THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

Well, what did we all think of that? So is this the start of Zemanlandia? Did we finally see the real way we want to play this football? Well, we only scored two goals, so clearly not. It wasn't a great performance, and it certainly wasn't a performance without a lot of gaping flaws, but it was a performance of a kind. A clean sheet, a victory at home, and three (legitimate) points on the board. It could have been so much different, of course, had Denis converted when he was clean through, if they hit the back of the net rather than the crossbar, and we were far too open and torn apart too easily in that first-half. We were also fortunate that Denis's goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside in the second-half, a goal which would really set the doubts once again at 2-1 and 15/20 minutes to go.

Totti was sublime throughout, obviously, while Bradley had a fine game and showed exactly what he can bring to the side and Florenzi was full of energy too and had a good game before tiring. Tachtsidis struggled a little and was caught for pace and position on a number of times. With DDR to come back in there it will improve us defensively a lot. Desto tried hard but found it tough going, but his time will come. Marquinhos and Castan had fine games – Burdisso has his work cut out for him to come back into the side. Still a lot of work for Zeman to do (goes without saying I suppose). We were better in the second-half then we have been in previous games – even if fatigue did effect a lot of players, we still coped with it a lot better. But we still weren't closing the opposition down as much or pressing them high up the pitch to snub out counters before they begin, as Zeman likes, which is were a lot of the uncertainty arises from in the defence. We looked ragged at times and better teams would tear us apart (as we've seen), so lots of work to do for sure, but we'll take it.

[DCGweez]

Zeman is the greatest Manager of All TIme. I told you all he'd win the Scudetto and the EPL this year.









Oh wait, are we only doing this when he loses?

[romawi]

[DavidP]

[Lupa]

Hey Shield -- what flavour is the kool-aid?

[DonSimon]

[RomaShield27]

[Italiamia]

[maro]

A fine aspiration.

[RomaShield27]

A few on DRR:

Giuseppe Giannini: "I think Zeman done what he done to get a reaction from De Rossi. If he didn't play then he seen his wasn't ready. Daniele is not stupid, he knows he has to train harder to reclaim his position. The coach wanted send out a strong message to the group: the other players, in this way, have understood that anyone can be left out".

Carlo Mazzone: "I think De Rossi has to be one of the untouchables of this team. In my opinion, he should never be questioned, but I will not criticize Zeman, who probably wanted to give him a shock. I did the same with some players. Daniele is an important player not only technically, but also for its image and he's Roman. He's not going through a good period of form but you have to help him. The management has to go with the coach and make him understand."

I don't really get all the fUSS over him being dropped. Maybe there's something I'm not aware of it, or maybe there really is a row between them, but to me there's not much in it, I'd echo Giannini's sentiments above more so than Mazzone's. The commitment wasn't would it usually is, train harder and reclaim your position.

Another piece on DDR/ZZ:

Zeman-De Rossi, è gelo
martedì 9 ottobre 2012 08:58

( – A.Ghiacci) – Il caso è ufficialmente aperto. E stavolta nessuno potrà essere accusato di voler destabilizzare l’ambiente: la Roma ha fatto tutto da sola. Zeman ha stupito tutti contro l’Atalanta spedendo in panchina tre big come De Rossi, Osvaldo e Burdisso. Dopo il fischio finale ha parlato di «vecchie gerarchie che non contano, serve impegno e non che pensino ai fatti propri» . Burdisso, però, è uscito subito dalla questione, perché Zeman stesso ha detto «ne vorrei venti come lui» . Il campo, dunque, si restringe. Osvaldo è un uomo di Zeman, che lo volle già sei anni fa a Lecce. L’attaccante italoargentino, invece, sembra essere andato incontro a una situazione simile a quella di Marquinho: scarso impegno in allenamento ed esclusione. [...]

ROTTURA - Hai voglia a dire che sono tutti uguali, quindi. La Roma ora dovrà far fronte alla rottura Zeman-De Rossi, che oggi sembra difficilmente recuperabile. E’ l’esclusione del centrocampista quella che fa discutere da domenica sera e lo farà ancora a lungo. A differenza del passato, però, la gente oggi non difende De Rossi a spada tratta: anzi, la maggioranza dei tifosi giallorossi sta dalla parte di Zeman. De Rossi è segnalato di umore pessimo: non tanto per la panchina, quanto per le parole spese dopo la partita dall’allenatore. Che lo ha attaccato su quelle che dovrebbero essere le sue armi migliori: impegno, attaccamento alla causa, interessi del gruppo da anteporre a quelli privati. Ancora: Zeman ha ristretto le possibilità tattiche di utilizzo di De Rossi al ruolo che il giocatore apprezza di meno: «Intermedio, è lì che può esprimersi al meglio, da regista viene dopo…» .

DUBBI - All’inizio era solo un problema di ruolo. Poi la diversità di vedute sugli obiettivi dell’attuale Roma, con De Rossi che ha espresso un punto di vista anni luce distante da quello del tecnico. Infine, i dubbi nutriti dal mediano, in compagnia di altri giocatori, sui metodi di lavoro imposti da Zeman. De Rossi, tanto per ricordarlo, era entusiasta del “libertismo” importato da Luis Enrique. Zeman però, come confermato dalla dirigenza ai giocatori solo una settimana fa, ha carta bianca sulle questioni tecniche. In più il tecnico considera questa la sua ultima grande occasione e non guarderà in faccia a nessuno quando si tratterà di fare scelte che possono apparire impopolari. La patata ora passa alla società, che ha parlato di «normale scelta tecnica» . Normale? Viste le reazioni che si sono scatenate non sembrerebbe. Gennaio è vicino, Real, City e Psg non hanno perso di vista De Rossi. Il rapporto con Zeman si potrebbe recuperare. [...]

[RomaShield27]

Video of Pallotta going around meeting everyone at the official team photo shoot. Always got the impression that Pallotta wasn't to be trusted, he just gave off a bad vibe and seemed that he was just more of a businessman, but not sure anymore, he might be alright.

Exclusive interview with Pallotta in (full interview there) today, this from about a new stadio:

"I would have used the Coliseum for the new stadium in Rome but I'm told it was busy. Seriously, we're almost ready: we have already had several meetings with the mayor of Rome and with the technical departments of the town: we examined 100 sites, we selected 12 and finally with our advisor Cushman & Wakefield we arrived at a shortlist of three areas. Now we are down to the the final decision: the stadium, which will have 60,000 seats, shops and restaurants, it will be designed by a world famous architect like Dan Meis, and we aim to be ready for the European Championships in 2016. Depending on certain decisions the investment may exceed €200 million.

He also said George Soros was very close to buying Roma, and it was he who suggested to Pallotta and co to buy Roma as they were considering buying another European team.

[Italiamia]

http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/notizie/r ... 13955.html

[romawi]

The DDR problem is a technical one as I see it. He's not a regista of the type Zeman wants, and he doesn't seem to be a CM in the type Zeman wants either. I think DDR needs to be more Busquets and less Pizarro/Pirlo to regain his spot as a DM in the current system.

[DCGweez]

http://inbedwithmaradona.com/gallery/as ... -atalanta/

[Italiamia]

De Rossi is only the future Captain and heart of this team. Keep him, send the coach packing to get on with his life's work.

[DCGweez]

Agreed, if it's 1 or the other i think the choice is pretty simple. Dump Zeman and keep DDR.

With that said, DDR should listen to the coach. He gets paid to.

[RomaShield27]

[Italiamia]

Marisa Di Bartolomei looks pretty good considering what she has endured in her life. I must be getting old. I either forgot how tall Falcao is or how short Bruno Conti was. One or the other. Aldair, soon to be 47, looks as though he could help out the current Roma defense.

[maro]

I've always thought De Rossi's natural position was as an interno. He's never been fully able to express his natural attacking game because he's always had to cover for defensive lightweights like Pizza.

[romawi]

I remember reading something different.