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thecurvasud.wordpress.com

Good article, great video

There's a good article about Osvaldo's disallowed piece of genius here, on Four Four Two by James Horncastle.

Nuff said.

Four thoughts on Roma-Lecce

Distribution of play

Direction of attacks

Luis Enrique has weathered the storm 

After a summer of speculation and an underwhelming start to the season, Luis Enrique – and his ideas – have finally seemed to have taken hold at Roma. The performance against Lecce was wasteful and frustrating, but it showed progress. The players now seem to be on the same wavelength as their boss, and the positive to be taken from the fact that they only managed to scrape a 2-1 win against the third-from-bottom Salentini despite dominating is that they, well, dominated. 10 of the Giallorossi shots were wasted, but good things can only come of a team that can string together almost 700 successful passes and control 68% of the possession and 64% of the territory, regardless of the opposition. Enrique's style is different from that of Barcelona, and commentators who suggest otherwise are either lazy or just stupid, but the Spaniard has brought something of his previous employers with him, and if that Cruyffian magic can be imported to Rome from the Amsterdam of yesteryear via Catalonia and fused with the tactical astuteness and steely physicality embodied by local players like Daniele De Rossi, than Roma could really become a beautiful – and terrifying – thing.

“I am satisfied with both the performance and the result," the Spaniard said afterwards. "You have to put the ball in the net for it to count, but I saw the team is improving. Knowing how to suffer under pressure is also an important quality.

Disappointment should be tempered with optimism 

That fans and media alike could be a little underwhelmed about a 2-1 win in which Roma had a (gorgeous) goal incorrectly disallowed for off-side shows how high expectations are in the capital, and while it would be easy to lament the wasted chances or lambast those who wasted them, it should be noted that Roma won the game with only two recognised defenders (two and a half, if you give Rosi that much). The two centre backs were third and fourth choice, and the left-back was a converted winger.

Then there was that goal. "It’s a terrible shame for Osvaldo," said Luis Enrique of the forward's disallowed goal, "as he played a very complete game today and I am told the goal was valid. It was an incredible finish." In fact, it was a terrible shame for the whole side, as a 3-1 scoreline looks much more certain and would have done much to impress fans, media and perhaps even some future opposition.

Bojan needs to grow up – fast 

The comment about not lambasting those who wasted the chances being said, Bojan needs to impress quickly if he's to keep his place. Though his loan deal is quite convoluted, the value Barcelona have put on Krkic is a simple, round and rather large figure: €40 million. So far, he's done little to prove he's worth it. Setting club records – even at a powerhouse like Barca – will only get a player so far; eventually, he'll have to prove that he's able to adapt to Serie A, ready to be the sort of leading figure a €40 million price tag would suggest – and show all and sundry that he's capable of finishing. His squandered chances against Lecce drew derision from the Roma faithful on Sunday night and if he continues to squander goals it won't be too long before they're calling for him to be shown the door.

Julio Sergio is a liability that Lecce can ill-afford

One good season – even if it did include a key penalty save against fierce rivals Lazio – does not a good keeper make, and Roma fans were undoubtedly delighted that the Brazilian liability is no longer on their books. Gago's goal was an impressive piece of opportunism, but any keeper with a serious claim to being of top-flight quality should have done better. The former Roma stopper made a couple of good saves too, and that's part of his problem – you just don't know what Julio Sergio you're going to get. Lecce no doubt thought that taking a gamble on a player that had a lot of experience at European football's highest levels would be a boon in their battle at the bottom of the table, but now, in 18th position, they can ill-afford to ship the silly goals that he'll be responsible for. Little wonder that Lecce are the 33-year-old's 11th club.

WARNING: Serie A is full of job-stealing foreigners

Classic stuff from the Gazzetta dello Sport, which laments the death of Italian culture AND dramatically quotes Nietzsche – all because, for the first time in its history, Serie A now has more foreign players than Italian ones.

A little over 51% of the players who've started this season in Italian top flight were born outside of the peninsula, a dramatic increase from 30% in 2004.

Italians don't get a look in anymore, moans the paper, unlike the days when Serie A was the best league in the world and foreign numbers were limited.

This is in contrast to the Premier League, says la Gazzetta, where the "foreign stars are added to a robust British chassis". Well that's all well-and-good, except for the fact that it's complete bullshit. In 2010-2011, only 35% of the players who started in Premier League games were English. And while 223 shameless, money-grabbing, job-stealing millionaires have started in Serie A's first 10 games this season, according to the its official website "There are currently over 337 foreign players registered and eligible to play in the Barclays Premier League." How many over 337, it doesn't say – but you get the drift.

Even the paper points to flaws in its own logic, making the obvious statement that these imports mostly compete with Italians for their positions, saying: "Se Pazzini gioca, va in panchina Milito. Se Cassano gioca, va in panchina Pato. Se Matri gioca, va in panchina Vucinic" – "if Pazzini plays, Milito's on the bench. If Cassano plays, Pato's on the bench. If Matri plays ... blah blah".

It is true that, if left unchecked, this situation may hamper the development of Italian players in the future, but a higher proportion of foreign talent may be what's needed to drive Serie A back to the very highest standard. Who would say, for example, that La Liga in Spain is a better quality league than the English Premier? Sure, it has two dazzling super-teams, but even the third-wheel Valencia are nowhere near Barca or Real, and after the third placed Los Che, the league's quality takes a nose dive. In Spain, they claim 70% of the players are Spanish, compared to the English 35% in the Premier League.

Some would say that this stat proves that more foreign players hurts national teams, but that arguement is extremely syllogistic; for example, will Cesare Prandelli's current crop do any worse at the Euros than Giovanni Trapattoni's Italy's squad (when only 30% of Serie A's players were foreign)? And has a rise in foreign registrations in the Bundesliga done any harm to the German national side?

Obviously, no article on the state of a football league would be complete without a quote from a 19th century philosopher, and the pink paper finishes with this: "L’unica risposta possibile costringe alla classica citazione da Nietzsche, ciò che non ti uccide ti rende più forte"/"the only response to this problem is the classic quote from Nietzsche: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

So be warned. A new crop of nihilistic, superhuman Italians are coming. Maybe.

Serie A's potential freebies

With only weeks to go before the winter transfer window opens, there's interesting list from Goal.com, which shows the number of Serie A players who could be available on a free.

Top of all shopping lists must be Italy duo Daniele De Rossi, who Roma are desperately trying to tie down, and Riccardo Montolivo, who seems to find minute silences pretty funny. The Fiorentina midfielder is surely a more likely mover than De Rossi, but the Roman's precarious situation is attracting a lot of attention none the less, with no shortage of wealthy suitors willing to offer Capitan Futuro "mad stacks".

There's some high-profile names on the list – especially at Inter – and no doubt there's a few of the smaller outfits on the peninsula who'll be only too happy to offer them a retirement home.

Speaking of retirement, Francesco Antonioli is on the list, who of course won the scudetto with Roma way back when. He's currently the oldest active player in Serie A, being born as he was way WAY back in 1969. Most of the current Roma squad weren't even alive when he made his debut for Monza in 1986 (the year Pablo Osvaldo was born). Here's hoping he can plug away for another little bit.

ATALANTA
Giorgio Frezzolini	21 Jan 1976	Goalkeeper
Ciro Polito	12 Apr 1979	Goalkeeper
Daniele Capelli	20 Jun 1986	Defender
Michele Ferri	29 May 1981	Defender
Federico Peluso	20 Jan 1984	Defender
Fabio Caserta	24 Sep 1978	Midfielder
Ezequiel Schelotto	23 May 1989	Midfielder
Simone Tiribocchi	31 Jan 1978	Attacker

BOLOGNA
Simone Loria	28 Oct 1976	Defender
Gaby Mudingayi	01 Oct 1981	Midfielder
Massimo Coda	10 Nov 1988	Attacker
Daniele Paponi	16 Apr 1988	Attacker

CAGLIARI
Vlada Avramov	05 Apr 1979	Goalkeeper
Mauro Vigorito	22 May 1990	Goalkeeper
Alessandro Agostini	23 Jul 1979	Defender
Davide Astori	07 Jan 1987	Defender
Michele Canini	05 Jun 1985	Defender
Francesco Pisano	29 Apr 1986	Defender
Davide Biondini	24 Jan 1983	Midfielder
Andrea Cossu	03 May 1980	Midfielder
Joaquin Larrivey	20 Aug 1984	Attacker

CATANIA
Andrea Campagnolo	17 Jun 1978	Goalkeeper
Ciro Capuano	10 Jul 1981	Defender
Gennaro Delvecchio	25 Mar 1978	Midfielder
Pablo Ledesma	04 Feb 1984	Midfielder
Adrian Ricchiuti	30 Jun 1978	Midfielder
David Suazo	05 Nov 1979	Attacker

CESENA
Francesco Antonioli	14 Sep 1969	Goalkeeper
Alex Calderoni	31 May 1976	Goalkeeper
Aldo Simoncini	30 Aug 1986	Goalkeeper
Luca Ceccarelli	24 Mar 1983	Defender
Steve von Bergen	10 Jun 1983	Defender
Erjon Bogdani	14 Apr 1977	Attacker

CHIEVO
Lorenzo Squizzi	20 Jun 1974	Goalkeeper
Nicholas Frey	06 Mar 1984	Defender
Davide Mandelli	28 Jun 1977	Defender
Luciano	03 Dec 1975	Midfielder

FIORENTINA
Nikola Gulan	24 Aug 1989	Defender
Per Kroldrup	31 Jul 1979	Defender
Cesare Natali	05 Apr 1979	Defender
Riccardo Montolivo	18 Jan 1985	Midfielder

GENOA
Cristian Lupatelli	21 Jun 1978	Goalkeeper
Alessio Scarpi	19 Apr 1973	Goalkeeper
Giandomenico Mesto	25 May 1982	Defender
Marco Rossi	01 Apr 1978	Midfielder
Bosko Jankovic	01 Mar 1984	Attacker

INTER
Luca Castellazzi	19 Jul 1975	Goalkeeper
Paolo Orlandoni	12 Aug 1972	Goalkeeper
Cristian Chivu	26 Oct 1980	Defender
Ivan Cordoba	11 Aug 1976	Defender
Walter Samuel	22 Mar 1978	Defender
Sulley Muntari	27 Aug 1984	Midfielder

JUVENTUS
Alex Manninger	04 Jun 1977	Goalkeeper
Fabio Grosso	28 Nov 1977	Defender
Amauri	03 Jun 1980	Attacker
Alessandro Del Piero	09 Nov 1974	Attacker
Luca Toni	26 May 1977	Attacker

LAZIO
Albano Bizzarri	09 Nov 1977	Goalkeeper
Giuseppe Biava	08 May 1977	Defender
Lionel Scaloni	16 May 1978	Defender
Luciano Zauri	20 Jan 1978	Defender
Cristian Brocchi	30 Jan 1976	Midfielder
Simone Del Nero	04 Aug 1981	Midfielder

LECCE
Massimiliano Benassi	11 Nov 1981	Goalkeeper
Davide Petrachi	14 Aug 1986	Goalkeeper
Moris Carrozzieri	16 Nov 1980	Defender
Massimo Oddo	14 Jun 1976	Defender
Djamel Mesbah	09 Oct 1984	Midfielder
David Di Michele	06 Jan 1976	Attacker

MILAN
Flavio Roma	21 Jun 1974	Goalkeeper
Alessandro Nesta	19 Mar 1976	Defender
Gianluca Zambrotta	19 Feb 1977	Defender
Massimo Ambrosini	29 May 1977	Midfielder
Mathieu Flamini	07 Mar 1984	Midfielder
Gennaro Gattuso	09 Jan 1978	Midfielder
Clarence Seedorf	01 Apr 1976	Midfielder
Mark van Bommel	22 Apr 1977	Midfielder
Filippo Inzaghi	09 Aug 1973	Attacker

NAPOLI
Roberto Colombo	24 Aug 1975	Goalkeeper
Salvatore Aronica	20 Jan 1978	Defender
Gianluca Grava	07 Mar 1977	Defender
Cristiano Lucarelli	04 Oct 1975	Attacker

NOVARA
Matteo Centurioni	08 May 1974	Defender
Massimo Paci	11 Jun 1979	Defender
Marco Rigoni	05 Jan 1980	Midfielder

PALERMO
Luca Di Matteo	25 Feb 1988	Midfielder
Fabrizio Miccoli	27 Jun 1979	Attacker

PARMA
Nicola Pavarini	24 Feb 1974	Goalkeeper
Alessandro Lucarelli	22 Jul 1977	Defender
Manuele Blasi	17 Aug 1980	Midfielder
Abderazak Jadid	01 Jun 1983	Midfielder
Stefano Morrone	26 Oct 1978	Midfielder
Francesco Valiani	29 Oct 1980	Midfielder
Hernan Crespo	05 Jul 1975	Attacker

ROMA
Marco Cassetti	29 May 1977	Defender
Cicinho	24 Jun 1980	Defender
Gabriel Heinze	19 Apr 1978	Defender
Ahmed Barusso	26 Oct 1984	Midfielder
Daniele De Rossi	24 Jul 1983	Midfielder
Leandro Greco	19 Jul 1986	Midfielder
Simone Perrotta	17 Sep 1977	Midfielder
Stefano Okaka	09 Aug 1989	Attacker

SIENA
Simone Farelli	19 Feb 1983	Goalkeeper
Luca Rossettini	09 May 1985	Defender
Andrea Rossi	07 Nov 1986	Defender
Paul Codrea	04 Apr 1981	Midfielder

UDINESE
Emanuele Belardi	09 Oct 1977	Goalkeeper
Andrea Coda	25 Apr 1985	Defender
Damiano Ferronetti	01 Nov 1984	Defender
Giampiero Pinzi	11 May 1981	Midfielder
Paulo Barreto	12 May 1985	Attacker

Unjust? Or undeserved?

"Il calcio a volte è ingiustissimo"

"Sometimes, football is really unjust". That was the post-match musing of Luis Enrique, who was no doubt as frustrated as anyone with his stuttering Roma side. Two goals from Genoa, against the run of play, meant that Fabio Borini's debut goal (the result of some good work from substitute Marco Boriello) counts for nothing.

But despite watching his team somehow let their dominance slip to defeat against Genoa, the Spaniard declared himself "soddisfatto" – satisfied.

"For the first time, it was the team that I want", said LE, before adding: "I wanted to win, until the last. This is our idea for football. Surely we need to improve but the team played the way I like. We had a great game and we deserved the three points, not only the tie."

The stats suggest he has a point: Roma's possession was at least 63% (the official Lega Serie A figure; as ever with Italy, is not the only figure available. Some fan sites quote as much as 68%) and they managed 16 shots compared to the hosts' tally of nine.

But then, stats can be used to prove pretty much anything ... as we can see if we change the direction of this discussion and use them to prove how wasteful Roma were. Only five of the 16 shots were on target, to Genoa's four. And no one shot more than Fernando Gago (four times), despite the fact he was playing behind Erik Lamela, Borini and Bojan Krkic.

This profligacy should be the main cause for concern at Trigoria.  Of Roma's serious rivals, only AC Milan – who beat Parma 4-1 this week and whom Roma will host on Saturday evening at the Stadio Olimpico – had more completed passes: an impressive 77% to Roma's 70%. Napoli and Juventus both secured victories with less possession and fewer successful passes. Juve beat Fiorentina 2-1 with just 55% possession and 67% of their passes completed, while Napoli beat Udinese 2-0 at the San Paolo with two impressive goals, despite completing less than 60% of their 490 passes. So the fact that Roma could not take more advantage of the kind of possession that nearly 490 completed balls allowed them is telling.

The midfield worked well, but the front line as wasteful and the defence wholly culpable for both goals. It was Heinze's incompetence against Rodrigo Palacio that allowed the former Boca man to set up Boško Janković for the first, but Nicolas Burdisso was shaky in defence throughout and typically bad-tempered. It's taken a couple of years, but many fans – and seemingly all of Italy's referees – are now beginning to tire of the Argentine's stroppy attitude to the game. No Serie A footballer was sent off more than Burdisso last season (three times) and only five players got more yellow cards (seven; Palermo's Cesare Bovo got an astonishing 14, or almost one in almost 50% of the games he played). He has built a reputation for illicit tackling and for being aggressive with referees, two traits that help only the opposition.

All that said, it's hardly panic stations just yet. The performance was only frustrating because it was, in parts, so promising. The return of Simon Kjaer from suspension and the inclusion of Juan should offer a much tighter, more level-headed back line and as the attackers get to know one another better and become more comfortable within their roles he goals should come – as long as they keep getting such great support from the midfield.

"We are studying our options,” Luis Enrique said post-match, “but I just want to score more goals than the opponent. I work every day for this and am not change my way [because of the defeat]. In football you can win a game playing defensively – it happened here. But I am convinced that ours is the right way for my team: I saw an excellent attitude, we have always tried to retrieve the ball when it was lost, pressed up. And that's what I want. That's why [the owners] brought me to Rome. If they wanted defensive football, there would be no need of me.”

So much for the "bitter" battle the media here wanted ...

After the news during the week that Franco Baldini and Francesco Totti had got together, the Giallorossi's new general manager has come out to call the number 10 "La nostra ricchezza" – "our treasure".

22/10/2011

He also promises that De Rossi will stay put. War didn't break out when he showed up, then. There are some journos here who'll me mighty disappointed.