We Need Everyone To Keep Up With Inter - Spalletti

Despite the absence of no less than five first team players, Roma had a relatively easy afternoon against Catania at the Stadio Olimpico. With the 2-0 victory, they moved within four points of leaders Serie A Inter, who play tonight against Parma at home.

Coach Luciano Spalletti commented on his team's victory as follows: "In a long league season, it's inevitable that some players don't always deliver the same level of performance.

"That goes for [striker Mirko] Vucinic, who was initially praised and later partly dismissed by the crowd, but also for [Ludovic] Giuly, who's currently in great form. But we must realise that to keep up with Inter, we need everyone.

"When some first choice players are missing, it's only right that the other players are given some time to play.

"Perhaps we have lost a few points too many," Spalletti admitted, "but I can see we are not the only ones, consequently I think it's right to say that this league season is more balanced than the previous one.

"Until now I'm quite satisfied: rememeber that we are still in both the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, a competition which I value."

Vucinic Is Nervous - Spalletti

The Italian coach will play the forward again as Francesco Totti has been ruled out of the game with the flu bug that has been sweeping through the club's squad.

Vucinic is nervous about appearing again as he wants to improve and Spalletti even tried joking with him about the whole saga to take his mind off it.

“I joked with him about Wednesday’s performance, but he is not relaxed,” confessed Spalletti.

“A fortnight ago people wanted to force me to play him alongside Totti, now he is jeered. Vucinic is a great player and he just needs time to hit form."

Spalletti then explained that an award to honour Totti's 200 official goals for the club was due to be presented to him on Sunday, but he will not be around.

“We can only compliment Totti for the contribution he has given to this side. Unfortunately he won’t be able to play, but we have won without him and will do so again," the trainer explained.

“The flu has gone through the locker room, some got it early and some later on.

“Rodrigo Taddei had the symptoms on Friday and is only able to do light training, while Simone Perrotta is starting to develop them. Matteo Ferrari is alright and could train normally.”

Guily: Barça Want Us To Eliminate Madrid Former Barcelona winger Ludovic Giuly has revealed that many of his former team-mates have urged his new tea

Madrid travel to Rome for the first-leg of their Champions League first knockout round tie on the 19th February and Giuly has revealed that he has already been receiving messages of support from his friends at Barcelona.

"I have received pressures from my friends in Barcelona for us to eliminate Real Madrid in the Champions League. We will do all we can to get through and we can obtain it if we are all in a good state of mind," he told Sport.es.

Having watched a number of Barça games on television since moving to Italy, Giuly expressed his surprise that the so called 'big-four' of Messi, Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Henry have not played more games together so far this season.

"Barça is a great club, with great players, but I do not know why we are not seeing them all play."

Giuly seems to be enjoying his time in the Italian capital, but is less enamoured with the lack of supporters at away games.

"I am content to play in Italy. I just find it bad that supporters cannot follow their teams away from home."

He is, however, thoroughly enjoying playing alongside Francesco Totti and spoke favourably of the Roma's fans hero.

"He is surely one of the most complete players in the world. There are only six or seven like him. In my opinion, he is one of the best five in Europe. It is perfectly possible to compare him to Ronaldinho, Messi and Henry," he concluded.

Spalletti Tips Hat To Inter AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti has conceded that it will take something very special for his team to overhaul white-hot

With just one loss this season, the second-placed Giallorossi are having a strong campaign by any measure. They still find themselves seven points behind the defending champions, however, who are yet to lose a single game this campaign and have shown no signs of letting up.


"It's clear that it's going to be very hard to catch Inter," admitted Spalletti. "We will not give up but we must applaud what others do.

"If Inter continue to win and we are unable to catch them, we can only compliment them for their excellent campaign.

"But in order to reach Inter's level, we would need at least two or three top players."

Spalletti's concluding sentence was a thinly veiled message to the capital club's directors, who have yet to bring in a single new recruit this winter, choosing instead to concentrate all their efforts on convincing Amantino Mancini to stay on board. At least it appears that all their hard work in this regard will pay off, as the latest reports from Rome suggest that the Brazilian winger will put pen-to-paper on a new deal despite being heavily courted by the likes of Liverpool, Lyon and Manchester City.
Roma play host to Catania on Sunday, but without their inspirational skipper Francesco Totti who has come down with a nasty bout of the flu. Inter, in the meanwhile, entertain relegation threatened Parma.

Totti Out Of Catania Clash With Flu Roma talisman Francesco Totti has been struck down by flu and will not play in tomorrow’s Serie A match with Cata

Er Pupone made history in midweek when his double in the 4-0 Coppa Italia win over Torino took his career tally of goals for the Giallorossi to 200.


However Totti will not be able to set his sights on any more landmarks just yet as he has been struck down by a virus and will be staying at home.


It has been a frustrating season for Totti in this sense as the 31-year-old missed six weeks of the campaign in November and December due to an ankle injury.


Roma are without a number of first-choice players against Catania, as Brazilian defender Juan is injured, while Christian Panucci and Max Tonetto are suspended.


Coach Luciano Spalletti is certain to field Mirko Vucinic as the lone-frontman, likely supported by Rodrigo Taddei, Simone Perrotta and Amantino Mancini.


However Frenchman Ludovic Giuly may force his way into the line-up after some fine recent form.


Catania are in confident mood ahead of tomorrow, following two impressive 1-1 home draws against Juventus and Milan in the last seven days.

 

Totti And De Rossi Are Global Top 5 Players – Cagni Former Empoli coach Gigi Cagni has hailed Roma’s Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi as being am

Cagni may not be sitting on a bench right now, but the veteran coach is still held in high esteem by the Italian media. As such, ‘romanews.eu’ has reported his declarations on who he reckons to be the best players in the world.

“The five best players in the world are Totti, Kaka, Buffon, Maicon and De Rossi,” commented Cagni.

“The most important thing about Francesco (Totti) is that he's improved year after year from a mental point of view, because technically he was already a phenomenon as a kid.

“In my opinion he can go higher yet, and his career end will be an important one,” he added. “He will understand that he must not play 60 games anymore, but instead just the 30 most important ones - he will win them on his own.

“De Rossi is also an extraordinary player,” he concluded.

Totti Is The Best Player In Italy – Giuly Roma winger Ludovic Giuly has labelled team-mate Francesco Totti as the “best player in Italy”, while he al

Giallorossi hero Totti reached yet another landmark in midweek when his two strikes against Torino in the Coppa Italia took the star to 200 career goals for the club.


"Francesco is the best player in Italy and one of the most complete in Europe,” said Giuly with complete conviction.


“He has demonstrated this also on Wednesday, if any proof was needed.”


Totti’s double helped Roma to a 4-0 thrashing of the Granata and booked their place in the quarter-finals of the cup, 5-3 on aggregate.


“We are pleased to have gone through in the Cup, because we do not want to prioritise anything,” Giuly pointed out.


“We believe in the Scudetto, it is a goal that is still attainable. Just like the Champions League obviously."


Giuly also spoke about the French national team. The diminutive wideman has not featured for Les Bleus since 2005 and he believes there is a simple reason for this.


”I don’t think about a return to the national team. As long as Domenech is there then the doors will always be barred for me,” he snapped.

Mancini Is A Champion – Totti Roma captain Francesco Totti is desperate for Amantino Mancini to stay at the club after labelling the winger a ‘champi

The Brazilian’s future in the Eternal City is in huge doubt as contract negotiations to renew his current deal that runs out in 2009 have so far failed miserably.


Further talks between the player’s agent, Gilamr Veloz, and the Roma hierarchy are planned for this week, and Totti is hoping that they will prove fruitful


“Mancini is a champion,” declared Totti. “And champions are always beautiful to keep.”


Totti and Mancini both scored brilliant goals yesterday as Roma came from behind to beat Atalanta 2-1 at the Stadio Azzurri d’Italia.


This weekend the Giallorossi host Catania at the Stadio Olimpico and Totti is hoping to score his landmark 200th goal for the club.


Er Pupone has hit the back of the net 198 times since making his debut as a 16-year-old in 1993.


“I hope to score a double next Sunday against Catania so I can celebrate 200 goals in front of our home fans,” Totti revealed.

 

Doni Tells Milan: I Want To Stay At Roma Alexander Doni has admitted that he is honoured by Milan’s interest in him, but says that he has no intentio

The Brazilian has established himself as one of Serie A’s best goalkeepers over the past couple of seasons, and this has led to speculation that Milan would try to sign him as a replacement for the disaster-prone Nelson Dida.


“The fact that Milan have shown interest in me makes me happy,” the 28-year-old admitted.


“However I am happy in Rome and I don’t want to move. My contract expires in 2009 and there is still time to renew. I have no problems.”


Doni was in action yesterday during Roma’s 2-1 win at Atalanta, however the Giallorossi remain seven points behind leaders Inter in the race for the Scudetto.


“Everyone talks just about Inter,” Doni complained to Sky Sport Italia.


“But in my opinion there are three other teams that ultimately may win [the Scudetto]. There is Roma, Juventus and Fiorentina.


Doni also looked ahead to next month’s mouth-watering Champions League tie with Spanish champions Real Madrid.

”Against Real it will be a very even match,” said Doni.


“They have the game that can open you up and I am convinced that it will be a match rich in quality.”

Mancini Set For Contract Re-Negotiations The chances of Amantino Mancini have been boosted after it was revealed that the player’s agent will meet wi

It had seemed inevitable that Mancini would leave Roma either this month or in the summer after discussions to extend his contract, which runs out in 2009, completely collapsed.


Roma have so far refused to break their salary cap to meet Mancini’s demands, leading to interest from a host of clubs including Liverpool, Lyon and Manchester City.


However there is still some hope remaining that the skilful winger could stay as new talks have been arranged for this week.


“There is a problem with the contract talks, but it is just a financial issue,” Pradè revealed on the Roma Channel. “Mancini’s professionalism has never been under question.

“In the next week, on Tuesday or Wednesday, we will meet his agent Gilmar Veloz and go forward with discussions.

“It’s only normal that there are things to talk about as everyone tries to protect their own interests.

“The important thing is that this doesn’t have an effect in the dressing room. These kind of things can cause unrest, so we need to manage it well.”


Mancini was in fine form yesterday afternoon, scoring a thunderous winner in Roma’s 2-1 win at Atalanta.

Mancini Set For Contract Renewal Talks After days of speculation, Roma's sporting director Daniele Prade has confirmed that Mancini will seek talks w

With Amantino Mancini's agent set to be in Bergamo today to watch his client play against Atalanta, the stage was already set for a meeting between the Brazilian's representatives and the Roma hierarchy.

Finally, then, Roma's director of sports has confirmed that this will be the case - and at the highest level. That said, it won't be taking place in Bergamo.

Daniele Prade told the press, "We will have a meeting in Rome, and Dr. Sensi [club president] will be present."

Everything points towards a discussion of a new contract, then, for the winger.

Mancini was unable to comment on the incident today as he was deep in preparation for the Serie A encounter.