Siena Vs Roma -6+2

Siena are currently 18th but they have attained that position despite a deduction of six points at the start of the season. Without that handicap Siena would be 10th in the current standings

Siena are now on a decent run of form that has seen them lose one game in six

Siena have the players to take advantage of fewer chances than the opposition with Emanuele Calaio their most likely scorer

Roma will have a greater share of the ball against Siena, even if they are playing away from home

a draw would be a great result for siena who done good enough to overcome 6 points deduction and Roma is looking to extend the two match to three match winning streak , it is a really tricky game for Roma

Lamela the greatest thread is out and based on what i saw the attacking part was completely unorganized , hoping that zeman notices and do something about it

A slightly worrying stat, we have a 3-5-5 record against the romanista Serse Cosmi's sides, with our last win coming 7 years ago.

Florenzi is set to start on the bench, making room for Tachtisidis in the middle of midfield. Bradley will move over to one side, with Pjanic retaining his position in the other. Another doubt concerns our attack: with Lamela out and Osvaldo struggling with injury, Totti is the only guaranteed start. Destro is a lock should Osvaldo not be fit, with Marquinho and Lopez fighting for a potential last spot.

good point , i don't know why i forgot to mention that Roma's last victory over Siena was 2009 , a 2-1 win in a close game . I never forget Siena in 2010

So I'm just going to use this thread the match preview and discussion.

Of the 3 matches against the minnows before the big one against Fiorentina, this is the one I think will give us the most trouble. We haven't beaten them at the Franchi in 3 years now, but overall we do hold a huge advantage in this fixture. A win today would be huge for us going into the match with Fiorentina next weekend.

Squad News

Stekelenburg is inching closer to recovery, but is not quite there yet so he will not be making the trip today. Goicoechea remains the starter ahead of Lobont and Svedkauskas. Another clean sheet would be ideal for the young Uruguayan.

Marquinhos and Castan will continue on in the center of defense, looking to build on their recent good form. Balzaretti will maintain his spot on the left ahead of Dodo and Piris will start on the right by default, with Taddei still out injured. Burdisso and Romagnoli remain in reserve.

As Mike alluded to earlier, we may see a midfield comprising of Tachtisidis in the central, flanked by Bradley and Pjanic with Florenzi possibly dropping to the bench along with Marquinho and Perrotta.

Up front, Osvaldo has passed fit and will join the squad for this game, but it remains to be seen whether Zeman will risk him as he's not 100%. This could mean we may see Destro take up the much coveted central role with Totti and possibly either Marquinho or Nico Lopez on the other flank, in absence of Lamela. I personally would favor Nico Lopez getting that spot.




The Opposition: A.C Siena



A club that we traditionally have good ties with and have been a great resource for which our younger players can go and get important match experience, the Robur are the embodiment of the provincial Italian football club. Their ambitions aren't lofty by any means, but since popping up in Serie A back in 2003, they've been real steady eddies while more recently building a reputation as one of the tougher sides to beat at their home ground. They have not lost a match in 4 games so far and have collected 8 points from a possible 12 in that same span, this is side in very good form so we must take more of our chances than we have in the last couple of games.

The Coach: Serse Cosmi



If you're a Roma fan, then you've definitely gotta be a fan of Serse Cosmi. The Perugian-born boss makes no efforts to hide the fact that he's a dedicated Romanista, but is a good enough tactician not to have let this affect how his sides play against us as we are we are without a win against him in 7 years (kudos to Mike for that tidbit). A tactician known for setting up mean defenses, but not scoring too many goals, Siena would be more than happy with a draw here and I think that would probably be the most ideal result for their coach as well.

The Captain: Simone Vergassola



Considered one of Siena's great players of recent years, veteran 36-year old midfielder Vergassola will be in line to make his 281st appearance for the Tuscans. Cosmi has his skipper set up in the heart of midfield alongside Francesco Bolzoni and behind Francesco Valiani and Alessandro Rosina. Look for him to break up the creative play of Pjanic and Tachtisids while matching wits with Bradley coming forward.

The Danger Man: Emanuele Calaio



The natural heir to the Siena's legendary bomber Massimo Maccarone, Calaio has carried a good chunk of the scoring load, with 4 to his name. A predatory striker who is dangerous outside as well as anywhere inside the box and from the spot, the former Napoli man will have to be watched very closely by Castan and Marquinhos as he will carry Siena's biggest threat coming forward with the able Valiani and Rosina playing just behind him in creative roles.

Match Notes/Predictions

Destro is likely to be very much under the microscope for this game, considering how protracted the saga was to get him to Rome back in the summer. His 12 goals saved Siena from relegation so he holds a special place in the hearts of the fans of this side and reportedly received a very good reception upon arriving at the Franchi with the rest of the team. More importantly though, he's scored in his last 2 games and with Totti playing the role of assister-in-chief and Osvaldo not totally fit, we're going to need the youngster to work his magic again.

It should also be mentioned that only Juventus has succeeded in beating Siena at home this season and they were made to work for it, coming out 2-1 winners. With the best attack in Serie A this season, I'm pretty confident we can get something out of this if we stay tight defensively and take the chances when given to us. Easier said than done, but then again this team can make such tasks look very easy when on their game.

2-1 Roma

Just the response we needed in the 2nd half. The football itself wasn't good in the first half though. We really struggled to break Siena down, but only really did so when they began to tire.

Totti really turned it on in the 2nd half with his passing range clicking into gear. Siena just couldn't handle his crossing as it caused all sorts of problems.

I'll have more thoughts on this later today though.

SIMONEEEEE. That's why I love this guy. f***!!!

average kinda game when Roma had to solely rely on opponent mistakes , but win is a win and as long as the points are coming and confidence grows why not

im wondering what exactly Bradley wanted to do at second goal , was that a cross?

This is the 2nd Roma game I have missed this season but I am very jovial to see Destro score his brace. For a man who was criticized for finding the net he has 5 goals in 8 games (including his Italia goal) which is not bad at all (understatement) who has started only 6 games so far and 2 from the bench.

3rd win in a row, I think that's a feet that Zeman has never accomplished with us. And he took an interesting approach to the game, quite un-Zeman-like:

- The use of only one pure striker: Destro
- Altering his formation to more of a 4-3-2-1: Totti and Pjanic, used for the first time in the attacking trio, were playing much closer together and often interchanging positions.
- Bradley and Florenzi used to attack wide ares rather than cut through the middle. Zeman stated that he did this to exploit Siena's 3 man back line, meaning he favored creating 3 on 3 situations with his strikers and then using the two aforementioned midfielders to give width. This worked in pining Siena back in the second half.

And I would like to take a moment to give credit to Perrotta. One of the most emotional goals in a while for us. Perrotta, despite being left out of the squad in the summer training session, not being called up at the beginning of the season and being set aside due to his age, never even said a word. He never created any controversies and he even fought to stay with us despite knowing he wasn't part of our plans. He never spoke out against Zeman, but worked hard and proved that he could still give his contribution to our team. When he came on, I had mixed reactions, the first being "Wtf why?" and then telling myself that I hoped he, out of all people, would score. No words could describe how I felt when he placed that shot in the back of the net. And even better was the celebration: that grit and determination, he ran screaming into the Roma supporters section and was submersed by hugs from everyone, players and staff. And then there was Zeman's reaction, who jumped and clapped, the most emotion I've seen him show since Pescara knocked 6 past Padova last season and he was close to having tears in his eyes. It was the sign we needed to show that this team is willing to fight, just when I was doubting the dedication of some of our boys and leave it to Simone Perrotta, a true professional, to give us a wake up call.

How do you accomodate Destro, Totti, Lamela and Osvaldo when Lamela recovers?

Clearly Osvaldo is going through a dry patch right now while Destro is showing he can score important goals, and would be my pick to bench. But at the same time it takes balls to bench the Khal.

osvaldo-destro-lamela

or osvaldo on bench for totti

Yeah, we can't bench Totti. He's been pivotal for us.

Not a chance in hell that we're benching Totti, highest average rating in Serie A. Out of the question.

It has to be based on form/condition. I wouldn't rush Lamela back, have him go to the bench for a match or two and give him 20-25 minutes per match to get back into it.

Destro grabbed a brace and played a good match, enough to warrant him another start against Fiorentina. I think Pjanic will drop back and make room for Osvaldo, therefore finally giving Florenzi a rest.

some observation
1- Gioc(the Gk) is doing a good job and he has good positioning , the positive is he shouts and that helps the CD's

2-Piris is making a good progress , he is getting better in every game

3-Roma wont lose the ball in opponent half as frequent as they used to , that helps for the counter attacks

4-kudas to Simone Perrotta , i used to ask questions when Enrique bringing him as a sub , thinking he has nothing to offer , but he took his chances and that was praise worthy

and I cant seem to figure whats the obsession Zeman has with the Greek guy tacht , bradley was outta position and he was rather lost in the CM position

Epoto wrote:some observation
1- Gioc(the Gk) is doing a good job and he has good positioning , the positive is he shouts and that helps the CD's

2-Piris is making a good progress , he is getting better in every game

3-Roma wont lose the ball in opponent half as frequent as they used to , that helps for the counter attacks

4-kudas to Simone Perrotta , i used to ask questions when Enrique bringing him as a sub , thinking he has nothing to offer , but he took his chances and that was praise worthy

and I cant seem to figure whats the obsession Zeman has with the Greek guy tacht , bradley was outta position and he was rather lost in the CM position

1 - Agree on this and I think it helps that Goicoechea is South American and given the many encounters he's probably had with Brazilian teams, he likely knows enough Portuguese to communicate with Marquinhos and Castan and can obviously communicate with Piris being that they speak the same language. Stekelenburg generally had to communicate in English with his defense last season as he only knew Dutch. His Italian is said to have improved, with the 2 CBs in front of him still learning, communication has been tougher for him still.

2 - Disagree. Piris has looked better in general, but he hasn't faced much of a threat down his flank these past 3 games since he faced Lazio and looked rather woeful. Fiorentina have some good flank players like Cuadrado and its against players like this that Piris needs to have good games, he hasn't done that yet so I still remain ultimately unconvinced by him.

3- Yeah that does seem apparent that we're getting better with using the ball in the opponents half, but we still don't have a lot of patience, which to be fair, isn't what Zeman really wants anyway. That's why we saw a lot of hoofball in the first half, we were trying to force the issue and against a defensively solid side like Siena, that doesn't work all that well. We needed patience and guile, which is more in-line with Luis Enrique's tactics, that would've broken down Siena more likely in the first half, but once they tired Zeman's approach as well as our superior fitness saw us through this one.

4 - Yup, as Mike said...the man is a real professional and has never made trouble despite Zeman's utter lack of faith in him at the beginning of the season. His goal was fantastic as it was a reward for keeping his head down and working his ass off to get back in this team. If Totti at 36 still has something to offer this side, then so does Perrotta. I look forward to seeing more of these types of cameos from him. Now we just need to get Burdisso in on the act, after already showing signs that he's beginning to understand Zeman's defensive system. If we can get these 2 players contributing regularly from the bench or starting, that's invaluable depth that we can call on.

As for Tachtsidis, you have to remember that it was his gorgeous ball that started the move for Destro's first goal. For a big lad, he's got wonderful vision and technique in the pass and with his big frame and strength, I actually do see what Zeman see's in him. This kid could very well become a complete midfielder if he can temper his challenges and avoid bad cards. People like to compare Tachtsidis to Bradley, but I think a more apt comparison is with DDR. Tachtsidis is a very similar player in that he's just as combative as well as having the ability to pick a pass. Bradley has the same qualities as well, but not to Tachtsidis' level I'd wager. Zeman knows this and that's why the Greek more often than not, gets that central position.

Some good points from the both of you. Firstly, on Tachtsidis, I'm not a huge fan of the guy, but I could see why Zeman favors him. Zeman likes Tachtsidis in the center of midfield because he's a constructive player, one with good vision and very good at picking out a killer ball forward (here we could use Verratti as an example). On the other hand, Zeman sees Bradley and De Rossi as more destructive players, players that will break up opponent moves and launch themselves forward off the ball, therefore not suited to sitting back and acting as registas. For this reason, he moved Bradley to the right against Siena and had him attack those wide positions as I mentioned and put Tachtsidis back in the middle, the only position he could occupy on this team given his lack of pace. My confusion on this issue lies elsewhere. I personally don't understand why Zeman doesn't want to use Pjanic in that position instead of Tachtsidis. It's the Bosnian's natural position and, if supported by two solid players, could excel there. He's also capable of holding his ground and covering well. The only issue I could see here is that Pjanic tends to dwell on the ball at times, almost like Pizarro used to, but if our forwards free themselves up quick, he'll pick that pass forward.

Agreed that Goicoechea is doing well, or at least better since that derby howler. The only issue I have with him is that he sometimes hesitates when charging out and claiming the ball which is odd since one of the reasons we got him in the first place was his aggressiveness.

speaking of Stek speaking English , the video of Orlando when him, pjanic and Bradley speak English is really funny , i cant put the link but search


AS ROMA DISNEY: Stekelenburg, Pjanic, Bradley!