City Must Go For De Rossi The Roman Soldier

VMC's Lorna Silva talks tactics and how Roma's Daniele De Rossi could breathe life and options into the City side come the deep mid-winter...

The first thing that springs to my mind when watching 29 year old Italy international Daniele De Rossi is a 'Roman soldier.' A man who protects to his utmost ability and is part of an army. What better army should he join than the Blue Army!? He is one of the best midfielders in the world (apart from, of course, City's own!!!).

His track record so far is quite impressive; he has the strength to be able to kick hard and fast, has perfect passing agility, and the ability to play in both attack and defensive positions. To top this, he can also score from 40 yards.....a complete midfielder.

In February 2012 he signed a 5 year contract with Roma which tied him to the club until 2017. This was a blow to Roberto Mancini as he had his sights set on De Rossi for two seasons but alas Mr Marwood refused to part with any of City's money at the crucial time and he slipped out of our grasp. However, Mancini appears to have got his way and we are on course for paying just under £24m for De Rossi to join The Champions.

There were times that we sorely missed another midfielder with the skill that Yaya Touré possesses and I cannot think of a better midfielder to replace Yaya this season than De Rossi whilst he is away during the Cup of African Nations tournament.

De Rossi would be the person to re-arrange, shall we say 'the state of play.' Many clubs note and target opponent's ways of playing. We, as does every team, have a couple of options open when commencing a game; you have the 'getting the feel of your opponents' whereby you bide your time and get a feel of how your opponents are playing then break down their defences during the second half. You then have the other style of playing, termed by myself as 'seek and destroy' tactics. Manchester City, of late, have been known, and come to that, will always be known for 'saving the world in 5 minutes' using seek and destroy tactics.

These tactics can be good but on the other hand they can be seen as our achilles heel. Too many clubs have observed this style and quite frequently have been known to set up camp in the goal box! It's so infuriating, and in my view, tacky and desperate, quite clearly this can only be seen as a last ditch attempt at preventing a goal being scored.

However, a new game player and soldier to our Blue Army would be a perfect addition and solution. Somebody completely new who can change the formation and play alongside Silva. Somebody for Merlin to bounce off.

We need somebody who can distract the opposing side as they know we are going to be missing Yaya (and Kolo come to that) ...do they then keep their eye on Tevez, Aguero, Silva, Zabaleta...or de Rossi?!

This season is going to be extra hard, we will be attacked from all sides. We need to defend our title to our utmost and attack at our finest...Daniele de Rossi can help us do this, after all, he is a Roman Soldier.

Daniele De Rossi A.S.Roma 2011/2012


UPCOMING GAMES:
all times East Manchester

Sat 04 Aug 20h30 Wolfsburg, Volkswagen Arena, Friendly (ESPN TV)
Sun 05 Aug 19h00 Limerick, Jackman Park, Friendly
Sun 12 Aug 13h30 Chelsea, Villa Park, Community Shield
Sa 18 Aug 15h00 Southampton, The Etihad, PL
Sa 25 Aug 15h00 Liverpool, Anfield, PL
Sa 01 Sep 17h30 QPR, The Etihad, PL

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES:

The draw for the 2012/13 Champions League Group Stage will take place in Monaco on Thursday, 30th August. The opening round of games will kick off in the week commencing Monday, 17th September.

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