Rome Is Home, Everybody Get Happy

By: chris | November 9th, 2007

Roma - Cagliari

I have a soft spot in my heart for the boys from Sardinia. Roma has seemingly cultivated a minor business-based acquaintanceship over the last however many years, sending some players to (more) and getting some in return (less). Which is code for “Cagliari takes Roma’s sloppy seconds”. The other part being the fact that they are still in Serie A is nothing less than an Act of God, coming in 16th or 17th in the last two years, respectively. Also, they are being captained by Romanista Daniele Conti, who is also the son of Bruno Conti, who may or may not have played in yellow & red at some point in his career, maybe.

Aside from Bruno Jr., who is now fully owned by the Sardinians, is Daniele Magliocchetti, who is actually still on Roma’s books, and on loan as part of the Mauro Esposito deal. Unfortunately, he hasn’t played yet so we probably won’t get a look at the future ex-Giallorosso this time around. On the other hand, keep your eye on future Giallorosso Michele Canini, if he plays (not likely), who is high up on TGIP’s wishlist, and reportedly has been for awhile. And though he’s not for sale, Massimo Cellino, The Slightly Out Of His @#$%ing Mind Prez, has said that if he’s sold, it will only be to Roma. Ah, the luxuries of having friends in low places.

* -Basically make sure you watch a couple guys who aren’t going to play. Got it? Good.

As for the Roma side of things: fuck it. They’re either injured physically, mentally, emotionally or otherwise. The big boys aren’t returning, so we’ll see the same regurgitated lineup we’ve been seeing for the last 7 weeks, or so it seems. This stretch has taken me to a form of self-induced short-term calcio amnesia, so I forget if Roma had a game earlier this week. Moving on…

As soft as my soft spot is (it’s baby skin soft), Cagliari sucks, and it will take an Act of Buddha for them to avoid the drop this season. They currently sit 17th, going 2-6-3, with a goal differential of -8, and not exactly looking to climb anytime soon, as they have a whole 2 points in their last 5 games. They average a goal a game, which is a mild upset of massive proportions, considering their greatest offensive contributors of the last few years play for Inter (David Suazo - assclown) and Roma (Espo). And we’re using the word “play” very liberally for the latter. So, as porous as Roma’s defense may be of late, they should still have difficulty scoring goals, as Pasquale Foggia seems to have come back down to earth with the rest of Serie A’s mortal beings after his hellish fury of a start (hasn’t scored since Sept. 30th).

I don’t even know what to do if Roma doesn’t take at least 3 points, maybe 7, from this game. Just do it, I say. Win this one for the Gipper. And me. Well, my sanity, because I’m tired of watching the same old unenthusiastic performances and difficulties in keeping up what they do have left for a full 90. I’m beginning to feel like I’m watching an adult movie starring the local nursing home (we’ll call it “Some Like It Lukewarm”).

Standings

Inter 25pts (+15)
Fiorentina 23pts (+11)
Roma 22pts (+9)
Juve 21pts (+11)
Udinese 19pts (0)

Last Five

Roma: W-W-W-D-D….9 times out of 10 no one bitches about taking 11 points out of 15 during a 5 game run including two Champions League games, The Derby and a trip to the San Siro. Welcome to heightened expectations.

Cagliari: L-D-L-D-L…ouch.

Squads

Roma: 32 Doni; 2 Panucci, 5 Mexes, 4 Juan, 77 Cassetti; 16 De Rossi, 7 Pizarro; 14 Giuly, 20 Perrotta, 30 Mancini; 9 Vucinic. A disp. 1 Curci, 21 Ferrari, 3 Cicinho, 33 Brighi, 11 Taddei, 29 Barusso, 18 M. Esposito. All. Spalletti

Cagliari: 16 Fortin; 29 Ferri, 22 Bizera, 20 Bianco, 3 Del Grosso; 10 Foggia, 5 Conti, 18 Parola, 23 Fini; 32 Matri, 9 Acquafresca. A disp. 1 Marruocco, 6 Lopez, 31 Agostini, 8 Biondini, 7 D’Agostino, 4 Budel, 19 Larrivey. All. Giampaolo

(With the romanews projected XIs)

Key Injuries

Francesco, King Alberto & Marco “I Didn’t Want To Play Anyway” Andreolli are out (duh). We’re swapping one aging fullback for another, as Christian Panucci will probably be returning with Max Tonetto taking his seat in the stands. The best news, though, is we may see the return of Taddei, although he is being listed as “doubtful”. We’ll see. Might get a cameo. But it also means we’ll probably be seeing him after the break, which will be a sight for desperately sore eyes. (Well, his play, not him.)

Probable XIs

Roma:

Doni;
Cicinho, Ferrari, Juan, Tonetto;
DDR, Pizarro;
Espo(!), Perrotta, Mancini;
Vucinic.

If Espo is going to get an unexpected start, this is going to be it. Otherwise, it’s not as though Spalletti has many options to choose from. And as unlikely as it may be, I’d love to see Gianluca Curci get the 90 between the sticks. I can’t imagine he’d be enough to lose this game, or differentiate much from whatever Doni brings to the table, while getting some much needed experience against a relegation-bound side. Logic, baby. Logic.

Cagliari:

Fortin;
Ferri, Bizera, Bianco, Del Grosso;
Conti, Budel, Parola;
Foggia, Aquafresca, Matri.

They seem to be experimenting with the 4-3-3 as of late, with the only personnel difference being Michele Fini, most likely, coming in for Andrea Parola at LM (with Foggia slipping to RM). Other than that, their lineup appears to be pretty standard, and pretty non-frightening.

Key Matchups

The Swiss Cheese D v Pasquale Foggia & Alessandro Matri: It’s fairly straightforward: stop these two, and you’ll likely prevent Cagliari from scoring. Out of Cagliari’s 10 goals this year, the duo have combined for 8, with 4 apiece. That leaves 2 for everybody else. What’s more is that Foggia hasn”t scored since Sept. 30th, and hasn’t been nearly effective over the last month. Close these men down quickly and you have the recipe for a clean sheet. If not, you’re looking at a draw at home against Cagliari, which is about as cool as the 23 year old guy who swipes the last copy of Ratatouille off the shelf in Blockbuster in front of a father and his two 6 year olds. (I did it and I’m not ashamed one bit.)

+

Head v Head: One of Cagliari’s strengths appears to be quick-hitting aerial ability, despite a relative lack of height. One of Cagliari’s weaknesses in the back appears to be, uh, aerial ability. So the aerial attack is one of their weapons and one of their downfalls. Whatever works. So, if whoever is playing in back can get up and knock ‘em down, they win half the battle. If they can get up themselves down the other end, they just might win the war based on this alone. Of course, that is if TGIP doesn’t throw out The Roman Oompa Loompa Squadron.

=

Roma v Playing At Home: The first two are tied into this because, well, if they don’t do those two things, then this becomes full-on crisis mode, as they have conceded a minuscule TEN goals at home in the last 3 league games. TEN. Totally unacceptable, and it needs to change ASAP. If they can’t hold Cagliari to an absolute maximum of one goal, then somebody needs to run out onto the field, capture the Oompa Loompas and hold them in a dungeon somewhere in Transylvania. They seem to be the most frequent offenders in allowing their men to get space and use it effectively. King Alberto can’t come back soon enough.

Game

Cagliari is going to look to play counter-attack football, and they can have their own odd moment of free-flowing fluidity within the offensive dynamic if Roma isn’t careful. The problem becomes, there is absolutely no way they can prevent this Roma team from taking shots on goal, because even if they don’t care that much, they can still walk up the pitch with a beach ball on their footies. The Cagliari defense is in for a nightmare of a game, and will have to rely mostly on numbers to get it done, while sending out the counter attack on any and all opportunities.

Now, I’d say this is a good game for David, but I’m really not sure what he does anymore. Daniele De Rossi seems to have taken over some of his duties, and appears to have evolved into Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo all rolled into one (well, more former, less latter). Basically, we just pray David fucks up as little as possible. Because giving Cagliari one of their few avenues to goal via the counter-attack can be disastrous, and we know he’ll do it often. And if he can do this, I’d love to see Daniele De Rossi start taking more shots at the back of the net so Vuci can come up and throw haymakers at the back of his head.

So, lots of Clusterfucking, lots of Mancini holding up the ball on the left side of the penalty box, either looking for a man to get open (that’s you, Vuci), or for his man (men) to slip up and give him space to get by or take a shot. The right side will be dictated by whoever is on the pitch. Having Lulu Gulu will allow for some quick 1-2’s enabling him to find space. Depending on the fullback, we’ll either see a lot of crosses (Panucci) or a lot of beating a defender or two then sending in a cross (Cicinho). And in the middle are the boys waiting for the perfect service, rebound or pass. No matter what happens, Fortin is going to see A LOT of shots. How many he has to save is another matter….

I think they’re tired, and probably not enough has been made of the fact that they’ve played 6 games in the last 18 days with a largely depleted roster under a coach who is deathly allergic to any sort of rotation. In fact, I apologize right now for much of the stuff I’ve said about being lackadaisical, because that’s half your reason right there. What’s worse is it becomes harder and harder to control games as you get tired, because as you lose more and more possession, you’re forced to do more running to get up and down the field, working the old legs that much harder. Wish I’d noticed that earlier.

Therefore, I think we can expect a relatively tired performance, but still a display of their class over Cagliari’s with a couple of goals. Methinks we’re going to wait until at least Genoa for that massive goal explosion which will rock the very foundation of the Olimpico, or the Stadio Luigi Ferraris (same thing).

Predictions

Score: 2-0 Roma
Goals: Vucinic (27), Doni (67) - It’s not like they ever come true anyway. Fuck it. Why not? (Alright, substitute DDR in there)
MOTM: DDR

When: 2030 CET, 1430 US EST
Where: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Forecast: 15°C

Streaming: Here.
USTV: FSC 2:30p Live