Panic Button Time In Genoa

By: chris | November 23rd, 2007

Genoa – Roma

For the love of God, is there a doctor in the house? Yeah, we knew some of the big guns would still be left on the shelf, but this is getting downright absurd. Players in Rome are dropping like flies and there is absolutely nothing anybody can do about it. This was going to be a tough game away from home without fan support to begin with, now it becomes a nightmare as The Grand Imperial Poobah gets ready to send out the junior varsity once again. 16 outfield players called up, no backup central defenders (minus OMR), two recently coming off injuries who shouldn’t be playing in the first place and 3 goalies. Shit, meet fan.

Is anybody who could possibly make a pseudo-clean tackle available to fly to Genoa this weekend? We’ll foot the bill.

Il Capitano is out. Simone Perrotta is now out. King Alberto ain’t ready just yet. Philippe Mexes will be hanging back in Rome. Taddei is probably going to be out longer than expected. Marco Andreolli has been relegated to chef duties at Trigoria while he recovers from his mild case of HIV, or something. While both Juan & Doni didn’t arrive in Rome today until about noon. With the game in Genoa, it looks like Juan will unfortunately necessarily start fresh off jet llag and Doni will be sat in favor of Gianluca Curci. (Excited about the latter, seriously, I love watching this kid grow up.) Oh, and Matteo Ferrari, Philou’s replacement, isn’t 100%. How loverly.

* – You know, they could really use Andreolli right now. What the hell is up with this kid? Supposed to be ready by Lazio.

As far as Simone goes, he has picked up another muscle injury. How many injuries is this now? 76? Integral cog in the system, but maybe they should just sit him for a month and let his body get back to 112%. Anyway, I’m not all that unhappy. My 9 year old cousin beat me in FIFA yesterday with the New England Revolution after Simone pulled a Roberto Baggio ‘94 on PKs and Doni mysteriously never dove for the PKs. I just felt like there was bad juju all over this game. Now they’re both likely out and it’s all good juju baby. (Well, aside from the other 12 members of the team which are hurt and/or dead.)

So, you know the drill…time to bust out the junior varsity for the Serie B newcomers and pray there aren’t any more injuries.

Game

Standings

Standings

1. Inter 25pts (+15)*
2. Fiorentina 23pts (+11)
3. Roma 22pts (+9)*
4. Juve 22pts (+11)
5. Udinese 22pts (+1)
.
.
.
12. Genoa 14pts (-5)

* – 11 games played as opposed to everyone else’s 12.

Last Five

Roma: WWWDD

Genoa: LDLDL

After starting off the year with 3 wins, 3 draws and only 1 loss to the Rossoneri’s better half, Genoa has started dropping points, and fast. But it’s a little misleading, because 2 of those losses came against Vujentus and Argentina (the last to Reggina – good signs), and the two draws against Palermo and Fiorentina (both at home). What that says to me is that a full-strength Roma should take at least a point. Roma is not full-strength. They’re at like one-third strength. Mamma mia.

Squads

Roma:ANTUNES Gabriel, BARUSSO Ahmed, BRIGHI Matteo, CASSETTI Marco, CURCI Gianluca, CICINHO, DE ROSSI Daniele, ESPOSITO Mauro, FERRARI Matteo, GIULY Ludovic, JUAN, MANCINI Alessandro, MARANGON Alexander, PANUCCI Christian, PIT Adrian, PIZARRO David, TONETTO Max, VUCINIC Mirko, ZOTTI Carlo

Genoa: Portieri: 83 Rubinho, 73 Scarpi. Difensori: 4 Bega, 3 Bovo, 25 De Rosa, 23 Ghinassi, 24 Konko, 16 Lucarelli, 34 Masiello. Centrocampisti: 5 Coppola, 8 Danilo, 29 Fabiano, 28 Juric, 77 Milanetto, 19 Paro, 7 Rossi. Attaccanti: 22 Borriello, 21 Di Vaio, 9 Figueroa, 11 Leon, 14 Sculli.

Key Injuries

Probable XIs

Roma:

Curci;
Panucci, Juan, Ferrari, Tonetto;
DDR, Pizarro;
Giuly, Brighi, Mancini;
Vucinic.

Picking my ideal Roma XI right now…3 are in this squad (I still can’t figure out RB). Yeesh.

Also, DP and Matteo may be switching places with Little David becoming the trequartista. Oh boy.

Genoa:

Rubinho;
Konko, Bovo, Lucarelli;
M.Rossi, Paro, Juric, Fabiano;
Leon, Borriello, Sculli.

Key Matchups

Rambo v Matteo Ferrari: This matchup frightens me, it really does. Leon could dribble through a Cambodian minefield and can burn past the majority of defenders in Serie A. What does Matteo have trouble with? Exactly that, and we’re not even counting this season’s less than stellar form. Not only that, there’s no clue as to how healthy he is at the moment.

Normally I’d offer up a hefty bounty to anyone at the game who runs out onto the field and tackles Rambo as soon as he starts dribbling towards the center of the pitch, but away fans are banned. All that’s left is to pray the rosary. Twice.

The Holy Trinity v Space: You know what game this reminds me of? Fiorentina. Totti, Simone and Aquilani were out – or started out, at least. The front line of Mirko, Lulu Gulu and Mancini great in space together, and going up against the 3 man back line will get them beaucoup chances at it again, especially with Alessandro Lucarelli, who likes to moonlight as an attacker. Old Boy Bovo is a very good youngster, but he’s far from world class at this point and can be exposed by superior attacking talent, which Roma has. Keeping the ball quick, crisp and on the floor while targets off the ball making explosive runs from just beyond the area and maneuvering into space in the box (hello, Mirko) will expose this back line and give Roma its best chances during the game – and a trademark of this trio.

Vucinic v Vucigol: The guy can find all the space he wants, still gotta finish. Finish finish finish finish finish finish finish finish finish finish finish. Finish. Cool?

Keeping The Ball Out Of Genoa’s Final Third v Everybody:

Game

The way I see it, the game will depend on whether or not fatigue was one of the main culprits in Tuscany and Portugal. If it was, then a refreshed Roma team could provide one of those trademark stellar performances full of beautiful passing, sexy play and slacked jaws. If not, then they’re in big trouble.

Genoa will play an open game, creating space for their forwards who need it giving them plenty of attacking options, but also exposing themselves for a counter attack. As we know, this can create one of Roma’s greatest strengths. Outside of that, nothing will be known whether or not the real Roma will show up.

I’ll just say this: There will probably be some goals scored on both ends, and it will probably be an entertaining game to watch. If a rested Roma shows up ready to play a full 90 then they should be in very good shape, regardless of injuries. We just pray that they take a result and that nobody dies or gets injured during the course of the game. Or else I may be on the first plane to Kiev to get ready for the tie next week. (You don’t want that.)

Luckily enough, a certain Inter fan had these thoughts on the game (after I was done bitching about the injuries):

Whatever, this is just when they’ll pull out that season-defining, short-handed victory and start some sort of annoying run to the top. Mark my words.

And for that we pray.

Predictions

Score: 3-2
Goals: Leon (22), Vucinic (37), DDR (56), Borriello (70), Mancini (73)
MOTM: Mancini

When: 1600 CET, 12 EST
Where: Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
Forecast: 14°C with a 50/50 chance of rain. Slick pitch. Ooh.

Streaming: Here.
USTV: FSC 10p

FORZA ROMA

Some Related Roma Posts:

Category: Game Previews, Team News

« Video Of The Day: Ago | Home | You Can’t Stop Panuccigol, You Can Only Hope To Contain Him »

rickard

Thanks Marco for the Modena video. Stefano Okaka scoring two and Lanzafame missing the goal, that's gonna happen in Roma vs Juve 4 years from now so mark my words... ;)
Gabriella

my father played against Puskas twice in his footballing career, I even have a group photo of the players together.
yeah, the good old days
Avala

First ever loss for England at home.

25 novembre 1953. Prima sconfitta casalinga nella storia della nazionale inglese di calcio. I maestri dell'Inghilterra vengono sconfitti a Wembley, davanti a 100 mila tifosi, dall'invincibile Ungheria che s'impone con un rotondo 6-3. Ecco la successione delle reti: Hidegkuti 1-0 dopo 45 secondi, Sweel 1-1 al 13', Hidegkuti 2-1 al 20', Puskas 3-1 al 24', Puskas 4-1 al 27', Mortensen 4-2 al 38', Bozsik 5-2 al 50' , Hidegkuti 6-2 al 53' e Ramsey 6-3 al 57'.
Avala

Kiev weather, such as it be!

Tomorrow: Rain. High 39F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Tomorrow night: Rain early...then a period of light snow late. Low 29F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 80%.
Tuesday: Light snow with gusty winds at times. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 60%.
CMP

And too bad Palermo couldn't do something about those damn bianconeri... oh well, it's getting crowded at the top!
CMP

Nicklas Bendtner will be the bomb... too bad his playing time at Arsenal is limited. However love the nickname he has adopted, he sounds like a porn star - Nick Bendt!

Chris, don't really know any good sites on Superligaen in english but I'll look around. Otherwise don't hesitate if you need a hand with having anything translated or getting any other inffo you might need.

And I don't really know how we're gonna fair in this group. We might both be watching from the sidelines in two years time Gabriella, for all I know. It is however IMPORTANT to wash away the memories of our last home game against Sweden. I was at the stadium - what a mess. And what an idiot fan trying to punch the ref. The guy should have been ceremoniously KO'd by Mikkel "The Viking Warrior" Kessler at a town square in Copenhagen!
Gabriella

CMP... Denmark can qualify from that group but it will be difficult. Hungary is getting better but it would take some time for us to be counted again as a nation that has any chance to qualify (hence my cunning plan to host WC2018...lol). Anyhow I really hope that this happens in my lifetime. It seems that we sorted out our youth system and some serious talent is coming through already. The future is bright for Hungary.

I believe the matches the top teams play against us will be the deciding ones, just like Georgia against Scotland.
chris

CMP, after watching a couple cameos by Bendtner recently, I love this kid. Truly going to be a star. Denmark is in good hands, just wonder whether or not it will be in time for 2010.

Btw, do you know of any good sites on the Superligaen in English? I'm not prepared to learn Danish just yet.
CMP

Gabriella, we DO have a tough group. I'll be looking forward to seeing Denmark run you over hehe. However all I care about is getting revenge over our yellow neighbours from Sweden... however a very open group. We'll be fired up as hell since we didn't make it to the european cup (or the world cup last summer).
CapoCorso

I may regret saying this, but I am glad we have to go through qualifications. I think if we had auto qualification we would spend the next two years playing matches that mean nothing. That cannot help you get ready for a world cup.
Chico

Anyway we are the world champions we have to defend the title I don't understand why FIFA does not allow direct entry into the final phase to the winners.
Traian

...and Tommasi scored for Levante...
Traian

Yes, it is a first for Montenegro!
Gabriella

we have Portugal, Sweden and Denmark... yeah I am Hungarian
we have no chance to qualify for anything. Mind you I had a plan in mind: If England go ahead with the British Home Championship to rival the EURO 2008 they have no chance of getting WC2018 so we should prepare a bid with Croatia (neighbouring country with Hungary fyi) and I am 100% positive we would get it!!!!! lol

Good draw for Italy
Mike

this is the first time in a fifa competition is it not?
Vlad

I can't wait to see Vucinic against Italy. And what is it with Sweden and Denmark always getting paired in the same group?
Mike

i must say, i am happy with our group. i fancy our chances of qualifying. and to choose another team to qualify out of our group, i will say ireland(im irish, italian and scottish. root for italy though).
Avala

. Ecco la lista completa dei giocatori che domani mattina (ore 9.45) partirà alla volta di Kiev.

ANTUNES
BARUSSO
BRIGHI
CASSETTI
CURCI
CICINHO
DE ROSSI
DONI
ESPOSITO
FERRARI
GIULY
JUAN
MANCINI
PANUCCI
PIT
PIZARRO
TADDEI
TONETTO
VUCINIC
ZOTTI
Traian

The other groups here: http://www.fifa.com/live/compe...
Traian

FIFA 2010 WC Prelimianary Group :
Italia
Bulgaria
Ireland
Cyprus
Georgia
Montenegro
Gabriella

that free kick was sick!
I think Milan will win their derby.
Time for Intermarda to drop points starting with a draw next weekend against the Viola
Mike

haha, i say we get pirlo in the winter. i just saw him score off a beautiful free kick.

:D

(i know it would never happen)
Kamran

ESPN says the Genoa fans didn't raise their voices either out of protest for away-ban. How touching :-p ! If only the opponents on field (including the ref) had been so amicable ...
mctalian

And the Lord Said: "Christian Panucci: Come on down!"
Man somebody up above is smiling on my favorite 34-year-old this week. First the forehead-whacker to beat Scotland and now this game-winning headbutt to take all three points from Genoa.

Roma had a good deal of miscues in the final third, but most of those can be put down to key players being out with injury and the international break throwing off the rhythm.

There were many positive signs:
1. Created loads of chances and played great attacking football. The problem was we tried to score the "perfect goal" at times and one pass to many killed the chance. 2. Grinded out a win in a sloppy match on the road with no fan support.
3. Scored late and actually held onto the lead. WTF!
4. Kept our composure even after Rosetti the ref let Genoa get away with bloody murder in the first half. Seriously, Genoa was a disgrace, a dirty, cheap-shot of a team. They tried to make this a streebrawl. They got outclassed in the end.
This wasn't a win we'll remember. But championships are made up of these kind of workmen victories as much as they are with glorious stompings of Lazio.
FORZA ROMA!
Julian

Okaka s second goal was siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick, cant wait to have him back in the team
Vin

ArgentInter makes me sick. They really do. Lucky, Lucky, Lucky.
chris

Ummm, nobody.
Marco

Here's your Okaka Chuka goals Lupo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

but who the hell was marking OMR on that goal?
Lupo562

Okaka Chuka had two goals for Modena today. Anyone have a vid link?
Avala

A secret weapon does fair Albion in.
Opera singer flubs line, slays St. George instead of the dragon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/h...
Tarek

red card for inzaghi, no way atalanta can pull a last gasp equalizer...
oscar

Getting tired of certain parts of our Oompa Loompa brigade - looking at you (way way down there) Giuly. Apart from the move at the 93rd, did he even touch the ball, or did he do his best to hide from the camera all throughout? I'm thinking the latter, or he's simply shrunk even more, so much so that he's invisible from the height of the camera.

I thought Vuci did well as the sole attacker, he's really quite good at sucking the ball in every which way (shoulders? sure, why not. back? hey, if it works!) and laying it off, like a prima punta's supposed to do. He was hurt today by not having anyone pouncing on any of the number of very delicious balls he laid off inside the area, Mancini for once being glued to a flank rather than being an attacking nomade (I think he's looked even better on the right than the left this season, today was no exception. So great call to pull him for the French leprechaun, Spalletti, just great).

Oh, and I'm back to having closing my eyes and hoping for the best whenever Ferrari's moving in for the ball. The walking, talking seizure-inflicting man.
Gabriella

Atalanta just scored!

Inter 2 Atalanta 1

this can turn interesting although Inter is really better
Kamran

Suazo scores for Inter. Highly improbable now that we'd be tying with Inter after the game.
chris

Yep, Roma and Inter are tied on 25 for now. A nice Cristiano Doni goal or two would be quite delectable.
Gabriella

by the way... FORZA ATALANTA!!!
rallie

chris that vid is great, sad i missed it in real time. thanks aww look at guily during the group hug though, poor little guy trying to claw his way in lol
chris

http://www.dailymotion.com/sea...

Just a few yards back from the Scotland placement but same header from the back post. They should just stack the right side and try for fouls in that area. Look at that, new tactic.
Kamran

3-points in an away game with literally null fan-support are never "ugly" :-p .
Stefano

It was very annoying see Bovo and the Genoa defence pulling the shirts of Roma players everytime they a goal score chance or where on the break. Roma should had at least two penalty shots.
chris

Win's nice, but more importantly, did everyone pass the injury check postgame?
Erick

why bring modesto or baptista or lucio or mathieu.... we should better invest our money in bring Dr. House...
Razvan

old man river christian :D
simply awsome!
zack

Wow, we won in spite of bringing the JV and Spalletti's MWI (managing while intoxicated). We managed to get a win on the backs of the reitrement community of Trigoria.
rallie

well don't i feel like a jerk for turning off the streamer haha.
Daniel

Grazie Roma
Traian

Exactly...3 huge points that keep us up there! Whewww...
Gabriella

I wasnt too worried I have to admit as I just checked the Arsenal match and they scored in the 80s...lol... so I thought we are fine, somewhat ugly but fine
when we got that free kick I was like.... Scotland here we go! Where is Panucci?!
and then he scored... 3 POINTS!!!!
at the end of the season noone will remember how ugly this win was, noone will care.
Daniele

a win is a win is a win..

3 points boo ya..

old man river saved our asses..

we reALl;y miss mexes, taddei, ka, and totti... and even simo... dear god, enough of the injuries just bring them back already!!!
chris

holy fuckin panuccigol
Traian

3 lucky points!
The_tuna

and Panucci does it again...
Traian

GOOOOOOOOOL!!
Traian

22947 is good.
CMP

And Mancini (as usual) looks dissappointed with his substitution...
rallie

everyone still awake?
CMP

Mancini off - Espo on with 7 minutes again! I LIKE IT!
CMP

WHAT A SAVE two minutes ago by Rubinho... OH MY GOD!
The_tuna

It seems were back to missing sitters again. Panucci misses from a few feet away...
Gabriella

I dont think we were that baaaaad, and this is an away game so no whistles from our supporters.
My sopcast is fine but about 3-4 minutes late of course.

I want to see Esposito and a bit more action on the left
dean

Anyone elese think we should be playing with two up front for this one? Every time we get the ball up field theirs no support! Tonetto's been in the box a couple of times already and I really don't think we should be relying on him for goals!
CMP

Overall I have to agree... the creativity is lacking!
Nick

Try the Live2 link for TV Ants off Roja Directa, nothing else has worked for me so far but this feed is pretty good.
chris

I have it on the same sopcast but it keeps cutting out. Infuriating.
Forzaroma

Roma couldn't create even a single chance.
Daniele

whistles all around.
and rightfully so.
Tottinho

ok maybe not
Tottinho

I have a good site for streams, but the spam filter is cock-blocking
Tottinho

a good site for streams is www.live-footy.org
Daniele

btw vucis needs to change his cleats...
ugly as hell
Dhaw

:( Sigh. No Creativity at all.
Wonder what the fuck is up with long balls.
Havent seen Pizzaro in the last 15 mins , hope he still on the pitch , lil fella hard to find him arnd ..
I think roma shud post Pizzaro's contract somewhere , i believe there has to be some clause for extra bonus if he plays like a fuktard.
Daniele

Chris, sopcast brotha..
download it..
it works.
thank god..

we look piss poor..
CMP

BTW, Vuci has let his beard grow over the last couple of weeks. He looks like a caveman/Brad Pitt in "Seven years in Tibet"!
evaldo

the rojadirect sopcast one isnt too bad. not blurry. we dont look good so far
Gabriella

I am watching this on Sopcast
Channel - 22947
rallie

vuci growing quite the beard
CMP

OMG... HUGE MISS BY BORIELLO! Completely open goal but he misses the cross by like an inch. Lucky lucky lucky! Wait - he actually DID touch it. It was actually a good save by Doni. Didn't think I'd say that either today...
CMP

For thos not watching, the JV team consists of the following players:

Doni
Panucci-Ferrari-Juan-Cassetti
De Rossi-Brighi
Manccini-Pizza-Tonetto
Vuci
Daniele

With all the new and advanced technology in the world, we should be able to watch this.

Piss poor.

He just froze. Oh joy his fat face just froze.

Aiy.
CMP

Never thought I'd say this... but "Give me som drugs" Boriello is playing pretty cheeky! He looks dangerous!
rallie

oh sweet. thanks cmp.

for everyone else who cant use bet365, go here: http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.... and click on the tv ants under the chennel 2 category, blurry but still better than nothing.
Matija

This sopcast link found on rojadirecta works fine for me
sop://sop.rojadirecta.com:3912/22947
chris

LiveTV Daniele
CMP

Rallie, it is. Write down you address and then after a few days they send you a "Welcome to our betting site" note. After you join they ask if you want to deposit any money, say no, andd go watch the game. I do my online betting on another site and only joined here for free to see serie a. Which is (if it's posssible for people) uncomparable with watching it over a p2p network with chinese commentators!

And nope, RAI Int is not showing it. I hope you guys get it to work though. Otherwise let me know and I'll keep you semi-updated!
Daniele

I guess ill follow it on Roma Addict
I love how Canli24, is showing this fat guy talk in Turkish.,..

Maybe they are showing it at 18:00...

This sucks.
Daniele

ISnt RAI International showing it?
rallie

cmp, are you sure it's free? it says something about your address for bills when registering...
Daniele

I got nothing either..

P2P sucks, tvants sucks, bet 365 sucks...

this just flat out sucks.
CMP

Oh shit... my bad then! I thought it worked everywhere. Hmmm - not sure what else to do then. So far nobody has really missed anything. DP and Mancini are playing well together with DP in a more offensive role.
chris

I've got nothin on the streams. Suggestions?
chris

bet365 doesn't work in the US
Dhaw

Started off well fellas.
Tonetto almost capped a FM sort of goal "Ohh he didnt mean that" loll

Mancini is up with his lil tricks , he wud be all the more pleasing to eyes if he cuts the sulking like a bitch.

Pizzaro has no frikking clue where he is playing ..
CMP

I wrote it earlier... Use BET365! High tv quality feed - for free! And its also with english commentators.

http://www.bet365.com

Just register and click where it says LIVE GAMES.
Daniele

of course.. tvants is slow as shit and not working..

any help?
evaldo

streamers, what u using?
chris

Okaka has 2 in the first half

and Pisa is on right now, my b
Daniele

grazie mille amico!
chris

Noon for you, Daniele
chris

I'm not seeing the game on myp2p yet, so if it's not available, use roja directa here

http://209.44.113.146/

And if this game goes into blowout mode early the Pisa game is being shown so you can watch Cercigol
Daniele

What time does this match start?