Keeping this short today becasue, if you hadn't noticed, the season has arrived and you've got season previews to wade your way through.
Defenders & Keepers
Midfielders
Forwards
The Definitive Preview
The Arrival of Cicinhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo:
The tifosi mobbed Cicinho at the airport, something which shocked him greatly, but must've made him feel like he made the right choice. The requisite Cici arrives pics & video of the tifosi going bananas:
Could you even imagine what would happen if Roma landed a guy like Kaka or Messi? They'd have to lock down the city. The outpouring of support was insane.
Also, recall his wife who had initially said no to Roma? Well, if it's the woman I've seen him with, then Roma just replaced Oksana in spades. 10.5 (and a half). I'll do the requisite research. That's why they pay me the big bucks.
Other Random Pics, Because It's Friday & I Feel Like It:
Oh Luca....
Kofi Annan being flanked by...uhhh....Rosella and Don Fabio?
Quick observations:
• What the hell is Prade doing over there? It looks like he's staring down the two females and starting to undress himself.
• Cassano looks like he had a rough night and is about to throw up all over Don Fabio's head. Seriously, he's white as a ghost.
• Emerson is looking for the quickest exit or the closest psychiatrist
• Traianos Dellas will kill you
• I know Rosella is short, but look how short she is there with heels on. Is she even 5 feet?
• Somebody's missing from this photo
• The apocalypse is inevitable
All I can say is let's hope this doesn't go to Julio Sergio's head...
Also, is it me, or did JSB lose a ton of weight this summer? Atta boy. Not having a contract will do that to ya.
If you're sexy and you know it clap your hands...
This is Philou trying to give BFF Pavel Nedved a purple nurple...
Newsie Shorts:
I) You can stop dreaming about Asier Del Horno now. Ernesto Bronzettiballs has informed The Grand Imperial Poobah ADH is a locker room cancer, or something like that, and to keep him away from the Olimpico. Well, that settles that. Moving on....but wait. Maybe not so fast. Obviously channel 4 is about as useful as AIDS, but the sentence "despite FIFA agent Ernesto Bronzetti’s attempts to derail the move." kind of gives it the appearance of validity. We shall see, but I don't think they're done shopping.
And would somebody get Bronzetti on the payroll already.
II) Liverpool wants Mancini. Liverpool has resigned itself to not getting Mancini. That about sums it up.
III) Speaking of Liverpool, Cicinho turned down both Liverpool and Chelsea to play for Roma, which should endear him to the tifosi that much more. Obviously this is a mass conspiracy by FIFA to not allow him to play in the Prem because it's too awesome already and they can't allow it to get anymore awesome without European football swallowing itself. Because it's obvious anyone would take crappy weather, Earl Grey and playing in UEFA's 3rd rated league over playing in stupid Italy any day. You know, home of the World Cup trophy, Champions League Trophy, Ballon D'or, Golden Boot, the upcoming Ballon D'or...need I go on?
IV) Gianluca Freddi has gone on loan to Grosetto, joining up Valerio Virga in Serie B. A good move for the kid, because he was getting zero playing time in the capital.
V) Aleandro Rosi may be headed on loan to Chievo very soon. I'm mixed on this. Love Rosi, he has a real future with the club, but it might be preferable to get him some time in Serie A - because I don't think he's lacking in confidence. We shall see, but it's starting to look like all the kids will be going on loan.
VI) Bullshit Transfer Rumor of the Day: Julio Baptista on loan to Roma.
Huh?
VII) For those who missed it, we've started up The Roma Offside Fantasy League over at Yahoo (the link):
League Name: Roma Offside League (ID# 692)
password: spalletti (lower-case s)
VIII) A couple days ago there was a discussion as to what to do about the 3rd forward spot should Shabani Nonda be sold. I made a point that I felt that the best option would be to bring someone in who would know his role, almost never play, spend the majority of the games happily waving the Giallorossi flag in the stands and know that, should something catastrophic happen, another player will be brought in during the January window. I neglected to mention the person who would be absolutely perfect for this role:
Marco Delvecchio