Roma - Fiorentina
This is what happens when Cicinho starts !
Roma managed to fend off Prandelli's purple posse to gain some ground in the (re?)Opened Scudetto race. Oprah promised us a Soaring and Joyful event and she delivered. She’ll now be promoting the upcoming book so Stay tuned for book signings in your area!
On with the game :
Roma controlled most of the possession in the 1st half. Like usual, the finishing was lacking. But they must have held at least 75% in the 1st half. Fiorentina were great at defending spaces and were well compacted in defense. Tried to restrain the Roman Clusterfuck as best as they could. They resisted well the whole 1st half. Even Mutu and Vieri were helping out by coming back to help out the D.
Like Greece, circa June 2004, Fiorentina looked dangerous every time they attacked.Even without much possession they managed to pull many occasions of out their Asses. Thank God Doni was on great form, he even managed to indirectly cause Mutu to leave the match. Cicinho got his first Serie A goal on beautiful team effort. This was an excellent game; the 1-0 scoreline doesn’t do justice to the beauty of this Serie A outing. Fiorentina and Roma gave us a beautiful display of what I like to call Serie A at it’s best.
IL TABELLINO
ROMA–FIORENTINA 1-0
MARCATORE: 53’Cicinho (R)
Roma: Doni 7, Cicinho 7, Ferrari 6, Mexes 6,5, Tonetto 6, De Rossi 8, Aquilani 6, Taddei 6 (61’Perrotta 6), Vucinic 6,5 (67’Cassetti 6), Giuly 6,5 (Pizarro s.v), Totti 6.5.
All: Spalletti 6
Fiorentina: Frey 6,5, Ujfalusi 6,5, Gamberini 6,5, Kroldrup 6, Gobbi 5,5, Kuzmanovic 6,5, Jorgensen 6 (76’Liverani s.v.), Montolivo 5 (68’Cacia 5,5), Semioli 6, Vieri 6, Mutu 5,5 (43’ Papa Waigo 6).
All: Prandelli 10 for the outfit
ARBITRO: Morganti di Ascoli Piceno
AMMONITI:Vieri (F), De Rossi (R), Cicinho (R)(2), Perrotta (R)
ESPULSI: Cicinho (R)
Highlights:
Dr. Phil’s Categorical Matchups. (Tomorrow : Twins on Heroin !!! )
Tired Legs vs Contused Legs:
Dr Phil fucked up on this one! This game was excellently exciting. Not Rollercoaster-ish a la Parma- Torino but That was Some Sexy Serie A Action!
Adrian Mutu vs the Giallorossi Defense:
Doni took him out early on so he didn’t get to do must damage. This pisses me off a little because I’m sure that once Pradè saw the knee injury, he got on the phone with Pantaloon Corvino right away.
Luciano Spalletti vs Cesare Prandelli :
Spalletti read the game well this time with some smart defensive substitutions. I love the fact that he know you can’t have more than 2 players under 4 feet on the pitch at the same time!
Like the Italians like to say: Ha ben gestito il risultato. He managed the result well. ! Spalletti gets all 3 point but Prandelli wins this matchup, purely based on non -calcio factors!
Cesare Prandelli: This guy takes La Viola seriously! His outfit is the coolest I have seen on a Serie A bench. Silvio Baldini rocks a mean Jeans and ugly shirt but I mean the Shiny Purple almost vinyl/Leather coat with the pimped out purple turtleneck! It doesn't get any better than that! The only reason he (almost?) pulls it off is because he looks like a Movie star from the 50’s. If Prandelli starts smoking cigars a la Lippi on the sidelines with a nice purple hat like this one (preferably ornamented by a feather); he’ll be officially legendary!
David Pizarro vs Chris:
Playing higher up DP has the chance to do less damage. 1 decent outside footed cross in the closing minutes other than that? Aquilani didn’t get himself into life threatening situations and Pizarro didn’t score in a derby yet…
What a beautiful thing is it to see DDR and Aquilani together!
Stars of the Match
His DDRness:
I will, as of now, begin taking Daniele De Rossi’s amazing displays for granted. DDR is; indispensable. What I’m about to say might offend and repulse some of you, and you might not see me in the same way after. In my defense I’d like to say 2 things 1st.
1. I’m more of a fan of the dirty unrecognised defensive work. As much as I like Totti-esque attacking displays; The various Gattusos, Cannavaros, Zambrottas and DDR’s of this world obtain and deserve all of my respect. I think spectacular defensive displays deserve the same media Hype attackers get.
2. Totti is the Nicola Tesla of Calcio, a Roman Gladiator, blessed by the God of Mars and now is a legendary Roman god himself. His feet look like they’re possessed by Stephen Hawking’s brain.
I will still go on and say this; as of 2008, Danielino has surpassed Francesco Totti in my giallorossi heart. Those Spaniards said it best: DDR is Gattuso dressed in Armani.
Cicinho:
even tough he took a stupid 2nd yellow at the end so he won’t be facing Inter. Cicinho is a star. He was at the same spot as Totti and Giuly on the goal. The guy is crazy fast, running back or running up the pitch. I think that Spalletti doesn’t want to see Giuly, Pizarro and Cicinho on the pitch at the same time. So more Aquilani for Pizarro means more Cicinho. I irrationally admire the mini Brazilian WingBack (he’s not exactly what I call a Defensive RB). His supposed defensive shortcomings are overcompensated
with what he brings to the offence.
Minchia ! Cicinho was all the way on the left side of the 5-yard box and beat Totti and Giuly to the ball to score. Grande Cicero!
Amazing shots from la distanza like in the 37th minute! Of all the times he could have scored today it had to be the ugly one. Starting with Doni ; 8 untouched passes by the Viola before CiCi’s goal. Stupid sending off that’ll see him miss the Inter clash, but he would have probably been benched anyhow. His celebration alone; (Conti and all)- plus the fact that he desperately needed and rightfully deserved this goal earns him my Man of the Match not called DDR.
il Capitano a.k.a. The Golden Boy a.k.a. The guy who gets to sleep with Ilary Blasi :
How much knocking and bruising does Totti take week in and week out? I mean it’s crazy, there’s always a minimum of 2 guys on him at all times and one of them is always trying to twist his nipples.
Fortunately, Il Re Totti is looking better and better. He looks officially fully recuperated from his recent injury woes and The Fiorentina game helped him gain the right timing back. Bring on The Black and Blue. Hoping he pulls another Pallonetto out of his golden ass. Message to Totti : Grow your hair back you non-Hippie!
Disorganised thoughts:
-Taddei and Cicinho looked like they were joined at the hip for the whole time they were on the pitch together. Both getting up on offense and on defense. Playing those 2 together looks like you have 2 RW when we hold possession and 2 RB when Fiorentina was countering.
-Vucinic not only needs to learn how to finish but he needs to get a cross in the box without seeing it blocked! I know it’s not his natural position and you can’t expect Vuci to play like Mancini. He needs to be centered more. He can hold the ball up better than Giuly ( La fourmis atomique was on the end of every long ball!). Frey gets a lot of credit once again, However, Vucigol needs to work on his freaking positioning, watch it with the Offsides!
-Ferrari can’t defend C. Vieri to save his life. Technically, Matteo is the one who cost us 2 points last time we played Prandelli’s purple people.
He was trying to do too much in the 1st half controlling the ball and all but Ferrari pisses me off. He has talent, he has the Size and Skill but he’s not at that level, he’s not elite. He needs to be at this point in his career, for himself se no; he needs to kiss his Azzurri hopes good bye
-The young Kukuzzamanovic looked good. La viola know how to recruit the youngen.
- I'm pretty sure Ted knows who we are now !
-Saying Papa Waigo rapidly is very pleasant! Plus if you say it 3 times I front of the mirror, he appears with Candy in his hands!
Grazie Ragazzi!
Thanks to Antonio ''Talentino'' Cassano we’re now 9 Points back. That’s 3 losses for Inter. So let’s give them their 1st one on Wednesday. Now if only someone can remind Lulu Giuly to keep his hands and arms in the vehicle at all times…