THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

Twitter is a great source for the latest news. Some people get really into it (I seen our old friend Jeff use the term 'tweeps' in a tweet the other day and cringed) but it can also be good to just find latest news and opinion, as well as to get a point across. I find it awkward to have a conversation on it, though.

Apparently Roma is making great strides social media circles these days, their always on this (ironically a site by some Irish bloke) saying how good they are. I agree with Colly, though, its a getting a bit ridiculous at this stage.

Also, i presume you all seen our new twitter video by now. Whatever about scudetto's or CL places, we winz at twitterz.

[DCGweez]

Twitter is an exceptional up-to-the-second news aggregator. I'm sure it can be used to follow Kim Kardasian and find out the latest gossip on Prince Harry's antics as well of course.

I personally love it during the silly season in footy and Free Agency for the NFL.

[RomaShield27]

Udinese-Roma Preview
/ 7 Mar 2013 Anthony Wright

Roma travel to Udinese on Saturday evening hoping to record their fourth successive victory as the chase for third place hots up. Aurelio Andreazzoli's side are now just five points off the final Champions League place, and several members of the team have said this week that they feel it is an achievable target.

The Giallorossi have not got the best record in recent years at the Friuli though after losing four of the last five meetings. Udinese's home record in the league is one of the best in Serie A, having lost just one of their 13 home matches so far, although they have been beaten at home by Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia and by Young Boys and Liverfekkin'wankscum in the Europa League.

Miralem Pjanic and Marquinhos will miss out for Roma through injury, joining Mattia Destro on the sidelines, while Michael Bradley is suspended. Mehdi Benatia, Giampiero Pinzi and Andrea Lazzari are injured for the hosts, and Giovanni Pasquale is a doubt.

Roma squad: Federico Balzaretti, Nicolas Burdisso, Leandro Castan, Daniele De Rossi, Dodo, Alessandro Florenzi, Mauro Goicoechea, Erik Lamela, Bogdan Lobont, Nico Lopez, Jonatan Lucca, Marquinho, Pablo Osvaldo, Simone Perrotta, Ivan Piris, Alessio Romagnoli, Maarten Stekelenburg, Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Rodrigo Taddei, Vasilis Torosidis, Francesco Totti.

Injured: Marquinhos, Miralem Pjanic, Mattia Destro.

Suspended: Michael Bradley (1 match).

One yellow card away from suspension: Federico Balzaretti, Mattia Destro, Pablo Osvaldo, Ivan Piris, Nicolas Burdisso.

Udinese squad: Zeljko Brkic, Daniele Padelli, Wojciech Pawlowski, Gabriele Angella, Dusan Basta, Danilo, Maurizio Domizzi, Thomas Heurtaux, Gabriel Silva, Allan, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Matias Campos, Alexander Merkel, Roberto Pereyra, Diego Rodriguez, Antonio Di Natale, Maicosuel, Luis Muriel, Mathias Ranegie, Piotr Zielinski.

Injured: Mehdi Benatia, Giampiero Pinzi, Andrea Lazzari.

Suspended: None.

[DavidP]

i found twitter pretty helpful when I was trying to find egyptian teens to interview about the arab spring. like with any other tool, its up to you how well you use it. that said, if totti and perrotta make twitter accounts a part of me will die.

[RomaShield27]

has a twitter account since Apr 16, 2011, David. You're on the stairway to heaven.

[DavidP]

[RomaShield27]

ROMA (4-2-3-1): Stekelenburg; Piris, Burdisso, Castan, Torosidis; De Rossi, Florenzi; Marquinho, Perrotta, Lamela; Totti.

A disposizione | Substitutes: Goicoechea, Lobont, Dodò, Romagnoli, Taddei, Balzaretti, Tachtsidis, Lucca, Lopez, Osvaldo

Well look at that, its a 4-2-3-1, ala Spalletti, with Perrotta as trequartista. Switch to a back-four, which I like. Presumably Torosidis on the left, ahead of both Balza and Dodo. Florenzi gets the bid in midfield with Tachtsidis on the bench.

Osvaldo is the one to be dropped from up front, which isn't surprising since he's been more than disappointing lately. He was also fined for walking down the tunnel when subbed v Genoa and missed training during the week.

[forzaitalia]

Ahh, the good old days of 4-2-3-1 with Perrotta as trequartista and Il Capitano as a false nine. Happy memories.

Forza Roma.

[p_maldini_3]

3.5 runners with totti and ddr, this should be an interesting match.

[Lupa]

Wow. Flashback time.

Osvaldo is becoming more trouble than he's worth.

[Italiamia]

[RomaShield27]

Baldini reckons the decision to drop Osvaldo is" more tactical than technical". But even if AA didnt change formation I would still have dropped him. Even rumours earlier that Florenzi was going to play in a more advanced role ahead of him.

[DCGweez]

He's just stoned. They said they're worried he's wasting Roma's time, to which he responded, "If I'm here and you're here isn't it our time?"

[Italiamia]

[RomaShield27]

[DCGweez]

[AS Collie]

[AS Collie]

[maro]

I don't know, Collie; I just don't think your argument really holds up, for all that I'm sympathetic to the sensibilities that underlie it. A fledgling provincial paper might tweet that it had been invited to a prestigious round-table which representatives from the Guardian and the Times had also been invited to attend. Of course, you might argue that Roma isn't a fledgling provincial paper and that this wasn't a prestigious round-table session but it would seem to me that those are the terms on which such a tweet was made and that they're not entirely insane. And I quite accept that your model of twitter-use for the club is a good one; on the other hand, it also seems to me fairly clear what it's currently being used for and that that, too, isn't entirely insane. Building the brand is not especially elegant - or, to me, interesting - but it's part of the modern football-business model (better football will make better business, sure, but better business can also make better football). You are most emphatically not their target audience; that's a pity, in a way, since were you, the messages would be more interesting and worthwhile. On its own terms, though, I don't see much in any of this that is all that different from the club's bringing out different shirts every season or having more than one alternative strip or, indeed, having even the one alternative strip that is worn on anything other than those occasions of a genuine clash with the opposition etc. etc. .

I don't have any interest in the terms on which those tweets and press releases are being made, but I think I can grudgingly acknowledge that they do make sense on their own terms.

And, of course, the exclamation mark is evil - which is why its natural abode is Twitter.

[AS Collie]