still many games to play.

also a damn shame to hear about the Cassano ordeal with Montella

[RomaShield27]

Shield has already posted that link...

[maro]

dibdib, I suspect that Panucci is likely to get the nod ahead of Cicinho for Wednesday - in part because of his experience and then for his greater defensive stability in what is always a game for cool heads. Of course it depends in part on where Max plays, but my sense was that today Spags took a risk because he knew that Milan always leave a lot of space in behind their fullbacks (as we do) and so he wanted to enter into a game of chicken, as it were - who would be prepared to push on more and could get in behind the opposition first. Cicinho's pace (against any of the potential Milan left-backs) would always give him a headstart in such a match-up. Against Lazio, on the other hand, if Rocchi and Pandev play together, I should imagine that Spags will be wary of their willingness and ability to run the channels. Milan get their width from further back (when they play the Christmas tree) and tend to keep a lot of the ball centrally. In terms of horses for courses, playing Cicinho today was brave but made a lot of sense; equally, playing Panucci or Cassetti there on Wednesday also makes a lot of sense. I also get the sense that Spags is trying to keep on eye on Panucci's work-load: 90 minutes on Wednesday followed by 3 today and another 90 on Wednesday, perhaps? Given Panucci's performances over the past couple of seasons (and more), this is hardly an indictment of Cicinho.

Populusque, I tell you, I'm absolutely delighted here. Going to Milan and coming away with three points is pretty flash in anyone's books, regardless of their recent struggles. Deserving those three points and consistently playing composed, fluent, attacking football is an altogether more impressive achievement. And doing it without Totti, Taddei, Aquilani, and a barely half-fit Perrotta: that's a pretty sensational three points for me. Of course the Milanisti will grumble that they were missing players too but clearly the ability to cover for injuries has been one of the greatest differences between their club and ours for many years. If we can win on Wednesday - and that is no small 'if' given what is at stake for both sides - then I would have to confess myself pretty happy with our haul from our first 10 matches. No doubt we have dropped at least 4 points we should have won already - against Rube and against Napoli. The Fiorentina one is more complicated since while we threw away a lead again, one could mount a pretty good argument that they deserved something over the course of the 90 minutes. The Inter game was a debacle, but then such things happen over the course of a season. On the other hand, despite the euphoria, you could argue that winning at Palermo flattered us a little bit given their outstanding second half and they've already taken a few points off one or two of our rivals there this season. And again today while I thought we deserved the win, there's no doubt that had it finished 0-0, say, we wouldn't have felt impossibly hard-done-by. We're still a point or two or three in the red, then, but we're still in the mix on the back of a formidable opening game stretch. Two wins next week and a point against Sporting and we ought to be quietly contented. No doubt serious questions about the mentality of the side remain - and about the ability of Spags's 4-2-3-1 to grind out the results which really matter, but today's performance and, especially, result, has gone some way to compensating for some of those earlier disappointments.

[maro]

dibdib, that goal.com article is a piece of pernicious poo written by a guy who knows about as much about football as he does about heterosexuality. You didn't write it, did you? I think the only rating I can agree with is the one he gave Perrotta.

[g.smiley]

[maro]

[SPqR]

[pocari_fenrir]

[Jamoldo]

[romawi]

[SPqR]

[aba_bab]

[g.smiley]

[SPqR]

[romawi]