Thought we would start this game thread a few days early, seeing how it's such an important match. Roma look to increase the gap between themselves and Juventus. Roma currently sit 4 points ahead of Juve and earning a victory in this match would be a major confidence boost heading into the most important match of the season thus far against Madrid. Last match against Juve, it ended in a 2-2 draw with some controversy on the final goal. And with all the speculation of refereeing as of late, i wouldn't be surprised if we see some fireworks this match. Having said that, Roma may opt to rest key player for the match against Real Madrid. Totti is not 100% as well as Perrotta...so we may need to rest these players at some point. Not sure on the status of Juan, but i do hope he returns for Real Madrid next week.
Game will be on Saturday at 2:30EST. So, RAI will likely show the match. Night games are much more interesting then day games. Hopefully, there will not be any fan troubles.
Stinks that this match is on Saturday night! A bit of good news for us, we really need to beat them this time in order to secure our 2nd place spot. I don't think Juventus is that strong this season, but they are determined. So we had best not lose focus like the last time.
I don't mind the game being on a Saturday night...for myself it's shown at 2:30EST. But, it would be nice to play the early game to prepare for Madrid. Good that Camo will miss the match...but i think we have to worry about Palladino and Iaquinta. Iaquinta burned us last match with his lat minute goal. I suspect Juve will go with a 4-3-3 again to play off the counter attack. Let's pray for no injuries!!!!!
Looks like Aquilani will be forced to play, as Pizarro picked up an injury in training: Sucks I would have liked to have seen this formation against Juve: Doni Cicinho - Mexes - Panucci - Cassetti De Rossi - Pizarro Giuly - Aquilani - Mancini Totti Hopefully the mister keeps Perrotta and Tonetto off the pitch.
Aquilani is still recovering his match fitness, so it's good for him to play. This will be a great test for Roma heading into CL. Hope Pizarro can recover for Tuesday. Any news on Juan????
Juan has started training with the team again, so it's possible for him to start playing even tomorrow. Depends on the mister, and knowing Spalletti I wouldn't expect Juan to play tomorrow. Unless we are winning 3-0 and it's the 80th minute. However against Madrid it could be more likely to see him be a bit bolder in his player selection.
Looks like Pizarro's injury in training wasn't too serious as he was included in the squad to face Juventus: 9 MIRKO VUCINIC 10 FRANCESCO TOTTI 18 MAURO ESPOSITO 30 MANCINI ALESSANDRO FAIOLHE AMANTINO 7 DAVID MARCELO CORTES PIZARRO 8 ALBERTO AQUILANI 11 RODRIGO FERRANTE TADDEI 14 LUDOVIC GIULY 16 DANIELE DE ROSSI 20 SIMONE PERROTTA 33 MATTEO BRIGHI 2 CHRISTIAN PANUCCI 3 CICERO JOAO DE CEZARE (CICINHO) 4 JUAN SILVEIRA DOS SANTOS 5 PHILIPPE MEXES 15 VITORINO GABRIEL PACHECO ANTUNES 21 MATTEO FERRARI 22 MAX TONETTO 77 MARCO CASSETTI 25 CARLO ZOTTI 27 JULIO SERGIO BERTAGNOLI 32 DONIEBER ALEXANDER MARANGON (DONI)
Glad that Juan is training again...his injury was quite a concern for our back line. At this point, having Juan available for Tuesday should be the main objective. BTW- Love that pic of Philipe and ADP...we need Mexes to play with that intensity every match.
Spalletti knows the significance of this match up, but must also thinm of Real Madrid with his substitutions.
Never forget how many years they cheated and were favored: [youtube]Dp70MZeWo6E&e[/youtube] JUVE MERDA
Totti & Buffon - Roma Channel Special Part 1: [youtube]5hS8enl2WAM&e[/youtube] Part 2: [youtube]i6_m2ObUNsQ&e[/youtube]
Juve 1-0 Roma Juve playing great. All over Roma, attacking well and battling for every ball. Taddei having a very poor game...he's been disappointing the past few games. Do Roma possibly have Madrid on their mind? Maybe...but this is unacceptable. Roma are playing defensive and holding back...i think the 4-2-3-1 formation is at the end of it's road. ADP with a beautiful free kick on the goal.
Poor first half. Taddei, Totti, and Perrotta should come off for Giuly, Vucinic, and Aquilani in the second. Totti in particular has just been a shadow out there. It's a shame, but I don't think he's fit. For a few games now he's barely walking out there. Hoping for a comeback in any case. Forza, ragazzi!
Although I was always a Baggio fan and never cared for Ale Del Piero, I must say his goal was simply world class. Bravo Pinturicchio!
Vucinic isn't even on the bench. I'm really pissed at Spalletti and his lack of ideas. Taddei, Perrotta, and Tonetto have not looked good as of late. Yet you continue to start them. When you have Aquilani, an in form Giuly, and Cicinho on the bench.
FT Juve 1 - 0 Roma At least Roma came out in the second half and put pressure on Juve. Had some good scoring chances, but juve weathered the storm and held on to the victory. I believe the players had CL in the back of their heads the first half and Spelletti knocked some sense into them at the break. We're lacking offensive creativity...when Totti is not in form, this team can break through the final 1/3. Where the hell was Vucinic??? Why was Esposito brought on? At least Giuly was mobile on the flank for subbing Taddei, then we put Esposito on who's very weak on the ball. Disappointing match...if we play like this against Real Madrid their going to have a field day against us. Let's forget about this loss and focus on CL.