AS Roma 2012/2013

Is that referee a fucking simpleton, an absolute blatant penalty and it would have to have been a red card for Raimondi and that utter idiot says no.

Lovely surge from Dodo.

Walk in the park tonight, we didn’t play very well but we didn’t need too. The pitch is a disgrace and it will be the cause of a lot of injuries unless there is something done soon.

Nico Lopez makes Taddei look like George Clooney.

Lovely words from the admirable Cesare Prandelli.

Cesare Prandelli praised Francesco Totti as “an exemplary professional,” but also feels Italian football made the right choice investing in youth.

The Azzurri Coach was speaking at an event in Pisa today and commented on Totti scoring his 221st Serie A goal.

“I had the good fortune to train him for a few months and that was an honour. He is an exemplary professional and is breaking all records at Roma, regardless of age,” said Prandelli.

“Totti is a real champion and always manages to achieve his objectives. He’s also a great man.”

While Totti is a veteran figure, the economic crisis has seen Serie A clubs focus more on young home-grown talent.

“We did well to choose the path of renovation for Italy and the explosion of so many young talents confirms that.

“The performances of Mattia De Sciglio, Lorenzo Insigne, Mattia Destro and Stephan El Shaarawy are clear for all to see. Now they must continue to work like this in order to grow definitively, then at the end you’ll see they have the space they deserve.”

Very worrying news ahead of the game against Chievo at the weekend as there is snow predicted, the weather really is trying to fuck us over this season.

Pending the weather allowing this to go ahead, would you be confident enough in Roma to put them in an accum Bomber?

Yes. We are the in-form team in Europe at the minute, my worry is not of the game being called off but more that a poor surface really takes away from Roma’s direct and expansive footballing game. We’ve played two games already this season on waterlogged pitches that should really have been abandoned, we would definitely have won these games only for the weather conditions.

Goicoechea; Piris, Marquinhos, Castan, Balzaretti; Bradley, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Pjanic, Osvaldo, Totti

Think we will win quite comfortably.

Stream with Richard Whittle commentary.

http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/159185/1/watch-ac-chievo-verona-vs-as-roma.html

This will be a game where we will have to work very hard and apply ourselves well to get the result.

Chievo are playing with 9 men behind the ball and sitting deep.

Fingers crossed pal

We’re pinning them in well at the moment, Chievo can’t get the ball forward and we are loading players on in attack, the pitch is very poor as the ball in bobbling all over the place.

That cretin Bergonzi is after booking Castan which rules him out of the Milan game, moments earlier he waved play on when Pjanic was cynically tripped as he made his way into the box.

This is getting quite frustrating, very similar pattern to the Siena game, they are sitting back and making really cynical fouls when we get into good situations our final ball/touch has been poor today but you can attribute that to the dreadful state of the pitch.

Bradley has been very poor, wouldn’t be surprised to see him come off today.

Chievo are a disgrace to Italian football with their display today. Bergonzi has also been a disgrace in failing to clamp down on their tactics, on a couple of occasions Totti has had players hanging out of him and the referee has failed to award a free - on a more positive note we do have some good options on the bench - Destro, Lamela, Perrotta and De Rossi can all come on and make a difference. Piris, Balzaretti, Florenzi, Marcos and Pjanic have been the only players you could compliment in this half. Bradley’s passing has been terrible and he’s really struggling with the bobbles. Osvaldo doesn’t look interested. This game is set up for someone like Perrotta.

At least they have not conceded so far pal. Hopefully they can overcome the elements & the poor officiating.

Why doesn’t Destro start more games?

He picked an ankle injury in midweek but he has started a lot of the games lately. Osvaldo has done well for the most part this season but in certain games he displays a serious lack of appetite.

Splendid save from Goicochea, we are vulnerable at set plays.