I think the team Ranieri will select will be
Manninger
Grygera Legro Mellberg De Ceglie
Marchionni Poulsen Marchisio Salihamidzic
DP Amauri
Also here is an interesting article i seen on football365.com, very unlike Jose to miss a chance to battle and be controversial and hog the limelight.
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Jose Ducks A Showdown With Ranieri
Posted 24/09/08 10:13EmailPrintSave
Normal service has been resumed. The big teams have all returned to winning ways and yes, that includes you Milan. And we have two ex-Chelsea managers guiding their teams on top of Serie A. Both Juventus and Inter have seven points and each have an attacker in excellent form - Amauri for Juve and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Inter.
Amauri scored the only goal of the game away to Cagliari as Juve now have their four main strikers reduced to three for at least five months. David Trezeguet needs an operation on his knee that should keep him out until the end of February. This increases the pressure on Iaquinta to step up to the plate, as Carlo Ancelotti might say, and make up the shortfall in goals. Alex Del Piero still looks in good form, as anyone who saw his free-kick against Zenit in the Champions League would testify.
Inter comfortably won away to Torino with a thunderbolt from full-back Maicon and a classic counter-attack goal by Ibrahimovic. They took their foot off the pedal for the final few minutes and let Torino score a consolation goal.
But a more curious thing happened after the match. Sky's interviews after the match often involve a split screen with two mangers able to swap platitudes and niceties. But this time the two managers were indeed Ranieri and Mourinho. As soon as Mourinho realised who his other half would be, he scarpered only to return after Ranieri had finished his interview. Not normal behaviour for one who isn't scared of confrontation.
Maybe it has its origins in the few barbs exchanged between the two at the start of the season when Ranieri commented that he doesn't need to go around telling eveyone how good he is. To which Mourinho replied that this 70-year-old is too old to change his way of managing and has only won tin-pot trophies. Seconds out, gentlemen please!
Roma finally banished talk of crisis, well for the time being at least, with a 3-0 victory in the Olimpico over Reggina. All the talk beforehand was of Luciano Spalletti possibly leaving Roma and even some rumours of him learning English in preparation for a future job.
The return of Perrotta to full fitness and Totti slowly regaining form bode well for Roma. They need to add Juan and Mexes to their defence to gain their stability at the back. The next ten days will show whether the Roma from last season can make a reappearance, as they must play against Genoa, Atalanta and Bordeaux in the Champions League. Just a sour note that maybe Chelsea fans should take note of - a Roma Ultra was arrested after a Reggina fan was stabbed near the stadium. Seems some things just don't change...
And finally, no it isn't a story about a cute animal, but about a resurgent Milan beating previous league leaders Lazio 4-1. Ancelotti's dropped two balls, golden ones that is, as both Sheva and Ronaldinho were sitting on the bench. A more balanced attack of Borriello and Pato with Kakà playing in the hole behind were too sharp for Lazio.
Two netbusters from Zambrotta and Kakà put the icing on the cake and takes some of the pressure off Carlo Ancelotti but not all of it. Before the game Silvio Berlusconi insisted that the job of the Milan manager 'wasn't in doubt but that he mustn't sleep soundly at night but must keep well awake to guide this team". And after the victory he said, "I'll be back here next Sunday for the derby (against Inter) also because the lads have promised me three wins in a row for my birthday on the 29th of September."
Will Il Cavaliere (Berlusconi) be smiling next week or will it be more a case of, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to?
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Maybe secretly he fears Ranieri and Juve