Rob Tait is back with the latest episode of Totti’s team. It’s the end of season one and Roma have a mighty scrap on their hands to pinch a Champions League spot, can they finish the season strongly?

Back for the final chapter of this season. Since we were knocked out of the cup right at the beginning of the season we only have league fixtures. In part two we used our fresh legs to our advantage by going on a strong run. We finished part two lying in 2nd, a single point behind Juve in 1st with 11 games to go. Hopefully Champions league football wii distract them and they will take their eye off the league

Valentine’s day disaster, it was all luck our 4-0 victory against Fiorentina at the end of part 2 was the crest of a wave. The team spent the evening of the 14th schmoozing their ladies (or maybe gents we are a liberal bunch here) into the night and a lack of sleep costs us dear with a 0-2 loss to Atalanta. We then host Empoli and smash them 5-1. We follow that up with with a back and forth affair with Lazio, a classic derby match that on the face of it is quite even except we can’t hit the target and they can resulting a 1-4 loss.

I sit everyone down. I lay it all on the line. We are back down to 6th. We have eight games left and we need European football or the dream is over. Totti and Pirri are back from injury this is the final run, we need some consistency and we need it now. Three of the eight games are toughies, Milan, Parma and Sampdoria. In my head I think we will probably walk them and then lose to Lecce because that’s just the way we play.

So first up we host Milan, it couldn’t go any better, we are 3:0 up before half time and then Milan switch to this formation in an attempt to get back into the game.

Kluivert as a sweeper is the sort of forward thinking football that will help Capello guide England to international success in the future …….. wait a minute.
Anyway we run out 4:1 winners so Capello can feed them the classic line of drawing the second half and all that.

Totti and Pirri Pirri are back from injury and I’m unstoppable again.

Well I was unstoppable for a game at least. Bisgaard is suspended again, he loves a yellow card, the squad are calling him the Dirty Dane.

Six games left and we are 5th.

The top four all seem to be playing each other at some point and the highest placed team I face is Sampdoria in 8th. I’m an odd combination of optimistic and pessimistic about this situation, which I think means I’m ambivalent but I’m not really sure.

Next up Piacenza followed by Lecce, and two wins 1-0 and 5-1 means that with four games left I am now into…

Still 5th!! Oh come on that can’t be right, I would scream but my 9 month old child is asleep on my left arm (you only need one hand to work a mouse) so I quietly mutter about how unfair life can be. I know this isn’t real life but sometimes it can feel like it. I have a friend who came to school once and swore blind Chelsea had signed Michael Owen because he had fallen asleep the night before while playing the game. He only got one A’ level but blagged his way into Uni, so it was probably all worth it for him in the end.

Ok back to Roma. A 3-0 victory in our next game against Sampdoria, YES COME ON! I mutter quietly, she is still asleep on my arm.

It’s very tight at the top, I can’t help thinking that 75% of my back four being Brazilian might have its drawbacks. My final three games are Bari away, Udinese at home and Vicenza away. I promise the boys Pizza and Gelato if we win our last three games.

Two victories in a row sees us move up to third, but Juve have already claimed the title. Parma however are faltering and I smell blood. They are 2nd on 71 points and we are 3rd with 70, if we can better their result 2nd is ours and Champions league ritches will follow (hopefully).

Yes, I’m fist pumping left right and centre, I can’t believe it. I really feel like we have over performed and I am probably happier than I would be if we had won the league. The season has been a roller coaster. I’ve been lucky with injuries and some players have performed way above what I expected.

A quick flick through the stats shows

The Dirty Dane, he must have a Dirtiness of 20 hidden behind his middle of the road aggression stat.

Here is the squad performance.

It’s a World Cup year so I’ll give a brief review of that in a moment, however this pops up.

He was only appointed in November, he probably spent too much time drinking Red Star and not enough time managing.
Real Madrid win the Champions League, standard.
Inter sack Simoni after a 7th place finish and replace him with Arrigo Sacchi and then this little bit of news tickles me.

If business brains take Virgin trains who knows what Dalglish is riding on.

The World Cup starts with Brazil beating Argentina 7-0 and ends with them beating Germany in the final. France lose in the quarters to England who lost to Brazil in the semis. Italy don’t call up Totti cos they are dicks, he was 2nd top scored in the league! But they do play my spicy left winger in every game. Good find League Scout 1. Italy lose in the other semi to Germany but beat England in the 3rd place play off. I spend the World Cup completing a number of business deals ready for season two. I’ll share the results later. All that is left is to show the Italian Awards and an odd retirement.

A bit of research tells me that in 98 Helguera should only be 23!

I’m off to summer in Iceland, I’ve heard rumours of a young DM/FC making a name for himself. Join me next week for season 2, can we improve on second place and will we qualify for the Champions League proper.

Rob will be representing Republic of Ireland in this summer’s CM9798 World Cup! Make sure you are caught up on that here. In the meantime, you can follow Rob on Twitter @Taitanator