I went to the Stadio Olimpico the other day to watch the Roma-Cagliari match. I'd seen Roma play midweek in the Champions League, thought they were far, far better than 14th place, and wanted to check them out in flesh. Also, the tickets are surprisingly cheap - €15 a piece.
It was a little disappointing for a 3-2 win. Epic result, and very dramatic (Roma equalised in the 80th minute and scored the winner in the 87th), but they really shouldn't have been in that position. They dominated possession and hit the goal posts twice. Caligiari's goals were against the run of play. They were weak, jammy goals as well - I think breaking an offside trap, and a deflected shot.
What was irritating was that Roma lacked a genuine striker. They had all this great link-up play, but they didn't have anyone up front to focus their passing. Totti's not a striker, and Baptista played like he did for the Arsenal. It made for a strangely Arsenalesque experience - a lot of pretty passing and not a lot of end result. A lot of missed chances, too. They improved substantially once they subbed in Montella and Vucinic.
But the thing that really surprised me was the number of goals in Serie A. 3-2 to Roma, 4-2 to Inter, 4-3 to Lazio (I think), and later on, 4-2 to Juve against Milan. Some from the Juve game were great goals (Amauri's chest-down effort was impressive), but still.... it's a lot of goals. What's happened to the Seria A?
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"I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it."
- Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch
- Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch
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Books to read back home
- Anthony Lloyd - My War Is Gone, I Miss It So
- Doris Lessing - The Golden Notebook
- Franz Kafka - The Burrow
- Gordon Mathews - Hong Kong, China: Learning to belong to a nation
- Malcolm Gladwell - Blink
- Mark Danielewski - House of Leaves
- Multatuli - Max Havelaar
- Peter Ackroyd - London
- Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot
- Walter Scott - Waverly
- Wangari Maathi - Green Belt Movement
2 comments:
Oh man, I'm jealous. Have you decided where you get to spend x-mas?
From what I've seen the Serie A refs seem to punish defenders and reward diving attackers more than any league.
Also, every good defender in the world is currently playing in the EPL.
If I let things drift along, I'll either be in Milan or Venice. It depends whether, after Florence, I turn left to La Spezia, or right to Bologna.
If I'm proactive, I'll book a flight from Milan to Barcelona (with a train to Valencia for New Year's) or a flight to Dublin for a couple of weeks. I'm starting to like the idea of Ireland. That Irish accent is addictive.
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