Re: Totti: "I can't stay at Roma like this"

by Micah_12 Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:36 pm

I don't think Spalletti no longer trusts him, especially how much history they have together. I just think spalletti is trying to prepare this team for the future without depending so much on Totti. Totti doesn't demand to start every game he was cool with Garcia, didn't get much playing time but when called up he's ready and is willing to give it his all. The Marid game might of felt like a "charity sub" as some have called it and that's where his disappointment comes from. Totti was brought in the last 20 min and I think if he was to start the game or brought on earlier the result might have been different. He's rumored to be at the stands today which is great.

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:41 pm

Yeah I was going off the comments about lack of rapport between them, and that he has been not been called up for today's game

by Micah_12 Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:47 pm

He was initally supposed to start until Spalletti found out about the interview. He asked him to leave the training session this morning. I agree Totti should have had this talk with him privately, and spalletti felt like he should take some action. I really hope they can move on from this, it's not good for the team.

by titosantill Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:08 pm

totti just acts and can be very undiplomatic. even the way he falls out with coaches and they get sacked isn't as shrewd as other players who achieve legendary status and politic behind the scenes...he is direct, sometimes too direct, which can be a good or bad thing. most players in his position would have thought this out carefully....didn't di carnio once say if you asked totti about fights in the middle east, he'll think you're referencing somewhere in midfield (a low blow by di carnio imo, i believe totti's smarter than that)

by RealGunner Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:25 pm

Roma director Baldissoni on Totti: “This was not a punitive gesture. Totti is here”

Roma director on Totti: "he was in the locker room with his teammates until a few mins ago and he will be at our disposal from tomorrow.

by McLewis Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:19 pm

Welcome Micah. Good to see a Romanista join our community Smile

As for Totti - Both he and Poobah handled this wrong. They both have to take the blame for how this went down. If Totti felt this way, one would expect a player of his experience and stature to have this discussion with Poobah in private, if that hadn't already been done. And Poobah should not have discussed this in public with the media as well. His comments were pretty insensitive and he had to have known they would insult Totti. That said, he made the right call as no player is bigger than the team. He just should've gone about it a better way and handled Totti with more care. I would expect this of Garcia, but not of someone who has real history with the club like Poobah.

Furthermore, here were Spalletti's comments prior to the Palermo game, which puts this a bit more in context:

What do you think about Totti's remark to Spanish journalists that he doesn't count anymore?

“I rate Totti so highly as a player that I consider him the same way I consider everyone else. It's important that he feels he gets the same consideration as the others. This is a results game and to get results I have to find the right balance for the team. I'm sure his quality can be of immense help to us and he has to do that from within the team. He can't be too far away or the others will find it harder to follow him. He needs the team. I make my assessments based on all these things. Totti trained well this week. He's been training regularly apart from a few minor complaints and I think he's ready to play. At times I've contributed to making him not feel part of the group and it wasn't good for him or the team. He brings quality to the team and it all has to coincide. He's put in a lot of hard work recently so it could be the right time to see him start tomorrow. And that doesn't necessarily exclude Dzeko, otherwise people would start saying it's one or the other and that's just not true.”

While it's true Spalletti's relationship with Totti has no doubt waned a bit, but I don't think it has completely deteriorated as much as the media have said it has. The clearly have a lot of respect for each other.

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:43 pm

Btw Totti has no business making teenager-level mistakes airing his grievances to the public. Either he is quite stupid (to have been in this business for 20 something years and not learn that) or this is a manipulative ploy to get a contract extension.

I'm betting this is the later.

by McLewis Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:04 am

Well he has another year left anyway so I really don't know about the contract extension being the goal here. He has said in the past though that he'll keep playing until his body says stop so perhaps he doesn't think he's there yet.

by Micah_12 Mon Feb 22, 2016 5:20 am

Thanks for the welcome McLewis, I have been following this forum for a long time now, thought I might as well join.

by free_cat Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:58 am

Didn't he announce retirement at the end of this season though???

by McLewis Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:15 am

No, he didn't. It's still just speculation. His wife appears to have added to it in previous reports, but Totti himself has not confirmed it.

by McLewis Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:51 pm

Looks like I'm wrong. Mauro Baldissoni (our General Manager) just confirmed Totti's contract runs out in June and then it's 6 years as a director.

Looks like you're onto something BC.

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