The last seven days was the biggest week in Roma’s season so far, and it all started off so promisingly in the first leg of the Coppa Italia. After beating Napoli at the Olimpico though, Roma then failed to break down Lazio in the derby before collapsing to a 3-0 defeat in the return leg of the cup on Wednesday night.
Now, there is no shame in going out of the Coppa Italia to Napoli, nor is a draw in the derby necessarily a bad result. As Walter Sabatini said following the cup exit, Roma should not worry needlessly; the Giallorossi remain ahead of Napoli in the table and are still comfortably holding onto a Champions League position – which is the primary aim for this season. But the last few games have highlighted some problems that Rudi Garcia needs to address sooner or later.
The coach himself has recently been guilty of some poor man management, most of all with Radja Nainggolan and Mattia Destro. Hindsight is a great thing but Nainggolan should have started the derby given that he was suspended for the second leg against Napoli and Miralem Pjanic was still carrying an injury from the cup meeting with Juventus.
Instead, Pjanic was deemed fit enough to start against Lazio – and was subbed off – despite being Roma’s most creative player against the Partenopei, still had to be substituted after an hour. According to Garcia, this was because “we also have a game on Sunday”. If Pjanic was not fit enough to complete the Napoli game even though he was Roma’s only real threat, then surely he should not have started the derby when there was a perfectly adequate replacement available in Nainggolan.
Similarly up front, Mattia Destro could have started the derby to rest either Francesco Totti or Gervinho, though it is understandably difficult to rest Totti in the derby. But towards the end of the game in the San Paolo the usually indefatigable Gervinho, who has only been substituted three times all season and has started the last seven in a row, looked exhausted with his hands on his hips and was barely noticeable in the second half.
It is impossible to be too critical of Garcia though. Although the lack of effective rotation has had an effect in the last week, it is a drop in the ocean compared to the positive impact he has had on the team this season. The real problem that the coach faces is with his centre forwards, or lack thereof. The only true centre forward in the squad is Destro, as when Totti plays in the middle of the front three he usually drops deep to exert his creative influence on the side; the occasions when he is making a late run into the box or jostling for position to head at goal are rare to say the least.
Destro is a good player but needs regular game time to perform consistently which he will not get at Roma and, ultimately, is just good, not the level of striker that Roma’s rivals have at the top of the table (Carlos Tevez, Fernando Llorente, Gonzalo Higuain). Destro had two or three good opportunities against Napoli, one within the first few minutes, but could not take advantage of them when Roma could not afford to be wasteful.
He was far from alone as Adem Ljajic amongst others was also profligate, but Roma are generally not ruthless enough in front of goal. It was the same problem against Lazio; despite creating chances there was no clinical striker to finish off the opportunities. With Champions League qualification a distinct probability, Sabatini will need to sign a top quality goalscorer in the Edin Dzeko or Mario Mandzukic mould in the summer to ensure that there is a player who can be relied on for goals.
Roma’s defensive aberrations should be less of an issue as they have been so solid at the back this season, though the dire performance of the usually reliable Vasilis Torosidis is concerning given the current injury status of Federico Balzaretti and Dodo. Maicon, who had a slight injury and was consequently left out of the line up on Wednesday, will come in at right back at the weekend to give more solidity to the back four.
With any luck Michel Bastos will not play at left back again; the Brazilian needlessly dived in for a challenge on Marek Hamsik to allow Christian Maggio the space to create the first goal before being caught out of position for the third – along with the rest of the back line, admittedly. Bastos had actually looked impressive going forward both against Lazio and at times against Napoli, as he has the confidence to take players on and try to put balls into the box, but his defensive capabilities are severely limited.
That all being said, Wednesday was still just Roma’s second loss of the season. Napoli are an excellent side and Rafa Benitez set his side up perfectly to contain the Giallorossi and exploit their weaknesses. But nor should the defeat be passed over as ‘one of those days’, as there are issues that need to be resolved.
On Wednesday the individual performances and the team performance were horribly lacking all across the pitch, and only Pjanic and Gervinho came out of the game with any sort of credit. Now Roma need to start again, with Sampdoria at home up next, and Garcia and his players will need to put in a far more efficient performance to put the disappointment of the last week behind them.
