

AS Roma

Change is good?
And thus ends communication on this end of the portal. Within the next weeks, this page will automatically redirect. For now…
You might be surprised to learn this has been in the chamber awhile.
Okay – you might not be surprised.
Chi?
Quite the delightful week to be a Roma fan, isn’t it? In fact, one things just gets better than the next. Daniele’s contract signing was far better than the game, with the news his hand couldn’t be taken by a gift of several mooing farm animals the next day.
Furthermore, the game against Catania – all coffee break’s worth – was some of the worst, most excellent football we’ll see this season, if only because it was like watching bumper cars run on full throttle with the occasional turbo burst. Or whatever stimulant footballers are using to get an undetected edge these days.
(Hey, Carrozzieri’s back, right?)
And then…Luis.
The subject of Igli Tare brought up, Luis replies with great and seemingly genuine confusion…“who?”
They could lose every game for the rest of the season before his canning, and this alone would make his whole Roma career worthwhile. Though one game in particular would probably prove necessary for actions to trump words. Read the rest of this entry »

Catania 1 – Roma 1, 64′
I’m going to throw a fit: this is stupid. Because, and if only because, teasing us with 30 minutes of Roma just isn’t cool. How am I supposed to go on and enjoy the rest of my evening when I can’t see Gabriel Heinze finally get his 432nd touch for the day? Or when I can’t internally groan at the inevitable midfield substitute while championing his presence, especially if it’s Glazed Sprinkles? Or what about my inevitable Bojan cameo? Is he going to get a proportional substitution? Will we see him for 97 seconds or something?
How am I supposed to go on? How?
I want ninety minutes, and I want it to make sense. And I want it as close to the original game as possible, so clearly everyone should be wearing floaties.
Yeah.
Roma has one sub, Catania has three – assuming none will be used unless the event of injury – while Potenza, Bergessio and Simplicio each have a yellow from the first go ’round. 25+ minutes of gametime. I think that just about covers it.
Also, the game starts just as it ended – with a Catania throw and Tagliavento being a twat.
Streams.
XI
Stekelenburg
Rosi, Juan, Heinze, Taddei
Greco, Gago, Pjanic
Lamela, Borini, Piscitella
Francesco and Daniele were substituted, which leaves Aleandro Rosi to carry the Roman torch.
Heaven help us.

Daniele’s inked. Five years. (Details tomorrow – which is when the important things, like potential clauses, are to be announced.)
Rejoice.
And all on top of this.
What a day.

Daniele Conti FC 4 – Roma 2
There’s a lot to say about that game and what it says about Roma. None of it is a reflection of what everyone thought roughly two weeks ago.
Game
93′ Ibarbo’s been more productive in the past 5 minutes than the entire Roman attack. Obviously it was set that way given the score, but still.
91′ Cagliari clinch it. Ekdal. Ibarbo was fucking brilliant in getting by Juan and leaving Ekdal the tap-in.
3′ added.
90′ Coming up on injury time with Ibarbo causing problems again. This doesn’t bode well.
And Miralem goes just wide. Brilliant free kick that was easily going in were it just a foot to the right.
87′ Excellent free kick spot just outside the box for Roma. Pjanic is the new taker, yes….
85′ And here he goes versus Kjaer…..and there’s his chance on net, but he fluffs it. It may be smart to duck and cover for the remainder of this game.
83′ Cagliari perfectly content with attacking with three. At most. They’re just sitting numbers and begging for some possession football.
Although here comes Ibarbo, the counterattacking release threat. He gets one chance on net minimum.
82′ And here comes the Cagliari late break after Bojan loses possession in the ball. Pinilla’s attempting to waste time, while Angels is happy enough to remove him from the ball.
Erik off for Bojan, not a razor to be seen.
79′ Ariaudo for Cossu. Not defensive at all. Nope.
Nice of Ballardini to remove Cagliari’s best two attackers.
77′ Gago’s actually been throwing in some nice passes in the last ten or so minutes, but it seems like Dessena always has a beat on them somehow.
76′ Holy shite – someone tackled Cossu. Read the rest of this entry »













