CL LiveBlog: Roma v CFR Cluj

By: chris | September 16th, 2008

I’ll say it: Spalletti’s job is safe, I just don’t know how safe it should be. In these years Roma’s great Achilles heel has showed no signs of strengthening.

Roma 1 – Cluj 2

GAME

93′ Totti blast deflects wide. Cicinho throw….shot into the arms of Cluj’s keeper.

91′ Wish I could hear what the crowd’s chanting right now, cannot be good.

89′ It looks like this will be the worst loss since the Siena game last year. That one seemed to serve as a wakeup, let’s hope this one does as well.

86′ Cluj break….stopped by Cicinho. God. Ball to Totti with his back to goal, no chance to turn. Loria with a Macellazzi special on Kone.

83′ Cicinho yellow. Baptista just sat on the ball with nowhere to go. I’m not even sure what formation is on the pitch right now.

81′ Cluj just missed #3. Tonettto cleared it from in front of Doni.

80′ Aquilani lines one up from Moldova. No dice.

De Rossi down. Gifting balls to Cluj. I’m getting ready to type it looks like they’ve quit.

Cicinho with a gimme cross in the box, fluffed it, he’s limping. The entire fucking back line is down and out. Wonderful.

76′ Strange enough….the chemistry between Totti and Montella is still there. Maybe that’s what Spal’s been seeing in training.

75′ What a fucking run by Mirko Tomba. Out for a throw and two Cluj players down. The cart has come on the field, off comes Today. L’Aeroplanino on. No Menez? Ah well. Turn back the clock, Vincenzo. It’s 1999 again.

73′ Nice work by Cicinho to cut in and pass to DDR whose daisy cutter was saved easily.

70′ Cluj off the post. That would’ve been nice. Oh dear god…….

69′ Is the pitch slanted? Because there hasn’t been an attack on the right for ages. It’s a risk this early with Mirko, DDR & Totti hurt, but perhaps bringing someone on for Taddei would help.

(As I typed that an attack came down the right. Of course.)

67′ Totti tripped in the box, no peno. Goal kick.

66′ Menez & Okaka warming up. Lesson learned: Tonetto/Taddei wing doesn’t really work right now.

65′ Cluj break stuffed, a welcome change. Tonetto fires a cross in with his right and it’s cleared out. Fires one in with his left and it’s cleared out. Ugh.

64′ Free kick given. De Rossi hammers one from distance but goes a bit high.

62′ Firefox is acting up apologies. But luckily nothing was really missed. Or unfortunately. Riise looks completely dejected on the bench.

A sports psychologist needs to come in to assess what happens after Roma dominates en route to a 1-0 lead.

55′ Finally some gorgeous play by the Roman.s Welcome back, Francesco.

Free kick outside the far post by Arjen Robben’s dad.

55′ Taddei foul for a free kick within distance of goal. Perhaps it’s time he comes off as well.

The entire play is concentrated on that left wing.

Let’s pray for a Torino Coppa Italia performance.

52′ Riise off, Totti on. In Jesus we trust….

There’s the panic button – here comes Francesco.

50′ 2-1 Cluj. Who has the panic button? This is awful. Culio. Who else? Can they sign him?

49′ A slow start to the 2nd half as everyone was just waiting for Panucci to be taken off.

GOMR’s coming off, he’s clearly hurt. Ugh. Loria on. This is NOT a sub we wanted to see made.

SECOND HALF KICKOFF

Panucci’s still limping. That’s good. Having 3 CB’s down and the 4th playing a whole 90 shitty minutes in the shirt obviously was needed.

Alright, I just put on a Roma scarf and killed a live chicken. Here’s to good juju.

45′ No stoppage, HALFTIME. One word: ugh. They do look like scoring anytime now. The problem is so doesn’t Cluj.

43′ I know he’s still learning, but I think the last touch Baptista had was in pregame warmups. Could be time for the Menez show.

42′ Riise threw a knee into Julio Culio’s midsection, he’s down. TGIP is looking unhappy.

41′ Love that Cluj have a baldheaded Frenchman named “Tony”. Just Tony. Looks like he might be the lost member of The Village People.

39′ Cluj on the break with numbers….another save by Doni from outside the box.

37′ Corner Roma after some nice hustle work from Mirko…..DDR put it in a different position to fool the defense. Must be reading the LB on his mobile. Didn’t want to give anything away. you’re welcome, Daniele.

35′ Cluj corner….hit towards Pluto….ball with Cluj in a safe position….I think Arjen Robben’s dad is playing LB for Cluj.

Vuci in a nice position but a little too much mustard on his touch. Riise continuing with his herculean throw ins.

34′ DDR really sends in some precise corners. Always seem to wind up at th exact same spot.

33′ Halftime Totti sighting? 60th minute? Tking out La Bestia wouldn’t be terrible at this point. He’s done near nothing.

31′ Showing that goal again and Culio ate Taddei for breakfast. And apparently Culio’s first name is Juan. I suppose Julio would’ve been too much to ask.

29′ Goal Culio. You know, I was just about to say he’s damn good.

I think they needed that. You’d think Trap was coaching this team with the way they handle 1-0 leads. Tonetto just got fucking hammered. Knee to the head. Back up.

28′ Another bomb by Pereira. So Cluj gameplan: Get the ball on the foot of Culio, Pereira or Kone and then become a decoy to create shooting lanes.

26′ Culio with another cannon, this one goes over the bar. He’s got some left foot on him.

25′ DDR to Beast…..Aquilani scuffs on well wide. Hey, he an DDR canline up as often as they like with the way they’re playing right now.

25′ DDR & KA playing with Cluj. Those two should be side-by-side every game for the next 10 years – Roma and Azzurri.

23′ Cluj on the break….cannon parried over the bar by Doni.

21′ Mirko with some more sweet work in the box and forces a Cluj defender with a biked clearance after his cross. Just heard “Diego Maradona” in amongst all the Romanian. There we go. I’m quite liking Mirko Tomba though. Nobody slaloms like Mirko.

19′ Another cross sent in by Cicinho. He’s having a game right now.

What else? A header by the near post from Christian.

17′ Vucinic off the post! Goalie was out and beaten and Mirko looked like he was hammered from behind as he was takin the shot. Any moment now this is going in.

And a beautiful pass from Cicinho on that play….corner results in Roman possession GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL PANUcCIIIIIIIII.

16′ I’ve figured out Cluj’s gameplant: fire on goal once within 30 yards.

14′ Cicinho sends in his 73rd cross of the day which hasn’t come close to a Roman….but a beautiful pass from Cici to Vuci one timed on the gallop goes just wide.

12′ Kone puts one on net; Doni saves easily; Romanian announcers needs a change of pants. Small expectations.

9′ Vuci with some sweet ball control in the box after a Riise save for the corner….Roma gets it back but it’s cleared out for a throw.

7′ Free kick, Pereira gets a yellow…Vucinic over it…..hammered into the goalkeeper’s arms. He’s got a nice free kick tha lad.

Scary moment on the counter, someone is forced to head the ball into Doni’s arms with a Cluj atacker steaming in.

6′ Cluj’s left winger is pacy. Should be a ffun matchup against Cicinho.

No mantained possession for either side yet, really. Though Roma seems to be sttling down. Roma corner…quickly taken. Nothing.

4′ Good news: My stream has no time clock on it, so I’m going to be making up numbers as we go alon.

Cicinho sends in his first cross of one bajillion today, headed out. Cluj eventually get possession.

3′ Panucci bundled. Unfortunately, he’s probably the last person we want to see go down after The Simone Loria Experience on Saturday.

2′ End to end play with no productivity here. Everyone keeps sending extra long long balls that wind up out of bounds or in the keeper’s hands.

KICKOFF

Oh my god. The lineup is…..tall. This can’t be Roma.

Can I buy an alarm clock which wakes me up with the Champions League theme every morning? I can’t even fathom the amount of motivation that would give one for the day.

Official lineup:

Doni;
Cicinho, Panucci, Cassetti, Riise;
De Rossi, Aquilani;
Taddei, Baptista, Tonetto;
Vucinic.

I like right backs. Do you like rightbacks? Spalletti likes rightbacks.

CLUJ: Stancioiu, Tony, Cadu, De Souza, Alvaro Perreira; Dani, Muresan; Dubarbier, Trica Juan Culio; Kone.

No Totti. Ah well, might be for the best. Though as an fyi, this projected XI has changed twice since I first looked at it, so their guess is probably as good as yours.

Just looked at the streaming options and immediately went to fetch my wallet. Not a good sign. LiveSport 1 (RO) is usually decent, but they can be a bit jumpy. Here’s to more streams flying in at the last moment. (LiveSport seems pretty decent thus far.)

Eight minutes to gametime and still no official lineup yet, though the one up top seems likely. Yup, that one’s official.

LB will start from back up top.

Some Related Roma Posts:

Category: Team News

« Champions League: Entertaining Romanians at the Local Emergency Ward | Home | Assessing the Carnage »

leko

I think that CFR CLUJ was over and over AS ROMA, infact as roma lost against of a big team,even Chelsea did not succed to beat CFR ,I can say that CFR CLUJ and CHELSEA will go on ,seeing what hapened before,CFR CLUJ is a strong team.
Rio

I agree withh the guy who said we need to learn to win ugly but pretty much no one else to even be suggesting getting rid of spalletti is stupid, some of the greatest trimphs start with overcoming adversity. real madrid won the champions league in 1999 after only barely getting out of the 1st group stages and it was before the galactico's

Liverpool had a terrible start last year losing to besiktas and marseille but were still able to turn it around. so stop winning and feeling sorry for yourselfs and get behind the team for the Reggina Match.
UL

I always thought Adriano would be one of the "better gambles"

I fear him most out of all Inter players if he returns to his natural form.
Bashar

I'm going back to optimistic mode now. We'll get our season back on track this weekend. If not, then God help us all..
Bashar

ancellotti got Milan every trophy on the planet!! Except coppa and uefa cup. I'm still with spal too but he may have reached his peak with this squad..
KJ

Samson, being cocky coming to bite you in the ass?
Dhaw

This was just that last kick they wanted on their butts to bring them outta their comfort zone. Now the real Roma will emerge .

Forza Roma
Forza Spaletti
Samson

Ance or Spal

SPAL.

Ance cant do shit with a team thats full of money and stars, what makes u people think he will be succesful with us? He needs money in order to win.

Spal must be depressed right now, i wish i could tell him to keep his chin up hahahaha.
mimo

Bashar, I agree. They have nothing left to say coz we are saying it ourselves. I like it. I just dont enjoy the mud-slinging at all.
Jonas

Franco Sensi...,could he have seen this game from heaven? For surfe he'll let it rain tomorrow in Rome!
Samson

HAHAHA Bash. Im sure not thinking of the trolls. I feel so bad right now, im having a hard time eating dinner. This game was supposed to be EASY and we were completly dominated.

I must admit that some people here are going to far.
Dhaw

What has carlo done in the last 2 years that we want him in Roma ? Spal has done way too much in the last 2 to be calling for his head ater 3 games into the season.
Bashar

I just realized that us piling all this negativity on ourselves is a self defense mechanism against trolls. When they come we already feel so bad that they can't say anything to make us feel worse.. That's if they haven't already felt sorry for us and left. Methinks that it works. Haha.
Samson

We are in a hole thats a mile deep and an inch wide.
Pauly WalNuts (ASR) (Soprano F

By the way, for me, Spalletti stays!
Samson

Point is tha Roma deserve all the critisism. I dont want Spal to be sacked. He doesnt have much to work with but i must admit that a loss to Cluj is unnaceptable.
Pauly WalNuts (ASR) (formerly

Well, I will be honest, I used to be on the optimist side, but after this debacle, something important has set in.....the following is not pessimism, but realism:

What an embarassing loss, and of all places, at home!
It took me a while to realize that since the summer transfer hassles, pre-season ordeals, lack of fitness, motherFREAGGIN injuries, and the cases of bad luck that we just can't shake off, that this might not be ROMA's year. Yep, things just started off bad, and now we're in a hole. Once again, its not to be pessimist, but I feel that that is the REALITY of the situation!

I've been thinking about it, and it will take a tremendous miracle to overcome what we're going through, and for Roma to contend for the Scudetto, let alone the Champions League. Stranger things have happened, but one thing is certain, I will ALWAYS love my AS ROMA, and amongst all of the possible down times, I will never stop supporting the team! FORZA ROMA!
Stefan

Im fucken pissed so all I got to say Roma sucks,at this point its true.Spaletti leave us ,go to milan, I would rather have ancelotti with us.
mimo

someone on goal.com thought this was funny:
"Clue-j-Less Roma Lose Again"
(Here's me, gritting my teeth.)
Jonas

Roma scored first against Napoli,Palermo and Cluj...but never kept clean sheet. i think that besides Totti,we could also say Mexes/Juan is as vital in our defense as Totti in attack.
Seriously,Panucci okay but LORIA? 31 defender from SIENA?
God even Cassetti needed to play in centre back tonight and had an afwull game...
mimo

ok, I am trying to think of things other than this mini-disaster at Roma. (perky things like the financial world in crisis, Lehman Bros. going bankrupt, Merill selling itself dirt cheap..etc.)
I really want the Serie A teams to do the league proud. 2 serie A teams in SF would be good. League rivalries put aside coz italian teams have got to do well in europe this year.
ursus arctos

D, I only mentioned Adri because someone suggested that you signing him would have been a disaster.

I respect you guys too much to pile on.
mimo

The main problem with Spaletti (and consequently his team) is that he does not seem to know how to win (or even draw) ugly. Over the years, the truly competitive, ambitious and winning teams know how to win- ugly or pretty doesnt matter. The scudetto last year would have been Roma's if they knew how to win and scrap it out in some ugly games and not go home empty-handed. And those who love Wenger and his style, he has the same problem.
Mostafa

that's what happens every year bashar, by the time we get to our senses nothing is left but the coppa
Bashar

I need a stiff drink.. I think the boys will turn things around but by the time they do that it will be too late for anything but the coppa.
Mostafa

i'm not giving up on TGIP just yet, i think we just need to motivate our selves better
Bren

http://www.goal.com/en-US/Arti...

whoops wrong one up there, sorry, here it is.
Daniele

http://www.channel4.com/sport/...

I will live and die by this dude.

Sempre.
Chico

Carletto and Bruno Conti can take us to the CL final. I have a feeling they might have set it up. Tomorrow it will be announced i feel.
Jonas

smile guys,we just have been cluj'ed ;)

terrible game yea but won't mention the Ancelotti thing (oh god just did it now)...there is something strange going in in Roma,don't know the players just don't keep their heads in a game and players like Vucinic,Pizarro,Cicinho,Tonetto,Riise don't show their quality anymore. Actually don't want to say anymore about thus,just try to sleep.
see you guys tomorrow

FORZA ROMA! (yea so what they lost to CLUJ,go support Chelsea or Inter if you like money grabbers)
Bren

http://www.goal.com/en-US/Arti...

Not sure if anyone linked this already, but its the match ratings for todays match. they seem to be a bit generous given the reactions on this board.
Chico

jasperaldo

I love spalletti too. But you have to understand when a love story is over.

There were signs last season. Now it's confirmed. It's over.

He's not happy with the club

Some players are not happy with Spalletti

If he has players against him and there's no feeling with management its' better if he goes tomorrow, than during the season, after we get kicked out of CL.

We have the players now, it's not like 2004 when we had shitty elements like Cufre', Dellas, Mido, Nonda etc
Jeff

I just can't believe this is the team that knocked out Madrid. I am at a loss.....
Mostafa

but what can we do daniele i think TGIP is a greater tactician than he is a motivator, so how are we gonna bounce back after a loss like that
i think totti is gonna have to step up and lead this team i mean the guy's a pure leader, and that's who we need now,
or does anyone else have any other solutions
Mostafa

nice one mimo
Daniele

U,

Adri gol.

Are you lookin for friends?

We don't need that kind of info. Thanks anyway.

De Rossi.

Unlucky, and flat out not the same team as last year qare two different things.

Even witrh our additions we are still 80 % of the team we were last year.

The talent is there, the tactics are there but the mentality isnt.

And in this game MENTALITY IS ALMOST EGVERYTING.
Uncle Fester (back to Addams F

Champions League Under Jinx

I'm calling it a day. Badbye!!!
jasperaldo (ASR)

lol @ romanista who are asking for spalletti's head...
Spalletti per sempre! I don;t forget the greatness he has done for my Roma!
mimo

Current situation summary for AS Roma fanbase: NO OPTIMISTS ALLOWED. :)
Chris_Keller

Mancini scored with Inter, that cunt must be laughing his ass off.
Mostafa

well anyway i think it's safe to say with roma there can be NO optimist's lol
Chris_Keller

My point is some of us saw that things were bad and kept getting insulted, now the optimists are bitching whereas all they needed then was to be realistic.
Mostafa

well chris keller, i wasn't one of them but now it's way worse than napoli, now we proved that were really down in the dirt
James

I don't think changing coaches is the answer. We all knew going into this year that Serie A is going to be no cake walk; and from the perspective of our last ditch efforts this past Transfer Season. finishing 4th and (ii) duplicating our CL Success (w/out Totti) is going to be a challenge unless we restrengthen with non cup tied players on the bounce in January, We get healthy quick and we start gelling as a Team, and not playing as individuals. We shall see how this plays out, Spalletti has his work cut out and this will be a true litmus test on how good a coach he is. I think we need to stay calm in lieu of what is happening. It's kind of like watching the ship sink or what is occurring on Wall Street with the global financial markets in total disarray. but remember the Final is in Roma, and this hopefully is motivation enough for our Boys to collectively pull themselves out of this hole. DAJE ROMA DAJE
agiamba

Bashar, I'm just sayin. Ancelotti+Spaletti have done great work with both teams and both are in similarily shitty situations right now. The problem with both teams is primarily management. The coaches aren't doing great at the moment either. Swapping the two would have little effect if you ask me, especially since both are primarily tactical managers. Should get a team motivator like Lippi..or Ranieri. :)
Chico

Spalletti it's time to join Zeman.
Uncle Fester (back to Addams F

http://www.goal.com/en/Articol...
DDR on the Cluj match.
Fadayn

'meaningless pre-season' my ass. 'meaningful pre-season' methinks!...

basta. buona notte - here's a post game interview with DDR and the goals... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Chris_Keller

I have ONE THING to say:

Where are all the punks who kept saying we are negative bitches after the Napoli match?
mimo

I am not saying that Spal should be fired. But he should at least not be complacent in his position. (Good competition works not just for players.) I dont think saying Milan sucks= Ancelotti sucks; Roma sucks= SPal sucks is the right equation. Sometimes things get stagnant (roma is not there yet.) Milan seems to be stagnant. Ancelotti may just not have more to offer- at Milan, but he can still contribute to football. What I have said/thought/shouted/whined about before and today is a prime example- I just am not convinced that Spal fires up the team when the chips are down, or really have any tactical brainwaves in pulling a rabbit out of the hat.
Mostafa

wow, some posts here by chris take days to get the number of comments this one got in less than 5 hrs, that just amplifys the loss and roma's current panic button state
Bashar

alessio.. We aren't dominating and losing... We're just losing!! And it's not 1 bad game. It's 4. 9 if you include the meaningless ore-season.
Roma Caput Mundi

I'm not going to read all of these posts because there are too many. It is way too early to panic this much. It is great to say it for conversation but there is way too much calcio left and a lot of injuries especially in our defense to think we will not bounce back.
zack weeps for Brady (and othe

I would never teach my children the art of the bribe that those two clubs have mastered
Uncle Fester (back to Addams F

on goal.com I've found something like that:
"if any romanista is thinkin of raisin a kid raise him/her as an interista or juventino cos supporting roma is torture!"
ursus arctos

Adriano scored Inter's second.

Just sayin'.
zack weeps for Brady (and othe

It isn't Carlo Ancelotti's fault his suits didn't fix obvious holes. People don't realize how monumental that job he did in the 06/07 CL was until last year when the same team went out there and sucked. Not that the competence will change if he changes his scenery to Rome on account of their reputation.
Sterling

Funny that Alessio mentions that. On another message board that I post on, a Milanista basically said "Please lose, Roma; we need Spaletti."

Getting Carletto as a coach would be like blowing the whole Mercato budget on Adriano.
lamagica

it's not even prade so much that's the problem. its our limited spending power. i think prade's hand is forced in many occassions through ownership-imposed restraints.
zack weeps for Brady (and othe

Alessio, the thing is Ancelotti doesn't want to be there. He has not frowned at rumors of him leaving and he sort of smirked when Totti mentioned ending his career with Ancelotti, I'm not positive he's happy there. It's not like Milan filled any pressing needs this mercato either. They did nothing to fix that ancient back line except buy a 30 year old Zambrotta.
CMP (ASR)

Come on boys... lets not think about UEFA CUP yet... it was one game - crap game, but one game none the less! I had hoped that this would be our 4-0, 5-0 game to strengthen the morale but I guess it wasnt meant to be. Not sure if firing TGIP is the way to go. In fact I dont think so, however I would love for him to not be so locked in his systems and his subs. We have 3 subs... USE THEM! Show the team that YOU sir, have some passion! Sometimes he just lookes like he doesnt care. Anyone else wanna put money that Milan and Roma trade coaches withink the next two weeks?
ursus arctos

Spot on. That makes zero sense to me.

No matter how bad you guys feel tonight, you are in better shape than Milan.
agiamba

Ancelotti-
Tactically rigid. Won't switch from his Xmas tree. Sound familiar?
Dominates play but loses games. Sound familiar?
0 points from 6 games after a 5th placed finish with a huge budget.
Is that really who you all want to lead your team?
lamagica

samson - given what we've seen to date (since that's all we can go by), how could you think we'd come out of this group? we just lost to cluj at home, the last drawn team to the group if i'm not mistaken. if you have a crystal ball that shows us looking better than we've looked ALL season so far, then please share it with us. i'll take anything to get me out of this rutt i feel i'm in with this team at the moment.
zack weeps for Brady (and othe

The issue isn't that we lost to Palermo and Cluj in terms of Spalletti's job. It's that these losses, along with the draw against Napoli, are part of the same recurring theme that prevented us from winning the scudetto last year. Not just blowing leads, but inviting the other team to score. When it happens this often, it's not unlucky.
agiamba

Yeah, too early to say Uefa cup. Maybe for next year, but I think Roma will progress easily enough.

I said weeks ago, Roma's bench is way too light and injury crises would doom this club. No one agreed. Did not do enough this mercato.

And those who think Spal needs to go.....is anyone watching Ancelotti's team? They're awful. Sure they didn't deserve to lose against Bologna, but isn't that Romanistas main complaints? Dominating but losing? And they looked dreadful against Genoa. Spaletti has lead Roma to punch above its' weight for the last few years and it'd be dumb to sack him. Prade, maybe.
Bashar

Is it too soon to brand this year as a rebuilding year?
zack weeps for Brady (and othe

Wow...just wow. I would say that we will bounce back, but I can't be sure since 3-1 while being killed up and down the field against Palermo should have been the low of the season.
Bashar

http://www.goal.com/en/Articol...

Ratings.. Awfully generous on our squad. De Rossi 8? Cassetti 4.5? Are you kidding me? Everyone deserves a 1!
Samson

I said i wasnt coming back but you guys are going to far to think we wont qualify for the knockout stages t this level.
Krkiroma

I'm sorry for the fans, they are broken
Fadayn

Alessio - i didn't disagree. when i saw we were buying riise and selling mancini i said we'd be lucky to hold a top 4. then the failed arsenal player and loria was all we got to hang our coats on and people here said i needed to give them a chance. COME ON. I feel sorry for spalletti in some ways...totti, mexes, juan, de rossi, panucci, vucinic all injured or hurting...anyway tomorrow's another day. Roll on the good times. By the way can the people who mentioned bringing on totti when we were "3 or 4 goals up" in the last Chris post please make themselves know to the headmaster...
vigliotti

I didnt feel like we had a chance to score again. This was pathetic these last 2 games. We r not blending as a team. Same passes no creativity we really need to change things up do something different. This was not a good team we lost in Rome. No defense whatsoever no promising shots on goal in the 2nd half we sucked.
lamagica

ursus, i can explain it for luciano: many of these players have no self-respect, let alone respect for their teamates and their fans.

the issues regarding prade and the transfer season have been already mentioned and are likely valid but for the love of god, we were playing cluj today...at home....not inter at the meazza. this should have been a comfortbale victory.

agreed about the "highs and lows" comment but this is desperately low considering how things have gone since pre-season....a 1-0 win against frosinone is all we have to our 'credit' so far, ursus. things are dire.
jon

http://www.goal.com/en/Articol...

cicinho 7, ddr 8, ka 7, vuci, 7.5?

did they even watch it?
ursus arctos

Mourinho just said that he thinks you can win in Romania and that you will qualify for the group stages.

I don't think he's blowing smoke. You definitely have the talent to do so.
Krkiroma

I'm afraid Of Lazio finishing this year ahead of us
Bashar

Ya.. but we might have a shot at the UEFA Cup.. No guarantee we'll win anything anytime. This year, last year, 1983, 2001, etc... That's not why we support the club..

But is it too much to ask that they play to their potential?
brad

yeah bashar, i'm not saying its ideal but what else do we have
Ben

this is crisis time but there are 5 games left, this team can react and pick up the pieces, once the defense is back and Baptista finds his footing etc etc, the talent is there the chemistry is not.
Daniele

We will right this ship, but boy has this been horrible.

This start after a promising looking squadra contro Inter is something I never EVER saw coming.

At this point we are lucky to have a single point in Serie A.

With all this talent (injured talent) our bench sucks balls.

They are great in some matches and so so or horrible in others. I am looking at OMR, Cassetti, Cici (this year) Taddei.

Basta. Get Totti healthy, Mexes and Juan back, lord knows we miss the fire and hunger of Simo, and for fucks sake put Taddei on a fucking plane back to Brasil.

Spal, needs to fire this team up.

The mentaility and form are below depressing.

Something needs to change. We need a spark.

Where will it come from?
Bashar

ursus.. ur right.. Nothing wrong with having high expectations but when they aren't met (a la now) it is a huge crash down to earth. The problem is beating Cluj is not a high expectation... It's the minimum result allowed and when you don't even achieve your rock bottom goals it's complete dejection.
pro carletto

All this team needs is a decent coach, or better yet, a magnificent coach; that is Ancelotti. He knows how to win important games and he'll be available soon enough.
Mostafa

bashar - UEFA cup spot, and we might not actually win the cup, with AC Milan there to contend with, and let's face it, if we play one more game like this we wouldn't deserve serie b
Krkiroma

That is nice from Samson "I love Roma but they have broken my heart today." That is well said
agiamba

And you guys all called us haters when we predicted Roma to finish 5th.

Not enough reinforcements, brought in too late, and if anything they just kept Roma at the same place (I think slightly lower) at a time when everyone else strengthened. Even with last years squad you wouldn't be 25minutes from a scudetto this year.
Bashar

At times like this I just want to pile on the misery.. I love reading such depressing comments.. it's actually making me feel better.
Samson

Same here Frank. I cant take this. I aint coming back til saturday. I love Roma but they have broken my heart today.
ursus arctos

D, it's all about highs and lows (and isn't meant as a slam).

From where I sit, your highs are much too high, and your lows are just as bad in the other direction. You feed off each other in both cases, and it leads to spirals that seriously distort reality.

Spal is having a lot of difficulty explaining what happened on Sky Italia, btw.
Krkiroma

I'm not against UEFA cup spot but problem is that 3 place can we make it???
Bashar

brad.. that lineup will give me a heart attack.. before the game even starts.. The 3 most useless defenders all together.. Panucci aside, but he is now injured.

More of Cassetti, Loria this weekend?

Chris.. Please try to find a status up date on Mexes and Juan's situations!!
Uncle Fester (back to Addams F

AS Roma fan sitution summary: "WHERE ARE MY BLOODY TRANQUILIZERS?!!!"
Frank

over. . . i AM NOT READING POSTINGS ANYMORE, ORE ELSE I WILL LOSE MY MIND
brad

i really feel we need to drop the 4-2-3-1, we dont have the wingers for it anymore, 3-4-1-2 might work better, for when mexes and juan arent around, something like this
doni
cassetti-panucci-loria
cici-ddr-aqui-tonetto
perrotta
totti-vuci
Bashar

Honestly.. I'm not against a UEFA Cup spot.. We won't win the CL.. that's a certainty.. We might have a chance at the UEFA Cup.
Bashar

You're not Jennifer.. It just signifies how bad our loss is. You guys lost 4-0 and it's still a better result than ours! Any antagonistic comments would actually make us feel BETTER!!
Krkiroma

I wonder if we finish third in the group. Then we can play in UEFA cup but i'm not sure about that 3 place any more
Bashar

This is 2004-2005 all over again. Go check the games of that year and count how many games we blew the lead in... Please do that. Score early, score a great goal.. and then.. that's it.

Riise will not see the field this weekend. One of Cassetti or Cicinho won't either even if we have to play Okaka at CB. Pizarro will be back in plus every single injured player who is healthy. Baptista will ride the pine.

Complete desperation would be getting Appiah for cover (unlikely) and a goalkeeper.
Jennifer Bin

...I don't want to sound antagonistic, but
BORDEAUX ACTUALLY HAS A CHANCE AT THIS. OH MY GOD.
Frank

. . .Totti it is time for him to BEOME THE COACH/MOTIVATOR