Udinese
The injury list is bustling, the back line is patchwork, the midfield full of grit but no flair, and Mirko Vucinic's doppelganger is still roaming the pitch without the slightest clue. No Totti, no Pizarro, no Menez, no idea where the creativity will come from. No words, really, for a game which could use so many.
Checking Udinese's recent fixtures, it was wonderful to see they'd lost their last three fixtures before quickly realizing can an easier opponent than Livorno at home be offered for sacrifice?. No, unfortunately. Until they do something which eradicates this loss - this cancer - there's little reason for hope or positive thought going forward. Bedrock has been hit.
Time to pick themselves back up.
Squad
1 BOGDAN LOBONT
2 CICERO JOAO DE CESARE (CICINHO)
3 MARCO ANDREOLLI
4 JUAN SILVEIRA DOS SANTOS
5 PHILIPPE MEXES
9 MIRKO VUCINIC
11 RODRIGO FERRANTE TADDEI
13 MARCO MOTTA
14 RICARDO FATY
15 VITORINO GABRIEL PACHECO ANTUNES
16 DANIELE DE ROSSI
19 JULIO CESAR BAPTISTA
20 SIMONE PERROTTA
21 STEFANO GUBERTI
23 LEANDRO GRECO
26 ADRIAN FLORIN PIT
27 JULIO SERGIO BERTAGNOLI
29 NICOLAS BURDISSO
32 DONIEBER ALEXANDER MARANGON (DONI)
33 MATTEO BRIGHI
77 MARCO CASSETTI
89 OKAKA CHUKA STEFANO
XI
A bit of false hope? Perhaps. Last year the 4-2-3-1 was driven into the ground by Spalletti even when the requisite parts were not in place, at times crippling the team beyond repair. Are they able to run the same with Brighi in for Pizarro and Stefona Guberti given another chance to run rampant on the wing? It appears they may be given that chance: RomaNews says the return of the 4-2-3-1 is upon us.
Doni
Motta, Juan, Mexes, Cassetti
De Rossi, Brighi
Taddei, Perrotta, Guberti
Vucinic
Previewish liveblog tomm, etc.