THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[Jamoldo]

[maro]

[Jamoldo]

[maro]

[Jamoldo]

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

Knives are out for Roman football, off the pitch as well as on it
www.guardian.co.uk – Monday 23 March 2009, Paolo Bandini

Roma and Lazio have lost more ground in the table after further rumblings about their 'dangerous' stadium

The affront to Roman sensibilities began on Thursday, when Times Online launched a campaign to have Stadio Olimpico stripped of this year's Champions League final following attacks on English fans travelling to the ground in recent years. It continued on Saturday, as first Lazio lost 1-0 at Catania then Roma were routed 4-1 at home by Juventus. Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, was quick to deliver the first counterpunch. "This is not the first time that Rome has hosted the Champions League final," he huffed in an open letter to the Times on Friday. "I should also like to point out, by way of an answer to the statements in the article, that a Google search with the words 'London' and 'stabbed' brings up 2,670,000 pages, 10 times those that appear for Rome."

Leaving aside his dodgy maths ("10 times" is a slight exaggeration, though curiously google.it returns significantly more results for both search terms, in English, than google.co.uk), Alemanno has little to worry about. Such words must be backed with comprehensive and effective security arrangements whoever gets there in May, of course, but Uefa was quick to confirm the final would not be moved. "The English are never happy," said Uefa's spokesman William Gaillard. "They criticised the Moscow final, the Istanbul final, and now the Rome final. We cannot play them all at Wembley."

The problems facing Roma's manager, Luciano Spalletti, are surmountable too, though his margin for error is now wafer-thin. After a ninth league defeat of the season they sit sixth, four points adrift of fourth place, and have picked up only 10 points from their past eight games. On paper the final nine should be easier, with just one against a side currently in the top four, but even then he must contend with a Rome derby and an away trip to fifth-placed Fiorentina.

"I'm really frustrated because we just had too many things go wrong in the build-up to this game," said Spalletti. "Too many players out, too many players who aren't fully fit. Plus, during the game, we just couldn't catch a break." It would be easy to sympathise – Spalletti was, after all, without 11 members of his first-team squad – were it not for the growing sense that Roma's problems go beyond simple misfortune. After two years of almost constant injury crises the situation is beginning to look less like a freak occurrence than the manifestation of a more serious problem.

Roma sacked their chief medic Mario Brozzi in January and while he has since gone on to claim that the growing injury lists of all Serie A sides are related to the stress modern footballers are under, it has been suggested elsewhere that his own methods may be partly to blame for Roma's problems. Shortly after losing his job Brozzi was forced to defend himself from claims that he had rushed players back too quickly from injuries. Francesco Totti, in particular, has regularly been hailed for his ability to get back on the field more rapidly than other players suffering similar misfortunes, yet increasingly it seems that any such return is swiftly followed by another lengthy spell on the sidelines.

It is too early to know whether Brozzi's departure will have an impact for Roma, and it is also worth pointing out they are not the only ones with such concerns. Juventus themselves have been short-staffed for much of the season and yesterday were without Cristiano Zanetti, Mauro Camoranesi, Momo Sissoko, Nicola Legrottaglie and Amauri, to name but a few. But then this was a team that allowed Sissoko – who was, it must be stressed, fully aware of the injury and associated problems – to continue playing with a pre-fracture to a foot, ultimately allowing it to become a full fracture that may cost him the remainder of the season.

But Juventus have proved themselves better equipped to handle such setbacks, and yesterday it was Vincenzo Iaquinta, Claudio Ranieri's fourth-choice striker, who led the way. Having given Juventus the lead just over half an hour in, Iaquinta re-established the advantage in the second half after Simone Loria drew Roma level. Pavel Nedved might have made a more spectacular contribution with a dipping first-time volley from just outside the area for Juve's fourth, but nobody was more decisive.

As for Lazio, they now sit ninth and have themselves to blame for not at least securing a point in Catania after Goran Pandev had a 60th-minute penalty saved. If this was a frustrating defeat in the context, however, then it is their home form that, above all, has set them back. Only two teams in the league have won more games on their travels, but Lazio have won just six times in 15 attempts at Stadio Olimpico. Perhaps it is not just the visitors who are afraid of the hostile crowds.

[SPqR]

That article makes no sense....

[stefano]

Randomly assembled paragraps. No specific subject matter other than soccer and Italy.

[RomaShield27]

Yeah, hastily thrown together alright, its more of a general review of the weekends activities (on and off the pitch) from the Guardian rather than an article.

[pocari_fenrir]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[Jamoldo]

Menez is 21 people. Give it time.

[stefano]

Agreed on Menez. Baptista, not so much.

[Jamoldo]

patience stevo patience.

[maro]

[Jamoldo]

[maro]

[maro]