Chelsea v Roma: Hobbling To Stamford Bridge.

Exactly my point, Maro. Studying Italian dialects is only rational for linguists and people with plenty of time on their hand. I'm all for Italian, though.

Time to leave here....NEW POST!!!

Speak for myself while overtly ventriloquising for Alessio? That could be tricky.

Ok enjoy the fluff tonight. i have to watch on bloody sky bloody sports...mispronouncing every name, calling romas players 'foreigners' and chelseas players 'our boys'... grrrr.

at least mourinho got a nice timely dig in about the divers in EPL including drogba...

Fadayn - Spoken like a true Romanista!

Maro - Speak for yourself

CHRIS - new blog please -

Udinese v Roma

(lets forget about tonight... :) )

I don't think he was speaking against Italian; he was just suggesting that mastering Er Romanesco might be a slightly insane project given how narrowly local it is and how few of our players actually speak it anyway. Mastering Italian he is all for; mastering the specific brand of Italian spoken in Rome - from afar - would be extremely extremely difficult and even slightly perverse.

roma to score a goal pays 1.85 tonight.

When are the lineups released? Half an hour before the match?

How so my friend maro? If I was mistaken and he spoke well of us our our roots, then I apologize.

Pauly, I think you may have misunderstood Alessio's comments.

Didn't the reports say that Pizarro hurt his ankle in a tackle from Aquilani? Nothing about coming back too soon in that, I think - just Alberto making sure of his starting place for another couple of weeks. A purely professional disagreement.

Ale, to each his own.

Alessio: That's the 2nd ignorant and negative comment you've made, (1) against us here, (2) against the beautiful Italian language, which is the same as insulting Italy.

Go back to that hole of misery where you reside and leave us alone, today at least. One important Juve win can't even keep you happy? Friendly?

We're all ROMA fans, and you are not! You will never relate to our likes and dislikes, so why argue with us? Why contradict us today? Take your negatism somewhere else!

won't instead of want

Juan and Doni will be both fit for tonight. Altough I want risk Juan in there,English play it hard and we can't risk another injury to him. I'd play:

Doni
Cicinho Mexy GOMR Riise (cauz he knows Chelsea well)
DDR Brighi
Taddei KA Vucinic
Totti

Anorthosis will definitely put up a fight.

They are by no means easy to break down, and they have literally nothing to lose.

Daniele, considering probably 90% of the squad (including Spaletti) doesn't speak it, you'd have to be a completely insane Romanista to do so. Learn Italian, and learn a couple key things about Romanesco (ie- er) and that's it...otherwise I think you'd be wasting your time.

If they play anything like BATE they will asem.

Inujries.

I will pose two scenarios.

Pizarro pulls his calf muscle in training, and then tears it after coming back too soon. Who's fault?

Pizarro jumps up for a practice header and sprains his ankle. Who is at fault????

Injuries happen all the time. Sometimes cause of fate, poor training, and poor doctors.

You be the judge.

wonder if Anothorsis will put up a fight though...

Thank GAWD.

U, thanks for the good news, and vote of confidence.

I won't ever aree with MAD, but I guess today is a first.

We are all Serie A supporters today.

Heres to hoping.

God help me, I like Cicinho though...
Some of y'all hate on him so much.
I don't even think he's that bad at D.

I'd rather have GOMR in the line-up over Juan.
Or maybe at right back???
Here's my line-up:

- - - - - - - - DONI - - - - - - - - -
-GOMR - - J-SMOOTH - MEXY - - RIISE- -
- - - - - DDR - - - - BRIGGS - - - - -
-TADDEI - - ALBERTINO - - ER MOSTRO- -
- - - - - - - TOTTI - - - - - - - - -

I haven't decided if I'd rather have Menez over Taddei...
Or maybe a 4-1-4-1...

- - - - - - - - DONI - - - - - - - - -
-GOMR - - J-SMOOTH - MEXY - - RIISE- -
- - - - - - - - D.D.R. - - - - - - - -
-TADDEI- - AQUI - ER MOSTRO - - MENEZ-
- - - - - - - TOTTI - - - - - - - - -

Today's game will be the key! Today, it all has to begin today!........

So with that recurring INJURY problem Bashar, should we place more blame on the players, Spal, or something else (fate? bad fortune? what?)The constant injuries, and the word "constant" is important here, are way beyond Spal. How can ANY team build from that? The complete XI has seen the IR, injured. The complete starting XI!!!

Perhaps, its all a sign that THIS IS NOT OUR YEAR and that we must just be supprortive and make the best of the situation?

La Gazzetta is saying that after last minute medicals both Doni and Juan will start.

Keep hope alive.

VERY IRONIC THING:

So many of you expect wonders from the team week in and week out. You expect new found "confidence." You expect a great change in morale, and for things to get better ASAP. For the team to overcome all obstacles, and for the players to take charge of themselves. For Spalletti to work a miracle and do the unexpected amongst ALL of th injuries and ALL of the problems that they have experienced.

YET, 90% of you here, as fans (Im sure you know the meaning of the word fanatic) can't even stay confident for ONE DAY! ONE DAY!......Can you put yourselves in the players positions? If you were them what would you do?....In that case, as fans, what should you do as well?

Interesting to think about.......

LET'S GO ROMA!!!!!

TOTTI "BULGES THE OL' ONION BAG" FOR FIVE!!!!!
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

FORZA ROMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FORZA FRANCESCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FORZA DANIELE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FORZA ALBERTINO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem Pauly is that everytime we look like we have a decent starting eleven someone (or 2 or 3) gets injured or half the team is just off injuries and not fit.

Whats this news about Spalletti wanting to leave (or wanted to leave in the summer). It would make a lot of sense that our problems are stemming from dressing room issues related to that Chelsea contact or Juve rumors or whatever last year. Roma have said the right things about this to the media but that won't change the dressing room situation.

Yeah, its hard to gain that "confidence of knowing" if the season has panned out to be disastrous so far. So many injuries, so many problems all at once. The team is barely barely beggining to be the intial starting XI that was supposed to be 2 months ago. Its hard for a person, let alone a team, to overcome such disarray!

Totti will be the pivotal turning point!

I hope none of you live in London because you're gonna get an earful after this one today.
We are more fucked than a French streetwalker.
here's hoping agaisnt hope...Roma.Roma.Roma.

Since when has there ever been any comfort in supporting La Magica, Daniele? Whether we win or not, we never do things the easy way. I mean, we didn't even hold onto a 6-2 first-leg lead with "comfort".

Last year I used to go into games hoping we won't f*** up .. this year I'm going into games hoping other teams do..

I might be in a league of my own here, but does ANYONE miss the comfort of knowing Roma would win, or at least tie in these type of matches?

I don't know what to feel anymore. From Reggina to Chelsea to fucking Milan.

Scary.

hahaha.. maro.. When you said "the last time Spags tried that" I immediately thought of Man Utd as well!! It was a bad experiment.

george.. Somebody I know was betting and I gave him my opinions.. (He wanted high odds so I went a little crazy).

Bremen, Chelsea, Inter, Barcelona win. Shakhtar win or draw, Liverpool win or draw, Bordeaux win or draw. Multi-bet. I think that got well above 10.0 . Initially I stopped at Shakhtar but that was only 5.0 and he didn't like it

Sounds good to me, Bashar. And it's not as though Channel4 wouldn't be quite capable of imagining a line-up with Menez alongside Juan at the back. It's not that he's a midget, Avala, it's just that he's not as physical a player as Brighi (or Perrotta or Baptista). He tends to get shrugged off the ball a bit. I think many think that's his most natural position, through the middle rather than down the wing, but I'd be surprised to see it tonight. The last time Spags tried something a bit similar was when Taddei got injured at the last minute and Mirko tucked in behind Totti. 7 goals later Spags said he expected more work-rate from Vooch and wouldn't be trying that option again in a hurry. It's just that with Brighi alongside DDR we're a bit short on technical ball-playing in the middle of the pitch and so we may find it hard to hang onto possession. Still, at this stage surely it's either Brighi in or perhaps Perrotta back from the dead for 60 minutes.

I've taken 3 years of French, a semester of Italian and I'm better at Italian because I keep it up with the Roma news a little more.

I have also been away from Jordan for 5 years (2 yrs since i last went back) and my Arabic is a lot worse than it was.. and it was pretty terrible back then.

1.81?? Seriously?? The hell? But he looks so tiny!!

Bash amen.

My grandparents were born there, and family grew up speaking it.

I have lost alot of it, and it sucks...

I am trying to get it back, but we should learn a little bit to understand the beauty and heritage of a country like Italia, and a historic citta like Roma. Because it really is "la bella lingua"

IMO.

hopefully chelsea have there minds on this weekends game against liverpool.

any betting men on this blog?

i see panathinaikos bremen over
inter anorthosis over
chelsea roma over
aindhoven not to lose

Menez is listed at 1.81 in height. Not quite a midget, correct ?

I took a semester of Italian for a few reasons.. Mainly because I love the language, but also to be able to read some of what's written. Not very good at it but I can manage some things I think.

I was acting stubborn I admit. I saw Pizarro out, Menez in and that initial though stuck in my head that Channel 4. I wasn't trying to be stupid or annoying.. Just stubborn..

Spal's post match comments after the Inter game were spot on.. I really felt he hit the nail on the head with some of the things he said.. I just hope he knows how to fix them because a few things like more consistency were pretty vague.

Ale.

Anyone who is a Roma fan would.

Hmm.. I wonder how Menez would do in the attacking midfield spot behind Totti.. Probably quite good.. But not against a very physical Chelsea since he's quite small in stature.. For this game I'd rather see Brighi in there clogging up the midfield alongside De Rossi and Aquilani.

I wasn't questioning your intelligence, Bashar. I was just pointing out that you were acting spupid [sic] and that the channel4 writer wasn't perhaps being quite so spupid as you'd thought.

This is true, Alessio. I have to say, it's one of the things I particularly like about Spalletti - at least I can understand his post-match comments. Totti's are from an entirely different planet.

Ya maro.. While typing I came to the conclusion that it can be justified with a different lineup. My last post on this subject was exactly that. I was initially confused why they would compare Pizarro and Brighi to Menez.

You jumping to the conclusions questioning my intelligence is frankly insulting.. And a few times at that.

Or why not actually just read the Italian, JS? I mean, as loyal, passionate, committed Romanisti, surely we’re all deeply devoted to being able to engage with our players in the language of (modern) Rome itself.

Who the fuck wants to learn Romanesco, Maro?

With Roma in such disarray and Chelsea in fine free scoring form - EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!!

OH THE GLORIOUS UNPREDICTABILITY

COME ON CHELSEA

It's great to have low expectations.. no worries.. But the problem is when the game starts the optimist in me comes out and I start hoping for maybe an early goal or to hold on or whatever.

Bollocks, Bashar. It's perfectly reasonable for Channel4 to post a "probable" starting line-up with Brighi alongside DDR while also observing that there's a chance that Menez may get a starting spot ahead of Brighi. They could have posted an alternative "possible" starting line-up, with Menez somewhere along the trequartista line and Aquilani alongside DDR. Or they could have assumed a certain knowledge and intelligence among their readers (rash assumption, admittedly). No doubt had they also written that Juan is an injury doubt and Cicinho may come in if he's not available, then you'd have chortled and said, "ha, Cicinho at centre-back? lol! Don't they know nuffink."

Se beccamo danielino!

E CHI NON SALTA UN INGLESE È!!!!!!
EH!!!!!!
EH!!!!!!
EH!!!!!!

Carvalho is good but hes not even in top 5 defenders in the world. i would say mexes is probably better. getting back to italian-english debate i been living in england for a few months now and they all just think italiano calcio is merda without watching it so dont ever listen to what they say cos they only watch premier league. and watching european cup highlights last night they show the arsenal game and then the juve-madrid highlights and straight after some irishman who never played professional calcio in his life say "you can really see the difference in quality between the premier league and serie a" even though del piero scored a wonder gol and an out of form juventus beat real madrid the best team in spain! they are blinded by there smutty tabloids and it is the english way they think they are the best but they are clearly not

Se vedamo JS! DAJE ROMA!!

aaaaaaaanyway it's time for me to go and whatever happens tonight there's going to be streams of alcohol-drinking for me to go through and some flirting with Gorgeous Blonde Barmaid en passant, let's just hope for the best and I'll see you guys tomorrow DAJE LUPI DAJE LUPI DAJE LUPI RRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Si Maro.

And we all know the way Cecco really talks.

With his boyish charm, and witty remarks.

Einstein would have been jealous!

repeated myself there.. That's not you, the article or the any of the Roma formations we've seen so far indicate.

I guess if Brighi doesn't play then Aquilani will move back and Menez will move up but that's not what the article indicates.

But that's not what you or the article indicated.

maro...
Pizarro plays next to De Rossi in DM. Brighi also plays next to De Rossi in DM but can play in AM. Menez plays on the left wing, up front or in attacking midfield.

So if Pizarro is out, why is it a fight between Menez and Brighi to take that spot? Your argument is that it would be Aquliani taking that DM spot and Brighi/Menez fighting for the AM spot. But the lineup they show doesn't indicate that at all! It shows Brighi alongside De Rossi and Aquilani up front.

Raoul.. Carvalho is widely regarded as one of the best central defenders in the world.. Chelsea fans consider him better than Terry. He's definitely better than anything we have.

True, Daniele, though the comments tend to get written up in Italiano. On paper, even Francesco looks like he talks like a proper Tuscan. Bashar, are you playing at being stubbornly spupid [sic] or is this your natural game?

I have a good feeling that Roma will prevail at the bridge and end Chelsea's undefeated at home record. Feeling sorry for Spalleti (so much pressure) and to save face after 4-0 to Inter will prove enough motivation to beat the Drogba-less Chelsea. Check being out also helps.
Who agrees?

I think the English confidence and their continuous downplaying of Italian football is getting to our heads. Because I am a Dutch Napoli fan living in Barcelona, I might have a objective point of view to the whole Italian-English debate.
For one, in Spain "calcio" is regarded as the best league in the world (after their own of course). That being said just compare the defenses of Chelsea and Roma. Bosingwa-Terry-Carvalho-Bridge vs. Cincinho-Mexes-Panucci-Riise. Do you really think Bosingwa, Bridge and Carvalho are better than guys like Cicinho, Panucci and Riise?! Terry is indeed better than Mexes, but I honestly think the other 3 Romans are better than the English.
The last thing, Roma is totally out of form, that's correct, Chelsea is good, that's also true. But just remember the talk of crisis within the Juventus camp after their defeat to Napoli and the moral boosting win of Real over Atletico and than take a look at last nights match result...

JS, So your saying Doni isn't a pro at speaking the lingo?

Ha.

He surely isn't. Listening to him is like listening to a little kid in Italiano class.

Oh well, all he really needs to know is, "ALLA DENTRO, ALLA DESTRA" or "Stoppa" or "IO"

They insist his first name is Cristiano.. This is the second time today.
http://www.goal.com/en/Articol...

Beckham is with AC Milan starting in January, that should be interesting.

And Pizaro got hurt in training....what the hell is going on in the practice sessions, they must go all out

that's exactly what I mean.. Brighi is next to DDR in the DM spot.. Menez never plays there. How is Menez vying with Brighi for that spot?

If they put Aquilani alongside DDR then your point is valid.. But it's not.

Or Romanesco maro.

I do like Brighi, but it is scary to think that this late in October, going into Stamford fucking Bridge, we will be without Pizarro, Baptista, Doni, Juan, and for lack of a better term Perrotta.

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

maro, this is football and not poetry we're following. Not everyone has the will or interest to learn a new language to compound a hobby. Further, being "able to engage with our players" in the Italian language is a bit of a shaky argument considering the basic-at-best kind of Italian that some of these same players speak.

Actually, Bashar, I'm not sure I believe you. The channel4 piece I can see which looks pertinent has Brighi alongside DDR. I think you're trying to get your donkey under the trees.

Good call, Bashar. Apologies. Without Pizza and Baptista and with Perrotta seemingly only half fit, then it's either Brighi or some improvisation along the trequartista line (probably with Taddei down the middle, rather than Menez). Where needs must, and all. Still, no doubt Brighi's inclusion is much more likely; it's just that that leaves us short of technical ball-playing in the middle of the park, much as DDR can kind of do that job.

Or why not actually just read the Italian, JS? I mean, as loyal, passionate, committed Romanisti, surely we're all deeply devoted to being able to engage with our players in the language of (modern) Rome itself.

maro.. that's a good idea except that in the probable formation (just a couple inches below) they had Brighi in the DM spot and Aquilani in the AM.

Also, I don't think Menez has played in that attacking midfield spot yet.. Usually up front as a lone striker or on the left.

Guys, when reading transcriptions from Italian interviews which look controversial, make sure to run a check on google translator with the ORIGINAL TEXT.

Totti did not say that he wants 5 goals against Chelsea. He said, "If it depended on me, I'd be scoring five goals there. [...] but we'll be facing one of the best teams in Europe tonight. We'll do our best."

Far from brash, it's actually a pretty humble statement. Trust the press to hype it up into what it's not.

Alternatively, Bashar, they're thinking that Pizza's absence might mean Aquilani plays deeper freeing up a slot along the trequartista line. Maybe you need to practise those join-the-dots puzzles?

Oh, and I for one would have been quite happy for Real to have stuck 6 or 7 past Rube last night, especially if they could have thrown impaling Merdaved on a bollard into the equation.

"Menez could be handed a start at Stamford Bridge this evening with David Pizarro injured, but he faces competition from Matteo Brighi."

Apparently Menez is a defensive midfielder.. classic Channel 4.

How awesome would it be if we unleash Pippolo on Chelsea.. that would be fantastic!!

Thank you all for the kind words and we apologize in advance for letting you all down.. haha

MAD.. I don't think most of us were rooting for Montenegro. At least from my perspective, and I'm sure others would agree, I wanted Italy to win but for Vucinic to do well. I joke that my ideal score would be 4-3 for Italy. 2 for Aquliani, 2 for DDR and 3 for Vucinic.

http://www.ilromanista.it/

"GOD SAVE THE ROMA"

We could use a little of his help at this point.

Mamma Mia. Who would of thought this would have happened.

Pisses me off but what can we do. No Doni? Grande Artur...

Fucking shit.

How can Doni be out?

May we all pray today.

"It's not what Roma wanted as Brazilian goalkeeper Cristiano Doni is also out." .. haha.. Nice.. classic goal.com

well good luck and to see roma play the champions league final at the olimpico would be bello! and totti deserves the european cup hes a living legend

AGAIN, totti wants 5 goals IN CHELSEA did the knee injury affect him mentally, but what the heck go out there and get IL CAPITANO!!!!

Juve tragedy

our father who art in heaven,......

just kidding. im hoping and wishing for the best. gotta dvr the game so i wont see it till way later. to all of those who are watching it live i wish you nothing less than a wonderful viewing experience. i dont really care if we lose (by a reasonable scoreline) today so long as the boys fight hard for 90 minutes. thats all i want to see: some heart

Hmm, totti is going a little overboard now

MAD, thanks that meant alot, it's good to know were all one when comes to itallian football

what is in the water at Rome? We can't stay healthy! I literally see a new injury every day on the Roma squad.

we also have Rosina, no?...lol

According to Goal.com, Cristiano Doni plays for us, not only that, but he also plays in the goal.

I agree with MAD and KJ. It is frustrating to hear English fans speak poorly about Italian football. They look down on it, especially Totti.

I would love to see any of the Serie A teams beat the larger clubs in the world. I HATE Juve, but was rooting for them last night because they are considered an underdog to Real Madrid (like Roma was last year).

These kind of wins will help bring more International talent to the Serie A.

Well, Totti's been predicting a thrashing of a top club at his hands every chance he's had in the CL. Maybe he will be right once.

I've taken a particular disliking to his big talk statements ever since he laid a goose egg at Manchester, twice.

well we have a decent looking starting line up. If we get our heads in order we can achieve something in London.

“I never knew anything about an offer from Chelsea,” Er Pupone insisted.

“I was never told about it, but it wouldn't have interested me because I have made a life decision to commit to Roma.

“If I have my way tonight I will score five goals. I'm going out on the pitch to give everything against one of the strongest teams in Europe.

i believe u totti :)...good luck with the goals

Roma, Doni e Pizarro KO. Artur likely to start in goal. Per Corriere Dello Sport

And good luck tomorrow.