THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[romawi]

Did you see the game? The penalty + red card changed everything. They could and probably would have won the game had they not gone a man down early in the second half.

[Carlo Romano]

On a day when our ex-grande Damiano Tommasi is singing Marco Borriello's praises which is high praise indeed, and il nostro mister insists, "Enough mistakes, I want my Roma," we have the team news and a remark or two on our match against those donkeys tomorrow evening. The bookies make us favourites, and so they should. What a pity and a sign of our present times that we have to take winning three points in Verona so seriously, with all respect to the asini volanti who are modest opposition.

From Forza Roma and various other sources, excerpts from Signor Claudio's pre-match Press Conference:

“Tomorrow I expect a big game from the team. The lads are good. They aren't finished. The ownership situation isn't creating any problems. We have never missed Rosella Sensi's guidance. We know that we must respond on the pitch. But we lack the continuity of last year and another miracle will be difficult. Now we must roll up our sleeves.”


For me, the two main questions are firstly, who will partner Vuci? The rumours all suggest Marco will be rested for the Cluj match next week so it's most probable we will see Francè start. If it was up to me I'd start our Capitan' and if it looked at all that we were struggling I wouldn't wait, I'd bring on Borriello just as quickly as possible. The other poser, which regards our below par midfield, is will Brighi, Simplicio, or Pizarro start? I'm guessing Pizza won't play at all as he is clearly taking time to get his act together after his injury.

The Formazione Probabile for tomorrow: Adriano, Brighi, Borriello, N. Burdisso, Cassetti, Castellini, Cicinho, De Rossi, Doni, Greco, Juan, Julio Sergio, Lobont, Mexes, Ménez, Okaka, Pizarro, Simplicio, Taddei, Totti, Vučinić.



If all the rumours are correct, we should be starting with a 4-3-1-2 module which will probably look more like a lopsided 4-3-1-1-1:




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[pocari_fenrir]

[Carlo Romano]

Pocari, all I can say is "grazie mille!" I remember quite a few of those ads but some are completely new to me. I have saved the links to my files! I agree that a number of them will have been filmed in Francè and Ilary's own home. The "Nuovo spot ADSL" one is where the "still" came from to give Johnny his present avatar! I didn't know that until now!

If we remember the slight awkwardness Totti used to have in front of the camera back in his early days of making ads when he did a double act with Gennaro Gattuso, we see that flaw is now long gone. Just how much of this ad making has been done at Ilary's suggestion is anyone's guess, but is most likely seen as a stepping stone to more involved projects like a tv show presented by them both, which is I believe, mentioned in their new book. I don't know about a tv show but I do know I saw TottI's future in the studio coming a long time ago. I made a post or two saying I see him in Italian movies though not international ones. If he goes that route then he won't have time for anything other than an "in name only" type desk job with Roma, a gesture so to speak, to keep him connected with the club when he quits as a player. As we know, he has been very definite about not becoming a coach when his playing is done.

The Power to you ad is one I like very much. As my favourite, I think I'd choose the Spot Vodafone Free - Feb 2010 though not the version we see here. There was a funnier one where after giving the two girls directions, the dog walks off and drags our gallant Capitan' stumbling after it! I remember telling Lupa about that one though I don't know if she saw it.

Anyway, I'm glad you found and posted them all. We can't always talk about football and I personally find this more entertaining than debating the above posts drawing parallels with Palermo's EL loss last night as a guiding line to how we fared against them last weekend because that is in the past though it is a bona fide debatable point...

That said, Pastore was frustrated which is why he got his second yellow equalling one red card. Understandable, but he most probably cost his team. However, it's always been the case that one judges one's countries' teams' strength by watching them compete with clubs from others and neither Palermo nor Napoli are that strong under those circs. Neither are we lupi to my great sorrow and that's why I thought we should have got a 0-0 or a 1-1 at best/worst last week end.

[Deini]

No Juan tonight since he stayed at Rome cause of family problems.

And in other news, Angelucci dropped out of acquiring Roma.

La Sensi did a wonderful job on the books. It's worser then was initially thought. Debts debts debts.

[Carlo Romano]

[RomaShield27]

Is Angelucci definitely out of the race to buy Roma? says he is still interested in making an offer, which comes from the Corriere dello Sport.

So Juan is out for family reasons. Does anyone have anymore information on what that may be?

also believe the line up will be the same as the the one Carlo posted above:

Probabile formation: Julio Sergio, Cassetti, Mexes, Burdisso, Castellini, De Rossi, Simplicio, Brighi, Menez, Vucinic, Totti

Needless to say its important to get back to winning ways and put last weeks defeat behind us. Chievo can be a tough place to go to and they will be confident after their last home game in beating Inter. Vucinic's return is naturally a big boost and he gives us a lot more options upfront, and its good to have the option of Borriello off the bench. Pizarro mustn't be fit enough to make a start? Perhaps he's lacking a bit of match sharpness.

This is for Lupa (I suspect Aba will 'enjoy' it as well). Several of our players went on the Italian 'Lets Dance' doing a rather embarrassing YMCA dance, including SuperMarco-Hayhair, just incase anyone else needed anymore convincing that he's a bit of a poof: poof

http://www.video.mediaset.it/video/lets ... 1-c1-o1-p1

[Carlo Romano]

Ed, that's the very piece I was referring to from this morning, the original article I saw where LaRoma24.it told us of Angelucci's insistence to remain in the running with an offer which Unicredit have said is too low. He offers €86mil and they want €120-130mil...

http://laroma24.it/archivio/32507/angel ... lioni.html

Later, they posted the second article agreeing with all other sources and asking why "The King of the Roman clinics" had dropped out. I hope he has. The stigma of having a known fraudster as our owner doesn't bear thinking about.


I've nothing much more to add on our players' condition though we may well expect to see Taddei come off the bench at some point in the second half. Apparently Perrotta was able to resume training this morning though he won't play, and yes, it was not expected that Pizarro was fit enough to play today.


Again, as I've said already, this isn't my forté but I hope the link and list of satellite tv channels broadcasting the match is of help to some of you.


http://www.atdhe.net/29838/watch-chievo-vs-as-roma

[RomaShield27]

Ah I see, Carlo. I thought the link I posted to LaRoma24 was the latest. I think its fair to say it can be hard to keep track of all the reports of potential buyers and the sale of Roma. It can even be pain in the arse, come to think of it. I'm not so sure that this supposed drop out by Angelucci is a good thing. I know he's far from an ideal owner for some well stated reasons, but its not like there is a long line of potential buyers all scrambling to make their move, so interest from him may not be all that bad a thing. Whats the story with Aabar? There interest has cooled somewhat as of late, has it not?

Our game being the early evening kick-off helps in terms of coverage. Its not on TV here but at least it'll be on Bet365.

[Deini]

Adriano starting. Borriello, Totti and Menez on the bench.

Aabar interest did cool off a bit, this has to do with the books of Roma. Rosella did some creative accountancy. Roma has more debts then what was initially thought.

[Lupa]

Ummm ... yeah, I was coming here to post something about the game today, but made the mistake of watching that YMCA video first. I can't even remember what it was I mean to say I was laughing so hard. Something about Juan. Yeah, Juan.

Err ... I hope it's not a serious problem with Juan's family. I have to say the first thing that popped into my head was if it was some problem with his wife, he'll be the next one growing a beard and I'm not sure it will suit him.

Back to watch the video again.

[Carlo Romano]

Yes Ed, the Aabar Group seems to be keeping quiet again, doesn't it? What I like about them if Angelini's Consortium fails to outbid them, is that they want to keep us as Roman or at least as Italian as possible. I like their supposed idea of Ancelotti, Wilkins, and Baldini to come in to run the teams' affairs next summer if they buy us. We know Ancelotti and Baldini's capabilities well.

For anyone who doesn't know too much about Ray Wilkins, he is a serious man who still talks of how very much he enjoyed his three years playing for Milan between 1984-87. He has a strong liking for Italian people and with his knowledge of our game and ways I can't see him not fitting in with us, should it happen. He also has a "never say die" spirit which is why he has the nick, Butch!

I totally get your point on it wouldn't hurt to have another interested bidder to keep the competition and price going, but Ed, please, this Angelucci dude has promised Rosella he will employ her to run our affairs, meaning she virtually retains her existing position though she will only have a few shares left in the club. How could we possibly live with that, it's like jumping from the frying pan into the fire!

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

Is there a delay to the start of the game? The pitch looks in terrible condition, think there is some debate on whether it is playable or not. Teams not out yet anyway.

You know, if you were to just happen a glance at our bench for today without seeing the 11 playing, you just might think we have possibly the bestest squad in all of world football. Some quality there boy.

EDIT: Ok, here we go now, teams coming out. Forza Roma.

[RomaShield27]

Jasus, the pitch is really terrible. Surely that has played a part in Ranieri's selection today. Can you just imagine Menez trying to dribble from the halfway line in that? FAtdriano and Vooch are looking lively upfront.

[ASR1927]

Chievo 0 Roma 2 at half time.
A brace from Simplicio. Hard work all around including Adriano. Chievo is always a grind. Especially with that pitch!
Forza Roma!

[Carlo Romano]

Yes Jeff but I'm still marvelling over "Arnold's" first goal! We will have to ask Gio if his relatives in la città eterna can throw some light on that nick!

[RomaShield27]

[ASR1927]

Evening Ed.

[Lupa]

Absolutely awful conditions. It is definitely a 'grind it out' kind of game. Right. As soon as I came here to post, Chievo scored.

I'll just leave it for now, then. We need another one. How about a hat trick, Simplicio?

(I wasn't blaming the goal on the conditions. I wrote out the first two sentences and then they scored, so I decided not to finish what I was about to say...)