THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[red]

Don't really understand this comment from Zeman:

“For the first 20 minutes the team played well, but once the pitch became impossible to play on then we had to stop, because we are incapable of playing the long ball game. We play close passing and quick movement, so don’t really know how to play that type of football.”

For one thing, I didn't think it was necessary to play particularly long - I didn't feel Lazio were relying on particularly direct play to get the ball forward.

Lazio, though, provided an good obstacle to Roma, which made it very difficult to find the space to pass the ball effectively. Roma didn't provide that obstacle and things only got worse once De Rossi went off, so Lazio had the time and space to take the touches and the care required to make passes in those conditions.

And why don't Roma know how to play long?

It may be difficult to play long ball to a high standard, but Roma should have been able to play long-ish to Totti and Osvaldo and use them to bring runners from midfield into the game more than they did.

[AS Collie]

Agreed. I'd been worried since I checked the weather on Friday.

But DDR acted irresponsibly. I've never seen such violent reactions to one of our own players in the stands. I think there'll be an apology of some sort made, because a lot of people are very pissed about the new transfer rumours too, and a couple of the guys near me were even convinced they were coming from his camp. Not sure what they were basing that on, I haven't read anything like that, but there's a lot of pissed off people around anyway.

[maro]

[red]

Didn't see it.

NZ's point total was about what I would have anticipated.

Just surprised Scotland scored as many points as they did.

[AS Collie]

Goin to see nz play the Italians next week at Olimpico. Looking forward to it, even if it is a foregone conclusion.

[maro]

Should be a good occasion, Collie - perhaps all the more enjoyable for the fact that it's likely not to be as tense an occasion as games sometimes are, though on their day the Italians can give anyone a good run for their money. Didn't watch it, red? Yeah, I'm afraid that was sort of my 'point', such as it was - in turn, I gave up watching the derby after 30 minutes, when we were still a goal up but the pitch was turning into a puddle. It's hardly an excuse - we should be more used than most teams to playing in such conditions. It just seemed to me to be turning the game into a bit of a mockery and I couldn't be bothered watching what I anticipated was to come. For the first 30 minutes we didn't play very well and Nazio played worse. Is that noisier? Regardless of what happened thereafter, I was just a bit sad to see a game I'd been looking forward to watching disappear as a proper spectacle in the rain. And then more disappointed still when I gathered DDR had got the red - quite regardless of the merits of that particular decision, watching the game before / alongside the rugby made me realise how annoying it is to see so many football games affected (ruined?) by a sending-off. Too many times now I've been really looking forward to a game only to find something happen in the opening 10 minutes to 'ruin' a week's worth of anticipation and that's something quite peculiar to football, I think. It's something that has pushed me away from the game, I think.

[red]

I know what you mean.

The derby last season, when Stekelenburg was sent off early, was a classic example. There is just no need to send someone off for mistiming a challenge when the opposition is, in all probability, going to get the goal anyway since the penalty is awarded.

Aberdeen had two of those against Celtic two years ago. I was certainly pretty miffed to use a whole day to go down to Hampden for the game to effectively last less than fifteen minutes.

I can't remember the last time I saw a Serie A game played in farcically wet conditions that didn't involve Roma.

[DCGweez]

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/mi ... a-v-lazio/

[AS Collie]

[juventino_italiano]

[red]

[RomaShield27]

Just watched derby after a rough oul weekend (havnt read all previous posts either), was quite frustrating. No doubt the red card fucked up the game for us, with Zeman's demanding tactics it was always going to be a huge challenge for the boys to get back into it, and the mistake by Piris just after half-time to gift them their third was a big mental blow for the lads. After that, it was a uphill battle to say the least, but the lads did make a decent stab of it.

Its always hard choice to make to take off someone in situations like these when the team is unbalanced, but I thought taking off Lamela was a strange one. He is perhaps the most mobile of our three forwards; he could play little bit deeper, even dropping to midfield; he is on excellent form and could have banged in a few more; Osvaldo had his injury problems with his ankle and perhaps wasn't at full fitness; the weather made it more difficult for Totti to influence the game the way only he can. A lot of reasons. Its a hard call, and you don't want to be taking Totti off in a derby (unless your the Stopgap one), but I just felt Lamela had more to offer.

The red card was of course a stupid thing for Daniele to do, but I can have some sympathy for him in the way the Mauri was fouling him and pulling his shirt all over the place, and if the refs had more balls about them to clamp down on that shit from corners/set-pieces then we might have avoided that mess. Mauri actually had two hands all over DDR – his left grabbing his shirt but the shoulder and his right had a hold of his shirt under his arm:



I'm sick of the way this sort of thing is still deemed to be ok for the defending teams to do. All teams do it, because they're allowed to and you'll do anything to stop the opposition from scoring if your allowed, but the refs or the leagues really need to sort if fucking out. Anyway, it was still a stupid reaction from DDR, no doubt, and he should have known better and not let the team down in that manner, but Daniele is a passionate man at the best of times, and the derby its something different. Disappointing to see him slap him, but I probably would have done the same thing, so while its stupid I don't really blame him for it as such.

Pjanic did very well when he came on, but his gestures after he scored were interesting. Baldini called him an "exemplary professional", and while I do agree to an extent – his attitude in general has been good, he has said positive things – I didn't like his gestures to the bench. Surely they were aimed at Zeman. His afterward that it was aimed at the coaching staff in general and because he was unhappy we were losing doesn't really hold up, it was pretty obvious what he was doing, but I suppose it was still good to see him speak to the microphones after the game and attempt to clear it up. Although it was funny at the time when the cameras immediately went to Zeman after it happen and he supposedly said to his assistant Cangelosi, "he was angry with me?"

Here's the post-game interview with Pjanic from Roma Channel:



On another note, how great to see Florenzi get a call up for the Azzurri. Totally deserved, and great to see another Roman make the grade. Congrats to Ale.

[red]

Not convinced De Rossi's red card was really decisive.

I could only think that Lamela was subbed due to him being more of a dribbler, and there was no way he was going to be able to do that in the conditions.

Totti, in theory, was more likely to make the ball stick and allow Roma to get up the pitch.

Still, I probably would have subbed Totti, given Lamela's form.

[maro]

Did you climb to the top of the cathedral?

[AS Collie]

I know what you mean, Red, and we were on a slippy slope before he was sent off, but I thought De Rossi's card was influential for two reasons.

1: the obvious. he's one of our best players and he left us a man down, which as Ed pointed out, in Zeman's game is massive
2: it pissed off a lot of the crowd, who were still behind the team at that stage. I saw people leave at half time, which just doesn't happen in the curva. The whole atmosphere changed after the red, and I can't help but feel the pressure and negativity translated onto the pitch.

Had DDR stayed on, I'm not sure we would have won the game, but combined with the weather, his absence and the subbing of Lamela left us like a limp dick for much of the second half.

All I can say is that I hope they put his fine in the kitty for the new stadium -- and make sure it has an effing roof.

[red]

[Italiamia]

Editoriale -

Zeman resta per mancanza di sostituti. Nessuno lo dice, ma sono in molti a pensarlo visto che la squadra, come ampiamente dimostrato nel derby, è alla deriva. Se poi Zeman per giustificare l'ennesima delusione parla di terreno ai limiti della praticabilità (come se la Lazio avesse giocato in un altro stadio), del mal funzionamento delle luci, della sfortuna e degli errori arbitrali, vuol dire che siamo al capolinea e bisogna fare in fretta. I capi d'accusa nei confronti del boemo sono talmente tanti e solari che in molti hanno ipotizzato un passo indietro da parte del tecnico.

Ma a Zeman dimissionario non crediamo. Lui è sempre convinto di quello che dice e giura che la squadra prima o poi prenderà il volo. Speriamo di sbagliarci, ma non sarà così e sono tante le cose a dimostrare che Zdenek ha sbagliato rotta, equipaggio, traguardi. E' lui che ha fatto acquistare Destro per poi lasciarlo in panchina. Dice che è la fotocopia di Osvaldo. Può darsi, ma perché non ha fatto utilizzare i 16 milioni spesi per l'attaccante su un altro fronte? Zeman dice anche che Pjanic non può giocare da regista; può darsi, ma perché non accettare i 20-milioni-20 offerti dal Barcellona e pescare un altro giocatore?

Vogliamo parlare poi di Stekelenburg? Zeman lo ha distrutto psicologicamente, giorno dopo giorno. Si era innamorato di Goicoechea, il portiere consigliatogli dal caro amico Mancini. Nel derby il portiere l'ha ripagato con un paperone niente male. Sulla tessa strada sembra si sia incamminato Castan che pure aveva ottenuto grandi elogi in questo primo scorcio di stagione. Su Piris e Tachtsidis meglio stendere un velo pietoso. Bisognerebbe andare a spulciare sulle trattative, sui soldi spesi, eccetera eccetera.

Potremmo proseguire all'infinito ma è opportuno occuparsi di De Rossi. In quali condizioni psicologiche è costretto a giocare Capitan Futuro (futuro?) lo si è vsito nel derby. Anche con lui Zeman ha giocato pesante, anche con lui è andato contro gli interessi della società, anche con lui ha danneggiato la Roma! Ecco, tutto questo, e qualcosa di più, è il Grande Maestro. Ventitré gol subiti, cioè peggior difesa del campionato. Certo di gol ne ha realizzati 28, solo uno in meno della Juventus, ma in realtà si tratta per la maggior parte di reti assolutamente ininfluenti. Lo dimostrano i due gol realizzati contro il Bologna, contro l'Udinese, contro il Parma, quelli nel derby: otto gol per zero punti!

Torniamo al sostituto. Sulla piazza c'è il deserto, ma una soluzione bisogna pur trovarla. Perfino l'autogestione a questo punto potrebbe produrre meno danni. Certo fa una certa impressione pensare al cammino della Fiorentina: sta facendo miracoli con Montella in panchina e Pradè a gestire le operazioni di mercato. C'è chi comincia sussurrare che gli americani potrebbero - come si dice dalle nostre parti - abbandonare "baracca e burattini". Se così fosse, come dar loro torto? Non c'è un solo punto del progetto approntato nella primavera del 2011 che sia stato portato a buon fine. Vogliamo parlare del nuovo stadio? O del marketing? Dei risultati ottenuti in campionato o di quelli in Europa? Dei tanti, troppi soldi spesi per due stagioni di mercato a dir poco disastrose?

Il siparietto del derby merita una menzione finale. Baldini e Sabatini hanno infilato la terza sconfitta consecutiva. Si consolino pensando che c'è chi ha fatto peggio di loro, perdendone 4 su 4 nella stessa stagione: Zdenek Zeman...

Alessandro Rossi

http://www.romatiamo.net/content/editor ... e-burattin

[red]

I see Totti fled Rome after the game.

He was at the tennis in London tonight.

[Lupa]

I don't blame Totti. I'd feel like fleeing too ... is the season ending soon?
(I mean, other than the fact that it's sinking) I don't have anything new to add other than the fact that we've compounded mistake on mistake.

[DCGweez]

DeRossi is banned for 3 games...

For the masochists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nZf005b ... e=youtu.be