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by **Italiamia** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:08 pm

You are never going to change the fans Tomasso. We are what we are and while I realise that a certain amount of pressure is exerted by the fans, the players have to do their collective jobs and overcome adversity. But you are right: the culture of the club is not serene and their are plenty of reasons for that fact.

I agree with 2 things you said about Spalletti: First, his stubborness when it comes to youth. So much so that when he is in a postion to say something like with Petrucci last year, he remains silent. Why? I can only speculate that he does not put much value in youth when it comes to his overall view of what kind of a team he wants to put on the field. I agree with you also relative to his unwillingness to change tactically. I like to call it adjustments. Whether it's during the match or not, he seems to continue to pound the square peg in the round hole even though we all know it will not work.

Second, I agree that our mental fragility is not his fault. We saw the same thing with Capello who brought a winning mentality to Roma and did everything he could to confront the problem. It's historical, and it is something I have seen for over 30 years. The players themselves have to deal with adversity and not go into complete collapse just because something does not go their way on the pitch. It is glorious and tragic collapse as you say. We can't just lose by a goal when we lose our way mentally; it has to be 7-1 or 4-1 like Sunday. While as I said, the mental fragility is historical, the unmitigated and embarrassing defeats are not something I can say I have seen consistently, even from marginal Roma sides of the past. I have to do a little research, but this is a recent phenomenon.

But I agree, he wants players to be leaders but I honestly do not see many leaders out there. What is a leader actually. I suppose it is somebody who keeps his head in the face of adversity and encourages the team to keep working and further, is an example to others. Do we have anyone like that at Roma? Totti has never had it. In fact, how many times have we seen him recede into the darkness when the boys are suffering. De Rossi may have it, but he defers to Totti as does the rest of the team. I thought that Mexes had it, I think he does, but he needs to keep his wits about it as well.

As far as training is concerned, that is where I disagree. We pick up more injuries in training than we do during games. It has been something that has plagued the team since the arrival of Spalletti. It cannot be a coincidence. Some years are worse than others, but this year has certainly been the worst under Spalletti. Something can and must be done in this area if Spalletti remains at Roma. Yes, we have a thin squad; all the more reason to be careful in training. I had an old coach who used to say "you play the way you practice." I know Spalletti believes that but if you practice in a live situation, like it's a game, then you risk players not participating in the game. We have seen enough of that already.

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