After the first five Serie A matches, the Eusebio Di Francesco' s team got only 5 points and it's unexpectedly in 14th place of ranking. Slow defense, low athletic condition and scant grit. Players from last night are in seclusion in Trigoria.
AS Roma team and its supporters are going through a really difficult period.
Yesterday, at the Stadio Dall'Ara of Bologna, a very disappointing performance was shown against a team certainly not impossible to face.
Bologna FC of Mister Filippo Inzaghi had never been able to score in the league before this match and yesterday they brought home a convincing and concrete 2-0, without ever going too much in trouble.
A fact that makes understand well what's the current situation of AS Roma.
They were hit at the first opportunity and were unable to win the physical duel with the opponent, despite a ball possession of 70%, absolutely sterile and unsuccessful.
This was not, however, the only wrong match of this start of the season.
It seems that the team has structural and emotional problems, which will not be easy to solve.
So, let's analyze 5 causes of this current critical situation.
#1 - ATHLETIC CONDITION
Although the team has been training since the beginning of July with almost all the strongest players available, the athletic condition is the most urgent AS Roma problem.
Both in the Serie A matches and in Champions League against Real Madrid, we saw a team in difficulty as regards the athletic capacity.
Even when, as against Torino FC and Atalanta, the result was recovered in the last phases of the match, it was not for a higher vivacity than the opponents, but more for a nervous reaction of the players.
In addition, Roma is only in 12th place among the teams that have more ran km until now and none of its players is in the first positions in this ranking.
The only one to be present is Kevin Strootman, in 13th place, but as we know, the Dutch midfielder was sold to Olympique Marseille after the first round of the championship.
In the current squad, the first to appear is Diego Perotti with 10,916 meters ran in the only game played, that against Bologna FC.
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#2 - SOLD PLAYERS
Accepted the fact that it was impossible to refuse the 70 million euros offered by Liverpool FC for the Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Director Monchi failed in the difficult feat of adequately replacing one of the strongest goalkeepers in the world.
Not because Robin Olsen is not a good goalkeeper, on the contrary, he was one of the best against Real Madrid. But he certainly does not have the personality and extraordinary qualities of his colleague.
A very different reasoning concerns Radja Nainggolan. The Belgian midfielder was one of the best players in the last season, even if he was not perfectly integrated into Di Francesco's schemes. Yet he was sold without too much thoughts to FC Inter of the ex Luciano Spalletti, also for reasons of extra-football intemperance.
But yet, neither his performance nor the emotional balance of the team had ever suffered from it.
The field, however, is affected, since Rome has gone from being the second team to re-catch more balls in the last season, to have only one player in the first 15 in Serie A, Daniele De Rossi with 22 recuperated balls.
This is a significant fact, because it shows that the efficiency of play has decreased and that the team has moved back its range of action, considering that the zone in which it regains these balls is close to its own box and there's not a well done pressing near that of the rivals.
Even more incomprehensible the choice of doing without Kevin Strootman on the last day of the market, when there was no longer the possibility of replacing him.
It's real that the midfielder had a lot of knee problems and that he was probably no longer at the level of the first season in AS roma, with Rudi Garcia. But it would still be important, even in terms of personality and fidelity to the club and the city.
And instead, the French coach succeeded to snatch him to Giallorossi and get his washing machine back.
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#3 - PURCHASED PLAYERS
Market with many blares, even 12 purchases in total.
The problem is that many of these are proving to be not exactly functional to the needs of the team.
Javier Pastore, for example, is an attacking midfielder, certainly not a defensive midfielder and can't be a substitute for Nainggolan. Just as him can't be Bryan Cristante, good to counterattack, but not endowed of the physicality of the Belgian.
Steven N'Zonzi, however, is too similar to De Rossi and does not have the explosiveness to go and surprise his opponents in their half.
Justin Kluivert is the player who has impressed more till now, but it seems that Di Francesco does not consider him ready and lets him play only a few parts of match.
Coric and Zaniolo are promising but very young, while Ivan Marcano is an expert but not very fast defender, taken to be a reliable reserve in defense.
Davide Santon is a riddle, given the up and down that he had in his career.
Everyone needs to become confident with new partners and new methods, but now there is not so much time for doing it.
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#4 - TECHNICAL-TACTICAL CHOICES
Eusebio Di Francesco certainly has some faults in this negative beginning of his team.
The coach has created confusion, first making it clear that he would always play with his favorite form, the 433, then starting to constantly change the system of play, considering the great difficulties of his team.
The principal reason is that, as mentioned before, many of the new players are not right for this type of module and this difficulty creates loss of entente, confidence and enthusiasm, even in the most experienced players.
Not randomly, big players like Edin Dzeko, Aleksandar Kolarov, Federico Fazio and Kostas Manolas are getting results below their qualities and they are not able to lead the team to a positive reaction.
Not always, as happened in the unforgettable Champions League match won 3-0 against FC Barcelona, the best solution is a radical change of playing strategy.
Especially when there are no mechanisms and automatisms established between the players.
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#5 - PRESIDENCE FAULTS
The Management of the Club, the President James Pallotta and the Director Monchi are surely those whom the supporters think have the greatest guilts.
For many people in Rome, the Americans have no interest in searching the victory for the team, but only seek to exploit the business, especially that could come from the Stadium building, which however seems a project still far from realization.
It was thought that, thanks to the Champions League prizes, this year it could have been possible to not sell the best players, less crazy offers. Instead, the club still thought to cash in.
In addition, the director Monchi, for the second year in a row, failed in the purchasing of a high-level right wing, able to replace Salah.
First Mahrez and now Malcom, for different reasons, are not arrived.
Furthermore, he is voluntarily taking apart the team built by Walter Sabatini, former DS who preceded him and who has shown that he has done a good job, given the many capital gains made by the Club, even after his departure.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!
See you soon!
Girolamo
Follow me and @scorum-italia
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