THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

[Carlo Romano]

You've provided some good stuff in that link, Ed! Hopefully my abbreviated version of another Ranieri interview, and an opinion on where tomorrow's game could be won and lost from LaRoma Vocegiallorosso is also of interest! First, il mister...


Ranieri: "Will Totti play from the start? You’ll see tomorrow. I always choose the night before, you know that. Physically he is in great shape and seems like a young lad. Against Cluj only Daniele De Rossi and Paolo Castellini ran more. The team is convalescing after the ‘illness’ of the way our season started. We’re making giant leaps forward.

Ménez won the "ballotaggio" and plays from the start, leaving Vučinić to probably show as a sub for the last half hour or so. I find this remark From our mister very informative...

"Ménez is a very important player. He’s learning to be more consistent and is different from Mirko who is a wide striker without the stamina of a midfielder.”


Ranieri on Napoli: “After that comeback against Steaua they are sure to be fired up psychologically. Their strength is in the mobility of the strikers Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik. We need to control them. Hamsik in particular causes many problems as, like Simone Perrotta or Matteo Brighi, he plays between the lines and times his runs off the ball very well.”

On the barring of our travelling support from the Stadio San Paolo tomorrow afternoon as a safety precaution...

“It will have a huge effect. I don’t like this situation where many people who only want to cheer on their team are prevented from doing so.”



An extract from LaRoma Vocegiallorosso is worth a look, firstly because of their thoughts on tomorrow's game, and secondly by giving the Italian version of the theatrics from Ranieri today with his spiel on Totti being the greatest player in Italy at the moment, plus the obvious mind games over starting selection and formation. (Vuci and Francè)


Vocegiallorosso:
Q: In what part of the pitch will Napoli-Roma be decided?
A: They are both mobile squads, willing to take a chance. The nerve center lies in the link between defence and the midfield of both sides.
Q: Will Totti start on the bench?
A: "I believe that Ranieri will want to start with two front men and two wide men. I myself would play Totti just behind Borriello with Vučinić on the left and Ménez on the right. This could cause Napoli great difficulty, because Maggio and Dossena always leave space to be exploited. I wish Ranieri would be as bold, otherwise it will be all the more difficult for Roma!

Q: Can Totti represent a problem for Ranieri?
A: Absolutely not. If they both explain themselves, communicate with each other, they will always find an agreement. In addition, Totti as captain represents his coach on the pitch, his voice on play and tactics.



The formation I posted yesterday is the common sense one. The one Vocegiallorossa suggests would be:


---------------Lobont

Cassetti - N.Burdisso - Juan - Riise

------Pizarro--------De Rossi

Ménez-----------------------Vučinić

------------Totti

--------------Borriello


There is a difference as we know between a left sided attacante like Vuci and a dedicated wing man like Ménez. Wide left is not Vuci's position. For Ranieri to play this formation he would need to be chasing the game or trying to make an extra man count if Napoli went down to 10, and even then he would favour I'm sure, Cicinho on the right wing and Ménez on the left. Then he would most likely take Totti off and put Vučinić to the left of Borriello.







I hope we can make this Derby del Sole one to remember...but what's much more important is that we take the three points!

[Carlo Romano]

TV channels giving live coverage:




ESPN U.K. will show extended highlights from 18:40-19:40 BST.


At this point 'net links look hard to come by, other than Bet 365...

[Giacomo]

[maro]

Or perhaps we should just have held on to Corvia.

[Lupa]

Following on Carlo's post on TV coverage ... and those in Canada can see the game in HD on The Score.

[RomaShield27]

Game is on live on Setanta Sports Ireland here, also being covered by 'Serie A World Feed' so it'll be on the likes of Bet.365 etc.

LE FORMAZIONI

ROMA: (3-4-1-2) Lobont; Cassetti, Juan, N. Burdisso; Cicinho, Pizarro, De Rossi, Riise; Menez; Borriello, Totti
A disp.: Doni, G. Burdisso, Castellini, Rosi, Brighi, Baptista, Vucinic

All.: Ranieri

NAPOLI: (3-4-2-1) De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica; Maggio, Pazienza, Gargano, Dossena; Hamsik, Lavezzi; Cavani
A disp.: Iezzo, Santacroce, Grava ,Yebda, Zuniga, Sosa, Dumitru
All.: Mazzarri

Arbitro: Tagliavento di Terni
Assistenti: Stefani-Faverani
Quarto Uomo: Bergonzi

3-4-1-2? Vucinic on the bench? Well, this will be interesting. Forza Roma.

[maro]

3-4-1-2? Wow. The tinker-man strikes. Or, actually, despite what all the sites are saying, a 4-4-2 with Cicinho down the right and Menez down the left? I have a sneaky suspicion it's the latter, but we shall see. Menez through the middle is, of course, where I want to see him play, but why Cassetti as the third CB if it's a 3-4-1-2?

[RomaShield27]

Yeah, bit of a shocker, it could be a 4-4-2 as you said or could change to one, but looks like they're lining up with a three man back-line as Cici/Riise as full-backs. Cassetti would be the third CB because G. Burdisso is probably not ready for a tricky game like this.

Where did Ranieri pull this one from? It could actually work for us, not just in this game but in the long run considering we'd have Mexes to come back and have plenty of wing-backs.

[RomaShield27]

Well that was a bit of a snoozzzzzefest. Very much a case of both teams canceling each other out, but we're also like a pub team a times who has never played together before. I like that formation and think it could work for us but it requires a lot of work and its a lot to expect for our players to just turn it on now and get used to it. I wonder when Ranieri decided on this formation, and if he tried it in training? Surely he must off, but for how long? Its clearly hurting Pizarro more than anyone else and he doesn't have the players around him as much as he'd usually would and him and others are just unsure of their roles going forward at times. The back three need to be carrying it out of defence more, looking to feed Pizarro and have our wing-backs bomb forward and Menez looking to get on the ball, but that is not happening. Again, its something which could work but would take a lot of training to get used to and to make it click.

I also can't understand why Vucinic is on the bench. If he's fit, and all indications are that he is, then it makes no sense. Simply put, Vucinic is on better form then Totti and can offer more than him today, especially in this formation.

[maro]

Totti is a footballing genius. Vooch is not.

[maro]

Brighi on to protect the lead we don't have.

[RomaShield27]

What the feck Brighi on for Menez?? What is Ranieri at now. Poor oul' Jeremy.

[RomaShield27]

The time for excuses are over. That was just absolutely appalling. A complete and utter shambles. A mere five points from six games and now we are in the relegation zone. Questions have to be asked and some serious thinking needs to be done. First off, what the fuck is Ranieri thinking? Can anyone justifiably explain his selections today? Initially I thought the 3-4-1-2 might be a good idea to suit our wing-backs and help accommodate our forwards, but it was soon clear that the boys had no idea whatsoever how to play in this formation. Setting a team out to counter the oppositions system is all well and good but for it to come at the cost of making us look like complete amateurs going forward is just appalling. It was disgracefully bad. Pizarro was lost and we just couldn't pass the ball with any sort of consistency at all and no one knew what the fuck they were meant to be doing. How can you play a formation like that when its more then clear it wasn't understood by the players?? Its baffling. Then taking off Menez for Brighi at half-time made no sense whatsoever. There is simply no reason for that, its not like we we're winning or at least under serious pressure to do force a switch like that. For the first time since Ranieri has been with us I have to seriously question whether he is the right man to be leading us.

And now, I'm afraid I have to have a go at Totti. This has been on the horizon for a while now but today I've just had enough. He was terrible. Far too many times he lost the ball and far too many times he attempted to play for a free instead of just getting on with the game. There is no excuse for sticking with Totti today while Vucinic was ready and on the bench. I don't care if he is our captain and I don't care what sort of a reaction it would cause, it is simply a case of playing the best players for each game that comes and right now Vucinic is in much better form and would of been much better than Totti today. We are infinitely more threatening a team going forward with Vucinic on the pitch. He has the ability to cause havoc and run at the opposition and create a chance all by himself and gives us a lot more options upfront. I have that feeling Ranieri started Totti today simply because he was afraid not too. We all know what Totti's reaction was to being subbed against Inter but it would of been a lot worse had he not off started today, even though the right choice would of been to play Vucinic alongside Borriello.

[maro]

Vooch was horrible when he came on. And you give Pizza a pass because he was lost within the formation with no-one to pass to but not the playmaker higher up the pitch?

[RomaShield27]

Vooch was horrible when he came on? He had 20 minutes. Totti was horrible the entire 90.

[maro]

Do you really think Vooch is in good form at the moment? Hasn't he been injured most of the season to date? How much do you think we missed Perrotta, Giacomo?

[romawi]

The idea behind today's formation was a decent one, but it wasn't a formation I thought we should have used. Ranieri should have stuck to the 4-3-1-2. Menez should have played all 90 minutes, and Totti should have come off for Vucinic about an hour into the game. This was a tough away game against a good team, and I was expecting a draw considering that Napoli played on Thursday, but a loss wasn't going to be all that surprising.

Are we in a crisis? Even though the results might suggest so, I would still have to say no. Things will get better soon. The team is gaining fitness, and we're getting players back from injury.

[maro]

Since when did we start taking things so personally around here? It seems the merest whiff of criticism of Vooch or Cicinho is taken as a personal insult by you know who. I love Pizarro; I think he's a wonderful and key player for us, but Gesu' he had a shocker today. He's one of the few players who looks just about fit and kept going for the 90, but he gave the ball away ridiculously often.

[Lupa]