THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[San Paolo]

Roma (4-2-3-1): 32 Doni, 77 Cassetti, 29 N. Burdisso, 4 Juan, 17 Riise, 7 Pizarro, 33 Brighi, 11 Taddei, 30 Simplicio, 9 Vucinic, 10 Totti.

[RomaShield27]

Roma-Milan FORMAZIONI UFFICIALI: confermato Simplicio, out Menez
http://www.forzaroma.info – Sabato 07 Maggio 2011 17:16

La Roma si gioca la qualificazione Champions contro un Milan al quale basta solamente un punto per raggiungere il 18° scudetto della sua storia. (AGGIORNA DIRETTA)

Ecco le probabili formazioni delle due squadre:

ROMA (4-2-3-1): Doni, Cassetti, N. Burdisso, Juan, Riise; Pizarro, Brighi; Taddei, Simplicio, Vucinic; Totti.
A disp.: Lobont, Loria, Rosi, Caprari, Greco, Menez, Borriello.
All.: Montella

MILAN (4-3-1-2): Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta; Gattuso, Van Bommel, Seedorf; Boateng; Robinho, Ibrahimovic.
A disp.: Amelia, Yepes, Antonini, Bonera, Pirlo, Pato, Cassano.
All.: Allegri

[maro]

Ci manchera la profondita'.

[RomaShield27]

Yes we will. Pity its not Menez for Simplicio in the middle, but at least he's a good option from the bench. Also three romanisti on the bench which is nice to see.

[RomaShield27]

[ASR1927]

Great first half but we have to keep up the intensity. We can't afford to allow Milan so much possession.
God I though for sure that Simplicio was gonna score there!

FORZA ROMA!!

[RomaShield27]

It was always going to be a dodgy, cagey affair with about 12 defensive-midfielders on the pitch, but we've done well in that regard and have defended very well and not allowed Milan much space to do anything going forward. However, its still a game we need to get three points from at all costs, so containing the opposition is all well and good but we need more at the other end. Menez has to come in at some stage but the question is for who? Vucinic, or one of the midfielders? Monty has to go for it, we need the fuckin win boys.

[maro]

Juan certainly brought his horse-penis game in the first half. It was nice to see again (if you know what I mean). Simplicio's a good little player for us too and should really have been seeing more time than Monty's been giving him. Menez for Vooch if it's all square, I should think, threddzzo; perhaps for Taddei if we're chasing the game.

[RomaShield27]

I'd like to see him come on for Taddei even if its all square, though, and so we'd see your dream trequartista line of Vooch-Menz-Rosi.

Agreed Juan has been a rock at the back, lovely to see.

[maro]

A rock? I didn't mean an erect horse penis.

It'd probably be in a 4-4-2, though, which isn't quite my dream.

[maro]

Bleah. The loss of Brighi was pretty damaging today - the boys look desperately short of legs and without DDR and Perrotta, too, the cupboard was pretty bare in the middle of the pitch. Perhaps Monty has a masterplan - 7 points from our final three games might be enough, he thinks? I doubt it, but we shall see.

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

I don't agree on Monty, thredddy; I think Brighi was the one player he couldn't afford to lose today - he would be irreplaceable in any of the 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 alternatives we nominally had in the bank tonight. He probably made a mistake bringing Rosi on, since I don't think Pizza can play in a 4-4-2, so perhaps he should have turned to Greco or Menez and backed that light-weight midfield three to hold up, but I think he was seriously short on options. The squad's also misbuilt for the alternatives Monty would like to have in hand. Milan are defensively pretty well organised and would love to have played against an open side.

[maro]

Quite interesting these two comments:
La sostituzione di Vucinic. Perché?
Ho cambiato dopo 15’ perché si era infortunato Brighi e Mirko ha giocato dietro Totti dove non l’avevo mai provato, nel secondo tempo ho provato più con la fisicità di Borriello

Caprari e non Menez. È un segnale?
Metto sempre in campo i giocatori che penso mi diano di più anche in allenamento. Ho visto Caprari che aveva più voglia di giocare di Menez.

They make it look like when it looked more like a 4-4-2 it was because Vooch had forgotten his role.

[RomaShield27]

You don't agree on Monty yet you admit he made a mistake in bringing Rosi on?

Caprari for Menez: fair enough. More desire, giving more in training, then ok, good call. Clearly all is not right with Menez – more so than we perhaps thought at first if he has dropped down the pecking order behind a 17-year-old in the game of the season. Sad to see such a talent go to waste, and it may be the end of his Roma career, but it is what it is.

The Vucinic situation is different because Montella said it himself – he played almost an hour of the game in a position in which he had never played before (and yet you still criticised his workrate from there) – why? Because Brighi got injured? I don't see why we had to change the entire system after that. We had to either proceed as we were with either Simplicio or Taddei (or Greco) slotting in alongside Pizzaro in the middle or else switch to a 4-3-3 and bring on Menez and play three defensive-midfielders. Not switch to a system we never played before just to contain the opposition in a game we needed to win. Playing four across the middle as we were with Vucinic in the middle in front of them and Totti alone up top offered us no chance of holding on to possession or create any chances. We've never played like that before and so why start in a game of such importance when we were seriously up against. We needed to win, and yet we offered ourselves little chance to do that once we made that switch and done nothing to change it again late in the game. Tactical inexperience when it mattered most.

[romawi]

We've played with a 4-4-2 many times this season.

[romawi]

I was also surprised by the Rosi sub. I thought Montella would bring on Greco and ask Simplicio to drop back into a midfield three. It's a shame really, and the chances of finishing fourth are pretty much over now.

[pocari_fenrir]

Cant say much on the game since i missed most of the first half. I think we looked pretty good with what i say in that first half though, we dropped a bit in motivation in the second i think. Ive been on Juan's back all season and possibly the season before, but tonight, was a VERY good game for him. cant say the same for Vucinic and Borriello. people have been saying that we'd go with one or the other but what if both are in rough patches??

Agreed, that i would've liked to see Menez on the pitch. the team seems less likely to run into positions that spreads defenses apart now. we tend to run through the same channels with the ball. there was some daring long balls in the first half that split the defense a bit but Vucinic could never settle or take advantage


Oh and welcome back Edge

[Italiamia]

I failed to see the match today so I cannot comment on the performance of our boys. Needless to say, another scudetto for Milan does nothing for me, Serie A, or football in general. Roma is a team in transition in my opinion and Milan is a very ordinary team. Boring, nauseating, and just plain awful to watch. There is nothing very good to say about them and I cannot bring myself to congratulate them because it is just another scudetto for a lousy, stinking, northern team and calcio italiano is worse off for it. Call me cynical or biased, but I frankly do not care about Milan winning this championship and any fan of football or the Italian game should feel the same.

[Giacomo]

You took the words out of my mouth!

Roma has been a team in transition for about 3 years now though. Now though there may be the resources and expertise available to begin making that transition, thankfully.