THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[DavidP]

[maro]

Rossi sarà, dunque, l’obbiettivo del Napoli per la prossima stagione

Si. Guardate, io ho parlato con VucInic e mi ha detto che non vuole rimanere in Italia, che vuole assolutamente andare a giocare in Inghilterra per suoi problemi personali. Avevo offerto più di quanto ha pagato la Juventus alla Roma, prima che la Juventus si muovesse. Poi, non ho più creato problemi, perché ad un calciatore che dice che non vuole rimanere a giocare in Italia, se io ci parlo personalmente …. Perché io ho iniziato a parlare personalmente con i calciatori e non mi baso su quello che mi può dire un procuratore o un club. Ho parlato sia con la Roma, che con il calciatore direttamente. Non voleva venire ed io non devo convincere una persona che non vuole venire a Napoli di venire a Napoli. Napoli è una grandissima piazza, o la si capisce, o non la si capisce.

[red]

[pocari_fenrir]

Maro, +1 to Criscito, Ranocchia and Pazzini.

another point that has dawned on me, is it necessary for us to blow 20mil just for Nilmar?? isnt there a cheaper option like Podolski or something??

[RomaShield27]

I think Roma and Sabatini need to get their priorities straight, and instead of spending valuable mercato time haggling over Nilmar when he's not really worth it, and chasing down a much-needed replacement for Vucinic (like I said we'd need, especially now that LE has confirmed he see's Lamela as being one of the midfield three and not a forward player, as some here were so stubbornly insistent upon), I really think we need to be focussing our efforts of signing a centre-half before all else. That has to be our main concern. Our lack of options there at the moment is ridiculous.

Lamela scored both goals (from the peno spot) in Argentina's 2-0 win over Egypt (tough luck, Edge) in the Under-20 WC. He played very well again by all accounts. Highlights here:



Pics of him here: http://www.corrieredellosport.it/foto/c ... +ai+quarti?

UEFA has confirmed dates of our Europa League play-off tie with Slovan Bratislava. The first-leg is on 18/8/11, 21.45CET in Bratislava, with the return-leg on 25/8/11 in the Olimpico.

Check out David's post in the – available to download: a great video with every goal from our last scudetto season with commentary from Carlo Zampa.

And register for the , always a good laugh.

Also, on the subject of buying Italian talent, another name to add to that list is Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, formerly of Fiorentina (and Bologna, Lecce, Atalanta). Giovanni will no doubt argue that he's not Italian, but he is, and by all accounts he's been doin well for himself Espanyol in Spain with several bigger clubs now chasing him. He would be a good signing for us.

Meanwhile, at Trigoria , apparently a group of fans hurled abuse at Barusso and attacked his car because he won't leave the club (can't say I blame him, really). No wonder Loazzi hasn't been around much since his last mysterious post.

[AlCapone]

Ed, don't give me a heart attack. The game's 20:45 CET in Bratislava. I'm either taking the train or driving up for this game. Should be a good one.

[ASR1927]

[maro]

Stampa Argentina: "Osvaldo vicinissimo alla Roma"
Mercoledì 10 Agosto 2011 16:28

Spunta un nome nuovo nella ricerca all'attaccante che possa completare il reparto avanzato giallorosso, orfano di Vucinic e Menez. Durante un programma televisivo argentino, 'Indirecto', il giornalista Ruso Ramenzoni ha rivelato che Pablo Daniel Osvaldo è a un passo dalla Roma e al 90% si legherà al club giallorosso con un contratto quinquiennale. Nei giorni scorsi, anche Cesar Luis Merlo, altro giornalista argentino, aveva dato la Roma vicinissima all'acquisto dell'ex viola dopo aver battuto la concorrenza dell'Atletico Madrid.

Osvaldo, esploso nel Lecce 5 anni fa e poi passato per Firenze e Bologna, è stato ceduto nella scorsa estate all'Espanyol dove ha realizzato 20 gol in 44 presenze nella stagione di debutto.

[ASR1927]

The NY Times published a list of 5 European football teams to watch out for this year. Roma is at the top of the list.

AS Roma

An American goes to Rome. He hires a Spaniard to do a job. While this sounds like the start of a 1970s gangster movie, it is in fact the situation at AS Roma, with the American being the new owner Thomas DiBenedetto and the Spaniard being the new coach Luis Enrique. A household name as a player, Enrique has most recently been the coach of the Barcelona B side, which his former Barça teammate Pep Guardiola coached before moving to the first team. While he has found success in the Barcelona system, the question remains whether Enrique can transfer some Barcelona magic to a less-than-great side in a very defensive Serie A.

There are reasons for optimism. Roma was already playing a much more fluid style of soccer than most Italian clubs. Some, such as Robin Van Persie, have even bestowed the coveted Total Football label on Roma. Also, the club has high hopes for its new signings Bojan Krkic, Maarten Stekelenburg, Gabriel Heinze and the 19-year-old Argentine standout Erik Lamela, as well as for its preexisting focal points Francesco Totti, Daniel De Rossi and Marco Borriello.

However, naysayers will cite the amount of talent on the team’s exit sheet this summer, which includes Mirko Vucinc, Jeremy Menez and the defensive John Arne Riise, along with Totti’s age and an impatient fan base that may rush a vital incubation period.


The rest of the list is here:
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/0 ... an-eye-on/

[vtec]

didn't serie a have more goals scored than both the bpl and the bbva liga two years running?

[RomaShield27]

"Very defensive Serie A..."? That 'articles' a piece of piss, written by some dopy American saccar journalist who doesn't have a fuckin breeze what he's on about, no doubt.

I see Matias Silvestre has completed his move to the mighty Palermo. Another good defender who we've been linked with gone from our sights. So we can add him to Zapata and Milito, and probably a couple of others who I'm forgetting. Its ok, though, we're still kicking back havin a smoke and haggling over Nilmar. For feck sake...

[pocari_fenrir]

yah id agree to the 5 teams they listed although i dont quite understand the hype with Liverfekkin'wankscum (a couple decent signings and they're suddenly world beaters??)

to add to Shield's previous post, it wasnt just Barusso that got attacked, Okaka also fell victim for refusing signatures
http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/20 ... fano-okaka

Lamela, missing from U-20 Argentina's 3rd group match explained by a knock to the ankle
http://www.goal.com/en/news/585/argenti ... -world-cup

side note, Edge, why does your country wear a colour that makes them look so naked?? it's like all they're wearing is socks and boots

as for our other U-20 player, Loic Nego has been starting for U-20 France after their 1st group match too, bit of a marauding fullback from the highlights

[pocari_fenrir]

[red]

[RomaShield27]

Crescenzi is already gone on loan to Bari, Pocari. I agree about Lugano, he's not the solution long-term but I'd take him now. If Cassetti and/or Heinze are to be our options for centre-half, that leaves us desperately weak. Juan is likely to be absent through injury for large periods and similarly Burdisso will be injured/suspended, so we'd need someone to fill in for them. Cassetti or Heinze do not fill me with confidence at all. Remember, our defence was our weakest department last season, and we've lost our best defender in Mexes, and instead of replacing him, we'll have to rely on ageing converted full-backs. I'm sure we'll bring in someone who will compete to be a starter (in my view, a first-choice partnership of Juan and Burdisso is a disaster), but its still very late in the day to be making a move and it really should have been a priority ahead of all other positions, even goalkeeper, as it was known for quite a while that Mexes was gone.

I agree, Red, I didn't want him, but I was just using him to further highlight my extremely valid point.

[forzaitalia]

I agree about Juan and Burdisso. Juan was a bit of a nightmare in parts last season - Sampdoria away, anyone? Whilst Burdisso is solid enough, a top class CB would fill us all with a bit more confidence about the season ahead.

As it stands, if Valdes was unavailable then Heinze would play at LB after Crescenzi's departure, leaving only Juan and Burdisso as the available CB's....

[loazzi]

Don't forget Taddei as a LB. LE has been using him a lot there. At the moment, I think Taddei is Valdez's backup with Heinze solely as a CB. If we get another top notch CB like Kjaer, that may change things a bit.

[forzaitalia]

I don't really want to see Taddei starting on the wing, never mind at LB - bring in a CB is the only option!

[pocari_fenrir]

yah, im aware that Crescenzi is on loan to Bari with Sini but my thoughts was if he returns, will he find space ahead of Jose Angel?? or will he be benched like Antunes?? Heinze/Cassetti at LB arent really options either but would we keep Cassetti around as a back up LB and force out Crescenzi?? how will Crescenzi grow into this squad if we're expecting Jose Angel to do so from a starting position?? i think effectively, we've conceded that Crescenzi will not go any farther with this squad unless he pulls in some appealing performances ala Bertolacci.

as a side note, i would never want to see Taddei at LB. while he may provide defensive overlaps his performances are as inconsistent as his fitness, he should do well further up as a LWF where we dont have to be heavily dependent on his intercepting skills

another problem the Heinze/Cassetti combo poses is at 3rd/4th CBs. neither can be dependable but the same can be said of our Juan-Burdisso pairing. while we lost a good defender in Mexes (im refraining from best since he was highly inconsistent since the departure of Chivu), he never looked to lead our back line. Juan has the ability to lead us if he was fit and not pulling the horror show like at Samp. for all records, i think Juan still has it in himself to pull a few more of those performances and would appreciate that he be cycled out for Lugano as soon as possible. most of you can agree that a pairing of Lugano-Juan/Burdisso makes for a very sound pairing, it allows for someone from our youth ranks to rise up. i would've filled Brosco's name here but we've sold him to Triestina and i dont know what other CBs are coming through for us

from a financial stand-point, Lugano is a steal at 3.5m. i dont condone dumping 10m for Kjaer unless Sabatini believes he could start and lead our line. if you ask me, we never should've let Bovo go so easily before, he would've had some part to play to ease Mexes' departure

[romawi]

I like this potential Osvaldo move. According to FI, we're willing to offer cash plus Simplicio.