THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[Deini]

50 million huh? Well forget about an RB. Cicinho will be the starting one with Cassetti and Rosi as backs up. We need atleast 2 midfielders and a new CB.

See the following happening:

Lucho Gonzalez
Casemiro (got faith that Sabatini will snatch him under the noses of the other teams that are interested in him, only problem I keep reading is that he will join in January)
Kjaer
Higuain (dream signing, Baldini took him to Madrid so now take him to Rome)

[DavidP]

so, the playoff draw is starting at 13:30 CET (1 and a half hours from now), here are some links


http://mypremium.tv/ - choose eurosport from the list on the right

http://www.norwaysport.co.uk/Norgeidrett3/ - veetle link

http://poiu1.blogspot.com/ - regular link (no program required)

[DavidP]

question - does anyone know how the draw works? do seeded teams play each other, or do seeded teams play unseeded teams (a list can be found )?

[maro]

No idea, Davit, but by the looks of this you may be out of luck:
http://www.forzaroma.info/news-as-roma/ ... eggi-.html

[RomaShield27]

[DavidP]

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[DavidP]

fuckkkkk that also means that tbilisi will have one of Braga, Schalke 04, Standard Liège, AEK Athens, Rennes, or Austria Wien drawn against them....

and zestafoni - Sevilla, AZ, Club Brugge, Sparta Prague, Red Bull Salzburg. Stoke City...


fuck this shit. we shouldve at least gotten them lazie cunts.

[RomaShield27]

Sorry Dave I was posting my last post at the same time there. It looks like they split the seeded and unseeded teams into 'group's (of no relevance) and so a team can only be drawn against an unseeded team from that group. Don't know why they do it that way and not just a big open draw of seeds against unseeded teams, probably just UEFA being fusy.

[DavidP]

bratislava it is.

[RomaShield27]

posted this on twitter. Its a translation from a piece from Tonino Cagnucci's book about Totti, Francesco Totti, dai pollici al cuore. Cagnucci also writes for Il Romanista and has also written a book about DDR (see ). Quite a nice piece this:

oscar s. (@blogistuta) Posted Thursday 4th August 2011 from Twitlonger




Also blogistuta has a nice piece up on about Vucinic's departure.


EDIT: Register for the new season of the Prediction League, see the . Always a good laugh.

[pocari_fenrir]

some welcome words from Bojan about the friendly
http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/20 ... ojan-krkic

[pocari_fenrir]

an editorial piece on Perrotta getting back to his best
http://www.football-italia.net/blogs/rp108.html

[RomaShield27]

Thats not a bad editorial piece on Perrotta, Pocari, although its not really related to him getting back to his best as it is him being used to the best of his abilities. He's ideal for this role under LE's 4-3-3, a midfielder who can instinctively get forward and fill the space left by a forward dropping deep. Sure no better man. He has the legs and the brains to make that work for him and so could well be more of a key player in this system then a lot of people think. Playing in such a role will also be good for Perrotta himself, of course, in that he may also get on the ball more and get more scoring chances which will serve him well and make him feel like a more important element and so see more confidence, not to mention less bashing from certain fans.

I never really talked much about the details of Bojan's transfer – or to be more accurate, his loan. Because thats what it is, essentially. A two-year loan, one in which we do all the work and pay all the wages with the intention of letting him express himself and develop into a top-class player at the end of which Barca take him back for an extra million. Unless, that is, we want to pay a further €28m to make it €40m in total. Paying such a figure, however successful he becomes, is highly unlikely, I think, and so he will likely be going back to Barca, assuming he does well and they want him back (Guardiola, who he had rows with, will also likely be gone by then). Its not a bad all-round deal financially wise or anything, I mean its a two-year loan of a very promising youngster who is perhaps ready to take it to the next level and all we pay is his wages (which, thinking on it, are actually not that cheap: €3.2m for 11/12 and 12/13 and then €6.3m in 13/14, assuming he stays), and so happy days. But its not like we can plan around him being a key element in our forward department for years to come and hope he develops a great understanding with Totti, DDR, Lamela et al, and so from that point of view, and with the details of the various buy-back clauses, it doesn't look all too assuring. Unless, that is, I am wrong and we will be willing to drop €40m on the Barca bench-warmer, but we shall see.

[DavidP]

i don't see why it's very unlikely that he goes on to develop into a 40m+ star within the next 2 years. who was sanchez 2 years ago?

[RomaShield27]

I never said he won't develop into a €40m+ star in the next two years, but rather that its unlikely we'll be willing to spend €40m+ on one player. Who knows, maybe we will, but the agenda for now seems to be focussing on (relatively) cheap young players as opposed to spending big.

This is essentially like a Rosella Sensi special co-ownership deal which we were accustomed to with the likes of Vucinic, in which the overall transfer ended up costing us more in the long-term instead of committing funds forward in the initial deal. Would Barca have sold Bojan with no ill-favoured clauses if we had bought him for, say, €18m instead of €12?

[Italiamia]

I am not a big fan of blogistuta but I would have to agree with him on the issue of Vucinic. He was really something to watch at Lecce and he begged, as well as his father, to come to Roma. In the end, I would have to say that his time with Roma was overall, a disappointment.

[DavidP]

perhaps he will be too crucial piece of a puzzle for us to not dish out 28m for him. who knows.

yeah, sure, they may have sold bojan for 18m, but that doesn't mean that we were up to it from a financial standpoint. even this 12m we're paying in installments, i think.

[p_maldini_3]

the highlight of vucinic's career at roma was when he gave c.ronaldo a black-eye.

c.ronaldo took it in stride and started banging girls with his sunglasses on. true story.

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

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Insightful article talking about our 4-3-3. From what I can gather (I'm sure Maro will correct me and offer his wisdom), it says when the team "starts the action" (as in starts an attack?), DDR falls back to the defence and acts as a third centre-half with the other two expanding the central line, which allows the full-backs to push higher up the pitch than normal. In this instance, we practically become a 3-4-1-2, with Totti dropping deep and looking for the ball to make the magic happen, in which case the role of Perrotta is also crucial in this movement. Then, when defending, the 4-3-3 becomes a 4-5-1, with the two 'wing-forwards' (even if they are not) dropping deeper, or even a 4-4-2, with only one dropping deep. Lots of movement all over the pitch, in which the transition must be fast and comfortable and never rushed, and all of which requires a lot of work on the training ground. No doubt.