Football Special Report: Serie A findings Round 9 – What we learned from this week’s fixtures (Part 2)
Francesco Totti doesn’t deserve to be the captain anymore
Francesco Totti is divinely gifted, supremely talented and the undoubted legend for Gilarossi. However, he doesn’t deserve to be the captain, not anymore at least. The player is now 34 and still a class act, agreed, but his immaturity in dealing with the
opposition taunts and low tactics simply belittles his years of experience.
Earlier this season, Totti publicly criticised Ranieri for his defensive tactics. Against Inter Milan, Totti simply left the field upon being substituted following an anonymous display. Instead of staying on the sidelines and urging his teammates on, the ‘captain’
simply decided to sulk in a corner. Now his sending off against Lecce - the player simply lost it when Oliviera tripped the player in the build up to Gilarossi goal number two. The referee had no choice but to give him the marching orders.
Totti knew Roma were set to play league leaders and perennial rivals SS Lazio on coming match day and yet he failed to understand the gravity of the situation. Lupi will now be deprived of his services for the Capital derby and will look to inspiration elsewhere.
Simply put, AS Roma now needs a leader who can be the source of much needed inspiration. Gilarossi have put up with Totti’s antics for long simply because he was a champion on the pitch. However, Totti doesn’t have the legs to play more than 25 league games.
Dear Rosella, just give the captain’s armband to Daniele De Rossi and put Totti in his place, with all the respect!
Udinese finally showing their potential
Last season, Udinese were a huge disappointment under Gianni De Biasi and later, Pasquale Marino. Zebrette flirted with relegation for much of the season and only some truly inspirational performances by skipper Antonio Di Natale saved them the blushes.
Their start to the latest campaign was no different as Francesco Guidolin’s men failed to register a single point until match day five when they drew with Sampdoria away from home. However, Zebrette have now won four games on a trot and sit eighth in the ultra
competitive league.
Their change in fortunes, not surprisingly, has coincided with some key players regaining form and fitness. Alexis Sanchez in particular has been extremely impressive of late. The player is now putting in some real quality displays; ones that made Sir Alex
Ferguson a fan of this talent.
Calcio relegation battle would be tight
The Serie A this season has been maddeningly competitive. As things stand, just three points separate 10th placed Palermo from league lagers AS Bari. A single victory of defeat can be the difference between a mid table finish and relegation humiliation.
Usually, one can predict the teams that are likely to get relegated but all that has changed this time around, the teams which ply in relegation zone are all expected to survive. It’s just a matter of how things turn out on daily basis; consistency would be
the key for all these sides.
Tags: