THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[aba_bab]

[aba_bab]

[maro]

[Frenchesco]

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Are Roma Really Ready For Major Honours?

After making a sensational start to the new season Roma have started to stutter in recent matches. Do Roma have a realistic chance of challenging for the Scudetto and the Champions League? Goal.com opens the subject for debate. Have they seriously improved, or are they simply trying to convince themselves and others that they have?



zoom - galleria A fortnight ago, Roma opened up their Champions League campaign with a dominant 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev at the Stadio Olimpico. The victory was the Giallorossi’s fifth consecutive win of the new season and what was even more impressive, was that this had all been achieved without even conceding a goal.

Roma were the toast of Italy and the peninsula’s press were unanimous in hailing the magnificence of Luciano Spalletti’s men. Many now began to tip Roma as Scudetto-favourites and serious Champions League contenders.

Some even went as far as to compare the squad to Nils Liedholm’s wonderful Roma side of the early 1980’s, when legends such as Falcao and Bruno Conti led the Giallorossi to the 1983 Scudetto and the final of the 1984 European Cup.

However since the victory over Kiev, Roma have gone four matches without a win, including last night’s defeat, albeit an unfortunate one, to Manchester United. What has gone wrong? Did the media over-hype Roma’s excellent start to the season?

First of all, let’s look at the teams Roma beat during those first five games. The first victims were Inter in the Italian Super Cup, a competition that is hardly taken that seriously in Italy. Then the Giallorossi defeated Palermo, Siena, Reggina and finally Dynamo Kiev. These four opponents are hardly world-beaters and maybe the press were a little too hasty to build Roma up, before they had seen them against stronger opposition.

The next three games proved this very point. Firstly Roma were held 2-2 by Juventus at home, in a game where the Giallorossi seemed to be in complete control, only to allow Vincenzo Iaquinta to peg them back at the death. Another 2-2 draw followed at Fiorentina, before a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Inter at the Stadio Olimpico last Saturday. The Italian media were now asking whether Roma could mix it with the so-called bigger teams.

Roma’s squad oozes class – I am not doubting that all. Technically, there are not many teams in Europe who can play the beautiful football that Roma do. That was evident during yesterday’s match with Man Utd, where some of the one-touch football and link-up play involving the likes of Totti, Mancini and Aquilani was a delight to watch.

However have Roma got the temperament to challenge for the top honours? When things are going well for Roma, they can sometimes be untouchable, however as soon as things get tough, they often seem to go missing.

In this way you can compare Roma to the Spanish national team. Why have Spain always so terribly under-achieved during major championships? It is certainly not because they have not had the players to win World Cups and European Championships. The reason is simple – Spain do not possess the required mental strength to win these trophies.

You can go through the history of Roma and find numerous games where they have mentally frozen. The best example is the 1984 European Cup Final. Roma were probably the best club side in Europe at the time. They had brilliant players such as the aforementioned Falcao and Bruno Conti.

They were facing Liverfekkin'wankscum in the final and they were hot-favourites as the game was being played in their home stadium, the Stadio Olimpico. However Roma just could not handle the pressure of the big occasion, especially in front of 80,000 Romans and they lost on penalties after playing a desperately nervous game.

The most recent example where Roma psychologically collapsed was during the 7-1 thrashing to Manchester United last season. If there is one thing you can say about Roma, it is that they do not have a winning mentality.

Football is not just about winning pretty. Often you may have to grind out a result by playing ugly. Just look at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho for the perfect example. I am not sure whether Roma possess this in their armoury. I am also not convinced that Roma have a Plan B during games. By this I mean, Roma are famed for their delicious pass and move football, but can they mix it up and play a direct game now and again?

With Francesco Totti playing as the lone-striker I very much doubt it. Roma seem to lack a cutting-edge up front and never was that more evident than during yesterday’s match with Man Utd. Roma were clearly the better team and created a host of clear-cut chances but they did not have an out-and-out goalscorer to put the ball in the back of the net.

This was exactly the case during the 2-2 draw with Juventus a couple of weeks ago. Roma completely dictated the second-half of that match but they did not have a killer-striker to make all their possession count.

Paradoxically, the beauty of Roma comes from the fact they do not play with a natural centre-forward but I believe they require a striker in the mould of David Trezeguet or Luca Toni if they want to truly challenge for the Scudetto or Champions League.

It is all very well saying that Roma have been unlucky during these last four games, and in all true accounts they have. They probably deserved to beat Juventus and Fiorentina, they had a man sent off after 28 minutes against Inter while the score was 0-0, and yesterday against Man Utd they missed numerous opportunities and should have had a penalty. However this does not hide the deficiencies that they still carry around with them.

What do you think? Can Roma challenge for major honours this season? Did the press over-hype their excellent start to the season? Do they require a natural penalty-box striker? Goal.com wants to hear your views...

Carlo Garganese

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[aba_bab]

wow.. pretty amazing that Lazio have better odds of beating real madrid than roma had of beating Man Utd.

Flashback... Roma... Lazio... no need to speak about the difference there... then we have man utd.. who've had nothing but a bunch of stuttering 1-0wins coupled with a poor start to theuir season initally untill lady luck decided to become the manchester street hooker. Ont he other hand Real Madrid.. who for the first time in a long time have looked impressive.

How how how was Roma 6-1 for a win, and Lazio 4 to 1... fucking english bookies...

[Italiamia]

I think we should be a little cautious about Aquilani. Our 'medical team' is conducting more accurate tests so lets just see what happens. It does not look good however. They are saying at least 2 months. If it is as bad as they suspect, we will not see him until after Christmas. But again, lets just wait. They initially thought Pizarro would need surgery.

[maro]

He does need surgery. He needs to be lengthened. And not in the way that Fonz might think.

[Italiamia]

[maro]

[Italiamia]

Aquilani: un mese senza calcio

3 ottobre 2007 - Lesione di secondo grado del retto femorale della coscia destra. Questo l'esito dell'esame ecografico al quale è stato sottoposto oggi Alberto Aquilani. Il centrocampista della Roma si è infortunato nella sfida di ieri all'Old Trafford di Manchester e per lui lo staff medico ritiene che sia necessario "un adeguato periodo di riposo, presumibile in circa 30 giorni". Il dottor Brozzi questa mattina, prima degli accertamenti medici, aveva parlato di uno stop di due mesi. Tra il periodo di riposo e le settimane che saranno necessarie per tornare in condizione, i tempi di recupero sono quelli, anche se lo staff medico spera di restituire Aquilani a Spalletti prima possibile. Intanto la squadra, rientrata nella tarda mattinata da Manchester, nel pomeriggio è tornata in campo sostenendo un leggero allenamento a Trigoria. Lavoro di scarico per chi ha giocato ieri, per gli altri potenza aerobica (30, 50, 70 metri) e partita. Solo fisioterapia per l'infortunato Aquilani, ma anche per Totti, Mexes, Giuly e Mancini. Lavoro differenziato per Cassetti, Taddei e Ferrari.
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Ok. So he has to rest for a month whatever that means. I hope he is able to do something to keep up some semblance of fitness. I assume rest does not mean laying around for a month. So the 2 month prognosis involves 30 days of rest and then the 'doctor' is presuming it will take another 30 days for him to return to fitness.

Also, I see some probable lineups for this weekend has Cicinho at right wing instead of Esposito. While I think valid arguments can be made that Cicinho may be a natural winger instead of a right back, I want to see Esposito start on Sunday.

[Totti_10]

I think Esposito deserves to start this weekend. He has terrific pace and can take players one on one.

The referee was terrible yesterday. How John O'Shea didn't pick up a card is beyond me. He made two terrible challenges. Even Rooney made a terrible challenge on Tonetto and ManU were awarded the ball. Even worse is how ManU were taking runs at Curci on every corner. Vidic went in with both knees and no chance at making contact with the ball. Referees try their best to not give calls against ManU because they know Ferguson will bitch them out after the match and it will hit every news site in the world. They would prefer to not catch his ire. As long as Ferguson bitches them out they are screwed whether or not they made the right decision.

[maro]

Agreed, Avvocato. Much as I admire Spags, I do think he sometimes makes a rod for his own back by not integrating enough of the squad. If Mauro deserves to be in the squad then he has to be relied on when push comes to shove. I always thought this when Spags would consistently shuffle his pack instead of turning to players like Okaka and Rosi. I don't buy some of the nonsense that's being said around the traps criticising Spags for his lack of rotation (as it were), since I think the lopsided draw we've been given means this has to be done in a peculiar way - players will need to be rested in five or six weeks time, but at the moment they're all needed for the big games. Giving DDR two weeks off in November is likely to do the same job, in the long run, as resting him for the match against Inter, say. Still, with Taddei and Giuly down it's Mauro's turn, I think, though I'm almost certain Spags will play Cicinho in front of Panucci instead. And it'll be good to see Cicinho getting some more minutes, but how is Esposito going to get the chance to play himself back into form?

[w2k]

Anyone notice how Ferguson came out with the refs at the start of the second half?

[stefano]

[vtec]

[maro]

[arthurfonzarelli]

[Italiamia]

[arthurfonzarelli]

[stefano]