Roma’s Clusterfuck Comes To Town

This is the kind of game where even Aldo Spinelli won’t get mad if Livorno doesn’t pick up any points. Roma are Second in the league and are fighting hard on all 3 fronts this season. Chris at the Roma page should have all and more of the info you need on the Roman’s. Totti is back; after playing a little in the Cagliari game on Wednesday; his Tottiness should be back to full form and ready to test Amelia all afternoon. Dario Knezevic is the only notable absentee on the Livorno squad; Pavan will be filling in for the suspended Croatian.

Livorno have a tough task ahead of them. Roma can count on an official return of Totti but the thing that scares me the most is that Taddei is back in the line up. He’s the player that truly is the most important to Roma’s Unique and complex system. Roma play a 4-2-3- , but let’s be honest, it’s more of a 4-6-0 if you ask me. The attacking midfielders switch often to create an all out, as Chris likes to say, Roman Clusterfuck in the attacking zone. Taddei is the barometer of this squad, he’s contribution is extremely underrated. I think it’s because he’s ooogly…
On a positive note, Roma has a tendency to lose easy points against the little teams. They can get a little cocky and try to walk the ball in the net or just start missing easy goal after easy goal. The recent 2-2 tie to Empoli or that 1-1 draw with Ascoli* a couple of seasons back are perfect examples.

* Delvecchio got the tying goal… so technically, 2 Giallorossi’s scored that day

Livorno have shown that they can snatch away a point from the big boys here and there. They drew Inter at the start of the season, so there’s actual proof that we can aim for at least 1 point in this game. Livorno’s playing at home, and Martin Bergvold is back from injury. Livorno can count on a full squad, minus Giannichedda, to face the scudetto contenders on Sunday. Ex-Roma 6 month leasee Francesco Tavano will probably want to show his former employer what they missed out on. If Tavano bottles up enough positive energy to play like he’s capable of, Livorno might be able to exploit the Roman defence. Diego Tristan remains a legitimate threat on the offensive end (He has even proven that he can attack on the Legal end to, he’s suing Deportivo La Coruna claiming they owe him 2 years of Salary! If he wins his case, Depor will face a Transfer ban for the Winter Window, something AS Roma can relate with)

Livorno could win this, If all the stars align correctly, meaning that;

*Bad Doni shows up: If he could just not stay on his line for crosses and corners and suck all around, à la Man U game, you know the one where De Rossi had that beautiful, yet unimportant goal. I don’t remember the scoreline , but I remember that was a night to forget for Roma. If Tristan and Tavano start blasting it on net regularly to gain a lot of corners, we should at least get a goal.

*Pouting Mancini : If his ex-Girlfriend calls and starts explaining that she left him for a less MetroSexualesque man and because he sucks in the sack. Then Stepover Mancini can turn into Pouting Sad Mancini and disappear for the game. He can, on any given day, make the Roma squad look like their down to 10 men. Livorno would have one less offensive threat to worry about

* De Rossi Dies : That’s the only thing i see that could stop his DDRness, Daniele De Rossi is one of my all time favourite players, sorry Igor Protti…

* Vuci-Goal stays Vucinic: Mirko Vucinic needs to miss sitters like he did in Empoli that would help a lot.

*Super Livorno shows up: Tavano and Tristan get all 2005 and 2002 on Roma’s ass And Marco Amelia plays the game of his life.

*Totti needs to stay out the game while in the game: I’m a big Totti fan, Back heels, Cucchiaio,Thumb Sucking, In Face spitting, and above all Ilary Blasi but let’s face it,
Totti is not the sharpest tool in the shed; he’s A few gunmen short of a posse and a few marshmallows short of a bowl of Lucky Charms… You know what I’m trying to say. If Galante or anybody can get in his head, Totti can get off his game and start looking at the ref more than looking at goal.
It happened earlier In January…

Here’s a video and a little nostalgia for the Giallorossi, I know how bad you guys miss Wilhelmson

If ALL of these things happen, Livorno have a god chance at even winning, But let’s face it, the Giallorossi are the better team on paper.

Finally,

Weekly stupid,False and/or to good to be true rumours:

Tuttomercatoweb.it is reporting Atalanta is interested in a swap of Zampagna for Bogdani. This one is actually not that far fetched. GiGi – I coached Porto – Del Neri was after Bogdani in the good old Chievo days. I’m a big Bogdani fan (only because I have some Albanian blood somewhere far down(or is it far up? ) the genealogic tree) but I would okaye deal this in 2 seconds. Zampagna would be a great fit, not Lucarelli great but still excellent…

Speaking of Rocco Siffredi’s best friend, we all know that Lucarelli wants out of Donetsk right now. The Ukrainian league doesn’t start until March 2008! With no more Champion League left (The Ukrainian team didn’t even qualify for the UEFA cup, or as I like to call it, Champions League’s retarded little cousin). The big Livornese wants to take his snowy boots back to the boot and who can blame him. We all hope for a Lucarelli return to the Labronici, even Amelia and Spinelli have claimed that the Big Man could very well return to Livorno, I don’t buy it yet. Unfortunately, A LOT of teams are interested in Cristiano’s goals and charisma. We’ll have to wait and see…

After flashing AS Roma earlier this week, Marco Amelia has been linked to Palermo: This one has been in the news for about 3 years now but here the kicker ; It’s not Fabulous Fortysomething Fontana + Ca$h, Tuttosport is reporting a straight swap for 4th string keeper Federico Agliardi !

I just LOVE Tuttosport

Squads
ROMA (4-2-3-1):
32 Doni,
2 Panucci, 5 Mexes, 4 Juan, 22 Tonetto,
16 De Rossi, 7 Pizarro,
11 Taddei, 9 Vucinic, 30 Mancini,
10 Totti.

The Pine: 1 Curci, 21 Ferrari, 3 Cicinho, 21 Antunes, 33 Brighi, 14 Giuly, 18 Esposito. .: Coach : Spalletti A.K.A. TGIP

LIVORNO (3-5-2):

1 Amelia,
77 Grandoni, 32 Pavan, 6 Galante,
69 Balleri, 9 Bergvold, 11 De Vezze, 7 Pulzetti, 26 Pasquale,
10 Tavano, 22 Tristan.
Bench: 14 De Lucia, 18 Rezaei, 4 E. Filippini, 21 Loviso, 17 Alvarez, 20 Rossini, 81 Big Bad Bogdani.
Coach : Giancarlo Camolese A.K.A. Johnny Camels
ARBITRO: Rizzoli di Bologna.

Prediction: Livorno – Roma 2-1 , It’s not really a prediction it’s more like a best case scenario thing, plus I’ve been predicting a Tristan late game winner, and this would be a GREAT place to have it come true…

At least, the streaming for this one should be easily available…

Forza Livorno!

Category: Aldo Spinelli, Ciccio Tavano, Injuries, Italy, Marco Amelia, Martin Bergvold, Mercato, Team News, Team Preview

Tags: Aldo Spinelli, Ciccio Tavano, Daniel De Vezze, daniele de rossi, Davide Balleri, Diego Tristan, Donetsk, Doni, Erjon Bogdani, Francesco Totti, Giancarlo Camolese, Ilary Blasi, Injuries, Italy, Marco Amelia, Martin Bergvold, Mercato, Mirko Vucinic, portia de rossi, Team News, Team Preview, Ukraine, Zampagna

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