Incredibly tricky fixture on offer here fellas. Firstly, apologies for the lateness of this preview, wanted to wait for the other previews to come out so I have more material to draw from. The record is not good for this fixture particularly as we have only won 6 times at the Marassi with Genoa winning 24 times. 15 draws have also occurred. Our last win came in 2007 with Panucci providing a fine header. The last fixture last season ended in a 2-1 loss. In addition, Genoa have outscored us 70 to 43 so while the goal count should be high, we don't often come out on the winning side. Ominous stuff.

Squad News

Lobont, Destro, Burdisso and Dodo all miss out on the trip to Liguria, but the best news undoubtedly is that we will have back Totti and De Rossi, who were feared to have both picked up knocks that would keep them out of the match. Miralem Pjanic has also passed fit so for the first time since the Catania game, Zeman will have a completely full compliment of midfielders to choose from which should provide him with a bit of a selection headache. The loss of Burdisso further gives Marquinhos a chance to prove his worth while there was a bit of anxiety of Castan, but he appears to have shaken off the slight knock he picked up in training. The RB position has become a real problem for us however, since neither Piris nor Taddei have done near enough to make the position their own, Zeman actually flirted with the idea of throwing Dodo over on that flank for his league debut, but he has once again passed not fit enough to play. The loss of Destro will only ensure that Pablo Osvaldo will start alongside Totti and Lamela with Nico Lopez expected to come in for one of the 3 later in the match. Here's what we may see:




The Opposition: Genoa C.F.C



Gigi De Canio has done a wonderful job of revitalizing a truly ailing side after the scenes between the players and their fans last season, who were demanding the jerseys of the players because the play was so poor. The arrivals of Sebastien Frey, Juan Manuel Vargas, Ciro Immobile and Marco Boriello have done much to lift the spirits of the fans, though Vargas is expected to miss this match.

The Coach: Luigi De Canio



Having raised eyebrows with some gutsy displays in charge of Lecce, former QPR, Napoli, and Udinese boss De Canio has been given a good opportunity to display just what got him this job at one of the peninsula's better clubs. So far he has presided over a 4-match unbeaten streak for il Grifone, with the last 3 matches ending in draws to sit his side in 9th in league table. Given Genoa's good record against us at home, he'll be sure to fire his team up to claim max points.

The Captain: Bosko Jankovic



Given Marco Rossi's persisent injury issues, De Canio decided on the 28-year old Serbian international as his choice for club captain for this campaign. A combative, energetic midfielder known for his industrious work and occasional penchant for breaking forward into the attacking half, Jankovic's consistency and graft is just what Genoa need to provide stable leadership from the middle of the park. Look for him to drag his side forward and to attempt to keep things simple defensively.

The Dangerman: Marco Boriello



An ever-present option for Genoa in recent years has been Borriello, who has began his 2nd spell with the Rossoblu as their top scorer with 3 goals so far. Originally a doubt for this match, reports are saying that he has passed fit and should lead Genoa's attack along with Ciro Immobile, who is on 2 goals currently. Borriello will have extra impetus to do well against us given how his influence at Roma faded rapidly with the arrival of first Pablo Osvaldo, then Zeman and finally Mattia Destro, whom Boriello was nice enough to allow to take his #22 shirt. Borriello will feel a bit maligned about how things ended in the capital considering how vital his goals were in that first season with us. Look for him to cause our defense all sorts of problems.

Projected Genoa starting lineup (courtesy of Football-Italia) - Frey; Sampirisi, Canini, Bovo, Moretti; Jankovic, Seymour, Kucka, Antonelli; Borriello, Immobile

Pre-match Analysis & Prediction

Simply put, Genoa are a much better version of Atalanta. They play the same style of football, but with much more dangerous players as well as a sturdier defense lead by Cesare Bovo (another former Roma man) and Michele Canini and ably backed up in goal by veteran keeper Sebastien Frey. They've shown a penchant for draws, have not scored or conceded more than 2 goals in their last 3 fixtures. This defense is miserly, but what will be different about this match is that they will face a team that prefers open football and so while this means their defense is going to get a good examination, so will ours. The 4-3 loss under Claudio Ranieri was one of the craziest matches I had ever seen in all my years of watching football and even more so because we were leading 3-0. That game ultimately cost Ranieri his job and while I'm under no illusions that we may see something similar to that today, given the history of this fixture. This game will not be won by who defends better, but who makes the most of their attacking play. That said, our defense may just be at sea one too many times

3-2 Genoa.

Still a couple of doubts over the starting lineup. Taddei is still in contention with Piris for that starting spot at right back. Castan has been declared fit, so he's a certainty alongside Marquinhos, with Balzaretti on the left.

In midfield, six players for three spots. Tachtsidis and Florenzi are set to start, given that they've been tried out in the starting 11 all week long. That means that Bradley, De Rossi, Marquinho and Pjanic are all fighting for that last spot. Though the American has trained well over the past week and was looking to be used from the start, it seems as if Zeman is favoring De Rossi on the right side of midfield. Here's my issue, I understand that Zeman prefers Tachtsidis to sit in front of the defense and that Florenzi has been playing great lately, but you can't possibly consider allowing only one between Pjanic, De Rossi and Bradley to start when they're all fit. Technically, they are our three best midfielders. I could see Florenzi breaking into the starting lineup, but in that case he absolutely has to be accompanied by two of the three mentioned. A potential fix to this problem would be moving Pjanic to the middle, as Zeman did with Verratti and as Pjanic himself has stated as his preferred position, but Zeman doesn't seem to feel like that's a good move to make.

Up front, given Destro's injury, Lamela, Osvaldo and Totti are locks.

Great work Mc

I am not confident in a partnership of Marquinhos and Castan but can't be worse than Piris.

It could be a high scoring match but with De Rossi, it might not be as bad.

Hopefully a Roma win

ErPupone wrote:Still a couple of doubts over the starting lineup. Taddei is still in contention with Piris for that starting spot at right back. Castan has been declared fit, so he's a certainty alongside Marquinhos, with Balzaretti on the left.

In midfield, six players for three spots. Tachtsidis and Florenzi are set to start, given that they've been tried out in the starting 11 all week long. That means that Bradley, De Rossi, Marquinho and Pjanic are all fighting for that last spot. Though the American has trained well over the past week and was looking to be used from the start, it seems as if Zeman is favoring De Rossi on the right side of midfield. Here's my issue, I understand that Zeman prefers Tachtsidis to sit in front of the defense and that Florenzi has been playing great lately, but you can't possibly consider allowing only one between Pjanic, De Rossi and Bradley to start when they're all fit. Technically, they are our three best midfielders. I could see Florenzi breaking into the starting lineup, but in that case he absolutely has to be accompanied by two of the three mentioned. A potential fix to this problem would be moving Pjanic to the middle, as Zeman did with Verratti and as Pjanic himself has stated as his preferred position, but Zeman doesn't seem to feel like that's a good move to make.

Up front, given Destro's injury, Lamela, Osvaldo and Totti are locks.

Well without a strong left-sided player in Genoa's squad in Vargas' absence, I suppose it really is 50/50 between Piris and Taddei. I chose Piris though because of his ability to get up and down the pitch quicker.

As for midfield, that's completely up for grabs as well. I don't Zeman can ignore Bradley's contributions especially against Atalanta so I believe he'll start. De Rossi made his point with Italy so he's likely to start as well. I honestly believe that last spot is between Tachtsidis and Florenzi and with the latter in better form, I back him to take it. Pjanic, still fresh back from his injury should be eased into the match so that's why I left him out as well.

Looks like we were both right, Mike

Official line up: Stekelenburg; Piris, Marquinhos, Castan, Balzaretti; De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Lamela, Osvaldo, Totti

Expected Boriello to score . Good game for us, after the Totti goal we picked up ourself. Osvaldo is awesome. Piris had a good game. Totti classy as always.

Team never ceases to surprise me. I watched that first 20 minutes with stoic indifference as we got torn to shreds by Genoa's energy and drive. It was a carbon copy of what both Atalanta and Juventus did to us. I knew we would respond, but if you'd told me we'd hit them for 4 in the space of an hour, I would've lol'd.

I'll start from the back and work my way forward. Stek was immense tonight. Pulled off some top saves to keep Genoa out at key moments, but could do very little about Kucka's rocket of a shot and was let down badly by the defense for Jankovic's rebounded effort.

Castan was an absolute rock and was personally responsible for keeping first Borriello very quiet for a large amount of the match and later Ciro Immobile, who did not have much of an impact upon his introduction until the very end. Like everyone else back there though, he has to take some blame for ball-watching on Genoa's 2nd goal though. Marquinhos had a very encouraging outing as well, but looked completely overwhelmed in that first 20 minutes. When he finally settled, he looked pretty composed and made timely challenges. For me, Ivan Piris was the pick of the backline. He silenced his doubters today with a great display down the right, always getting forward and causing Moretti all sorts of issues. His assist for Osvaldo's first was simply sumptuous. On the left-flank, Balzaretti was probably the least impressive of the back 4 with a subdued display, but he did enough to ensure that Genoa didn't get much joy from his flank.

In midfield, De Rossi continued his marvelous form with an all action display in midfield as he contended every ball with Juraj Kucka and Bosko Jankovic. Assisting him in that regard as well as shielding the back 4 was Panagiotis Tachtsidis, who looked really nervy in that first 15 minutes of Genoa madness. Like Marquinhos though, the Greek grew into the game and put himself about, using his big frame and strength to bully Genoa off the ball and close down the space in midfield, allow DDR and Florenzi to get forward. As for young Florenzi, he once again was lively tonight as he continually found spaces to run into and probably was unlucky to see his shot whistle just above the crossbar. His assist for Osvaldo's 2nd was well delivered.

Up front, Totti put in a typically virtuoso shift as his movement and passing (a little hit and miss at times albeit) ripped Genoa to shreds as he repeatedly dove tailed with Lamela well to switch flanks and drop deep in between the Genoa lines. They just couldn't track him and man mark him. Lamela had the beating of Michele Canini all game as his trickery on the ball and his pace troubled the defender constantly and it was no surprise that it was Canini's mistake that lead to Lamela's low effort sealing the victory. And then there's Osvaldo, arguably MOTM along with Totti. 6 goals for him now as he has pulled level with Edinson Cavani in 2nd just behind Miroslav Klose. 1st effort was a volley so venomous that Frey didn't even move to try to stop it. The 2nd was a bullet header that also bamboozled the Frenchman. There was serious questions coming into the season as to what would happen with Osvaldo with the arrival of Destro, but with Destro failing to opening account for both us and Italy and Osvaldo doing the exact opposite, I believe the pecking order has been set for the time being. This should also put to bed the Juventus rumours surrounding Osvaldo. Top display from him.

Overall, Zeman once again made some gutsy calls, fielding Tachtsidis over Pjanic or Bradley, but they proved very inspired. Say what you want about the man's philosophy, but this game was a perfect example of both its good and bad sides. We have to keep out feet on the ground however and as such, I really can't say this is a turning point. This was merely a continuation of the development of Zeman's tactics. Still a long way to go, boys.

Let's enjoy this for what it was.

I hope this is the turning point of our season. We showed a willingness to fight for the victory, and also lots of BALLS. Still, I cant get why we fell asleep in the first 20 minutes, just like against Atalanta and Juve.

First and foremost, De Canio just got sacked. I don't think it was really deserved since Genoa haven't been bad this season. Del Neri is stepping in for him, I personally don't think it will make that much of a difference but hey that's just me.

Onto the game, close call. Dreadful first 27 minutes, leave it to Totti to pick us up with a well placed shot and suddenly reanimate a team that seemed destined to be in for another long, long night. Genoa's second goal was just painful to watch, no one going on the ball, Jankovic with all the time and space in the world to slot the ball behind Stekelenburg on his second chance. But, they just lost their nerves after we pulled one back and it was smooth sailing from there.

Not much to add to your analysis, Neal. I have to agree with everything. Piris in contention for man of the match, along with the obvious choice of Osvaldo who scored his first brace for us. Nice call before the match saying that Piris didn't have much of a threat going up against him, as Antonelli didn't contribute all that much offensively.

In midfield, a good display from De Rossi and Florenzi, the latter who seems to always be on the same page as Totti and Balzaretti on that left side; that should remain untouched. Our play down the right side is a little more fragmented, with Lamela making too many little mistakes and always attempting the same cut at the edge of the box (it works sometimes, but he needs to make some diagonal runs as well) and De Rossi sometimes mistiming his runs because of that, though he generally picks his moments well. My main concern for this match was Tachtsidis; he misses a few too many touches for my liking and lacks speed, therefore he's easily beaten when he moves a little further up field. Against Udinese, I would definitely opt for the same lineup, but with Bradley sitting in front of the defense.

Now here's some Zampa

Great to hear from Zampa again

Commentating goat