THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[red]

Pretty risky system that Roma were using there.

It was dangerously close to being a genuine back three (rather than the alleged back threes that everyone else play that become back fives at the merest hint of pressure).

Anyway, Roma's central midfield needs to do more defensive work to prevent situations where the CBs are overloaded, particularly when crosses are going into the box.

De Rossi and Tachtsidis/Bradley really needed to either: work harder to get wide enough to cover the space down the sides of the CBs, so as to allow the CBs to hold position in the centre; or drop deeper to plug gaps which are created when a CB is pulled into a wide area.

It's not like Roma are likely to be left light in the middle of the park when they have Perrotta and Florenzi playing in addition to two deep midfielders.

Since the midfielders didn't really do either of those things Roma looked stretched an awful lot of the time and were pretty fortunate to concede at least once.

[red]

Still, that Totti chappy ain't bad.

His flick in behind that led to Perrotta hitting the bar was pretty unreasonable.

[DavidP]

like i said, i can't remember a better pass this season.

[forzaitalia]

Absolute magic. Edit - damn you Davit! Haha.

[red]

Aye, it's nae bad like.

[Lupa]

Yes, that was sublime.

It was nice to be able to relax somewhat when Roma took a two goal lead. With Zeman at the helm, I never felt anything less than a 3 goal lead was secure, and even with that it depended on the stage of the game.

[Italiamia]

[RomaShield27]

Nice game, some good football. The lads are playing with confidence and enjoying their football. Big credit has to go to AA. I may have been wrong about him in the running for the job full time. If we keep going like this then why not.

Tachtisidis and Burdisso had good games I thought, both players who've been criticised a bit lately. Burddisso's block which stopped a certain goal was brilliant. As good as a goal.

Perrotta was also good, good to see him back in the side. Very much like the Perrotta of old, finishing boots and all. Totti was immense, naturally, his flick for Perrotta when he hit the crossbar was magical, something which the world will be a sadder place for when he's not around (in four years time) as not many players can do it.



Nice moment with Rosi pre-game:

[DavidP]

i don't know if you guys have seen it yet, but the back-heel which led to perrotta hitting the bar was unreal. in fact, i would say it was the pass of the season.

[DCGweez]

A nice win today. The result is wonderful. Can't help but feeling with all those breakaways on the keeper it should have been 6-0. I think that had Zeman been at the helm those breakaways are finished and our goal differential is much better this morning.

[DCGweez]

Also here is a full vid of Totti's game on Sunday. Not sure if you guys have seen it but there is a silly good backheel pass in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... fFpgtc3Ysw

[Italiamia]

]


MILAN, March 17 (Reuters) - AS Roma stalwart Francesco Totti, 36, gave another masterclass, including a goal for the record books, an extraordinary free kick and an almost unbelievable backheel pass, in their 2-0 Serie A win over Parma on Sunday.

One of the modern game's very few one-club players, Totti is in his 21st season with Roma and has found a new lease of after briefly falling out of favour with some of the club's recent coaches.

He crowned his performance with a low free kick in the 70th minute to become Serie A's second highest scorer in his own right with 226 goals, one ahead of Sweden's Gunnar Nordahl who played for AC Milan and Roma in the 1950s.

But there were two other incidents that caught the eye, including his one-two with Simone Perrotta.

Breaking down the left touchline, Perotta clipped the ball to Totti who somehow turned his back to the ball and backheeled it perfectly inside a defender and into the path of his team mate who was given a clear run on goal.

Early in the second half, Totti took a free kick on the left hand side of the penalty area, around 10 metres from the goal line, and struck a ferocious effort which hit the underside of the bar and the inside of the post.

"I'm happy to have overtaken Nordahl, I think it's been a wonderful evening, the sort we all wanted," he told reporters, adding that he would now aim for Silvio Piola's record of 274.

"But, most of all, qualifying for Europa is what counts. Roma can't just play in the Italian championship."

(Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; editing by Ed Osmond.

brian.homewood@thomsonreuters.com; +41 79 917 1402; Reuters

[FedaynULTRA83]

Why are we STILL comparing with Zeman? Bottom line: the team has responded positively to AA and they are playing well. Good morale, good results. Here's a question for you weez...if this was ZZ's team, would the score be 6-0 or 6-5?

[Italiamia]

Roma would have lost the game 4-3 or something like that. Then the boys of Jonestown would have blamed the rain.

[Lupa]

[DCGweez]

http://www.football-italia.net/32047/ca ... oma-appeal

[DavidP]

DCG, let's say you adopt a baby. your goal is to raise her to become a successful, rich lady. you decide to hire a babysitter. there's this one curious option, zenobia, who hasn't raised a child to become rich or successful, but has taught very dumb kids how to read (sometimes). what the hell, you hire her... she happens to be a twisted old lady who provokes your daughter to fight other kids at the playground, while everyone else plays with each other... but a part of you wanted that anyway. it makes her tough. besides, most of your family gets a kick out of it (although some want to kill the babysitter).

after your daughter took some beatings and realized what she was doing was stupid, she didn't listen to zenobia anymore, and you, of course, fired her. since you don't want your girl to be successful and rich quite yet (she's 9 years old) you hire another babysitter, instead of writing out her cv and throwing her into the job market.

however, your cousin, who cares dearly about your daughter, even though he lives on a different continent and only meets her when you bring her across the pond, starts complaining about how your daughter isn't rich or successful yet, and how that isn't even your number 1 priority, for christ's sake! she's more talented that any of the kids in her school! another cousin starts making fun of you for making your daughter take yoga, too. however, you know that yoga, although a pretty unconventional method, will help her become a stable young lady and will help her become rich and successful. the only problem, of course, is that you post way too many yoga pictures on facebook and no-one really cares about her doing yoga (but her real parents didn't give her such opportunities, so you feel proud that she has them now). your family, though. they just want to see her be rich already goddamnit!

[p_maldini_3]

wat.

[DavidP]

oh, and this is for fred:

https://twitter.com/OfficialASRoma/stat ... 0652686336

[RomaShield27]

lol, well, that 'fake' account I seen had about 100,000 followers, so he wasn't doing too bad.

Btw, David, i don't know if you have seen it yet, but the back-heel from Totti which led to Perrotta hitting the bar was unreal, I'd love to see the video.