THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[maro]

Allegri and Mazzari have both done well too.

[maro]

Balzaretti?

“Ha iniziato anche lui molto bene, ora è infortunato. Va molto meglio, dobbiamo aspettare per vedere se tornerà al 100% velocemente.Abbiamo Federico (Balzaretti) e Dodò, ma forse si dobbiamo pensare a prendere un terzino sinistro, ho totale fiducia in Dodò che ha fatto una grande partita anche ieri. Il ragazzo sta crescendo costantemente ma se si infortuna lui diventa difficile, ora siamo secondi e abbiamo l’obbiettivo di arrivare in Champions”




Balzaretti? Sta molto meglio, dobbiamo aspettare per vedere se tornerà al 100% velocemente. L'ho già detto dopo la gara di ieri: se non sta bene Federico dobbiamo pensare a prendere un terzino sinistro. Dodò è molto bravo, ha fatto una grande partita, e ho totale fiducia in questo ragazzo, che sta crescendo enormemente, ma se si dovesse male sarebbe molto difficile'.

[maro]

TIZIANO CARMELLINI (Radio Manà Manà Sport): “ Bisogna trovare dei sostituti di Balzaretti e Maicon. Il primo non mi sembra in grado di riprendere più la forma di un tempo, il meglio lo ha già dato. Maicon dopo il mondiale, che ci vada o no credo che tornerà dal Brasile senza motivazioni. Dodò sta cresceno benissimo, non capisco tutte queste critiche che sento in giro.”

[RomaShield27]

Reports in the Italian Press this morning reveal that any team wanting to make a move for Alessandro Florenzi will have to part with €50m. The 22-year-old has been one of the revelations of the campaign in the capital, playing in 19 League games and scoring five goals under Rudi Garcia’s tutelage. And Gazzetta dello Sport claim that the Giallorossi have been so impressed with the attacker that any club wanting to bid for his services will have to part with €50m. Florenzi’s current deal at Stadio Olimpico ties him to the club until 2016.

[DCGweez]

Nico has declared he'll be leaving Roma this month in order to try to get a spot for the WC.

[Lupa]

Gab Marcotti on best transfer in Serie A
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/vi ... =6;sport=3

[RomaShield27]

Spot on from Marcotti as usual. I've seen several journalists saying Strootman has been the signing of the season, but it is definitely Benita. (So Strootman has been the second best signing of the season ). Its even more impressive when you consider when we bought him there wasn't a huge amount of hype around the move – yes, we had signed a good, proven Serie A centre-half but not many expected him to be so dominant. He's easily in the top five defenders around at the moment.

Grazie Nico. Burdisso has always been my kind of player. A tough, no-nonsense type who always gives 100% and always wears his heart on this sleeve, fully committed to the jersey. Like the Wall before him, he was never the most flashiest of players or not looking for any spotlights, just getting in done.

Is Burdisso likely to make the Argentina World Cup squad, does anyone think? He hasn't played for them in some time, I believe, at least not part of any of the WC qualifiers I think. He is still good enough to make it if he can find regular football, Argentina aren't overly stacked with lots of good centre-backs, so I can understand his wish to move.

The Heitinga rumours have popped up again. Not sure if thats just because Nico said he needs to leave, but I'd rather just stick with Jedjav and Romagnoli as back-up. Although we've been fortunate that Benatia and Castan have been injury-free and available so much this season.

[maro]

It might be that Benatia has been more individually conspicuous (mostruoso), but Strootman's contributed more to the collective pattern of play.

[RomaShield27]

True, but Stootman's primary function is to contribute to the collective pattern of play, while Benatia's is to stop the opposition. Defenders rarely get the praise they deserve, I'm happy to see that Benatia is (I'm sure his goals have helped). Plus, defence has always been our weak link. Benatia has become a rock for us there and we now have the best defence in European football.

[DCGweez]

I'd guess that we'd have more point had we just bought Benatia than had we just bought Strootman. Just a hunch.

The fact that Nico is gone and Nainggolan is here makes him even more important.

I think what we should really talk about is that Walter bought both.

There is talk of Tohir wanting Walter desperately. Let's hope we can keep him.

I was one to keep Baldini and throw away Walter, i'm happy to say i was wrong but our management wasn't.

[AS Collie]

[RomaShield27]

So after that long absence, Colly, you return to proclaim you get "excited by a pair of teenagers." I dunno what to say to that really.

[AS Collie]

It is what it is.

[RomaShield27]

And what is that?

[red]

Why would Heitinga join Roma?

I thought he left Everton because he thought he needed to play games to be assured of his place in the Dutch team/squad for the World Cup.

Is he going to get to play a lot of games for Roma?

[Italiamia]

How many more bloody foreigners are we going to have on this team. I am sick of this fucking shit.

[DCGweez]

We have 3 Romans in the starting 11. What more can you ask for these days? Plus Destro, Balzaretti, De Sanctis. That's not bad these days.

[RomaShield27]

Plus Crescenzi has just returned from his highly successful loan spell in France (where he played 8 times), no doubt to solve our left-back problems (or else be loaned out again to Serie B). Come to think of it, I'd probably prefer if we gave Crescenzi a chance rather than stuck with Dodo.

Plus this young lad is learning quite well:

Federico Ricci: “After the victory against Genoa our morale has risen, partly because we were coming from the negative performance against Juve.“Now we have Livorno and then on Tuesday a little revenge against Juve, but we must think of Livorno first and try to win at all costs, because the league is important and we will try to win it.“We were expecting a very strong Juve, we went there to try and fight, they were very strong. “We came into the locker room after the game and we did not find that the 3-0 was a fair result because this was not the gap that exists between the two teams. We couldn’t really stand this defeat.“We will continue to play our league and we will try to get as many points as possible to win. So far we have got ​​a lot of points, the problem is that Juve have got even more.“There will be a fierce Roma, that’s for sure.”

[DCGweez]

Garcia: "Jedvaj? È giovane, può giocare in varie posizioni ma il suo ruolo naturale è da centrale. Crescerà imparando dagli altri compagni"

[RomaShield27]

Preview: Roma-Livorno
/ Thursday, 16 January 2014 23:41 / Anthony Wright

The second half of the league season starts for Roma on Saturday evening when they come up against troubled Livorno looking to close the gap, at least temporarily, on leaders Juventus.

17.00, 18 January | Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Livorno have found themselves in trouble on and off the pitch recently, with Attilio Perotti replacing Davide Nicola as coach after their 3-0 defeat to Parma last weekend and president Aldo Spinelli admitting that the club could face a points penalty unless they find €3m by mid-February to pay overdue wages. The Tuscan side have also lost the last four in a row and find themselves in the relegation zone, but have not been beaten in either of their last two visits to the Olimpico.

Rudi Garcia may have one eye on Tuesday evening's Coppa Italia quarter final against Juventus, with the likes of Francesco Totti and Maicon likely to be rested. Vasilis Torosidis should retake his place in the starting lineup after scoring the winner against Sampdoria in the last round of the cup, while Gervinho, Mattia Destro and Adem Ljajic should make up the front three.

In his pre-match press conference, Garcia stressed that centre back Nicolas Burdisso could still play a part in the next three games, despite his recent statement that he wishes to leave the club to find more regular playing time. "He is a great professional, he could definitely play tomorrow", the coach stated. The club have put a temporary block on the Argentine leaving the club due to fourth choice Alessio Romagnoli's injury, but will allow him to leave once a replacement has been signed.

Referee: Carmine Russo (Nola).

Roma squad: TBA.

Injured: Federico Balzaretti, Alessio Romagnoli.

Suspended: None.

Diffidati: Alessandro Florenzi, Maicon, Radja Nainggolan, Miralem Pjanic.

Livorno squad: TBA.

Injured: None.

Suspended: Alfonso De Lucia.