THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[Carlo Romano]

Ed, the guy is just playing his mind games again is all...I hope he has told the players of his final selection. Fooling them isn't to be recommended on a night so vital to us.


From Romanews, Gianni Alemanno has only "whetted" the appetite this afternoon by mentioning there are now four known interested buyers as we near the date of Dec.15 when we will know more...

http://www.romanews.eu/news.asp?pagID=2&newsID=21465

[Carlo Romano]

For the match...

http://www.timesoccer.com/live1.html

The usual procedure with Time Soccer...give the page a min to load then click on Cluj v Roma among the 19:45BST kickoffs. There are several options and some should work.


It's also on Rai Due for those of us within the Hotbird footprint. They give the definite line-up as:





Thank goodness this isn't a "squad run-out" formation, provided Rai have got this right. Ménez must be over the bachache he had last night.

[ASR1927]

Official lineup as per UEFA:

4312 - JSB,Cassetti,Mexes,Burdisso,Castelini,DDR,Brighi,Simplicio,Menez,Totti,Borriello


6 Italians in the starting 11.

[Carlo Romano]

Well played, Jeff! I was editing my post just as you got yours in... I think we will get our point tonight and maybe more! It's what comes next and even more importantly, what Ranieri chooses to do about it that bothers me!

[Carlo Romano]

Hmmmnnn....Lobont instead of Julio Sergio?

[Carlo Romano]

Pocari, if you come in to read this, we just had our point on Totti's need to get back to his old quality of free kicks proved...

A couple of pretty poor crosses sent in from the right by Cassetti and Menez in the first few mins too. We aren't being urgent enough.


As I type, Borriello loses his footing in the Cluj area and we lose a scoring chance!

[Carlo Romano]

A simple but coolly and effectively taken goal by Borriello. Some of these "Romeni," these damn gypsies who can only stop us from going through tonight and nothing more, were waiting for the Scottish ref to call a foul. It didn't happen. Their misfortune, our good fortune. We lead.

Now let's hope Ranieri doesn't make us over cautious and defensive.

[stefano]

[Carlo Romano]

Fair comment, Steve...on his earlier one. But he has been letting his standard slip for quite a while now on his free kicks. Maybe tonight is just a bad night at the office for him.


But I think on 28 mins, Totti's next free kick was an abomination. I can't help but feel anyone else but him would have been asked by now to at least share the responsibility around in the hope of a better finish.

On 39 mins, we got out of jail on three counts. Firstly when Cassetti lost the ball near the centre line. Then but for a bad offside call and a poor finish, Cluj should have equalised.

40 mins and shocking defending by us. The incoming cross from our right split us wide open and if the resulting shot hadn't been straight at Lobont who reacted well to make a block with his legs, we should have again conceded a goal!

45 mins and after Menez did some good work on the right to win possession and start an attack, Totti goes and fumbles it... not a star performance tonight from our Capitan' and it won't over surprise me if il mister will bring Vuci on later... especially if we are still farting around, sitting on a one goal lead!

[Carlo Romano]

The longer this match wore on, the more we must have all felt Cluj were worth a goal, and I think Castellini might have done something more to prevent the incoming cross which gave Traore his chance. I didn't care for his "up yours" gestures after he scored though...he deserved his yellow card.

I liked the invention shown by Totti and De Rossi off a short corner just into the second half. It deserved a goal and that's the kind of move I expect from Roma! Another nice piece of invention by Borriello to "spoon" the ball over the Cluj defence to Totti who shot just wide. Perhaps as well he was called offside. He ought to have at least been on target.

Cluj should have got a goal on 60 mins and in fact could have had three by that time. We saw why they are where they are in our group but we also saw why we are struggling!

At the death when between them, De Rossi, Mexes and Burdisso nearly contrived to give Cluj a winning opportunity, I was left shaking my head. Much as Ranieri was when the camera caught him!

Well it was "mission accomplished" but only just and as I said earlier today, Ranieri has asked for two more midfielders. If he gets them we may be able to add some respectability to our performance because a repeat of tonight won't get us beyond the first knockout stage.


...and now I want my dinner!

[pocari_fenrir]

Thanks Carlo for looking out on Totti for me heh. I totally missed the game, i had a girl come over wanting to try out Kirby's Epic Yarn... she ended up trying it for 5hrs. Also, Cluj arent usually an interesting challenge and especially not given our current form. It all boils down to us actually playing, sucking or typical Roma. I see that with an equalizer in the dying minutes, it was typical Roma. I see stefano has likened that Totti didnt quite make a nuisance of himself today, but what are these reports i hear on Burdisso fighting with Totti in the tunnel, was the footage that bad??

Also, Carlo i love your cynicism. Much like Italiamia, if it's not concrete, we dont want to hear it. Especially with the transaction of Roma, we can never be swift or tactful. At least... never under Rosella. While needing new management is an obvious give-away, im pleased to hear that Ranieri is voicing needs for 2 more midfielders. I will take it that he has admit to my earlier point in that our midfield selection does not offer the same balance in subs. I would like to see who he thinks he can get in January and whether he seriously thinks he can convince Rosella to buy him a couple new ponies. If there is a time to change management, this month would be kinda awesome. I can assure you and I will have a very MERRY Christmas ~

[RomaShield27]

Can't find much media about the row between Totti and Burdisso, and unfortunately no video evidence, just the various reports from sites , in which Totti did his best to rectify the situation coming out from the dressing room afterward to speak to reporters while Burdisso stormed off "infuriated and nervous". Not a good sign that this happened – a little bit of passion is not a bad thing, really, but the lads should no better to start blaming each other in the heat of the moment.

From looking at the it looked as if we had plenty of opportunities to put this one to bed long before they equalised. I'm surprised Ranieri didn't make any switches upfront at any stage in the second-half, especially with Mirko and Adriano sitting on the bench. And what was up with taking Menez off at half-time again? I thought we were past this shit? Was Menez shite or was it just Claudio being his negative best again? And why the fuck was Cicinho on the pitch at all, not least left to mark that 8'7 lanky striker of theirs on the back post? We badly need a new right-back, Ranieri should add that to his wishlist in January.

[ASR1927]

Ed, Menez wasn't really having a great night so I don't think you can blame Ranieri on this one.

[RomaShield27]

I see, thanks Jeff. Was he falling all over the kip as per usual, or just too cold to get involved? Best we keep him for Bari, anyway. Full match is available for download in the .

[ASR1927]

He just seemed to find it difficult to get into the match... not beating defenders like he's been of late. It did look very cold as well. I think once they knew that Basel were down 3-0 they overall lost any interest seeing as they were already guaranteed to go through no matter what the result. The first half is better to watch.

[Giacomo]

[maro]

He was a doubt before the game, thredzo, as he'd been struggling with a bad back. He wasn't having a great game; he and Totti were getting in each other's way; he was carrying an injury; he had the yellow card issue; the pitch was in pretty bad condition and so didn't help a player who wanted to run with the ball. Any and all of those would probably have been enough on their own.

[p_maldini_3]

[Carlo Romano]

On a day where Romanews tells us that point we got in our draw last night which has let us progress in the CL is worth €14mil or more in bonuses... that Totti and Burdisso's difference of opinion has been "glossed over" to read as being no worse than any normal exchange between players not happy over the loss of a goal... and that Totti has seen fit to make jokes over those poor free kicks last night... we are told that Corinthians today have, subject to negotiation of terms, come to an agreement with us over Adriano! I never believed this morning's "Galatasary" story was possible.

Yesterday I found myself obligated to "stick up" for Totti, and after a flawed though not in every department bad performance last night, I have to hope what we saw from him was just an off-night! Again from Romanews he had this to say:

“Personally, I am satisfied with my performance so far this season, even if I know that I can do better. I play very well behind Marco Borriello although things have changed from last season and it takes a while to become accustomed to.”

On his free kicks last night he joked about his aim. “Ah, they need to change the football! Having said that, my feet are getting old, too...”



I'm thinking, how long has it been since we could honestly say we waited in eager anticipation for him to make his run up to the ball, knowing that more often than not, it would lead either to a direct goal from his shot, or one scored from the follow up if the opposing goalie managed to parry the ball out? I'm not even sure I can remember exactly when our Capitan' scored his last free kick goal...I think it was in the late winter/early spring of last season and that had been the first for a time.



...le pagelle aren't so varied... and possibly Marco Borriello rates his 7 points alone for his cool headed finish which gave us our goal. I tend to agree with those who gave 6.5 to Lobont.

Il Messaggero: Lobont 6 - Cassetti 6 - Mexes 5.5 - Burdisso 6 - Castellini 5.5 - Brighi 6.5 - De Rossi 6.5 - Simplicio 6 - Menez 6 - Totti 6 - Borriello 7 - Greco 6 - Cicinho 5.5 - Ranieri 6

La Gazzetta dello Sport: Lobont 6.5 - Cassetti 6 - Mexes 6 - Burdisso 5.5 - Castellini 5.5 - Brighi 6 - De Rossi 5.5 - Simplicio 6 - Menez 5.5 - Totti 5.5 - Borriello 6.5 Greco 5.5 - Cicinho 5.5 - Ranieri 5.5

Il Romanista: Lobont 7 - Cassetti 6 - Mexes 6.5 - Burdisso 6 - Castellini 6+ - Brighi 6.5 - De Rossi 6+ - Simplicio 6 - Menez 6 - Totti 6 - Borriello 7 - Greco 6.5 - Cicinho 5.5 - Ranieri 6

La Repubblica: Lobont 6.5 - Cassetti 6 - Mexes 6 - Burdisso 6 - Castellini 5.5 - Brighi 5.5 - De Rossi 6 - Simplicio 6.5 - Menez 5.5 - Totti 6 - Borriello 6.5 - Greco 5.5 - Cicinho 6

Il Corriere della Sera: Lobont 6.5 - Cassetti 6 - Mexes 6 - Burdisso 6 - Castellini 5.5 - Brighi 6 - De Rossi 5.5 - Simplicio 6.5 - Menez 6 - Totti 6 - Borriello 7 - Greco 5.5 Cicinho 5 - Ranieri 6

Il Tempo: Lobont 6 - Cassetti 6 - Mexes 6.5 - Burdisso 6 - Castellini 5 - Brighi 5.5 - De Rossi 6.5 - Simplicio 6.5 - Menez 5.5 - Totti 6 - Borriello 7 - Greco 6 - Cicinho 5.5 - Ranieri 6


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[ASR1927]

The last time I remember Totti scored from a free kick was in that game against Bari where he scored the hat-trick. It's the second goal in the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_wd0K3YH8