Back to spoon-feeding the keepers
By: Kamran |
2 Comments
“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” — E. M. Forster
There are few sights in the world more joyful than seeing Er Pupone exploit goalie’s decision-making abilities with a Cucchiaio. Sure, Amantino did it last season too, with a tougher one against a substantially better keeper. But therein lies the difference. For Mancini, or anyone else, you can count the number of lobs they’ve scored on your fingers. For Francesco, you can use all of your fingers — and toes for that matter — and you still won’t be anywhere near the exact number (don’t bother actually trying the enumeration, it’s pretty close to tangent of pi/2, or so I have heard). Hence, even though this one wasn’t as orgasmic as the one that still gives Julio Cesar the nightmares, it was particularly fascinating purely for nostalgic reasons.
And, bow.
Category: Totti
What goes around, comes around (read as: pseudo Deja Vu)
By: Kamran | 4 Comments
Alberto’s dummy assist, Francesco’s freekick leaving a tap-in, Panucci scoring the opener and Super Mirko not scoring despite being orgasmic. Rings any bells? All of that happened previous year too against the very same team, Reggina. Except for the fact that Roma wasn’t in a crisis heading into those games last season.
Totti’s fitness level is increasing, and on a scale of 1-10 I would rate it as 3±5 right now. He seems to be running well, the touch and the vision is there — evident from the through ball to Perrotta — however, whenever he strikes the ball hard, I feel a gulp surging through my throat. The only person who knows how fit Totti really is Totti himself. And his judgment is clouded by his passion for playing again. That freekick which was parried in Perrotta’s path was an absolute rocket. But should he really be firing on all cylinders with a recently operated knee?
I really don’t know the answer to that question. I don’t think I want to either.
Category: TottiThe Ankle and the Miss-hape
By: Kamran | 4 Comments
Let me state the obvious: Terry’s miss in Moscow was infinitely more tormenting for him than Jesus’ one for him. This was Supercoppa. And while every Romanista would have been thoroughly pleased with another one, very few would be aggravated at Totti for his penalty.
No. What mattered more was the knock he took from Maicon and the fact that he won’t be playing in Derby del Sole this weekend. In my last post I said that I was worried ever since he came on against Frosinone because of his knack to return to the game in half amount of the predicted healing time. Please, Francesco, if resting you for even another *month* is better for your health, we won’t mind it at all. You don’t have to play against Palermo by any means. You don’t even have to play in the group stages (I’m pretty sure rest of the boys can make it past Bordeaux and Cluj at least). You need not worry about the missed penalty or the Capocannonaire title for next season. Worry about that ankle instead. I think I may have to compile a list of injuries he has sustained over the past 2.5 years and see how many of them are on the same leg. If the answer is staggering and does prove that he got more of them because of having minimal rest, I may get some guys from Offside and fly to Italy to take over medical duties at Trigoria by shooting down all the current staff first.
Category: TottiReturn of the King
By: Kamran | 9 Comments
Replacing Stefano Okaka Chuka, the Captain was back and … he ran (for those of us who weren’t losing our sleeps only because we had his pics of running on Trigoria stairs, this is huge). He also threaded a long first-touch cross to the wing (typical Totti comeback — brings back memories of his back-heel pass against Inter in the Coppa final after that ankle operation).
It would be quite moronic to “rate” Totti’s game performance against Frosinone. The very fact that he was back on the pitch mere 4 months after his injury is all that mattered. When he took a tackle and grabbed his ankle, I’m sure a collective heart-attack for thousands of Romanistas was pretty eminent. He got up and claimed in the interview that he is OK: we’re all living in an Utopia.
And I still am nervous about his desire to perform at the Supercoppa — or even the early league games. The guy always comes back after almost only the half time of his predicted healing period has passed. Even though, in words of Chris, Totti playing at his 70% is still better than most midfielders playing at 120%, we all want to have Totti playing for the full season. Not to forget his Christmas comeback against Sampdoria, he was vintage, but within a few months he was back on the stretcher.
Great news, but invokes precautionary reflexes. Sort of like giving it an unprotected go. It would feel great, nevertheless it’ll leave you biting your nails afterwards.
Category: TottiKicking Off
By: Kamran | 12 Comments
Actually, I was pretty surprised at being given the chance to author this blog. Roma’s Offside blog is currently the most popular one on this portal, and there are legions of active and passionate commentators in there. And so, the fact that there still isn’t a Totti-specific blog months after Offside started hosting player specific ones is nothing short of appalling.
This blog will be centered on one and one person only: Jesus. Also known in certain circles as The Gladiator, The Prince of Italian Football, The Child of Gold, the King of Rome and the Cure for Cancer. I’ll be keeping this place up-to-date with news concerning him and will be inviting fellow Romans to comment on His Majesty’s previous goals that I’ll be posting. Of course, there will be other blog stuff, such as polls etc. for recent performances too. All in all, this is a universe which has its focal point on that particular #10.
The timing for Offside administrators’ approval of this blog couldn’t have been better. His Highness will be most probably gracing pitch against Frosinone at 2030 CET. Fans have been told that Totti is indeed fit and has even scored a goal after dribbling past Artur at Trigoria (although I’m not sure if that means more than dribbling past a goal post either). No matter how much we drool about seeing Totti back in action, I don’t want to see him playing for more than 10-15 minutes. Everyone knows how crazily passionate the guy has always been to return from his injuries (including some very serious ones), and that hasn’t exactly been the best thing for his health in the long term.
Category: Totti
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