THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

Thanks Steve. You can tell how busy I am in work today, or rather, how interested I am in working today.

[vtec]

good stuff, ed.

[Deini]

[Carlo Romano]

Great artwork Ed, really!

A pity it shows us as having under achievers on our books though in our defence we're not alone there...

[marco]

[ASR1927]

[Italiamia]

[b]Totti: “Addio di Spalletti? Inevitabileâ€

[Carlo Romano]

If I hadn't seen Ranieri's show before and knew nothing about him, I would have been impressed today with his figura pubblica! He very much looked the part as he sat down to open his pre-Milan match press conference and continued to present his modo rilassato with charm and humour, particularly in his response to a journalist who tried to draw him on Totti returning to la nazionale!

But I know il nostro mister better...

The important points of the interview were Ranieri hinting Mexes will start against Milan, as will Doni. Totti probably won't play, likewise Juan. We already know Baptista and Cicinho don't enter the equation. I'll be interested to see if Mexes rises to the occasion after his recent comments on missing Spalletti! Also to see if Ranieri goes with Sky Italia's projection of an Okaka-Vučinić front pairing or the more conservative approach I think is more likely. I'm predicting a score draw...


As for our gallant Capitan' Francesco...this little excerpt from one of the links below is worth a look!

[quote][size=84]Quote: “Rosella and I speak three times a year to wish each other well. It's disgusting to support the idea that she has bought my support [for her presidency] with the new contract!â€

[maro]

Carlo, personally I don't think there's any doubt that Ranieri is a man of great dignity, charm, and humour. I'm not sure he's the best manager in the business - his track record is not unchequered - but as a man I don't think I've ever seen him conduct himself with anything less than dignity and decency, qualities of which the world of football is not especially full. Qualities, too, I might add, which Spalletti to my mind also clearly possesses in abundance.

[Carlo Romano]

Tom, without a doubt Signor Claudio is a gentleman, and yes, sadly that quality is a dying asset in society as a whole, not just within our chosen favourite sport.

But, as we know, he will be remembered for his success rate as a coach, not as a man, and there are those who will very quickly remind us being a nice guy is not what he is paid for, starting tomorrow evening in Milano if we come away empty handed!

That's what I really meant when I said I'd seen his show before (impeccable manners) and I know better. (his professional successes and failures)

Taking him at face value, Ranieri inspires more confidence, appearing stronger in character than Spalletti and certainly more polished in manner, though both come across as being genuine and in no way manipulative. My biggest criticism of Spalletti as you know is I thought he badly lacked man-management skills, the kiss of death to a coach in hard times!

Ranieri on the other hand presents the kind of image our entire upper office staff could learn from!

[red]

No doubt that Ranieri is a thoroughly decent fellow, but all too often the phrase 'nice guys finish last' comes to mind reading what Ranieri has to say and seeing what his teams do on the pitch.

[maro]

Last or second, red? Let's see what Rubentus manage this season.

[red]

That wasn't meant as a dig at Roma.

My point was that I suspect Ranieri's niceness may be part of why he has never actually won anything in his career, despite having some very competitive squads at his disposal over the years.

And Juve will finish second this season, but probably slightly closer to Inter than last season.

[maro]

I don't know that Ranieri has actually had too many genuinely competitive teams over the years - not at the very highest level, at least, I think. Though I also think his record is hardly unchequered, as I've said.

[maro]

The difference between the team Mourinho inherited and the one Ranieri left (without Robben, Carvalho, Ferreira, Drogba, Essien, etc.), for instance, is huge, a fact that is too often overlooked. Perhaps Ranieri made the mistake of thinking Hasselbank and Gronkjaer were good enough. Perhaps he didn't have the luxury of professing otherwise.

[red]

It wasn't just at Chelsea (though he single handed blew the CL semi-final against Monaco with them).

It's also that he had a great squad at Valencia but achieve anything, while Hector Cuper came in and took them straight to a couple of CL.

I'm maybe being unfair on him, but I just always felt he lacks the ruthless streak needed to be a top class coach.

[Carlo Romano]

Tom & Andrew, I for one am glad Ranieri isn't downright abrasive at times...like Mou on the Sky Italia set earlier during the Genoa-Inter post match interviews. I wonder if he properly understood Luca Marchegiani before making it clear he wasn't interested in allowing or believing the redefined statements.

But...his team had just won a 5-0 victory against one of Italy's supposed form sides, so by his way of thinking, who is anyone to judge him wrong?

He is a pretty big winner but not yet at the Lippi-Ferguson levels for example where he can justify walking all over everyone, not that either of those two see the need to do so!

[romawi]

[Carlo Romano]

Fahad, you know just how to improve your fellow members' humour...

ok, I know, don't shoot you, you're just the messenger!

[Italiamia]

[quote="romawi"]Totti 'may need surgery'
Sunday 18 October, 2009


“The knee is swollen and that could be anything in this type of situation,â€