THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[romawi]

who dat be?

[Lupa]

I haven't watched the game against Inter. For anyone who did -- have Inter improved or have we regressed? Any ideas from this game or thoughts? Seems like we're still Totti dependent, which is kind of scary, given his age.

[maro]

Serie A: qual è stato il colpo più interessante fino a questo momento?
“C’è stato qualche colpo interessante? Dico che abbiamo la necessità nel nostro mondo di inventarci i fenomeni, proprio perché non ce ne sono, quindi quando esce qualcuno che riesce a farsi notare, abbiamo l’esigenza di creare il personaggio. Noi abbiamo assistito ad una trattativa di Iturbe alla Roma per 36 milioni di euro, una cosa pazzesca, con tutto il rispetto per un ragazzo. E’ un giocatore che al River giocava poco, al Porto anche, è un ’92 un giovane di qualità che deve ancora formarsi compiutamante, e pagarlo 36 milioni di euro, mi sembra un insulto alla miseria, con quella cifra si potrebbe fare un piccolo stadio, aggiungendoci qualche soldino vicino, mi viene da pensare alla pochezza del nostro sistema”.

http://www.forzaroma.info/2014/08/04/mo ... ria/361914

[DavidP]

[maro]

[DavidP]

the numbers are way off I think. whoscored says he averages around 60 passes per game and the reduction of our possession was there but hardly by a significant margin. the 90% figure of his sideways passing is also BS I think, he averaged the third most successful key passes per game after totti and pjanic and is hardly a central midfielder who "never looks for the final ball." the post was getting ready to make a point about tom cleverley and twisted a couple of things in its favor i think. looking at it now i'm a little surprised kevin's stamina wasn't mentioned. he looks exhausted after the 70' mark almost every week.

i agree with the point about his short passing though. i would say there's a good chance that strootman's the best short-passer in the league. it's pretty obvious that the #1 reason our possession stats were so high was rudi rather than any one player however. if we had to pick a player it would probably be kevin but not by a landslide as the post says - even DDR hit the 100-pass mark in some games and like i said our possession stats barely went down when strootman did.

i guess rudi decided strootman was more of an asset to the team near the centre of the pitch. it worked out pretty well even though his forward runs would have added another interesting dimension to our attack.

[maro]

I'd have thought Totti was as important as anyone in those possession stats - not just because of his quality but because of the way he interprets the centre-forward's role. Which isn't to say he doesn't give the ball away more than others because he's also always looking for the decisive pass, but is to say that within the mechanics of the team you'd struggle to find a sharper difference between two players as that between Totti and Destro.

[maro]

Was he arguing that Cleverley's harshly treated by fans and punters? I'd also agree with that. Put the right players alongside him and he'd get rather more credit for the qualities he does bring.

[DCGweez]

My thoughts....why would one waste time on a United board?

Also Davit, opposite of our possession stats (I'm not sure that is true) our winning percentage went up when Strootman was injured.

[DavidP]

[maro]

I'm not sure the analogy between Cleverley and Strootman is a very smart one - the latter is much more technically gifted and tactically disciplined; the former is all energy, an English-style box-to-box player, more Niggernoolan, I'd say, than Strootman.

What do you think of this summary - and of the various questions embedded within it:

Roma, è il tempo delle decisioni
La tournèe americana si chiude con una serie di domande a cui dirigenza e staff tecnico cercano risposte.

Il Corriere della Sera

di L.Valdiserri 6 agosto 2014 | 08.55 |

Due vittorie (1-0 al Liverfekkin'wankscum e al Real Madrid), due sconfitte (2-3 contro il Manchester United; 0-2 contro l’Inter) e una serie di domande a cui dirigenza e staff tecnico cercano risposte.



La tournée americana della Roma si è chiusa con gli ultimi allenamenti a Boston, dove Garcia ha voluto provare a porte chiuse.




1) Il portiere. La tournée è stata l’occasione per vedere Skorupski con continuità, dopo che nella stagione scorsa ha giocato solo 90’ in Coppa Italia e gli ultimi 180’, a giochi fatti, in campionato. È sembrato forte tra i pali e meno in uscita. Un’esperienza da rodare. Ma come farlo? Mandarlo a giocare o tenerlo come dodicesimo di De Sanctis, che, dopo l’intervento al gomito, non è ancora rientrato ma promette di essere pronto per il 30 agosto, contro la Fiorentina? L’impressione è che la Roma non farà movimenti in porta.




2) La difesa. Si è scelta la strada dell’esperienza: dopo Maicon, è arrivato Cole. Pallotta e Garcia hanno detto la loro su Benatia: resta. Non tutti, però, ci credono. Tanto che ieri, quando il greco Manolas – giovane e bravo – è stato messo sul mercato dall’Olympiacos c’è chi ha pensato a un altro scippo di Sabatini, questa volta ai danni della Juve. Possibile? Se sì vorrebbe dire che Benatia è in uscita. Maicon ha chiesto allungamento e revisione del contratto in scadenza giugno 2015. Sabatini prende tempo.



3) Il centrocampo. È il reparto più completo. Uçan e Paredes sono due opzioni in più. Troppe? L’argentino potrebbe essere prestato. Uçan è costato troppo? No, perché l’acquisto sarà in gran parte pagato, tra due anni, con i soldi della cessione di Dodò all’Inter. Il recupero di Strootman procede nei tempi giusti, ma senza recuperi miracolosi. Nainggolan, eccessi su twitter a parte (ma difendere un compagno è sempre buona cosa), dimostra la bontà della scelta di gennaio.




4) L’attacco. Tra tutti gli attaccanti di Garcia, è andato in gol solo Francesco Totti. Destro e Ljajic sono quelli più sotto pressione da parte della piazza: il primo la sopporta meno del secondo. Cambiare per cambiare (o per dar retta ai tifosi) non è nelle intenzioni di Garcia. Iturbe deve crescere, ma il ritardo era previsto. Gervinho non ha fatto una gran figura con la richiesta di aumento di ingaggio associata al «giallo» del visto che lo ha tenuto lontabno dalla tournée. Ora ha un motivo in più per ritornare quello della scorsa stagione. Il Cesena è davvero interessato a Borriello, ma alle sue condizioni, che non sono quelle che la Roma desidera.

[DavidP]

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

He seems also to have tweeted a photo of a box full of ginger. Weird. Some kind of homage to Riise?

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

I knew Davit wouldn't be able to resist having a pop at the keepers. It will be interesting to see how Scuffet goes this season. The smart money would have to be on his having a few second-season blues Skorupski certainly has the build to be able to deal with crosses. I thought Keita was getting big raps for his performances in the States. I'd certainly say he's in a different league from Rodrigo as a central midfielder - Rodrigo's a bit light-weight, for all that he did a fine job filling in when needed.

[Italiamia]

Being that I'm the only Italian here, yes I would welcome back Cerci. It seems to me that all of you are content to field a foreign squad regardless of the results. We are looking at 2 or 3 Italians starting on Sundays, maybe. I will say that I would rather be relegated than win a Scudetto with a predominately non Italian squad. I'm pretty much done. This is not my Roma. I realise that it ain't my boys of 1972 through 1986 but hell, throw me a bone. Is it too much to ask for 5 or 6 Italians starting each week which is not satisfactory to me but at least I'll sleep better. I don't know but I feel I'm alone in this modern world of calcio. No offense to you non Italians but matters less to you than to me.

Now before I near all the bitching and moaning just leave me to my own thoughts. I'm not trying to insult anyone but I am still a product of my youth and Curva Sud. The real Curva with no apologies.

[maro]

You're not alone, but you are, of course, out of step with the culture of the modern game and with the vast majority of modern fans - most of whom (overwhelming numerically, buyers of merchandise) have no particular relationship with the place of the team they support. You probably need to talk to some of the old-timers at ManCity and see how many of them have reconciled themselves to the new world in which they win things but in which the 'they' isn't their club any more. Presumably it's the way some of the Christian reformers felt when they looked at the glories of the medieval church and longed for the earliest days of persecution when Christianity was untainted by secular materialism (worldly success) and the faithful were fully committed to the values of their belief.

Without the spread of the game globally we wouldn't have the same opportunities to watch Roma outside of the city and the stadium; on the other hand, it'd be a rather different Roma to watch. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be, and all that.

Being one of very few here who was born in Italy and left, you should be all for the club's openness to players from elsewhere.

Just pulling your leg - as I've said many times, it's very difficult not to end up alienated from the culture of professional sport. It's a young man's game in more ways than one.

[RomaShield27]

[DavidP]