The slap was incredibly stupid. But does it even go to VAR if De Rossi doesn't run over to Lapadula like a maniac and try to un-clench his hands from his face? There is no way in hell I am watching a replay of this to find out, but was a foul even initially called. It seemed DDR compounded his mistake by doubling down on the idiocy. I'm a total DDR fanboy. I have close to a dozen different De Rossi jerseys. But this shit is just becoming too painful to watch.
I really don't know what's more "classic Roma". De Rossi's stupid action from yesterday or Roma fans' black and white thinking today with some seeming as if they'd like to hang him and even saying that we would've been better off without him the last 10 years. Guess both sides deserve each other. My personal highlight. Yeah sure, DDR's red cards are the reason Totti hasn't won a second scudetto. Totti - who managed to get more than a dozen straight red cards as an offensive player - is an absolute example in this matter and the two are absolutely different when it comes to their temper.
The Napoli error you can forgive. It was a footballing error and a mental lapse. It happens. But I just can't wrap my head around this. You just expect better from him. But the thing is, DDR has done shit like this in the past. And he would get away with it without VAR. Totti and DDR are two Roma legends and rightfully so. Both were also foisted as leaders. I think both have been rightfully criticized for their leadership skills at times, but for different reasons. I think Florenzi will be the best captain out of all (though obviously not the best player). He brings all of the passion that we want, but none of the nonsense.
DDR is not the first nor the last captain to do something stupid. Some people act oblivious to the fact that our previous captain holds the record for most red cards in Serie A, despite being a forward.
actually Paolo Montero holds that record with 16. There are a few with 12 and then a lot more with 11... Totti is in that group with 11. That said this is about changing the culture in Trigoria and if the excuse keeps being, "well Totti did it", then "well De Rossi did it" then it will be "well Florenzi did it"
My thoughts exactly. If DDR just walks away like nothing happened and therefore doesnt draw so much attention to and, make such a drama out of, the situation, then he possibly gets away with it. But it's possible it goes to VAR anyway. The problem is I'm not sure how the system works exactly. Does anybody? Is it the ref thinking "there's something up here, I better have a look" or is there somebody watching replays and informing the ref to look at an incident because something has clearly gone down. I presume it's the latter, in which case he's screwed regardless. But if it's the former he could have gotten away with it. It seems to me that player protestations are very infuential when it comes to whether VAR is used or not, and I would say that this is absolutely not how the system should work. Of course, none of the above is trying to defend his stupid action. When I saw him grappling with Lapadula, before I'd seen the replay, I knew it was trouble.
In my case it was just meant for the people on here and Twitter that seem to have already forgotten that Totti was essentially the same. Not trying to find an excuse for De Rossi. I see it the same as DDR in his post before. Both didn't have the leadership qualities a captain needs. They were captain solely because of their sacrifices for the club. Florenzi or whoever will be next will probably be different (assuming it's not Manolas ).
No I get it and the problem trying to change the culture with Totti here was that, well he was Totti. He was a legend and arguably one of the greatest players of his generation in any league. It's next to impossible to take on Totti (just ask Spalletti). DDR is a very good player but he is not in that stratosphere and this would have been a perfect opportunity to start changing the culture at Roma. If EDF comes down hard on DDR then he has leverage against other big players. If he lets DDR slide then other player can think he can give less because there are no consequences.
Yeah my bad, he was the leading among active players. No one said its ok, everyone blamed the player and he accepted his responsibility. Blaming DDR on everything wrong in the club and Totti not winning more is a bit over the top.
I don't blame DDR for not winning. I think Totti shares some of that blame because the rumors about the attitude and accountability at Trigoria have been around for a long time and, IMO, I think Totti was part of the issue.
I used to be all over Totti for that stuff, but he cooled off in his 30s, with the caveat that I put Totti's heinous hacking of Balotelli in a different category. He was lashing out in the dying minutes, probably in frustration that he won't win another trophy. DDR is still costing us by having these meltdowns when games are in the balance.
A captain simply shouldn't behave like that. DDR always manages to lose his marbles in crucial moments for the team, so every time that ticking timebomb explodes, it hurts. A lot. I still can't get over the fact that we threw away 2 points because of that nonsense. That red card against Porto, a monumentally important game, also sucked hard. Obviously, he's been a great player for us all these years and he has devoted his entire career to Roma, but the reality is that there are players on the team that will make better captains than him.
Totti was far from a saint. Of course he was mostly fouling in the offensive and not in his own penalty box giving away pk's but he also had his share of yellows and reds. Intentionally kicking Balotelli was brutal.
The Balotelli hack was in the dying moments of a TIM Cup final less than a week after we came up short in the Scudetto race. Coming out of that campaign empty handed was a serious kick in the pants for everyone Roma, but infinitely more so for Totti.