THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[p_maldini_3]

compared to the shit italian football has seen over the years, to call cellino the evil of italian football is an overstatement.

[DCGweez]

Agreed no reason to vilify him. He screwed up and now he will pay the price. No reason to make him the victim either though. In this case i don't think following the rules laid out regarding forfeiture is a miscarriage of justice.

[RomaShield27]

Roma-Sampdoria: la probabile formazione dei quotidiani. Dubbio Piris-Taddei
/ mercoledì 26 settembre 2012 09:18

Ecco la probabile formazione della Roma che stasera affronterà la Sampdoria da parte dei quotidiani sportivi e non.

GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT
Stekelenburg, Piris, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti, De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi, Lamela, Destro, Totti

IL MESSAGGERO
Stekelenburg, Piris, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti, De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi, Lamela, Destro, Totti

CORRIERE DELLO SPORT
Stekelenburg, Piris, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti, De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi, Lamela, Destro, Totti

IL ROMANISTA
Stekelenburg; Taddei, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti; De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Lamela, Destro, Totti

LA REPUBBLICA
Stekelenburg; Taddei, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti; De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Lamela, Destro, Totti

IL TEMPO
Stekelenburg; Piris, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti; De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Lamela, Destro, Totti

IL CORRIERE DELLA SERA
Stekelenburg; Piris, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti; Florenzi, De Rossi, Pjanic; Lamela, Destro, Totti

---------

Pjanic picked up a groin strain in , he likely won't feature against Samp this evening and will rest up for Rube at the weekend. DDR will return to the midfield. Piris is a doubt at full-back as Zeman said he is a bit low on confidence at the moment and so Taddei could start. Dodò and Lobont were the only absentees, while Osvaldo trained separately and should also be ok for the weekend.

[RomaShield27]

Anyone watching the game tonight? Hopefully we can put in a good performance for the full 90 minutes this time and we don't see more or what we did in the second-half against Bologna. No point being Zemanlandia for the first hour and then Ranieri for the remainder. We need to keep it going, build some momentum and get some confidence ahead of Rube at the weekend. Samp are a good side and Ferrara has them well organised, so we'll need to be patient and keep our focus throughout.

[forzaitalia]

I'll be watching yeah, hope bet365 has some sound this time or I'll have to find a different stream.

I'm sure the Bologna game will be at the back of the players minds when they take to the field, especially as we haven't had a game since to put that result right. We do need a good result though, not winning any of the first three home games would be a bit of a mare, and confidence would be low for Rube on Saturday, as you say.

I'd take any kind of win but I would love a win and a clean sheet!

[RomaShield27]

Ive been in touch with Bet365 regarding their sound issues. I sent them a message the last game when there was no sound and thought no more of it, but they have been replying to me and their technical support is quite good, although they still dont know what the issue is. All of their other streams are fine (Dutch football, French etc), its just the Italian ones in which there is just commentary and no background or stadio noise. They're still on the case.

Yeah, a win and a clean sheet would be very nice. Even a 1-0 win, which Zeman would never really accept, but it would do.

Not bad, this:

[DCGweez]

Stekelenburg; Taddei, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti; Marquinho, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Lamela, Destro, Totti

[RomaShield27]

So No De Rossi, starts on the bench, bit of a surprise. Also Taddei ahead of Piras as expected.

Nine players on the bench, including Perrotta – for the first time?

A disposizione: Goicoechea, Svedkauskas, Romagnoli, Piris, Marquinhos, De Rossi, Perrotta, Tallo, Lopez

[DCGweez]

I think he has an eye on the weekend. 3 points is 3 points. I'm sure DDR will get a run out in the second half.

[RomaShield27]

[Italiamia]

This is just perfect:

http://www.repubblica.it/sport/calcio/s ... -43361839/

[RomaShield27]

Zeman is always going to say those things, and he's right in saying we played well for the first hour. Its the same story with Bologna, really, we do well and score but regret not having scored more and put the game out of the oppositions reach before the inevitable drop in energy and effort levels. Why that is happening I don't know but its something which urgently needs sorting. We seem to be running out of gas and energy after the hour mark. Perhaps its down to the lads simply not being fit enough to play as Zeman wants for the full 90 minutes, in which case we need to pace ourselves more, or its a mental thing and we just switch off after a certain period. Tuna made the good point that that didn't happen against Inter. We came out in the second-half in a game in which we were on top and continued to push on right to the end and got our reward. Its hard to keep such intensity levels up all the time, but if we can't and for games like yesterdays when we're up against smaller defensive opposition at home we need to be more patient and calculated and not expend ourselves so early.

[RomaShield27]

Happy birthday il capitano, mio capitano, the legend that is Francesco Totti. Never in sport will we see his like again.



/ 09/27/2012

19 years have passed since his Serie A debut on 28 March 1993 to today, 27 September 2012. That’s 7123 days or 170,952 hours. So much time for Roma, for one club, this is the epic story of Francesco Totti. Today we celebrate the captain’s 36th birthday - he the biggest player in the club’s history. This is not just someone’s opinion, it’s backed up by the stats. He’s the Giallorossi’s all-time leader in terms of appearances and goals: 645 games in all competitions, 271 goals. In Serie A he has played 505 times, scoring on 216 occasions. No one has achieved what he has with one club, and he is the third-highest Italian goalscorer ever, the highest of those still active. He has won one Scudetto (2000/01), two Coppa Italias (2007, 2008) and one Italian Super Cup (2007) with Roma. He picked up a winner’s medal in the 1996 European Under-21 Championships and won the World Cup with the Azzurri in 2006.

His achievements include being named man of the match in the final of Euro 2000 between Italy and France, winning the European Golden Shoe in 2007 for his 26 league goals, the title of Golden Foot 2010 and 11 Oscars from the Italian Footballers’ Association (AIC). Over the years Totti has received numerous plaudits from greats in the game.

“He’s the best player in the world, even though he’s been a little unlucky.”
Pele (World Cup winner in ’58, ’62 and ’70)

“He’s the best player in the world, he’s better than The Bald Algerian and Beckham. He makes difficult things look easy and he gets his team playing well.”
Diego Armando Maradona (World Cup winner in ’86)

“He’s the best player of the last twenty years.”
Marcello Lippi (World Cup winner with Italy as coach in 2006)

“He’s world class, I’ve been saying it for 15 years.”
Zdenek Zeman (Roma coach)

“I reached the pinnacle of my career playing with him.”
Antonio Cassano (Inter forward)

“He can always make things happen.”
Roberto Mancini (Manchester City manager)

“Totti is the new Rivera and he reminds me of Riva the way he strikes the ball.”
Fabio Capello (Russia head coach)

“When he touches the ball, bells sound.”
Luciano Spalletti (coach of Zenit St. Petersburg)

“A footballing artist.”
Michel Platini (UEFA president)

“I never realised my dream of seeing him play for ‘Los Merengues.’”
Florentino Perez (Real Madrid president)

“I try to play like Totti.”
Luka Modric (Real Madrid midfielder)

“A role model in football."
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich CEO)

“Francesco is a legend.”
Wesley Sneijder (Inter playmaker)

“One of the best number 10s.”
Roberto Baggio (ex- Fiorentina, Juventus, Inter and AC Milan)

“One of the best players I’ve ever seen.”
Arrigo Sacchi (ex-Italy and AC Milan coach)

“The best player in Italian football.”
José Mourinho (Real Madrid manager)

“Totti is the architect of everything Roma do.”
tender Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager)

“A superb talent.”
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal manager)

“Roma’s Colosseum.”
Laurent Blanc (former France coach)

“I would have been honoured to have played alongside him.”
Raul (Al-Sadd striker)

“As a kid I dreamed of one day playing like him.”
Javier Pastore (PSG midfielder)

And finally, Lionel Messi, the world’s best player, upon meeting Totti in a bar in Ibiza recently asked him: “Totti, how about a photo together?”
Happy birthday Francesco!

[maro]

I reckon it's a function of the amount of hard fitness work Zeman has been putting them through. Didn't Caprari say they only really started to feel the benefit of it all in January?

[forzaitalia]

Buon compleanno Francesco Totti, the living legend.

[RomaShield27]

[Italiamia]

[romawi]

It's not. I remember there being a discussion about this during preseason.

[RomaShield27]

Did it go along the lines of "be patient", "give it time", etc.?

[Italiamia]