Serie A featured match: No Roman holiday for lowly Reggina

European Leagues / Dan Fitch / 08 February 2008 / Leave a Comment

Dan "The Betting Man" tells us why Totti and co should have too much in the tank for Reggina in Betfair's Live Video offering on Saturday night

The knowledge that you'll always be second best to another, can destroy a man. Salieri was driven to madness by the brilliance of Mozart. Jimmy White could never beat whatever opponent stood between him and the World Championship, even when it was John Parrott. And 'Saint' must have always had the awful truth gnawing away at him. That people only really watched for Greavsie.

The division between first placed Inter Milan and second placed Roma, is increasingly looking like the division between The Sopranos and Hollyoaks. This Saturday sees Roma take on Reggina, as they try to bridge the ever widening gap. Unfortunately, Inter are facing Catania this weekend, so the best Roma can really hope for is that they can peg back a bit of goal difference. All this futile action can be seen via the technological miracle that is Betfair Live Video.

The building up of Roma's fragile ego, was not helped by their midfielder Alberto Aquilani proclaiming that he 'could see himself in the midfield of Roberto Mancini'. The one stumbling block between Aquilani and a move to the San Siro is the fact that he's Italian. Inter's current policy towards helping their national team, is not unlike the philosophy of Arsene Wenger towards the England side. Now if only Aquilani could find himself an Argentinian passport...

Roma coach Luciano Spalleti has more or less admitted defeat to Inter, claiming that the Milan club can only throw away the title now. The difference between the two sides was only too obvious last weekend, as Roma had an off day and lost 3-0 to Sienna, whilst Inter had an off day and were reduced to ten men, but still held on for a 1-0 win over Empoli.

This was the third time that Inter have had a player sent off in the first half, in the last four matches. Despite these setbacks, they've managed to remain unbeaten, though cynics would say that with the referee generally on their side, they were merely reduced from twelve men to eleven. One thing is sure. Roma could have had the referee, the mafia and the big man upstairs on their side, and they still wouldn't have beaten Sienna.

Unlike Tony Blair, Roma hate going to Tuscany. So far this season Roma have visited the Tuscan region to meet Firenze, Empoli and Livorno, with every match ending in a draw. They couldn't even get that against Sienna, who it must be said, played out of their skins. Roma were particularly poor though, with their defence giving woeful individual performances.

This uncharacteristic victory, allowed Sienna to pull out of the relegation zone, with Reggina taking their place in the bottom three, having lost 3-1 at home to Torino. As bad as their home form is, their away record is even worse. Reggina have yet to win on the road this season, though they have managed to draw six of their games and only lose four times.

Reggina may have Stephen Makinwa available for selection against Roma. He was signed on from Lazio during the transfer window, but has been on African Nations Cup duty with Nigeria. Makinwa's goals record doesn't indicate that his arrival will see Reggina fly up the table and it seems likely that Nicola Amoruso will remain their most potent goal threat.

Upfront for Roma, Spalleti remains intent on keeping Totti and Vucinic separated, as if they were naughty schoolboys. His reluctance to pair his talented strikers, even for games at home to lowly opposition (we're talking about you Reggina) is somewhat baffling. Despite this reluctance throw caution to the wind, I can't see Roma failing to take care of Reggina fairly comfortably.

Unfortunately a price of [1.24] for a Roma win is a little short, with the draw [6.4] and a whopping price of [23] available for Reggina's first league win of the season. A half time/full time win for Roma at [1.71] is better value, as they surely have a point to prove in this game. Even second best should be able to take care of eighteenth best. Shouldn't they?