THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

A 2% chance you say, eh. How did ya figure that one out? Our next two games are more than winnable, while the lazie have two very difficult games, so the gap could be closed to a single point, with them to still play Udinese. I'm not enthusiastic about our chances given our performance on Saturday, but we can still overtake the lazie, although Udinese will be a different story.

ROMA: Chievo (h) Bari (a) Milan (h) Catania (a) Samp (h)

LAZO: Inter (a) Juventus (h) Udinese (a) Genoa (h) Lecce (a)

UDIN: Parma (h) Fiorentina (a) Lazio (h) Chievo (a) Milan (h)

[romawi]

Yeah, we have no shot at the last CL spot. Could be a good thing considering we may need to rebuild the side over the summer.

[RomaShield27]

I wonder if Tomzo will agree with this more so than zonalmarking's efforts. A few arrows can go a long way.

http://www.romagiallorossa.it/primo-pia ... ttica.html

[Jamoldo]

[romawi]

[Lupa]

Montella - this was one bright moment of Saturday's game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Z3FN46dAI

[stefano]

That's a nice little clip.

[pocari_fenrir]

[ASR1927]

[vtec]

missing out on the champions league cost rosella, and maybe unicredit, a lot of money

[RomaShield27]

[ASR1927]

Football Italia - the Italian football website for English-speaking football fans

The new Roma made in the USA is finding it very difficult to get sympathisers in the world of Italian football. The arrival of Thomas Di Benedetto at the helm of the Giallorossi is not going down too well with several club Presidents either.

Lazio chief Claudio Lotito simply can’t get over it. On the day which saw his side close in on a Champions League spot by beating Catania with an impressive display, the Biancocelesti patron had something else on his mind. “America, are you listening? One, two, three, four…” Live on Sky Sport Lotito was mocking the new Giallorossi owners by imitating the popular Italian comedian Alberto Sordi.

After this little one man show, Lotito, who is well known in the capital for having supported Roma before moving to Lazio, went on to express all his doubts about the Americans. “They will end the season with a €40m deficit. We have won more than they have in the last few years. I have been talking about a new stadium for seven years, they are not bringing anything new,” he claimed.

Lotito isn’t the only one to doubt Di Benedetto though. Palermo supremo Maurizio Zamparini has raised the same concerns when questioned about the Giallorossi. “So far, the Americans haven’t brought any real money and they have only talked loudly about a big budget for the transfer market. We will see whether they are capable of keeping their promises,” said the Rosanero patron.

These views have been shared by some Roman radio stations too, mostly Laziali, and surprisingly by Luciano Spalletti. The Zenit Coach claimed that he is not too excited about Di Benedetto. According to the former Roma boss the Americans are basically talking too much too early. “Roma deserve an owner like the one Chelsea or Zenit or Manchester City have. I don’t know these people who bought the club, but my first impression is not so good.”

But what is it about Di Benedetto that is unsettling many? A pretty straight forward answer would be ‘fear’. In a conservative country like Italy, the arrival of the first foreign consortium is seen as too much of an exotic move. But the Americans are in Rome because they want success and profit, it is as simple as that.

In the lobby of calcio, which has been run by the same bunch of guys for a while, especially after Luciano Moggi walked off the stage, the arrival of a new solid and powerful group is seen as a threat. On top of that, Lotito is seriously suffering from an inferiority complex because his Lazio could become the sparring partner of a legendary Roma side. He knows it all too well – if Di Benedetto does with Roma what Roman Abramovich did with Chelsea, then Lazio will only be able to eat the left over of a magnificent Roman banquet.

The Giallorossi have incredible potential. If well run, the club can be amongst the best in the world. They have the fans and the passion in a suggestive setting, but a surprisingly empty trophy cabinet which needs filling. If they manage to build a new stadium, and if the Americans are serious about this they will, Roma will enter the elite of European football.

Zamparini is right about something though and that is talking too much beforehand is not going to do them any favours. The Giallorossi will probably suffer the same ‘syndrome’ as Manchester City and when sitting at the negotiation table fees will double for them. But that’s the price to pay if you are set to buy your way to success in the short term.

For the time being, Di Benedetto and his men have done the right thing as they are set to hire a sporting director, Walter Sabatini, and a director general, Franco Baldini, who know their business. Add a world-class tactician like Carlo Ancelotti to that duo and Roma will become automatic candidates for the Scudetto.

The takeover of the club has been long and complicated, but the Giallorossi fans are right to celebrate it now. Under the Sensi family this club had no future, with the Americans Roma have the potential to be Caput Mundi, regardless of what the suspicious minds say…

[vtec]

[ASR1927]

[vtec]

i think it also makes it unlikely that di benedetto will invite him back to roma anytime soon. it was a weird comment from spaletti, if true, since he chose to suck up to his new owners while potentially burning a bridge

[Italiamia]

I find it laughable that any of those characters would even make a comment about the sale of Roma. Lotito, is he joking? lazie is one of the worst run clubs in Europe. He has a freak year of "success" in a watered down, weak Serie A, and he's going on like a perennial champion. Spalletti looks as though he is auditioning for the rubentus job. The one huge mistake by the writer is that lazie is, and always has been, Roma's sparring partner. With over three times the number of fans, and the print, radio and television media devoted to Roma, lazie is about as popular in Rome as pedophile Priests.

[vtec]

[RomaShield27]

I don't have the time to look into it now, but I bet a weeks worth of blowjobs from Maro's moglie that Spalletti words were mistranslated or taken out of proportion in someway. It is a piece from Football Italia, lest we forget. I don't remember where those comments from Spalletti originated from or if they were recent or old (anyone know?), but I'd imagine he was saying things more along the lines of "while i don't know these new owners, Roma deserves the best of new owners because it is a special club", something like that. Spalletti is a man of dignity and honour, its not in his make up at all to dismiss people out of hand.

[Deini]

I doubt Luciano said that but if he did he still bitter over what happened in Rome when he was coaching there. I don't even pay attention what Zamparini or Lotito is saying.. If both Baldini and Sabatini are coming, which is really likely, it's already better run then Roma was under Rosella Sensi.

Tonight against Inter, hopefully Rai Uno here won't go black when they show this game like they usually do..

[RomaShield27]

Ciao Jimmy. Do you get Rai Uno on TV? Good stream of it here: http://www.livescorehunter.com/streams/ingerasu/03.html

Rai Uno is worse than American TV. Just when you think you can't fit more advertisements in while showing a match, Rai actually cut to full ad breaks when there's a stop in play. Whats the world comin to.

Lively enough start. Vucinic missed another sitter. He's is clearly massively low on confidence. He's not playing bad, really, he's showing for the ball well and making good runs, but forwards live off goals and he just cant put the fucking thing away. No doubt we'll see more stories of him being unhappy at Roma in the papers tomorrow, even though his agent had to deny any such rumours today.