THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[pocari_fenrir]

[Giacomo]

[Carlo Romano]

Pocari, you're saying Lugano is available on a Bosman? Now he would be quite the catch but would our management pay his salary? Then again, if Juventus do pinch Burdisso out from under our noses as is being rumoured but which I can't really see happening then Lugano is a sensible option for us. I know we have been linked with Luisao if we don't get Burdisso, but since I haven't seen enough of his play to properly judge him and I have seen Lugano over the past three years...

To further clarify my opinions on Juan and Mexes. If I had to make a straight choice in offloading one of the two then I'd sell Mexes. Yes, he is a fans favourite, particularly on this forum, is loyal to our club and blah blah blah, but he is competent only up to a certain level... which in fairness could probably describe a number of our existing players. But on Mexes, if we aspire to no more than somewhere within the Serie A top four, the Europa League, or the earlier CL stages, then he is our man if you catch my drift. Juan has found, as James mentions, an amount of continuity which is why of the two I would keep him.

loazzi, it wasn't so long ago on this forum and elsewhere Juan was being crucified as being a dead weight, prone to injuries and errors. Back then I was one of the few who thought we should give him the chance to come good as he has talent. What I'm now saying is although he is a capable defender, he's not an outstandingly good one...and I still haven't forgiven him for that match with La Samp even though he was by no means the only one at fault. Rather, I thought we were beaten by our own arrogance as much as by errors on the pitch. We had what it took to win and we should have. But we didn't play in the manner required to back up those opinions! Maybe Juan just had a bad day at the office, we all do, but damn, couldn't he have picked a less costly occasion to screw up?


To say a little more on our friendly with Alto Adige yesterday...

For twenty years or so I have listened to different Italian commentaries on il calcio but never until yesterday had I seen and heard Roman channels RadioRadio and Roma Uno put a Roma coach through the mangle following a lacklustre performance due to mistaken tactics. Let me tell you there is a difference between being ripped into by your own people as opposed to being merely criticised by Rai, Mediaset, Sky Italia, La7, etc.

Gio, possibly Deini too, will know exactly in this case what I mean.

Opening with the 4-2-3-1 isolated Totti, even with Vučinić-Adriano-Taddei in support behind. Vuci would make his telling runs from the left to find he had insufficient support, was left to do too much and Totti alone was not enough to help him. Ranieri cannot expect Adriano who is not yet fit to backtrack and help defend. He is too slow in getting forward again and Taddei was obliged to "overlap" him to cover for him which defeated the purpose of selecting a target man like Adriano in the first place because that aside, Taddei's goalscoring days look over. The guy couldn't hit sand if he fell off of a fuckin' camel now! Not only that but it forced Adriano wide right too often, not where he was meant to be.

All this talk over the past week from Brunico about how Vuci-Totti-Adri can play together, possibly in a 4-3-3 but have to sacrifice a part of their attack in order to help defend is no good to us as we presently are. It might work with different players but we have who we do and that's the end of it.

As soon as we moved into a 4-4-2 the difference was obvious. We had Totti with Adri up front with Vuci just behind on the left, alternating with Vuci and Adri up front and Totti behind, which all paid off. But Totti needs to put his foot down on staying our designated penalty taker. Strangely enough I never even considered that as being an issue until yesterday when I saw Adriano take the ball without even thinking about it, then doing the unforgivable by having his kick saved.

We could and should have put that match beyond Alto Adige well before half time though all credit to them for making a game of it. Ranieri also has to find a better balance of youth and experience because all that extra energy made some difference in swinging possession back to us. We were camped in the opposition half with seven youngsters on for the last nearly 20 mins. Of course we cannot do that against our normal opposition and Ranieri was visibly shaken and also becoming angry at facing comments like the above. Insufficient excuses mister, saying we were without De Rossi, Pizarro, and Juan!

It hurts to have your own pick on you but that is even more reason to try to get it right in the future!

[pocari_fenrir]

according to this it says Lugano is on a Bosman... and we're apparently linked with him... and i dont even write for this (just push next on the slideshow)
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4227 ... et#page/15
i think they have it mixed up though, a search tells me that Lugano was on a Bosman last season when we tried to sign him ahead of Burdisso

while it does seem harsh to criticize Juan for all the good he's done for us as well, i think his best comes when he plays for Brazil. he did fantastic at this World Cup and even better at the previous one (2006), racking up one of the highest counts of clean tackles (i remember from the McD's fantasy pool). i was totally enarmoured by that notion that we first signed him but injuries and consistency troubles has kept him out of what could have been Scudetto-challenging runs (we didn't really challenge for the Scudetto with the exception of 2 seasons). that being said, i would much rather keep Juan over Mexes in terms of technicality. before we can debate this matter, i would rather sign a defensive leader (one Burdisso tried to be). i dont want to watch another term get burned by Roma players who are just about as disinterested as the next.

[romawi]

Carlo, I think you're making waayy too much of these friendlies. I don't think they're for anything other than getting these into shape.

As for formations, I think the 4-3-1-2, with menez as an AM behind two strikers, is the best way forward for this team. I can't see a 4-3-3 working because I don't thin we have enough pace upfront.

[ASR1927]

OK fair point taken on Juan. Maybe "world class" was a bit strong but other than the Samp debacle I have been very impressed with him this past season. While I do like Mexes very much I do feel he lets us down way too often. I do agree that we need a leader in the defence. Pocari you talk about how many times Juan leaves Riise out to dry but at the same time how often do we see Juan making a crunching takle where Riise is way out of position? Having said that I have gained a lot of respect for Riise... going forward! I hope some of thses Bosman's you mention do come to fruition especially Lugano!

[maro]

[loazzi]

[Carlo Romano]

You know guys...we can enjoy debating all these points for as long as we can be bothered to. It is after all one of the reasons we are here! Unfortunately what makes me call a halt every so often is the knowing it doesn't matter at all what we think to those who pull the strings in the managerial offices. We can only hope those learned people do the best they can for us.

Fahad, indulge me buddy. I've never really listened to a completely biased pro-Roma commentary on our matches on a Roma dedicated tv channel as is Roma Uno/RadioRadio because I wouldn't pay the UK importer his ripoff price for the A.S. Roma Channel on Sky Italia which does much the same thing! These past two friendlies were an eye opener. Honestly, it's really hard to let common sense prevail and not be caught up in all the giallorossi rhetoric. That was as much of the point of making those posts as any other and honestly, they really stuck the knives into Ranieri on Saturday evening. Try telling them it was only a warm up training match not to be valued too highly.

It has been demanded of Totti that we win the Super Coppa and I hope for his sake Nico Burdisso is wearing a Roma and not an Inter shirt to play in it, if he does!



The first of these links below is to the Roma Uno channel but note it is on its own and not the combined service with RadioRadio which spends a lot of time talking Roma and showing the non contracted matches. It may show the friendly next week end, I don't know for sure. Just as a matter of interest the second link is to 117 Italian channels including one of the two Sport Italia channels which are good for South American football and some North American sport.

http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/7993.htm

http://wwitv.com/television/104.htm

[loazzi]

As far as the Super Coppa, I actually hope we lose. We shouldn't even be in it. Its a match that is supposed to be between the scudetto winner and the Coppa Italia winner. Inter won both so as far as I'm concerned they should just have an intersquad match for the Super Coppa. If we win it, I think its devalued. Just my quirky opinion.

[Jamoldo]

[Italiamia]

I think we have all been critical of Juan because he was prone to injury. As a player, I firmly believe he is world class. Any criticism of him as a player is groundless in my opinion. I agree with Tommaso as far as the Juan-Mexes partnership. If Roma is able to get Burdissso fine, but most fans still believe that Mexes is the better player. I for one will not cry if Burdisso is not signed because I think we all know that would mean Mexes will be staying. For depth, Burdisso would be a good signing but Mexes will be sold if Roma buys Burdisso.

[stefano]

[RomaShield27]

[Carlo Romano]

Our next friendly is against Al Saad tomorrow evening, Tuesday Jul.27, kick off at 20:30 CET.

I imagine the combined service channel of RomaUno/RadioRadio will show the match. If the link I provided for the Roma Uno channel on its own yesterday doesn't show the match then possibly searching the 'net for a way to get RadioRadio is the best option as I can't see any of the usual 'net link providers bothering with what they would term a low profile game like this.

That it may be but to me it's Roma and that's all I need to know to make me want to watch as to me there is nothing meaningless about la magica!

Seeing and hearing our tifosi being interviewed, they don't consider La Super Coppa either meaningless or a match we should not play. In any case, we will play it so debating the justification of the matter is pointless.


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Reading around today, it seems we do have an interest in Behrami the ex-Lazialo and it isn't just a rumour. All these names, Luisao etc, our management trying to cover their arses if we fail on Burdisso...again I'm as much concerned with who we discard as with who we acquire. From what we read, the atmos between Doni and JS is unpatchable even between professionals, so Doni is the logical choice to go. Perhaps we can take meaning from the fact that Lobont has played our friendlies and not Doni...

But Mexes has played. His story is turning into a soap opera! I'm ok with losing Guberti and Cerci too if he leaves, but seeing those jerkoffs in Football Italia mention we may let Okaka go after all the recent noises to the contrary does not please me and I don't believe we would receive any kind of genuinely advantageous deal concerning him to justify our letting him go.

[stefano]

[maro]

[romawi]

[Carlo Romano]

Don't be ridiculous Steve!

You well know what we think or say means nothing to those who run our club.

You might want to consider the opinions of the many fans our management can't help but notice...those they see and hear at the training ground, at the ritiro in Brunico, and in the Olimpico, to say nothing of on the streets of Roma...they are the ones who put pressure even if it's only limited and of a kind on what our club does...and even then, just suppose we did refuse to play the Supper Coppa. The FIGC would cane our asses for it, not that we would refuse to play since aside of breaking the Lega Calcio/TIM Cup rules, it would be a nice psychological start to our season should we win, particularly against Inter who have more to lose out of being beaten in a so-called meaningless affair than we do.

But...this game will be played between us, of that there is no doubt.

[maro]

Well, that put an end to that. Period.