The Third Tenant

By: The Offside | December 19th, 2010

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Milan 0 – Roma 1

Definitively, we have an answer – or several: This was Bari Roma. And it was Big Game Roma. It was also San Siro Roma. But most importantly, this was Ranieri Roma.

For the second straight week, the defense was rigid, unrelenting, and dominant. Whether Bari’s lineup was in tatters never mattered; the same goes for Milan. And for the second straight week, they displayed progression through the game, into the second half.

This year has been very difficult to peg on its inconsistencies and inability to state not just an intention, but an identity. The last two weeks have been the closest to finding last year that I can recall. The Bari game probably didn’t thrill most, but how many people care about the performance and how they won against Siena last year? Or Atalanta? The result above all else, and that’s what they did: watertight in the back, solid in the midfield and believe that at least one moment of individual brilliance from the front can turn in the three points. It was Ranieri’s credo when he rode back home, and it was the system, if you will, which brought so much success last year. This was much of the same, with better execution, better overall play and on a much grander stage.

That individual moment was not from Borriello, but from the man who’s quickly becoming the Milan killer in-residence: Menez. The burst on the right is the type of split-second momentum shifting play which allows a back footed clearance to be hoofed into the path of an on-rushing attacker. A little less space, and the ball’s cleared before Abate gets a whiff. The acres between he and Antonioni was the first and, obviously, most important domino, as it allowed the ball to sneak into gap, and ultimately wind up in the net. The boy’s talents are just so, so special, and finally, so decisive.

But he’s not what allowed them to win that game. When ownership is turned over in February or so, two checks need to be written: one to the order of Unicredit, another to Philippe Mexes. One should read €150m or thereabouts, the other blank, with a polite request for a reasonable cap. I’m not entirely sure which check should go to whom.

Something happened last year, and Roma was very fortunate to reap the benefits of convenient timing: Philou crashed and burned, while Nico waltzed through a career year. This year, the universe has run a self-correction – Crockett & Tubbs, business as usual.

Not champagne football, but winning football – Ranieri football. The only gripe I have is that this game falls before the longest break of the year – they could really do with this three weeks in a row.

Notes

Having given this far too much thought, the best I can do for the defense on the day is the AS Roma Trap-ez Artists. Even that’s difficult to type.
The backline should’ve commemorated this game by planting the linesman’s flag at the center circle like Iwo Jima.
This was truly a mad genius game from Claudio, simply for the fact that Adriano has not started against decent opposition on a decent pitch yet this year. What’s there to judge? But it worked – though if it was Totti or Vucinic, he’d be pilloried. The passing was woeful and he simply cannot move, but he’s extraordinarily skilled and fortunately, that’ll be enough most days.
But just imagine what he’d be like 10 kilos less. Turning to create space is great, but boy did those athletic whippersnappers close it down again quickly.
Nicolas Burdisso at rightback going forward is best described as ‘something formerly lunch’, but going the other way, it was masterful against opposition like Milan: with a forward line which can drift and interchange across the line, the rightcenterback is going to be pulled occasionally, which we saw a number of times with Philou. Shift Burdisso – usually rumbling back – into his slot while Mexes is wide and you’ve lost very little from your defense, if anything. These are the type of things which win big games, which see teams go on lengthy undefeated streaks, which turn a once-porous defense into a vault, and which make lovers of great defense happy in the pants.
Doni had astonishingly little to do, and I’m convinced the stop of Zlatan was equal parts terrible shot and excellent save, but he was still better than expected. Panathinaikos lingers, but so too do Giovinco and Diamanti.
Two things from the cosmos which affected this game:
Pirlo’s injury, although Milan still finished out the second half as the better team.

The rain/ice, whatever it was. Lots of slippages on both sides, and I half-expected them to slap some orange cones and yellow tape around the ice rink down on the left-hand side of the south penalty box.
Rodrigo Taddei, if you ignore the sample size, may be having the best year of anyone on the squad. He’s played about two and a half games, but they’ve all been just brilliant.
Of course on the whole, there’s little question who’s been the player of the first half: Marco Borriello.
Thanks again.

Some Related Roma Posts:

Category: Team News

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Sebareiff

Well Bash I'm not sentimental or nostalgic, this is another year and we've already made big changes since last year. Pizarro's efforts since he came from Inter have been remarkable but the time imo has come to move on. 10 million is about 5 million more than he's worth so we must accept it. Ranieri never liked his kind. Remember Ranieri benched Aimar for Sissoko at Valencia so we know his "type". It's not Pek.

Good news if Rosi is leaving ..... even if he's not. Roma making a hard push for Schelotto, a star this season and easily in serie a team of the year thus far. RB, RWB, RWM, RW, RM, RCM, RF. Can play literally in every position on the right side and has improved immeasurably in the last 18 months or so. Bright future. Rosi+Behrami do not equal Schelotto. Don't know how we could afford him though, probably will have to hand over half the youth prospects.
masonio

I love Schelotto is there any truth to us pursuing him?
Francesco (Giallorosso)

I'm all for the selling of Pizarro, yes, he was outstanding last season but before that he was always mediocre, and I wouldn't be sad to see him go now.
Sebareiff

Gila blows lol??? He is a stud. Mexes would be happy to see him as Gila always murders Roma going back many years now, handing out several bitchslappings to us. Milan didn't have the right system for him, just look at his european record with Viola: he's done it in every big CL game v Liverpool, Lyon, etc .. and his overall play v Munich in the 3-2 was outstanding. But in the end he and Borriello could not coexist.

Great news Pizarro is off. Spent player who sucks in a 433. You have to be able to move intelligently and give it asap in a 3 man midfield, like Xavi, who has one instant goal when he gets the ball = to pass it to another player. Pizarro diddles on the ball and twists and turns lol ... what a nightmare. See Palermo. He's a ball stopper. When he gives it quick, it's to the other team!
Bashar_ASR

10 million euros from Zenit for Pizarro would actually be a good deal and our last chance to cash in. With that kind of money we can get a decent replacement. People here are big on Fejsa. We could also get a different kind of player like van Bommel perhaps who wants out of Bayern.

However, Pizarro was very important to this team last year and it might be a mistake to let him go without giving him a chance to get back to form after his injury.

Rosi also wants to go and I think we should sit him down and have a chat. If we're not going to buy a quality RB (no indication that we are looking at any) then Rosi is next in line. Cicinho is out sooner rather than later and Cassetti is getting older.
Kilo15

Van Bommel? Shame on you Bash!
feanwt

Story in the New York Post about one of the potential bidders for the club:

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports...

How do people feel about this? As a NY resident and Giants fan as well as a Roma fan I would love this move. If Roma has to be bought by a non-Italian group at least these owners would have a history of sports ownership, tradition and loyalty to the team's roots which I would hope would carry over to Roma. Generally both the Giants and Jets have developed organically (through the NFL Draft as there is no youth system) but have been willing to spend on key free agents to better the team. What do you guys think, especially the Roman fans?
Bashar_ASR

If it means Roma coming to play a game at Giants Stadium every year then I'm happy with it.
Daniele

I'm with you Bashar. Speaking as a resident NYC'er.

I also work with a colleague whom is friends with Woody Johnson and Steve Tisch.

Oh boy... Let this be true.

Daje roma.
mac

If it means G Rossi then I'm all for it.
feanwt

Wow - I didn't even think of the possibility of the NJ/Rossi/Giants/Jets connection. That would be awesome but maybe just a dream!

Do any of you NYC residents watch the games anywhere? I typically spend Sunday morning at home with my one year old daughter who laughs and smiles when I yell 'Forza Roma' but watching with other tifosi would be better!
nino

I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't think, I can't do anything because of mexes' situation.

no seriously rosella, clarify it asap because im getting a headache. Give him $250,000,000,000,000 and 50 elastics for his ponytail jeez, it's very simple!
Bashar_ASR

This situation reminds me a lot of the last contract situation with Mexes. I had just started my own Roma blog (which i quickly abandoned for this one) around that same time. I was annoyed with Mexy and his agent and was saying how Chivu was so much more loyal, etc... when all of a sudden.. bam. Mexes renewed. He's loyal.. If Roma do their part he will re-sign.
Bashar_ASR

Wow.. easy there.. it's not like he's hanging on for dear life. Take a deep breath, have a bowl of soup and take a nap.. Repeat for 30 days or until Mexes renews his contract... whichever comes first
Bashar_ASR

I'd love it if we can get Gilardino in the summer to play alongside Borriello. Those two getting wonderful assists from Menez would score bundles.
Armoracia

I don't want that diving douchebag.
nino

gilardino blows, I dont want him anywhere near rome ...fuck him

and as for adriano's soap saga, I suggest u should do what I do- stop reading that bullshit!
Bashar_ASR

http://www.goal.com/en/photo/g...

Haha.. good old Spal
Jordan Cozzi

I am utterly dissapointed with this Adriano fiasco. I recall this summer when he was excited to move back to Italy and play for Roma because he wanted to prove himself. Now he apparently is homesick and wants back to Brazil cause he finds it difficult to play with so much competition????

You would think that as a professional, he would strive under this challenge and compete for a spot making him a better player, and most definitely more fit??? We all know he is over weight, but I assume many of us here have lost or gained weight when we realy wanted too, he has had professional support to do so, literally he has been babied by personal trainers and he has yet to change wtf????

It really annoys me that now he seems to have given up like a child. What is it with Brazilians these days????

I can only hope these reports are untrue, but with our insane Italian media, nothing can be guaranteed. Let us hope that this can be resolved sooner rather than later considerign he is one of our top earners...
Bashar_ASR

I've had enough of the Adriano rumors. It's more heartache than it's worth. I say sell him back to Flamengo or wherever and send him back to his mother. Cut our losses quickly and maybe pick up a cheaper CF this winter.
Sterling

If you go back to June, I'm pretty sure "DO NOT WANT" can be found in the archives when it came to getting Fatty on a freebie.

Can you imagine what Roma would look like right now if they hadn't gotten Borriello at 11:59pm on 8/31? I don't want to think of it.
Jonas

quite some contradictory there: you insert the word 'rumors' while blaming him

he's back at Trigoria and said he respects his contract till 2013 (unless Roma chose to sell him ofcourse),his uncle got ill in Brazil just before new year so he decided to stay a few days more,nothing wrong with that. We all knew Adriano has a big fan base/media hype around him,especially in Brazil and they can say whatever they want,I only believe what's coming out of his mouth and he did: he stays,period. I don't know if there's any other attacker with his serie A and CL experience,talent for a low price right now. There are only Dzeko's,Aguero's,Pazzini's,Cassano's...

now we can loan out Okaka,and let the fight for the forward spots commence! only 2 spots for Totti,Borriello,Vuci and Adriano will benefit all and they all will work hard for Ranieri to let them play
Bashar_ASR

Well.. right now they are rumors because one day someone says something and the other day they refute it. I doubt Adriano's mother is just running her mouth off without any indication from Adriano. He at least told her that he wants to come home, if not asked her to start blabbing to the media.
Giallorossi93

Don't get me wrong I love the guy but at this stage I agree. He seems to be more hassle than he is worth. Roma need to get him sold and get that wage bill down!
masonio

Since we've discussed our club's haircuts already I think we should discuss our club colours, too.
It's already been touched on a little but I want to know everyone's views. Technically we're yellow-red by nickname but our recent kits have had a shit load of orange on them. Anyone have a clue why? I mean I can understand how bad yellow can be from Lecce/Chievo but I'm sure a yellow trim or even gold trim on an all white/black kit wouldn't look terrible. Not only is it orange but there's way too much for my liking.

Ps. This is probably a fail but I only did it because our offside has been pretty dead. Lucky we have a match coming up soon.
Jonas

well,looking at our emblem and kits,it's dark red-orange that's for sure

Lecce's ones are clearly yellow-red
http://www.salentoviaggi.com/s...

but both are called giallorossi,probably cauz of the roma roma roma song from venditti: 'gialla come er sole,rosa com er cuore mio'

did we actually ever really had a yellow color on our kits? I can't recall one
this said,I quite like the orange-black ones like this one:
http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/sp/reut...
Cuorelupo

Roma's playing colours have always been burnt orange/gold and dark red. 'Giallorossi' has a better ring to it, which is why it's used. Take a look at the 1930's kits, or the club symbol (the new one), or the flag of the city itself for that matter. They're all orange/gold and dark red.
The orange on the this season's away kit is way too florescent, and should be darker, but no matter what we're called, Roma don't play in yellow.
masonio

I agree with this one.
ForzaRoma

I guess the real color is gold,but like you said,we often see orange instead
michele(AS-ROMA)

to put the mexes stuff to rest, least imo.

mexes is staying, but he wants a decent salary. sensi, or whoever runs, or will run :S this circus want to balance the books in this transfer window,pay mexes what he wants, and fund claudio's showcase on how to piss off a Roma fan by hiring the most douchebagiest (that's a word i swear) lazie goat fucker on the market.

i'm not happy about that^

where was i? oh right, since this takes some patience and time, the media, in all it's fucked up glory, has nothing better to do then right meaningless rumours.

mexes is Roman, and a captain at that. he stays.

never forget that boys, few few clubs in the world have a loyalty from their players like we do.
mac

Our salaries are way to high to begin with. Dumping Baptista was all we needed to do for this Mercato as long as people can stay healthy. Mexes is the 3rd highest earner on the team as is. The space Baptista opened up certainly allows for some money to go towards Mexes and Menez.
Drew

baptista off to malaga...thank god eh
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/n...
Legione13

People who subscribe to this blog via RSS - Did you have a bunch of garbage in your RSS feed today?
Rudy_Roma

http://www.football-italia.net...

So Adriano leaves Roma at the end of this season..
as roma fan

no no i think you are wrong adriano has denied all of these rumors today and told the roma channel today that he has signed a contract till 2013 and he will do as he promised >> http://www.vocegiallorossa.it/...
masonio

Hmm, shame. But if it's really because of family reasons then he should be allowed to go back. On the plus side, +5M off the wage bill.
ForzaRoma

i dont really believe that,I feel huge exaggeration there
expect new developments on this once Adriano comes back to Rome
its all Ronaldo's and Flamengo's trick lol
Kilo15

aww what the fuck are you serious? God damn it I was just starting to like the look of Adriano, especially after the Milan game. So much talent wasted...
Chris (DK-ASR)

WTF haha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Jonas

haha hilarious!
Okaka and JSB look so funny in their outfits while Borriello does what he does best: be a chick magnet
Jonas

latest news:
Unicredit has put the Behrami transfer on hold
Roma wait for Adriano to arrive today to loan out Okaka (possibly to Bari)
Bren

Theyre determined to not let that kid play, huh?
Bashar_ASR

Kinda disappointed because some reinforcements would be welcome if we want to push further up the league but it makes sense that they don't want to bump up the wage bill again now that Baptista is gone.
nino

I dont care if we end up buying xavi, iniesta, messi, ronaldo, kaka etc. fuck 'em and fuck behrami.

our number 1 priority is to renew mexes' contract as soon as possible. Rosella, put down ur cigarette and get on that, give him what he demands ....give him 5 ferraris, 10 models, and 15 houses ...
Jonas

I'm all for keeping Mexes but now Baptista's gone and hopefully Doni as well,it's time to trim the players wages. It's not the time to throw with wages with the unsure future of the club and it's new owners...

And I'm sure Mexes doesn't want a big rise, he just wants to renew it and stay and ofcourse play a lot. He loves it here and sure as hell already earns a lot these days. Just renew it till 2014 or so,that's all Sensi and co have to do before making a move for Behrami.
Kilo15

Mexes has said that it's not about the wages, its about the future owners of the club, which is perfectly reasonable to be concerned about.
michele(AS-ROMA)

"I tifosi della Roma cantano: "Noi Behrami non lo vogliamo"

translation; we don't no fucking scum of the earth laziale on our team.

couldn't have said better myself lol
scrutinizer

want** would be the crucial word missing there.
Gio

something is going on with Phillippe. he says no contract discussions have been started while the club insist they have offered him a new contract. someone is stirring the crap, question is, who?
amir ny

I think Mexes will not go anywhere. I think its just media reports.
I would like him to stay.
Gio

i hope you are right. i just don't understand why Mexes would be saying one thing and the team would be saying another.
Francesco (Giallorosso)

I really hope he stays as well. Philou is crucial to our team, I think we only have Juan for one or two more years so we need Mexes to be our focal point back there.
F Malagisi

Mexes will stay! There is a lot going on with the team and the sale. I truly believe he knows his worth and bleeds yellow and red. I think they are just waiting until the team has a more certain future. I'm sure there have been many discussions with the team and the player. The media has its way of stirring up crap. No real news has come out indicating Mexes will be leaving
masonio

Gold and red. We're not McDonalds.
sjRoman

Giallorossi
masonio

I think that's because "Ororossi" doesn't quite have the same sweet sound.

Dark red and golden yellow trim are the colours of Roma. Although more recently our gold/yellow is more orange by the looks of our alternate kits. "Aranciorossi"? lol
Kilo15

I just got my home jersey today in the mail, and damn is it red and orange!
michele(AS-ROMA)

GIALLO COME ER SOLE ROSSA COME ER CORE MIOOOOOO

that's all you gotta know...but ya the yellow is a little different lol
Jonas

Adriano: "DID SOMEBODY SAY MCDONALDS??????!!!!!!!"
Giallorossi93

If Ancelotti gets sacked from Chelsea do you think Roma will sack Ranieri to replace him? or give him to the end of the season?

Chelsea 2-1 down at home to Aston Villa, which is the reason I bring this up. Things aren't looking good for Ancelotti.

Also, any news on transfers? I've heard the usual about Behrami and Given but is there any other possible players?
Rudy_Roma

From Laroma24.it: Atletico Roma - Roma 1-0

Sigh..
Niccolò Adami

Meh. I never care about friendlies.
mac

1-1 Vucigoal
mac

so says Roma News
mac

3-2 Roma lost. Marco missed a penalty. Vuci, Buridisso scored.
Everybody played. Pettinari looked good.
http://translate.google.com/tr...
ForzaRoma

no streams yet
Guest

Have you found any streams yet?
amir ny

is this some kind of friendly game today?
ForzaRoma

hope I can find 2 hours to watch Roma-Cisco today
this,alongside the first round of coppa match, is my favorite game of the season
no pressure,no worries,just a show featuring Menez :D
and we can see Esposito too lol
Rudy_Roma

I'm looking forward to that match too. speaking about it, on what time is the match actually?
ForzaRoma

just checked that out,less than an hour from now
15:00 CET - usual Serie A afternoon time
the problem is that I cant find a single stream or info yet
rojadirecta,myp2p.eu,atdhe have no idea about that game
Guest

there is news about Barzagli, according to 4-4-2.com Roma made her bid to Wolfsburg for him: http://www.romanews.eu/news.as...
Gio

Barzagli would be a very good back up option from the bench, IMO.
masonio

Hmm, interesting. Also says we've looked into Christian Schulz of Hannover. I don't mind Barzagli but losing Phillou will suck. Can't we keep Phillou and buy Barzagli? lol
Jonas

I think Mexes,Juan,Burdisso and Barzagli for CB would be a little over the top lol

3 quality ones and a young primavera or other promising boy does the trick
maybe next season we can bring back Brosco and see how he fares,we can always loan him out again in the winter mercato no?
mac

Damn we jump right back into the thick of it with a game Thurs 1/6 against Catania at 9 am et and then Sun 1/9 against Samp 6:30 et. We owe both these teams a serious beat down. Two quick wins carrying the momentum from the Milan game is just what we need to kick off the second half of the season. Freeing up a lot of salary space from the sale of Baptista is just what we needed to resign our two French players. Any word on the sale of the team? I have not heard or seen anything posted in a long time. Happy New Year!
CatoSicarius

And Milan play away to Cagliari without Ibra, Pirlo and Boateng. That is a difficult task, as we all know...
mac

Based on this list: http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/...
God Damn! With the exception of JSB, our Brazilian players must have the best agents in the world. JSB and Lobont's salaries combined are less than half of Doni's! Looking at that list makes me laugh. JSB and Menez need a serious pay raise.
Niccolò Adami

no no no no. Menez yes. I hope that JSB gets replaced by a quality GK.
Jonas

if Mexes HAS to leave (lets hope not) then I hope Roma go after David Luiz from Benfica,young and very promising brazilian defender!

one of Barzagli or Lugano would be good too but it sure as hell is gonna be a quality one! Nothing matches a Crockets&Tubbs CB (in form mind you),not even the Burdisso-Juan of last season. That said,it sure feels good to have a guy like Burdisso as backup,I think Roma has serie A's best 3rd string CB
Milan: Yepes? Bonera?
Inter: Cordoba? Materazzi?
Juve: Legrotaglie? Rinaudo?
masonio

Chelsea's 20M bid for Luiz was rejected. Rumour is they want 30M. Also known as not Roma, lol. We'd also be competing with Real Madrid and Manchester City.
kurdt

Happy new year everyone, I wish 2011 is going to be Roma's year and look forward for chris' great posts! Always Forza Roma.
amir ny

Gio, i m glad we are both Roma fans and at least we want to see Roma do well.

As per your comments about not liking Behrami because of his "Albanian roots" and possibly being violent and thug its really strange and its almost called racism here in USA. You can spin this anyway you want but you can't tell me that you have other reasons for not liking Behrami but because he is Albanian.
Politics and sports should not be in one page and i m sorry you have these kind of views out there.

As per your knowledge about Balkans let me tell you something,
Serbs are responsible for violent Albanians. Serbs were the ones who provoced the a
Albanians and started all this mess. If you don't remember Serbian rule first took all the basic rights from Kosovo Albanians in 1988, then wanted to first take Slovenia, had a long war in croatia, then Killed kids in Bosnia/ srebrenica 8000 people killed in one day because of their names!!! And then wanted to expell all albanians from Kosovo. They simply wanted the entire former Yugoslavia for the end to lose all the wars and even split from their brothers Montenegro!
So i m not sure what movie you saw about Balkans. Probably yours was made in Russia.

its pretty simple to see who used violence and dirty tricks to gain more territory.
Albanians in Macedonia never wanted to make their own country but they only asked for their own rights. If you don't know macedonia is a country of 2 milion and almost half are albanians. Its like telling spanish people in America you cant practice your own language, watch your spanish shows, and your last name pedro needs to be changed to smith.

I m not sure where you from and why you have these views but there are more good than bad Albanians out there, at least the ones i know. Of course only bad news make the news these days.

Anyway, god bless USA and EU. And god bless you Gio. Sorry to hear you had bad experiences with Albanians. I won't be replying anymore about this.

Much respect to all Roma fans weather they are from China, Russia or Serbia. I have good serbian friends too, I love Mirko Vucinic and he has montenegrin/serbian roots. Serbs just had a period of time when they voted a wrong man to power. Today balkan has changed but it will take some time until wounds can be heeled.

All the best to you Gio.
mimmo

Hispanic Americans obey the laws of this country and if they do they can vote, run for office and make a life for themselves in America. They do not want to break away from the United States and form their own country, alla Kosovo, or attempt to impose cultural standards of their own, alla Macedonia.

First off, ethinic Albanians represent 22.61% of Macedonia and have an appropriate 29 out of 120 seats in Parliament (they are represented politically).

Until the 1980s, Macedonia not only defended minority culture and language, but provided schools in Albanian for minority areas. Only when they saw ethnic Albanians trying to take over Kosovo in the late 1980s were these policies changed.

In January 1992, Albanians in Macedonia organized a referendum on territorial autonomy which was seen as a move to secede and create a country of their own. In 2001, ethnic tensions erupted when a group of ethnic Albanians near the Kosovo border carried out armed provocations that soon escalated into an insurgency. These groups attacked Macedonian government forces and seized land - they called themselves the NLA (National Liberation Army), clearly organised to make a move for separating from Macedonia and creating their own country as well as for supporting anti-Macedonian CRIMINALITY.

It seems that much of your history is flawed, Amir. Do not compare Kosovo or Macedonia to Hispanic Americans. Hispanic Americans, no matter how bad their situation, have never tried to break away from the U.S. and create their own country with their own laws, nor have they ever attacked the U.S. government, threatened American people, or lead violent, armed protests and attacks or supported anti-American criminality.

I have no issues with Albanians in Albania, but if you look at the track record of ethnic Albanians in other countries, they have been and still are devisive, antagonistic, and violent.

I could go on and on, but I would like to see more discussion about football really.
amir

Thank you Mimmo for your input! Happy new year to you. :)

How's Roma doing this morning? Vucinic scored again or what?

God bless USA.
mimmo

Amir, you are a cool guy. Gio's right, you have a great attitude. I'd like to meet you some day. Glad to know Roma have fans like you.
Gio

amir,

i appreciate your tone and i like when i can have discussions with people with that type of attitude. i do not like discussing politics here, but just to defend some points,

1. on my list of things i do not like about Behrami, as i stated, his being Albanian is second to last, and i tried to be pretty specific about not liking Albanian politics and having nothing to do with ethnicities.

2. i have visited the Balkans, lived in the Balkans and been to all the countries you have mentioned multiple times; i have friends and family in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, they all have different stories and i have heard more than a few about how Serbs (ethnic minorities in Kosovo for a good while) were violated, threatened, violenced and even literally forced out of their homes by Albanian Kosovars ... and if you think this started in 1988, believe me it goes much further back than this. i am not saying Serbs haven't done wrong things, but the problem for Albanians is that the wrong things they have done are a pattern that is the same in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and even to some smaller extent in Greece.

3. there are a couple of things you mention that are historically not true (Serbia never wanted to take Slovenia; it was the most peaceful separation of two states in the history of Europe along side the 'velvet revolution'. the conflicts with Croatia were too complex to go into. suffice it to say that there were equally large numbers of Serbs killed before these attacks that provoked these conflicts, and Kosovo, the oldest part of the country, has been part of Serbia for over 1200 years, Albanians have been there for only about 100 so you can't say Serbs were trying to 'gain more territory' because it was theirs and always theirs ... Kosovo is trying to break away from Serbia, Serbia is not trying to annex Kosovo.)

i haven't had bad experiences with Albanians. i have only met a few, and the ones i have gotten to know have generally been nice, whether their politics differ from mine or not (and sometimes they agree with mine); but this is not about nice, this is about the politics. i can still like a person but be turned off by their politics. maybe it is just harder for me to separate these things than other people and maybe this is something that if we all worked on could change the way we see the world and interact with others.... i am not there yet. there are also, of course, Albanians i have met who have proved to be generally reprehensible.

as far as Behrami, as i said, i judge foremost by seeing him play.

i do not know if others here would agree but in my opinion he is thuggish. if he has changed, i would be happy to see it.

anyway, i like your attitude and my best wishes to you too. i wish more people had an attitude like yours. it would be far easier for people in the world to discuss things if it were so. much respect.
amir ny

Gio,
Thanks for your input, i respect your opinion, but again I will hopefully for the last time need to reply to this Balkan mess topic. Sounds like you have a serbian background which is fine by me.
Only serbs talk about fights that happen 500 years ago. Only serbs interestingly celebrate fights that they have lost 500 years ago. Only Serbs killed 8000 men and boys in Srebrenica and hopefully next time you wont tell me they didn't want the adriatic sea and Croatian beaches as well.

Only serbs and not Albanians or Croats fought 4 wars in former yugoslavia including the one they thought they can win against my country USA and NATO ally's.

You are trying to spin the real facts about what happened in 1990s and now are starting to go back 1200 years ago, like you been there and saw that with your own eyes. Who do you believe? People like you have a hard time believing in true facts that happened during our life time ( 20 years ago)and now you want to talk about 1200 years ago? Are you kidding me? :)
Its sad that 2 stories exist in peoples minds about who started the wars that happen during 1990s and it reminds me of a Israeli conflict with Palestinians, never ending because of minority and not majority of people's believes.
You are making it sound Serbs shook hands with Slovenia when they separated, you are for sure reading the books of Milosevic and Karadzic or perhaps Sesel whatever his name is.. 3 people serbia should be ashamed of.
Since you want to go so far back in history i think you should learn more about word Illyrians. Should explain word or two on how long Albanians are in the Balkans.

Again Behrami in my opinion will replace Tadei and i think it would be a great signing knowing Cassetti' problems on a right side. He will give 120% yes he plays rough but hey so does Tadei and it works. You cant have a 11 guys with legs of Totti or Pizzaro or Menez or even Mirko who are technicly the best out there but lock defense. You need balance.

Again forza Roma.
Forza Totti, Mirko, Menez, Boriello DDR .... This is the best club on the planet with the best fans on the planet including Gio in it :)
Gio

you seem like a good guy Amir, and i would not argue that some of what you say is true, but in many cases, you seem to focus on only half the story.

i wouldn't really spend so much time on this, but since no one is really saying much about football ...

1. i am completely Italian; half Neapolitan and half Sicilian, i was born in and currently live in America - don't assume things.

2. it was not Serbia, but Yugoslavia that fought those wars.

3. i do not know if you have ever been there, know people from these other countries and doubt you saw what happened 20 or 1200 years ago either ... we are in the same boat in that respect.

4. my wife's cousin and best friend are Slovene; i have visited them and the rest of the country and had many a conversation. you are mistaken about the independence. it was Slovenia that started the conflict by shooting down a YUGOSLAVIAN helicopter containing Serbs, Croats, Macedonians and their own SLOVENES. there was little fighting, estimates of 60 fatalities (very small by all standards of European conflict, and more than half were the result of accidents.) by most accounts, Serbs held back fighting because Veljko Kadijević, the Yugo defense minister, did not want any full scale battle.

5. i know about Illyrians, who have a bit to do with Albanians, less to do with geographical Croatia and Slovenia, and practically nothing to do with Serbia and/or Kosovo. Illyrians ≠ Albanians. besides, troubles with different ethnicities in this region began far far after, only during and after Turkish occupation.

6. regarding the killing of Albanians, in 1981, BEFORE these crimes to which you allude, 4,000 Serbs were forced to move from their homes in Kosovo to Central Serbia after Kosovar Albanian riots resulted in several deaths of Serbs and desecration of Serbian Orthodox churches and graveyards. Serbs were victims of major prejudice, harassment and murders committed by ethnic Albanians. this continued for years and a large number of illegal Albanian organizations over 1,000 members were discovered in the Yugoslav Army that raped, threatened and killed Serbs. this is all documented. i do not argue with what you say about Milosevic, but Albanians in Kosovo provoked all of this in the most horrendous way. you are only mentioning half of the history. BEFORE Serbian armed responses in late 1980s, Albanian Kosovars systematically killed significant numbers of Serbs just for being Serbs. if this happened to you, would you sit there and let it go on? no. Serbian responses started as measures to stop this.

6. the one thing you are right about is Israel and Palestine, but here the situation is that Israel took land from Palestinians who lived there and force themselves upon these people. while probably over half of my close friends are Jewish, for the very same reasons i cannot support Albanian take-over of other nations, i cannot support Israeli oppression.

i assume you are Muslim from you name, but i guess not Albanian. this is not a question of Islam. Albanians are not like north African Muslims, middle eastern Muslims, or Turkish Muslims. do not try to compare them. socio-political systems are entirely different. the political directives of Albanians are governed by mafia-style clans, kanon and fis, in Albania and abroad, that govern and corrupt the politics, police and military (read Koha Jone if you can find it). they use tactics of violence, harassment and threat to do their dirty work. they exist in many countries all over the world and are thugs worse than the lowest mafiosi, so unless you think the mafia is a good organisation, it is hard to defend what these people do. even my few Mulsim friends, whether Morroccan, Palestinian or Turkish, agree that these people give Muslims a bad rep.

i could go on and on, but there are already books and papers which go more in depth about this very complex issue, but everything i have stated is a fact, that i am sure can be googled or found on the web. just putting the info out there so hopefully you will not only look at one side. you seem like a thoughtful person and i hope this adds knowledge about the world.

in the meantime, i remain disappointed at a loss to a lega pro side. hope this is not a sign for the new year. as far as the team go, i hope we can sew up Mexes and then we don't really need more players ... assuming Adriano returns.

forza Roma.
jorid22

Let me chime in on a 'tiny' aspect of what you just wrote:

'the political directives of Albanians are governed by mafia-style clans, kanon and fis, in Albania and abroad'

There seems to be a widespread opinion that Kanuni i Leke Dukagjinit (I'm guessing that's what you refer to with Kanon, right?) is still very much followed by all Albanians. That's incorrect. I have no first hand experience with how prominent it really is in Kosovo these days/how prominent it has been the last 20 years or so as I've never had the chance of living there (from what I have known my entire life though, it is still somewhat prevalent there) but I can assure you that it's almost nonexistent in Albania itself these days. The Kanun was present in considerable parts of Albania(mostly top half of the map) for years prior to Hoxha's almost half-century leadership and then nearly vanished.
During the socialist regime, not only were common crime rates in general ridiculously low (nobody was dumb enough to even attempt to commit a crime, the punishment for the individuals committing them and their relatives was almost always lifelong internment at the least) but murders were an unusual occurrence. There were still those who followed the above mentioned masterpiece of archaic idiocy as a code to live their lives by (almost exclusively the most northern parts of the country, NW and some NE) but it was rare and it was one of the greatest achievements of that regime (reducing crime at its all time lowest).

Once the early 90's transition to democracy/capitalism took place and the fear of the previous regime became a thing of the past, the number of deaths/crimes caused by the Kanun increased (in part due to the majority of the first decade of democracy being marred by the transitional troubles the country had to face both socially and financially; the corrupted regimes that followed didn't help much either). Despite all this though, deaths caused by the Kanun are fairly sporadic in comparison to what they used to be centuries ago and what most people seem to believe. They also continue to be almost exclusively a characteristic of the North (Malesi e Madhe, Has, Tropoje etc).

Unfortunately, every once in a while you'll read/hear of stupid shit like "Man kills his neighbor during argument over fence location in property" or "A man fatally shoots his younger brother after heated argument" etc, which have really nothing to do with the Kanun, these are just imbeciles being imbeciles.

Also, although roughly 70% of Albania's population is Muslim, you might as well consider those that make it nonreligious or hedonistic/secularists lol. I was born and lived in Albania (in a few different cities) for 14 years and easily more than half of the Muslim Albanians I have come to know rarely go to mosques, rarely fast for Ramadan etc. I think it has a lot to do with Hoxha's regime and how it 'deleted' religion in general, people consider themselves followers of a certain religion these days but they don't necessarily involve themselves much in it. Like I said above, although I haven't had the chance of living in Kosovo (I have met quite a few Kosovar Albanians though), Albanians in Albania and Albanians in Kosovo are generally very different people (not necessarily in a negative way). Generalizing that all Albanians are the same is probably not a good idea.

Feel free to call me biased since I'm Albanian myself (although not Muslim, I'm Eastern Orthodox) if you'd like but I've met A LOT of Muslim Albanians and very few are scumbags and or thugs. I have a few Turkish friends, one Iraqi one etc and haven't heard them once complain about Muslim Albanians giving their religion a bad name. Generalizing that all or most Muslim Albanians are cunts is probably not a good idea either. A lot of Albanians have a sense of pride that often borders on moronic like most Balkan people, that's indeed true.

One last protip-Although every Albanian newspaper has its own agenda, Koha Jone is historically one of the more inconsistent ones, you need to find a better outlet than that if you want decent, somewhat unbiased, truthful reporting on a regular basis.

Cheers.
Amir ny

Gio, once again thank you for your input.
I think its better to stop because this is not going anywhere.
For your info yes i was in this part of the world as well!

You have your serbian look at Yugoslavia and its break up, and hey thats fine with me.
I m sure Croats and Slovenians would not agree with you and i don't even want to talk about Bosnians and Albanians.

You can have an opinion, we don't need to go back and forth on it anymore, this is done war, i m happy to see all the republics divided and hopefully one day all together again but this time inside EU.

And i m happy to know Croatia, SLovenia and even Montenegro (serbian brother) recognize Kosovo which tells me a lot about where borders need to be in 2011 and not 1385. To me these recognitions are far more stronger and important than the ones coming from western europe. If someone knows about Balkans than it is the neighbors since you and me are so far away from it.
Lastly, I guess my name could be muslim too ha! :) Anyway,
As per Israel, i m not sweeting if you don't support it. Israel is on its feet and will be just fine.

God bless USA!
Forza Roma!
And yes i m mad they couldn't win on sunday but i will let it go as long as they can grab 6 points by sunday. That would be very nice and they would be in the game again.

Cant wait for SHaktar game!
ForzaRoma

happy new year and best wishes to everyone!!
hope we,together with Roma, will have a lot of fun,success and crazy celebrations here,we are crazy romanisti after all :)
Jonas

dear Romanisti and Chris, my best wishes for 2011 and a happy new year!
Good health and ofcourse lots of brilliant Roma moments,not only on the pitch but also on this blog here with anime discussions,joy,tears,hope,laughter and magica!
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR
Gio

many thanks, Jonas, and the same to you. best wishes to all as well, buon anno nuovo.
Daniele

Buon anni to both of you and to the whole Romanisti community!

Here's to a glorious and successful 2011 for La Magica and all of you!!!

- Daniele
Gio

being an ex-Laziale is the last thing about Behrami i don't like.

the worst thing about Behrami is his douchebagginess (the whole blonde tip frosted hair thing is just so 1990's douchebag)

then of course is his thuggish play style, followed by his Albanian decent (i hate to prejudge anybody, but this has more to do with political affiliations more not ethnic backgound).

to me, the fact that he was a Laziale is just like a sort of certificate of authenticity for his douchebagginess.
Bashar_ASR

To me Behrami is just a replacement for Taddei, but offers more energy and balance.
amir ny

Agree with Bashar . Gio, i don't think you know much about Albanian blood and their hearts, and we need players that will leave their hearts out there and Behrami is one of them. Politics and sports shouldn't mix.
Anyway.
Behrami is a player that will give 120% and i know this will be a great signing . He runs and have an energy of 2 guys and we need a new Taddei out there especially on our right side near Cassetti. Perfect signing this would be for me. I can care less he played for Lazio. I want to see a scudetto and semi final champions league this time around at least! This will be Roma's year especially if we can stay united and less injuries with Pizzaro and mirko! Boriello and menez are on fire only if sergio can come back to last years form.
Gio

i agree that politics and sport shouldn't mix, but i do not approve of any peoples collectively taking over other people's countries, particularly in underhanded and violent ways - whether that being Albanian mob in any country, or Albanian emmigrants in Macedonia, Bulgaria, or running human traffic, the biggest drug trade in Europe or whatever else in Kosovo or anywhere else. i know a lot about the Balkans and a good deal about history and that is enough. i have met a couple of nice Albanians, i am not saying there aren't any, but talk to most of the people and they stand behind the garbage politics they export. i do not tolerate this, no matter what the forum or venue.
Gio

all that said, i have seen Behrami play and, unless much has changed, he is a thug on the field and a walking card winner. i don't really admire players like this. if he has changed, i am happy to reevaluate.