“Alonso may not play the most spectacular football and he is probably not in the list of the world’s top footballers, but he is a very important player for the team he plays in. When I was at Liverpool I was very happy to have him by my side. The same is true of Daniele De Rossi at Roma. He is a player made for a big team, one who always gives 100%.”

'You there'

Daniele not one of the world’s top players? Not sure about that John but it’s nice to see De Rossi get some support.

It’s been a difficult year for Dani what with his personal problems, Italy’s World Cup performance and the sheer amount of games he’s had to play. Hopefully this season Ranieri will use Brighi a bit more and give the heir of Rome a bit of breathing time.

Having said that with Pizarro set to start tonight Daniele should be able to buckle down and focus on defending with our resident Chilean taking care of the creative side of things. Dumping De Rossi in midfield with someone as inventive as a pitchfork, namely Palombo, was not a good look for Italy and would not work any better for Roma.

In addition inter are one of Daniele’s preferred targets and hopefully he can start the season by putting one past butter fingers cesar.

In other Supercoppa news we might get FenoMenez from the start!!!

Probable formations:

INTER (4-2-3-1): 1 Julio Cesar; 13 Maicon, 6 Lucio, 25 Samuel; 4 J. Zanetti; 19 Cambiasso, 5 Stankovic; 9 Eto’o, 10 Sneijder, 27 Pandev; 22 Milito.
A disp.: 12 Castellazzi; 2 Cordoba, 23 Materazzi, 26 Chivu, 17 Mariga, 29 Coutinho, 50 Biabiany.
All.: Rafa Benitez.

ROMA (4-3-1-2): 1 Lobont; 77 Cassetti, 5 Mexes, 4 Juan, 17 Riise; 20 Perrotta, 16 De Rossi, 94 Menez; 7 Pizarro; 10 Totti, 9 Vucinic.
A disp.: 32 Doni; 25 G. Burdisso, 30 Simplicio, 33 Brighi, 11 Taddei, 8 Adriano, 89 Okaka.
All.: Claudio Ranieri.

… and Aqui to juve is pretty much done. OK you hated the epl but why juve? Why?

FORZA ROMA

“Secondo me il rinnovo del contratto non è un problema, visto che il mio presidente che me lo deve fare finora ha rifiutato qualsiasi offerta per lasciarmi partire.”

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

“I don’t think there will be any problems with my renewal as the president, who has to make the offer to me, has always refused any transfer offer which would take me away.”

He added;

“Quando scadrà lo rinnoveremo, mi sembra nella logica delle cose.”

“When my contract runs out I’ll renew, it seems logical to me.”

Other teams can only dream of having a servant as loyal to the cause as our Capitano Futuro. Villa, Cesc, Raul, Cannavaro (Paolo)… just a short list of supposedly devoted players who have left or are potentially leaving their clubs this summer. Yes the situations are of course different but it does help appreciate Daniele that little bit more.

Rumours

Apparently after a botched attempt to buy Aquilani’s club China is hoping to purchase Roma. Unlikely, I’ve read about Roman, Arab and Egyptian interest but nothing concrete. Let’s hope this is all resolved soon.

Guberti may be heading back to Samp on a co-ownership deal worth just 1.5 mil because we need the money to buy Burdisso. Possible and it’s all because:

Baptista just won’t f#@k off! Galatasaray is supposedly in the capital to convince our salary hungry reject that a move to Turkey is a good idea but Melo’s competition for worst player to wear the Brazil strip still has delusions of grandeur.

In other news props to FenoMenez and Philou for being called up for France (where is Frey?) and belated happy birthday to Capitano Futuro who turned 27 on the 24th of July.

Forza Roma!

This time the figures being thrown around are in the region of 50 million Euros so nothing new there. Rosella Sensi, our much maligned president, has yet again declared Daniele untouchable, so again nothing new. What is interesting are the parallels between the current situation and that which faced our Francesco when he was roughly the same age as Daniele. We all know how that ended, with our former president, stepping in to pull the plug on Totti’s transfer to Madrid.

Me ne vado solo se mi obbligano, solo se la mia cessione sarà indispensabile alla salvezza dell'As Roma

The only difference is that Rosella is not her father and the odds of her stepping in to convince Dani to stay should he decide to leave are slim.

On the plus side Daniele is more mature than Totti was at his age and the man knows what he wants. Daniele wants to stay in Rome and stay in Rome he will. His temperament and midfield position mean he is not as big headed as the Captain, whose shadow he became accustomed to living in and his dedication and passion mean he is willing to make sacrifices.

So Daniele to Real?
Not for 45 million, Benzema and Van der Fart.

In other news Man U is reportedly thinking of fielding a similar offer…

The Francesco show

So it took awhile but I’m back.
Before talking about the napoli game I would like to mention the appointment of Ranieri and the departure of Spal.
First off; grazie Luciano.
You brought beautiful football to the eternal city, nearly won us a Scudetto, revived ‘Er Pupone’ and allowed us to bask in your class. I wish you luck wherever you go, you will be missed.
Secondly, Ranieri was my first choice to replace Spal.

-He is Roman.
-He is cheap.
-He is temporary.

And he is what ASR need at this point in time; someone to get them playing simple, boring yet effective football. No more 4 – 0 to inter or 3 – 0 to Sienna, with Ranieri we will, eventually, play a solid 4-4-2 which will see less champagne than Stella but which will get the job done. Ranieri, it has already been pointed out is not a winner, but this team is not looking to win. We need someone to pull them together and lead them to 3rd/ 4th. Ranieri is that man.

The Game

1st Half
The game started brightly with both Motta and Julio getting injured just before a fairly tame lavezzi effort did a world of good for the confidence of our 3rd choice goalie. So that means two subs used up before the first half is over. Daniele was almost invisible for this half but managed one good run which won the team a corner – which was quickly taken and quickly lost by the Pizza. Daniele also played ahead of Pizza, who was playing a Pirlo-type role, which resulted in David giving Napoli a handful of chances which they made nothing of.
Totti pulled back a goal after a ball took a deflection off him.
All in all a disappointing first half from both teams – Roma looked jumbled up front and lobont needs to be given a one way ticket back home.

2nd half
Faty on for Cerci. Words which would never have been written under Spaletti.
Which meant no more subs.
Faty proves Ranieri is no fool and goes on to have a great game. Napoli can no longer break on the left and Roma begin to grow until Totti scores a beauty and La Curva wakes up. He then leaves the pitch for treatment (his knee) and there are no more subs. Francesco takes another hit for the team.
At one point Cassetti makes a saving tackle and somewhere behind the stadium a pig takes flight. The gladiator gets up and rejoins the field. It feels like Le Cid being paraded dead on his horse to motivate the troops. De Rossi seems to wake up at this point and makes some good runs and tackles. Hell Cassetti goes on to marshal the ball off hamsik. The team playing for their captain.

In the final minutes Donadoni looked like he was about to cry and was Totti taking kicks up and down the field. The game came to a close with Napoli bringing attackers on and Roma gritting their teeth.

A decent performance from DDR; almost invisible in the first half but grew steadily in the second. Hopefully he will build on this. Let’s not forget he has played game in game out for Roma so far. Also his understanding with Faty

DDR Rating – 6.5

Goal –
De Rossi – 7.5: Real heart in the middle of the park, and outclassed both Gargano and Cigarini. Would die for his hometown club.

Sounds like his second half performance.

In other news Jesus will be back in 15/20 days so time for Dani to man up again.

Congrats to Totti for reaching Batigol!

FORZA ROMA

Like Liverpool’s pursuit of De Rossi’s Roma team-mate Alberto Aquilani, the player’s future is bound up with the financial problems of the club and the long-term plans of the Sensi family who own it. De Rossi, 26, is regarded as the most important player at the club behind Francisco Totti and is valued at around £30m, which is far in excess of any transfer fee paid by Arsenal in the past.

Full article here.

Jokes guys, jokes… Stick to getting vierra back
and just in case you were wondering how credible this all is –

While De Rossi’s reputation in England is not distinguished because of some of Roma’s less than impressive Champions League performances in recent years, he is regarded in Italy as one of the country’s finest players.

‘Cuz Daniele didn’t score the goal of the game and battle against eleven men that match… and I don’t see what other game they could be refering to, the most recent being a 3 – 1 mauling of chelsea…

Wheras Daniele will not leave in a million years the same cannot be said for his Roman brother in arms…

A sacrifice we have to make if you ask me.
You will be missed Aqui but hopefully they have qualified medics over there and you can get back on your feet.

FORZA ROMA

It’s going to be a long summer for Roma fans.
No sale means no money which means we have to sell.

Daniele is apparently being chased by Chelsea and Real but with everyone at Roma saying it’s not going to happen, well, it’s just not going to happen.

I am starting to loose respect for Carlo though.
First he tries to pry Pirlo and Pato from Milan, which would effectively leave them at the mercy of Ronaldinho’s whim and then it appears he wouldn’t mind snatching Daniele from the team he claims to have a special connection with. Not sure I want him as a coach any more.

So who will be sold?

Baptista refuses to leave even though some teams are willing to pay him big money – does this mean he’s attached to the shirt or merely wants to be in South Africa? I don’t care, he easily represents the best sale; he has high wages and would probably net us 10 mil.

Vucinic is a player I never want to see leave Rome – he may be inconsistent but he’s grown on me. Mirkodonna would however net us a cool 20 mil. The problem is that would leave us with one striker (a godly one perhaps but still…) and who would we replace him with? No best we keep Mirko.

Menez is wanted in France however as one of the only explosive talents we have he should stay.
He’d probably fetch 10 mil, not much for the man Totti compared to Cassanno (in a good way).

Cassetti? Sell him, give him away, just get rid of him. With Motta and Cici fit there is no need for last season’s worst player to be on this team. Wonder what he’s worth?

Tonnetto and Perrotta are on their last legs – might get 8 million for the 2 (7 from Simone). They both gave their legs up for the cause and I’m very happy to have had them on the team but I think it’s time they called it a day.

The way things are looking right now the club might not be sold, I won’t lie I would have welcomed Vinicio Fioranelli. Sure we didn’t know much about who was backing him but at least with him there was a chance we’d have some money to spend and a competitive squad, with Rosella the future looks bleak. We will continue bleeding players until there’s no one left to bleed. From what I understand the club has yet to nominate someone who will be given the job of selling Roma. This auction type scenario does not bode well…

…however Rosella in charge means Daniele will, eventually, be sold and that is just not an option.
Bring on the change.

In related news happy b.day Aqui…

… and hahaha.

FORZA ROMA

Finally well done Paolo, a pillar in football for 25 years and, as much as this word has been thrown around these days, a classy person. Totti may not have the universal appeal of the red and black capitano (and thats entierly his fault) but I would like to make one prediction – when the day finally comes for ‘Er Pupone’ to hang up his boots and go out to stud – there will be not one anti-Totti banner in l’Olimpico (if it remains our stadium…). That day is I fear approaching soon as Totti turns 33 this September but every cloud has a silver lining, ours is

Cue giant picture of Daniele failing to load…

There is a reason that the fiercely loyal, powerful, commanding, spirited beast that is Daniele is known as Capitano Futuro and not Il Capitano. That reason is Francesco Totti.

I know this is a DDR blog but it would be very difficult for me to mention the Bologna game without commenting on the world class performance provided by the one and only Pupone di Roma.
Totti returned to the line up and 3 points came to Roma. Spalletti was not wrong to say that Roma can win without Totti and that the future of the team should not be built around a 32 year old but christ does he provide a boon for this team.

The match itself was nothing special.
Roma looked uninspired for much of the game which is odd considering the 5 point gap between them and 4th placed genoa but that’s Roma… Bologna, with all respect to the club that was once Captained by Baggio, played like a team threatened with relegation. Not to say ASR were in sole control of the game as Panucci, Doni and Pizarro all conspired to drift off a couple of times during the game gifting Bologna and Serie A’s top goal scorer Di Vaio a couple of chances.
A win is a win though and I am very happy Roma got past stumbling block no.1.
The goals were both Totti penalties. The first was nearly blocked and the second was a missile into the top of the net. So despite the criticism and the voices saying Il Capitano was over (for the 3rd time…) Totti took Roma on his back and carried them to victory. ‘Er Pupone’ even chased down a couple of balls in midfield – he’s not at his best but hopefully his goals and performance will give him confidence and speed up his recovery.

DDR – 6
Although Daniele was at his defensive best – very few of the balls Piza lost found a way through Daniele – his passes were awful. He lobbed far too many balls over the top of the Bologna defence for no one in particular. Daniele seemed to have decided to cope with Mirko’s absence by simply pretending the Montenegrin was there.

goal.com-
De Rossi- 6.5: The midfield general was always positioned perfectly and showed his range of passing ability throughout the match.

Quite possibly the worst goal comment I’ve ever seen.

romanews.eu
De Rossi: 6
Si posiziona davanti alla difesa e sbroglia un paio di situazioni pericolose. Il doppio impegno della nazionale pesa sulle sue gambe: meno lucido del solito in fase di impostazione, decisivo come sempre in quella di copertura.

Positions himself in front of the defence and pulls Roma out of a couple of dangerous situations. The two international fixtures weighed on his shoulders: not as bright as usual going forwards but decisive as always in defense.

La Gazzetta
Daniele-5
Did not look like himself. It happens.

Team Ratings –
(per La Gazzetta)

MOTM – TOTTI – 7
Calmly knocks two in from the spot and played with real vigor – he wanted to be there. Always.
What can you say about this man? He may not run like he used to but he still strikes fear into the best of them. Stepped up to the spot when called upon and did what he had to. Took the kicks and the knocks and kept getting up. The exception to ‘form is temporary and class is eternal’. Both are eternel for Er Pupone. Grande Capitano.
Daniele guarda come si fa.

Doni – 6
Saved by Tonnetto and the post. Good save against Volpi.
Looked asleep and got shouted at by Spal. Maybe the City bid is distracting him.

Tonnetto – 6.5
Wins a penalty and saves Roma from conceding.
I am not a fan but he worked hard and won the first penalty. Doesn’t have the skill to play for Roma.

Riise – 6
Comes on for Perrotta and gives Tonnetto a rest.
Came on and did what he had to.

Mexes – 6
Throws himself in front of Di Vaio’s ‘palla gol’.
Must be Serie A’s most promiscuous defender having been paired with Panucci, Juan, Loria, Diamounte and Riise… and this could well be the reason he always looks nervy. That aside he did what he had to today and provided some vital interceptions when they were needed. This being Roma they were needed in the last 10 minutes when the team’s collective coke condom burst.

Panucci – 5.5
Slow, missed a lot even a goal.
Ever reliable, at least on the pitch, did what he had to albeit slowly…

Motta – 5
Over excited. Due to international call up?
Cici must be yelling advice from the sidelines as he is great going forwards but sometimes forgets to come back. Forced to make several nasty challenges due to his positioning. Still managed to look good though.

DDR- Above.

Pizarro – 6
Not as inventive as usual but launches some good balls.
Played (and looked) like a cocky 14 year old; held on to the ball too long and just wouldn’t pass quickly enough. Just back from injury though. Won one ball back nicely, can’t think of anything else to say.

Brighi – 5.5
Wasn’t useful far wide on the right, much better in the second when he hit the post.
Ran a lot but didn’t achieve much – pulled a Perrotta.

Perrotta – 6.5
Lost Marazzina on the goal but marking him was not his job. Good return from injury, the most lively with regards to Totti.
Took it in turns with Brighi to burst forwards but was just as useless. Nearly got on the end of one ball – nearly.

Menez- 5.5
One nice slalom but not enough heart.
One nice solo which ended in a goal line clearance but not much else. Would you rather have Ben Arfa? I believe the question to be irrelevant as Roma probably can’t afford the swap.

Baptista-6.5
Wins a penalty – useful.
Came on, lost a couple of balls but added muscle to the front and won a penalty.
Status on quest to reclaim title of ‘Beast’ – Promoted from kitten to puppy.

Spalletti-
Piza needed to come off sooner.

Interviews-

Spal big ups Totti.
Totti big ups Totti…

Other news-
It’s the sheep f$@king, sister b@&ging poultry next so…

FORZA ROMA

It’s easy to think that Danielino has been at the heart of AS Roma for the past 10 years but its a little over 6 years since Capitano Futuro made his first Serie A appearance for the team against Como on the 25th of January. He was given his chance by the treacherous ‘I will never go to Juve’ cabbage man’, Capello. It didn’t take him long to break into the starting line up and on the 10th of May he got his first start and his first goal against Torino. In the 2003/ 04 season Daniele played for ASR 17 times in Serie A and thanks to sharing the pitch with experienced players such as Emerson gained much as a footballer.

Fast forward to now and Daniele is just as important, if not more, to the team than Francesco Totti.
In fact if you head down to the Olimpico on a match day (a real match day…) it is impossible not to notice that although the Totti shirts and banners outnumber those of any other player, Daniele is catching up.

A born and bred Romanista, Daniele is a gift from God to the legions of red and yellow fans.
Totti’s reign is coming to an end but the the Eternal City can rest easy knowing that Daniele is there to carry the torch as soon as Francesco steps down.

Of course it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Prince of Rome.

The infamous Mc Bride incident is well remembered (in the only WC 2006 game Italy conceded a goal from open play).

Daniele’s recent suspension for making comments about referees, inter and everything wrong with Italian football in general…

His odd penalty miss…

What DDR did…

…what he should have done

Euros…

and…

After the man u game Daniele described the penalty miss as the worst point of his career (even though he was forgiven immediately after by the fans who sang his praises after the game).

Of course the above is nothing compared to his fair play, loyalty, skill, heart, strength, passion, dominance, character… you get the idea.

Daniele is pretty much the perfect midfielder and although he is currently playing a more defensive role and acting as a wall in front of Doni, Philou and whoever is semi fit he does have an eye for the goal.
Daniele is particularly good at unleashing canon balls such as this one against Fiorentina…

…he’s good with his head too…

…plenty more where those came from…

All in all the future looks bright for Roma with Daniele in the team.
This is the sort of player who can lift the whole team up and drag them through rough patches as he proved in the past when Roma was Totti-less.

FORZA DANIELE
TORNA PRESTO

I cannot end this post without a mention of his unfortunate link with forza nuova.
The extent of Daniele’s affiliation with this bunch of idiots is unknown (to me) but one can only hope its superficial. I had at one point considered writing a full post on his right-wing connections but I decided it was not particularly relevant to football and did not belong on this blog. I can however let you no that I found no concrete evidence linking him to the movement (which is more then I can say about his Roman brother in arms…).

“We have achieved so much and we will continue doing so. I am confident.”

FORZA ROMA
and FORZA DANIELE