THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[Italiamia]

[RomaShield27]

Right. So will Emerson? Or Boniek? Or Capello? How about Zebina?! Aquilani?

[Italiamia]

[AS Collie]

I'd invite Capello if he's still alive. His team was one of the all-time great Serie-A sides in my opinion, and I don't think that can be erased, no matter what happened in the end.

I've always been of the opinion that the public never gets the full details behind Roma's (many) great dramas. That's why I admire Baldini a lot. He really seemed apprehensive about coming back to Rome, and made no secret of his feelings regarding how he felt about the average Italian business model. Those comments he made a while back about wanting to change Serie A with Roma really stuck with me.

I wouldn't invite Aquilani because he's a fascist, or Emerson because he was the worst (to watch) footballer I've ever seen. You can come, Ed.

[Italiamia]

[AS Collie]

[maro]

Perhaps he's a fan of the young Mussolini?

[AS Collie]

Perhaps he's a fan of the young Hitler, too. And the young Gaddafi, and the early work of Robert Mugabe. It's impossible to separate the later-life actions of such a person from his youth.

Aquilani was given the bust by his uncle, who is a fascist, and he doesn't like immigrants too much, but he says he stays out of politics. He's said as much in interviews (I'll see if I can find them online), which whatever your views, is a dumb move to make.

His bird is hot though. So there's that.

[maro]

Just trying to help the kid out. Perhaps he's a fan of the architecture Mussolini encouraged? Though, come to think of it, that's probably the very worst of his crimes.

[AS Collie]

Too many people here think Il Duce was "misunderstood", so it just winds me up when some dumb footballer gives his opinion, because regardless of their cognitive ability, their opinions are held in high regard.

Did everyone hear about Cassano's heart operation, yeah? I've always had a soft-spot for the guy, and a stroke at 29 is pretty crazy.

[RomaShield27]

[AS Collie]

Hmmm. My point about the fitness wasn't so much about possession football in possession as it was about possession football when not in possession. They've been left exposed without the ball because I don't think that the older players have the physical (or in the case of Burdisso, the mental) fortitude to respond quickly when exposed in acres of space. It's mainly an off-the-ball observation for me; when the ball the in attack, or just at the moment of turn-over, there are often some players that look completely unprepared. Within the current formation, it isn't too much of a stretch to see it developing into a 3-4-1-2 when in attack, like the aforementioned team of Capello, but the difference there was that the man in front of the defence (now De Rossi), dropped into the back to actually facilitate forward movement (via the full-backs) because it allowed the intelligent centre-backs to move wider and cover more space. I think Juan could possibly function in this way, even if he isn't as fast as he once was, but I wouldn't trust Burdisso out wide, and despite playing most of his career at left-back, Heinze just looks, well, shite. So, rather than facilitating forward movement by dropping back, De Rossi is now in danger of being used as a shield (in a bad sense; I am not talking about his role as a player now at all, only how he is perceived by his teammates), behind which the shaky defence can hide, and even deceivingly look stable, which is extremely counter-productive in my eyes.

I agree with you about the Totti comments. He facilitates movement so well. I think that Pjanic could develop into this kinda player. But he needs to be allowed, which means that he needs a strong defence and a sturdy mid-field behind him.

Edzo, I'm just gonna say it: I think we needed to hold on to Mexes.

[RomaShield27]

[Lupa]

Speaking of Totti, at least he's started to train more normally again, but he won't be available for the big game Saturday. We seem to have had a lot of Saturday games this season.

Colpa di infortuni e squalifiche, ma anche «merito» di Luis Enrique. A Novara, causa assenza di Pizarro, potrebbe toccare a Greco, provato ieri al fianco di De Rossi e Gago. Toccherà, nonostante il ritorno a disposizione pure di Cicinho, sicuramente al recuperato Rosi occupare l'out destro. Al centro, invece, tutte le strade, con Juan e Kjaer ko, portano alla coppia Burdisso-Heinze. Larga concorrenza in attacco: Pjanic e Lamela si giocano una maglia, Osvaldo, Bojan e Borriello le altre due. Ottime notizie da Totti: ieri il capitano ha lavorato con il pallone . Il ritorno con il Lecce appare sempre più possibile. Oggi, come da copione, seduta pomeridiana. I prelievi del sangue (programmati da tempo) sono stati il motivo del cambio di programma di ieri. M.D.S.

http://www.iltempo.it/2011/11/03/129824 ... pera.shtml

Regarding the discussion above, Totti's own movement may be slow, but he is so important to the ball movement on this team.

[AS Collie]

[RomaShield27]

Yeh, Tomassi and Emerson were essential to that system for all the dirty work they done, and they had the engines to get up and down the pitch (as did Cafu and Candela). They, like all the other players, also knew that great formation like the back of their hands and knew what was expected of them. At the moment we have players like Pizza and Perrotta who aren't as sure of themselves in the midfield (not that they're playing bad or anything), while Gago is doing ok (I'm surprised Viviani hasn't got more of a look in), but there isn't much stability to their play as they're being asked to adapt depending on possession of the football. If we switched to the 3-4-2-1 the whole time it might be easier, but it would require one or even two quality defenders being added. Either way, I'm just not convinced this switching formation is working to our advantage at all and if a more 'set' one would not be better.

[Lupa]

According to these articles, Totti, Pizarro, Juan and Kjaer will return after the international break. Borini will be back in a month.
The takeover was officially final yesterday, with the bank and 'the Americans' owning 78%.
We're supposed to be after Nicolas Lopez in January. He's Uruguayan, young and supposed to be the 'new Fonseca'. This is, of course, contrary to the last set of rumours that said we're after a player who is already experienced.

http://www.vocegiallorossa.it/?action=r ... izia=26780
http://www.vocegiallorossa.it/?action=r ... izia=26777

Anyway, we're up against Novara tomorrow, and if we don't win that one, I don't know what to say, but it has all the ingredients for disappointment. Playing a very small team away from home and a game we need.

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

Roma, Borriello: Prima Novara, poi al Milan

La Roma cerca i gol di Borriello: per uscire dalla crisi e per convincere il Milan. La società rossonera infatti ha messo gli occhi sul bomber napoletano dopo aver capito di non poter contare su Cassano in questa stagione (o per gran parte di essa). Per Borriello si tratterebbe di un ritorno a casa. A Milano, infatti, il centravanti ci è cresciuto (non solo calcisticamente) e nei giorni liberi è solito incontrarlo in via Monte Napoleone in compagnia della sua nuova fiamma, la modella Camilla Morais che a Milano vive e lavora.

L'ingaggio di Borriello (tre milioni a stagione) per il Milan non sarebbe un problema, così come il prezzo del cartellino che appena quattro mesi fa fu valutato 10 milioni proprio dalla società rossonera. Soldi versati dall'attuale società giallorossa, ma promessi più di un anno fa dalla presidenza Sensi. Un prezzo che la Roma non avrebbe voluto pagare e che ha provato ad attutire in estate cedendo Borriello al Psg. L'attaccante però rifiutò dichiarando di voler restare a Roma. In questi mesi Borriello ha cambiato idea. Con l'arrivo di Luis Enrique, infatti, SuperMarco è stato poco più di un'alternativa a Osvaldo, che nel frattempo gli ha anche soffiato il posto in Nazionale.

Dodicesimo calciatore per presenze (6, come il 20enne Borini) Borriello ha capito di non essere l'attaccante ideale per il gioco del tecnico giallorosso e sarebbe disposto a tornare al Milan, dove ritroverebbe la Champions e un ruolo da protagonista. Il suo splendido stato di forma (mostrato 8 giorni fa a Genova), le assenze di Totti e Borini, la scarsa vena di Osvaldo e il mercato alle porte hanno consigliato nel frattempo a Luis Enrique di concedere una nuova chance a Borriello, che domani a Novara formerà il trio d'attacco al fianco di Lamela e Pjanic. Il bosniaco ha parlato a lungo con Luis Enrique e gli ha detto apertamente di preferire il ruolo di trequartista a quello di intermedio.

(Leggo - Edizione Roma)

[RomaShield27]

I Convocati:

BORRIELLO, BURDISSO, CASSETTI, CURCI, DE ROSSI, GAGO, GRECO, HEINZE, KRKIC (BOJAN), LAMELA, OSVALDO, PERROTTA, PIGLIACELLI, PJANIC, ROSI, SIMPLICIO, STEKELENBURG, TADDEI, VALDES (JOSÈ ANGEL)

Out: Kjaer, Pizza, Mascotcinho, Juan, Lobont, Borini, Totti

asroma.it

Pic from training today. Its looks like LE plans on playing 10 central midfielders tomorrow. I like it.