THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

Claudio Ranieri the Roma revivalist aims to spoil another Milan party
Ranieri might not like to admit it, but his Roma side are genuine contenders for the Scudetto – as Internazionale may discover

guardian.co.uk – Thursday 25 March 2010 14.30 GMT – Posted by Paolo Bandini

Warm up your lungs, grab the 15ft-high flag out of the attic and go find yourself a bag of festive flares. Claudio Ranieri has promised Internazionale a "party" at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night and if Roma's last hosting of a team from Milan is anything to go by it should be a wild one. A crowd of more than 60,000 pitched up to see Roma draw with Milan this month, filling the stadium to capacity for the first time since 2001. Don't be surprised if that official capacity jumps mysteriously upwards this weekend.

The game against Milan was supposed to decide which team would become Inter's "official" rivals for the title but while the result was inconclusive Roma go into Saturday's game with the Scudetto very much on the agenda. A 2-0 victory away to Bologna last night kept the Giallorossi side within four points of the league leaders. Ranieri might not like to admit it, but his team are genuine title contenders. After Milan lost 1-0 away to Parma last night, they might even be the contenders.

"Ranieri is still the real anti-Mourinho," insists the headline to Alessandro Vocalelli's editorial in Corriere dello Sport. "He took on Mourinho's Inter last year too, before he was ungenerously and incredibly sacked by Juve," writes Vocalelli. "Claudio Ranieri, the great protagonist of this year's championship, author of an exceptional revival, is now preparing to take on the Nerazzurri with a Roma team in splendid condition."

Exceptional is certainly the word to describe Roma's rise this season. When the two teams met at San Siro back in November, Roma were in 14th place and, in a neat numerical coincidence, also trailed Inter by 14 points. A week earlier Roma had won just their fourth game of the season, beating Bologna 2-1 at home, but four days before that they had lost 2-1 away to Udinese. Since then, in the league at least, they haven't lost.

A run of 20 games without defeat has included draws with both Milan teams, wins away to Juventus and Fiorentina and victories by three-goal margins over Champions League aspirants Palermo and Genoa. This despite the fact that for long stretches Ranieri has often been deprived of Francesco Totti through injury. Luca Toni was signed in January to reduce the burden on Mirko Vucinic up front, but promptly picked up a calf injury and missed the entire month of February.

Nor has Ranieri necessarily done it the way everyone expected. The manager's first task upon replacing Luciano Spalletti as manager was to restore some defensive solidity to a side that had become dangerously fragile but with the base established Ranieri has quietly begun to fashion his charges into an enterprising outfit. Against Bologna, as against Udinese last weekend, he sent his team out in a 4-2-3-1 with Vucinic, Jérémy Menez and Rodrigo Taddei all supporting Toni up front. The manager expects all players to track back but catenaccio it certainly isn't.

Whether he will be so bold against Inter remains to be seen, of course, and the Nerazzurri certainly served up a reminder of how capable they are of exploiting naive defending with a 3-0 win of their own against Livorno last night. Inter's recent struggles in the league are well documented, with the team having won just once in seven games before last night, but yesterday's performance – without the injured Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder, both of whom should return on Saturday – along with a creditable draw away to Palermo last weekend suggest a corner may have been turned.

Not that all is rosy in the Inter garden either, and the ongoing saga surrounding Mario Balotelli's exclusion from the team took another twist this week as the striker was seen pulling on a Milan shirt on the TV show Striscia La Notizia. Balotelli had been collared in a cafe by Valerio Staffelli, who awarded him the show's Tapiro D'Oro – a prize given to celebrities who have suffered a public humbling of late.

Balotelli actually handled himself pretty well as Staffelli, a Milan fan, then thrust a Rossoneri shirt into his hands and badgered him about why he had fallen out with Mourinho. Balotelli did hold the shirt up briefly and grin, but otherwise avoided saying anything too controversial. Once the interview was over, however, one secret camera continued to roll, and appeared to show Balotelli, a Milan supporter himself as a child, putting on the shirt he had been given.

Both clubs have played down the incident, but given his existing relationship with Mourinho it's hard to imagine it went down too well in private. Mourinho is said to be waiting for a public apology from the player – for his previous behaviour, rather than for putting on the shirt – and the chances of him playing any part on Saturday appear to be zero. It is far from hard to imagine Mourinho keeping him on the sidelines for the rest of the season.

That may not be a problem for Inter, who boast enough attacking options these days to believe they can cope well enough without such a player, but it is one thing less to worry about for Ranieri, whose biggest problem may now involve one of his own strikers. Totti has been training fully since the beginning of the week, and the question marks now appear to surround his sharpness and how he would fit in tactically as much as his fitness to play.

"No Totti, No Party", reads one of the Curva Sud's most infamous banners, thought up during one of a number of barren runs when the striker has been injured. Having advertised the festivities, now Ranieri has to do his bit to make sure they live up to expectations.

[romawi]

[romawi]

Totti has doubts over Inter clash
Thursday 25 March, 2010
Roma captain Francesco Totti has admitted that he might not make it back in time to play Inter at the Olimpico on Saturday.

The 33-year-old hasn't played in over a month after the area around his knee became inflamed again.

He trained with the rest of the squad again earlier this week and was expected to feature in what could be a title decider against Inter.

When asked at Rome's Catholic University if he will play on Saturday, Totti replied: “No, I don't believe so. I will be available again in a little while.

“The match against the Nerazzurri is a special one for us and all the city. Before retiring I would certainly like to win something again.

“In my private life I already have everything. Actually, I still want to enlarge my family with more kids.

“From a professional point of view, I still want to win something important and I think that we will do it.

“I am doing the most wonderful job in the world. We'll see what happens when I stop.

“I will certainly not become a Coach because they are too good and I would not like to see the doctors for a little while. I have seen them enough already,â€

[maro]

I'd be surprised if Burdisso doesn't start ahead of Mexes too, Chewna. One of the problems, of course, is that Inter are a brutally physical side and so Menez will cop a real battering if he does play. From what I've seen of Inter lately - and for some reason, I have seen three or four of their drawn Serie A games - they're playing quite conventional Mourinho football, which involves defending very deep and playing on the counter. That will, in fact, mean that they really try and squeeze the space available to Pizza and Vooch - and Menez, were he to play. They'll be a bit like Bologna, that is, only with much more quality when they do come forward.

[arthurfonzarelli]

[Lupa]

[romawi]

[edge_xeno]

Hey guys, i know that i don't post much these days, but i was really busy, but i log here almost everyday to read ur posts, but iam too lazy to post, and just for the record, i just got graduated from university today fuckersssssssssssssss.

And for Roma-Inter, i can't wait, match of the season without a doubt, if we win this match, then we can really dream, Inter still have to play Fiorentina and Juventus. Daje Lupi

[Zoff82]

Inter still have to play Juve?? Maybe you got lost in your studies edge. Have you seen Juve the past 4 months?? Lazio is more in form than Juve and they are battling relegation. That's a guaranteed "L" for Juve.

[Italiamia]

[Italiamia]

[maro]

[romawi]

[maro]

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

Against Inter on Saturday night, I just hope we go out with the self-belief and confidence that we can win this game. A large part of that will depend on the Stopgap one, Ranieri, and what side he picks. He should with a rombo with Menez behind Vuc and Toni, as all three are on good form at the moment and Menez, in particular, has finally settled and found his way in this team, and so there's no reason for Ranieri to bench him. Which means he probably will, of course, as he'll be over-cautious and fearful of the opposition and their all-round strength and physicality, particularly in the middle of the part. I suspect we might see a rombo of sorts, only with Perrotta in the centre and a midfield of DDR, Pizza and Horseface, but i agree with Tuna and would like to see Perrotta play deeper with Menez behind him. Who should be dropped should be between Perrotta and Taddei and not the former and Menez, but knowing Ranieri he will start the first two because of the defensive qualities they bring to the side. But this is a must win game for us, a game we have to win – not just to close the gap on Inter, but also to demonstrate that we are not afraid and we can win the important games when it really matters. So that is all I ask, that Ranieri shows the faith and instills the confidence in an attacking side who is set out to win this game, and if we do that and still come up short, then so be it, I won't have any complaints as long as we give that a go.


ROMA-INTER I CONVOCATI: TORNA TOTTI
– pubblicata venerdì 26 marzo 2010

Claudio Ranieri ha appena comunicato la lista dei convocati per la sfida scudetto di domani contro l'Inter di Josè Mourinho. Francesco Totti torna nella lista dei convocati dopo quasi un mese di assenza. Per la prima volta Claudio Ranieri avrà tutta la Rosa a disposizione.

3 MARCO ANDREOLLI
4 JUAN SILVEIRA DOS SANTOS
5 PHILIPPE MEXES
7 DAVID MARCELO CORTES PIZARRO
9 MIRKO VUCINIC
10 FRANCESCO TOTTI
11 RODRIGO FERRANTE TADDEI
13 MARCO MOTTA
14 RICARDO FATY
16 DANIELE DE ROSSI
17 JOHN ARNE RIISE
19 JULIO CESAR BAPTISTA
20 SIMONE PERROTTA
22 MAX TONETTO
24 ALESSIO CERCI
27 JULIO SERGIO BERTAGNOLI
29 NICOLAS BURDISSO
30 LUCA TONI
32 DONIEBER ALEXANDER MARANGON (DONI)
33 MATTEO BRIGHI
77 MARCO CASSETTI
94 JEREMY MENEZ

PROSSIMA PARTITA: Roma-Inter (Serie A - sabato 27 marzo 2010, ore 18.00)
INDISPONIBILI: -
IN DUBBIO: Totti (tendinite).
SQUALIFICATI: -
DIFFIDATI: Perrotta, Menez, Vucinic.
PROBABILE FORMAZIONE (4-2-3-1): Julio Sergio; Cassetti, Juan, Burdisso, Riise; De Rossi, Pizarro; Taddei, Perrotta, Vucinic; Toni
BALLOTTAGGI: -

Intermerda's convocati: http://www.romanews.eu/news.asp?newsID=17096&pag=2

[arthurfonzarelli]

shield: If you hope to have him back, then try to contact him and clear the air. Just do it.

[RomaShield27]

I will so, Fonz.


– Friday 26 March 2010 09:49 – By Riccardo Rossi

For once Roman hyperbole is not overstepping the mark and Saturday’s encounter with Inter is indeed “the game of the year.â€

[p_maldini_3]

how can the author compare roma's physicality to that of inter's? inter is one of the most physical teams in the world!

[maro]

Perrotta as trequartista wouldn't just be about defensive cover, to be fair. I thought we saw quite clearly what can happen with Menez as trequartista against Bologna - when teams defend deep and close space down in front of the back four. Because of Luca's lack of pace, we were a little bit short on runs in behind which also create a bit more space in the middle of the pitch. So, for instance, were Simone to play as trequartista then Cambiasso, or whoever it is who'll be sitting in front of the back four for Inter, would have to track his run and this would allow a bit more time and space for others in the middle of the pitch. Of course it didn't help that Vooch looked completely knackered, but there is a sense in which Simone creates space for others where Menez is much more comfortable in tighter spaces but also much more easily crowded into tighter spaces. Simone as a trequartista moves defenders around in a way Menez doesn't.

nedzo, don't worry - not everyone can combine taking his admin responsibilities seriously whilst still being an all-round great bloke like I can. You should listen to me more often, though, because I'm wicked.