THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

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To be fair, Fonz, every time I see the replay of that goal I think it's a miracle Simone didn't run right in front of Vooch and block the shot with his arse. That would have been kind of funny too. How are you, anyway? That's the longest post we've had from you for months. Brighi certainly did more of this in the Cluj game and we may see more of it from him. I got the feeling that Spags had us playing in a slightly different way against Fiorentina - Brighi and Taddei were more defensive and Baptista was playing closer to the front two. This meant we were less fluid still but more concrete and clearly it did the trick. Totti also played quite high up the pitch - I wonder if this was because Fiorentina were without a few players at the back. It was interesting against Cluj, for instance, that for Brighi's first goal the two players highest up the pitch were him and Simone and there was something not dissimilar for the second with Totti coming deep and Taddei getting beyond him.

I know it's greedy, but it'd be nice to have a few games now in which we get a little bit of a cushion quite early on. No doubt early goals will force teams to come out more and we may get the chance to see some more fluent stuff. More, though, Spags is going to have to figure out what he wants to do when we're without Totti or Vooch - presumably the first option will just be to play Baptista higher up the pitch, which will work better with Vooch than with Totti, I think. It'd be nice, though, to see Okaka perhaps have some minutes there and perhaps we could see a bit more of Menez - perhaps at home, with a little cushion, we might see him play as one of the wide midfield players. No doubt that would leave us defensively more exposed, but it'd add a dimension to have a guy who can carry the ball at defenders from a bit deeper. His one run on Sunday was really quite important - it didn't lead to anything, but when you're under the cosh a bit and looking to hold onto a lead, it's pretty sweet for the rest of the side to see the 'keeper bowl the ball out to the left wing and then watch as your winger carries the ball 50 yards up into the other end half of the pitch. It's a small thing, but it releases the pressure in important ways.

[Italiamia]

I see you mentioned Menez Tomasso. Well, he is none too happy with the lack of playing time. He is quoted as saying that if he does not see more playing time, he wants to return to Francia. "Mi piacerebbe giocare nel Paris SG visto che provengo da quella zona, o nel Bordeaux..." I guess he is talking to Giuly. Speaking of playing time, it seems that poor old Mancini is not seeing much with Inter right now. I did not watch their last CL match against the Greeks to the end but he was on the bench well into the second half. I know Jose is portugese so they share a common language but I am just waiting to see the little shit become a pain in Jose's ass.

As for Perrotta, it easy to state the obvious in that he has real problems with accuracy in front of the goal. However, that does not mean he does not provide significant value to the team as a whole. It's not always about goal scoring and he is not expected to score many goals. It was his grit and determination that set up the first goal against Cluj. When he is healthy, he gives his full effort every time he plays and he does not complain. I won't belabor the point because Tomasso has gone on at length about Simone for some time much to the consternation of Vincenzo.

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[Totti_10]

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