THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[Zoff82]

Ranieri being booted out of another city?? That's hilarious. Didn't Roma finish 2nd last year?? Poor guy gets 1 season to win and that is it. No coach gets to have a team for 3-4 years anymore.

[maro]

Was this the sort of thing you had in mind?
http://www.romanews.eu/news.asp?pagID=2&newsID=19658
(and no, thredzo).

[Italiamia]

[Carlo Romano]

[ASR1927]

Update: Video of the press conference in Italian of course. He is angry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4fTiG8v ... r_embedded


Football Italia - the Italian football website for English-speaking football fans

Claudio Ranieri raged at naysayers and media in a fiery Press conference, banging his fist on the table. “This team has balls and will prove it.”
The Coach was furious after reports he was on the verge of dismissal after picking up one point from the last three official outings and rumours of a feud with captain Francesco Totti.

“This time I will begin and I will end, seeing as I have heard so much and want to tell the truth to the fans. As you know, I am very clear and fair with everyone and in everything,” he said in a Press conference without questions from the media.

“There are things that are not going well, such as the results and the performance. It’s not an issue of playing defensive or attacking football, as we wanted to play to win, just as we always have.

“We lost 5-1 at Cagliari. The Coach takes the responsibility and I have never shied from that in my career, let alone at my home club, where I am the number one fan.

“I read that Totti was against me. Nothing more absurd has ever been written. I already said last season that this is a locker room full of healthy, intelligent people who want to do their best. Sometimes they achieve it, sometimes they don’t.

“I have a fair and honest rapport with all my players, so imagine if that wasn’t the case with my captain. He has been here a lifetime, suffered a thousand injuries for his team. I am Roman and Romanista, do you think I of all people wouldn’t understand him?

“I am their leader, I am their Coach. Everything I do, I do for Roma, whether it goes well or not.”

Ranieri then turned his ire on to the media and did not pull his punches.

“It’s too easy to talk with the benefit of hindsight. Too EASY. I do things beforehand based on all the information I have and what happens during the week. It’s too easy for you lot afterwards.

“Last season when I arrived you said this team was too old and couldn’t handle it anymore. You hurled mud on this side. These lads allowed you to dream all year. This season we wanted to start at 1,000 miles per hour, but for a series of factors we haven’t been able to.

“I don’t want alibis and I don’t need them. We want to give more and we know that. We won over the fans because we gave everything in every second of every game. We won, lost, played well or badly, but we fought.

“We didn’t want to be embarrassed in Munich, but the game wasn’t all bad, as we had more chances in the first half. We got it wrong after the break and I take responsibility.

“I will not accept these insults. This team has balls and will prove it. I won’t name names on the mud-slingers, but we will remember you. You say ‘Ranieri only knows 4-4-2.’ What do you know of me or my career, where I won with many different systems?

“Whenever a side loses, it’s too easy to look to who didn’t play. This is like a sports bar conversation.”

The Coach got increasingly agitated and slammed his fist on the desk.

“We’ve got to look at reality! You’re all ‘ooh, why isn’t Fabio Simplicio playing?’ He had an injury and only started training in August. He’ll be useful to Roma, but his time will come.

“I would like to talk about Bologna, as we all know it’s a difficult game against a side who clam up and go on the counter. We’re going through a tough time and in my 20-year career I’ve been through 3,000 of them. Do you think I always sat on the bench smoking a cigar?

“This team fights hard and proved it last season when nobody believed in us. Our fans will be with us, because we want to give them what we shared last year.

“We’re starting with a handicap, just as we did last season, and just as we got back then we will get back now. I tell you this and I underline it. Goodbye and thank you.”

[romawi]

[Carlo Romano]

Jeff & Fahad, it's good to see il mister conduct himself in his Press conference as un vero gladiatore romano and I especially enjoyed his outburst...

...but some points worth considering: Everyone knew he needed to be seen to give a reaction therefore there was more than just a touch of the theatrical about it all. As I say, I enjoyed his fist slamming for emphasis, although we heard rather than saw, but his saying "This team has balls" so soon after he moaned, more than once, about the lack of spirit? I wish he had clarified that point instead of just stating he believes this is the time for our lads to show they have what it takes. We already know that, just as we also know our existing squad cannot be expected to win beyond its limits...

If we remember, Spalletti too moaned he had a technically accomplished group of players who didn't often enough show their grit! Ranieri finally got them round that and he needs to do the same again. As for his tactics, you all know I consider he has little if anything at all left to learn of il campionato, and so he is well equipped to handle the domestic game, but he is not the man, even with a stronger squad, to lead us to Euro success.

I wonder if our directors, even with their restricted outlook, have finally realised this is the case? In stalling over his contract are they perhaps hoping he would strengthen us in Italy then be dispensed with, presuming they are still employed by our future owner(s)? Certainly they could then hire a coach better able to deal with the Holy Grail of calcio moderno, the Champions League. Now though, is not the time for change unless the unthinkable of more negative results should follow!


Mediaset has listed i convocati for Sunday as:

Lobont, Cicinho, Juan, Mexes, Pizarro, Adriano, Vučinić, Totti, De Rossi, Perrotta, Borriello, Greco, G. Burdisso, Julio Sergio, Simplicio, Brighi, Cassetti, Rosi, and Ménez.


The fightback begins against Bologna...

[maro]

They can't extend his contract, Carlo. It would be irresponsible when the club's for sale.

[Carlo Romano]

[Giacomo]

[Carlo Romano]

James, I don't think we can bring wages into this because we are well used by now to seeing players at clubs under achieve while being over paid to do so, and without the pressures being currently felt at Roma. Even professionalism has its limits and that's my reasoning behind saying Ranieri will do well to guide us to staying in the top four and why I'm not expecting anything more except as a bonus. Of course I want to see my beloved Roma win lo scudetto but it's not going to be this season, more's the pity...

Looking forward, with more money to invest in next season's squad if all goes as is hoped, then who knows?



It's worth mentioning that I've seen before, Ranieri's kind of theatrical display of Roman passion at a press conference from others over the years, and enjoyable though it is at the time to watch, it has on occasion instead of calming tension, created more. Let's pray that is not the case now and that it has the desired effect of firing up "his lads" as he loves to call them!



Moving on, I hope we can grab a quick goal to force the issue with Bologna because they will almost certainly play a massed defence for as long as we stay at 0-0. Vuci though named, if he plays will do so as a sub, so I'm looking to this as being our opening gambit:





The only variation I can see (of that format) is a straight 4-4-2 with Ménez playing left of Pizarro in a middle four but I'd prefer to see Ménez with a free hand behind the front pair. Like I said above, the recovery starts today. It won't be the kind of win songs are written about but it will give us three badly needed points!

[Giacomo]

It seems inexplicable to me that Perrotta keeps being selected. Unless he is plays that unorthodox trquartista role behind Totti in 4231, he is not very useful. He lacks the technique to excel in a deeper midfield role.

[maro]

For gio, following our conversation about Rosi the other day: http://www.forzaroma.info/news-as-roma/ ... andro.html

I suspect Perrotta will, even more than ever, be invaluable to the equilibrium of the side this year as Ranieri tries to set us up to be able to support three more attacking players higher up the pitch. His technique is under-rated, in my opinion - it's as a trequartista, in tight spaces, that he gets exposed but in deeper positions he's pretty comfortable on the ball. I think people generally misunderstand the strengths and weaknesses of his technique.

[maro]

So, will it really be the 4-3-1-2 that romanews and forzaroma are projecting, with Menez through the middle? Let's hope so. Forza La Magica.

[Italiamia]

Are we ready to press the panic button yet?

[Carlo Romano]

So, despite our best wishes, the fightback hasn't yet started.

I had predicted a 2-1 win for us and not the 2-0 many Romanisti elsewhere seemed to think would happen. Although Bologna at best give modest opposition, we have our problems to solve so it wasn't going to be champagne football. However, at least at times we looked more like our normal selves. The only problem with that of course is that while we enjoyed seeing Marco Borriello run on to and perfectly control that long pass to open the scoring, we also rode our luck and as often happens, it can be our undoing. My heart was in my mouth watching first JS then our left hand post save us from a Bologna equaliser.

I had the idea that despite the talk everywhere of Bologna just putting ten men behind the ball for 90 mins, that would only happen while we stayed at 0-0 and our early goal did just what I hoped it would do, drawing them out and making it much easier for us to put on some pressure. Unfortunately for us it also allowed them to make something positive happen, even with their modest attacking threat.

The sight of "Little Fatso" lumbering on to make his Serie A debut when replacing Menez didn't fill me with any great pleasure as it's clear he is not by a long shot match fit. Our road to recovery will take time to reach the end of and it's sad we have to take matches with the likes of Bologna and Brescia as seriously as we are now required to.

It could be argued Bologna deserved a draw with us today and they got one...

[Carlo Romano]

I was going to say I don't think a fans' protest helps any, particularly as only 50 of them bothered to do so outside the Olimpico. Then I read the thoughts of others who said they hadn't the the motivation to protest beyond telling the coach, players, and all concerned in today's match to fuck off back to Trigoria...and that doesn't help either!


Sad times but still not as bad as in the mid 1990's. No Gio, we don't push the panic button yet!

[Giacomo]

I have!

This Bologna team - though it deserved a darw at least - will fight relegation. We had to win this game.

I hold Ranieri responsible. Irratioanl use of substititinos, like against Bayern, cost us the win.

I feel for the players. They need help from the bench in key moments and periods in games and they are not receiving it.

[romawi]

What options were there, Giacomo?

[pocari_fenrir]