THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[maro]

Well, the 'logic', surely, would be that Nani's underpriced - because he's coming to the end of his contract - and Lamela would only be sold if an over-priced offer were to come in. That would seem to me defensible business. On the other hand, Nani's wages would be much higher, so the balance is rather more complicated than that. I actually think Nani's a bit under-rated, by and large; I think he's quite a clever, team player. The problem for me is that Nani's a knob while I like Lamela and so would much rather have him wearing giallorosso.

[AS Collie]

Agreed. He's a knob. And selling lamela would break my little heart. I've loved him from the second he came out with "shut your mouth, you're not Maradona".

[p_maldini_3]

Disney + Michael Jackson = Rome built in one day

[DCGweez]

If we do buy Nani, i hope we keep Ozzy just in hopes that he'd punch Nani's in his stupid face.

[AS Collie]

If we start a game with Nani, Ozzy and Gerv up front I'll do the punching.

[DavidP]

[romawi]

So looks like Osvaldo is off to Southampton. I guess this means that Lamela stays. Can't say I'm too pleased with how all of this worked out. Roma will feel the loss of Osvaldo, and be underwhelmed by Lamela.

[AS Collie]

I think the fact he's ended up at Southampton says plenty.

Off to olimpico now to see the cnuts play the scum. It'll be the most balanced report I do all year because I hate them both equally.

[maro]

I actually think it tells you quite a lot about the ambition of Southampton and about the qualities of Pochettino as a coach.

Chewna, I think it's better that Osvaldo goes than Lamela does at this stage - for one thing, it means that there's a kind of coherence to the project; this was what was supposed to happen and anything else would have been reactive. Of course, that doesn't mean that Sabre's not making a big mistake, but at least it makes 'sense', as it were. I also think there's a coherence here, too, to the valuing of Destro. If he really is going to be a super player then give him the responsibility of leading the line without the shadow of a rather bigger personality hanging over him. And, then, thirdly, I still think that the idea is for Lamela to be the 'franchise-player' once Totti finally starts to lose his powers.

I'd have kept Osvaldo and not signed Gervinho, but at least there's evidence of some sort of coherent planning in this - it might not work, but coherence gives it a chance.

[maro]

Oh, and if the rumours are to be believed, 18+2 for Ozzie? I seem to remember being told we'd be lucky to get 8-10 for him back when I figured it was worth defending him a little.

[maro]

Oh, and these days I have a soft spot for Southampton - when they sacked their previous coach and brought Pochettino in the whole of the English press was up in arms about the folly of the decision. As soon as two weeks later they were all chuntering about what great football the new coach had them playing - and I still haven't heard one pundit come out and admit he got it wrong. Not that I got it right - at the time, I thought the sacking of Adkins was bizarre, The difference is only that I was rather more prepared to accept that the guys making the decision might actually know rather more than I did. Southampton do play some damn good, attacking, high-pressing football, so I hope they do well.

[p_maldini_3]

i hope osvaldo kicks ass in the premiershit. he has the potential.

and i hope he still gets called for the world cup.

[forzaitalia]

Southampton are a decent team yeah, but what's their maximum league finish - 7th or 8th maybe? There's basically a top 6 in place unless one of them has an absolute nightmare. He won't be seeing European football anytime soon and he's easily good enough for that. Odd move for him IMO.

[AS Collie]

[maro]

Well, the reason he's not going to Arsenal is simply that his balls are much too big for Arsene to handle.

[RomaShield27]

I'm glad we're finally rid of Osvaldo. I'm also glad I'm away on holiday now, so I don't have to argue over how many times he disrespected the jersey.

[AS Collie]

[Lupa]

[Bagg10]

[DCGweez]

I'm glad he's no longer on the team. That said, we need a body up front, Destro has been fragile.

Also this:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... 16017.html