Roma v Palermo: Doh!

By: Martha | December 17th, 2006

Los Totti. Well, that was a thrashing. It was a fun game to watch, though, because until the third goal, Palermo were standing tall and fighting like hell to get a toehold on the game, even as Roma dominated long stretches; the sort of game the glib announcers we all hate might call “a war,” or “a man’s game.” (And, glib or not, just this once they’d be right.) It wasn’t as if Palermo played badly, more like Roma just wouldn’t let them play well. Palermo were unable to control the ball in the midfield, so all they did was knock it long for Amauri or, in the first half, give it to Simplicio so he could get busy from long-ish range. It was hard to tell if Palermo went out intending to play deep and counter, or if the Roma pressure was such that Corini was forced to play as essentially a fifth defender, rather than directing play as he normally does. I sort of think it was the former, since Palermo came out in the second half with a sightly higher midfield, consciously trying to go through Corini. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Until he was substituted, the captain was strangely behind the game for most of the night, neither passing accurately nor defending with the stoutness we expect from him.

Luckily Guana, AKA Bald Man #2 (Bresciano is #3, in case you were wondering, and even the Italians can’t tell them apart — when the Three Bald Men are playing on a line, the broadcasters just shout names, hoping they might get it right.), stepped up and filled Corini’s shoes for much of the game. (Eventually, even Corini was giving him the ball rather than trying to play it long.) As far as I’m concerned, apart from the periodically heroic Fontana, Guana was by far Palermo’s best player: He made countless crucial tackles and was everywhere in the midfield, tracking down Roma attackers and spraying the ball out wide for Palermo’s periodic forays towards Doni’s goal. If it hadn’t been for his toughness and Fontana’s reactions, it could easily have been five or six.

Finally: Why, just as I was mentally applauding Mancini for riding Zaccardo’s tackle before his second goal rather than going down and trying to draw a penalty, did the Brazilian turn around and dive to get Simplico sent off? When they already had the game well in hand? That’s just cold.