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Welcome to the busy-packing recap mini special:
- If Fabio Simplicio can't prove that pounds equal love, no one can.
- The ease with which other teams adjust after the half is still utterly alarming and cause for heaps of concern.
- If everyone on this team played as well on the whole as Marquinho makes runs into the box, the scudetto race would've been over in January. He's pretty good all 'round, but he's @#$%ing magnificent at precise runs into space.
- If Roma does in fact buy Simon Kjaer, I don't want them to announce it, I don't want his preseason training to be filmed or photographed, and I want him to casually show up on the bench for the first match as though nothing happened and he just stowed away in Rome.
- Tallo. Tricky wing types play well games 1-n. After n, when other teams have a gauge on their skill level and preferred moves, a loan proves necessary. This is how Serie A works: knowledge is power; talent opens the route to the potential for knowledge.
- Miralem Pjanic can officially join Erik Lamela on the milk carton. He's also a prime candidate to replicate the wonderful personality of Sneijder once he fulfills his potential.
- Totti ran the show in the first half. Hell, he was the show. The buildup to the Marquinho goal in particular would be spectacular were it not so commonplace for him.
- The ultras had some words with Totti at the end, and Baldini responded to criticism of Luis by saying he'd be the one to leave before Enrique. Which is a nice way of sticking up for your manager. None of this is going to stop anytime soon, however. Lovely season, this.
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I'm stuck between calling the draw a slight disappointment and a nice surprise. They were excellent in the first half, but as so often this year, were completely outplayed for much of the second until dire times arose (see: Leandro Greco, DM). The true disappointment is that on some level, when also considering the lineup looks like something Homicide would find in a back alley, it's not a disappointment. Tragically, that's where expectations now sit.
At least we'll always have Simplicio.
Love: