Unlike the Coppa Italia defeat a month previously, Sunday evening’s loss to Napoli was hard to take as a Roma supporter. Despite missing the likes of Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi, Rudi Garcia’s side were the better team for large stretches of the match, but two heavy blows at either end of the game left a bitter taste in the mouth afterwards.
Ten minutes from the end, after Roma had dominated possession (63% – 37%, 612 passes to 355) and created the better opportunities, Jose Callejon headed home Faouzi Ghoulam’s cross after drifting off his marker Alessio Romagnoli. Roma were unable to muster anything by way of a comeback despite the belated entrance of Mattia Destro, Maicon’s shot that bent wide in injury time being the closest they came to an equaliser.
Before conceding Roma had often found themselves in good positions, with Gervinho in particular having several opportunities to test Reina who also made a fine save from Michel Bastos’ powerful shot in the first half. However a combination of poor decision making in and around the penalty area and lacking a bit of fortune in front of goal meant they could not break the deadlock.
But the defeat in itself was not the most concerning episode on Sunday, as Roma are still three points ahead of Napoli with the head-to-head record in their favour, a far superior goal difference (+37 to +23) and the rest of their game against in-form Parma still to play. The bigger blow that they suffered came inside the first quarter of an hour, when Kevin Strootman was stretchered off clutching his knee.
The club have confirmed that Strootman tore his anterior cruciate ligament against the Partenopei and will undergo surgery in the coming days. He will certainly miss the rest of the season and the World Cup; former club doctor Ernesto Alicicco believes he will not return to first team action until the end of September, though estimates about his recovery time are anywhere between four to nine months. It is expected that Roma will issue a statement giving an update on his condition after the operation.
Strootman has hardly missed a game since joining from PSV last summer and has been one of Roma’s players of the season so far with his work rate up and down the pitch. His endeavour across the pitch will be sorely missed for the remainder of the campaign – #ForzaKevin was the top trend on Twitter in Italy on Monday evening as messages of support poured in from supporters.
Given that both Michael Bradley and Marquinho left the club in January and Daniele De Rossi still has to serve two matches of his three game ban, Garcia is now looking short of options in midfield. While De Rossi remains suspended, Rodrigo Taddei is the most likely candidate to play in midfield alongside Radja Nainggolan and Miralem Pjanic; Taddei performed creditably against Napoli, but is clearly no replacement for Strootman.
If required, Garcia is also able to call upon Federico Ricci, who he holds in high regard, as well as Luca Mazzitelli (who has been selected in the matchday squad on several occasions) and Alberto Tibolla. Some suggestions have been made that the Giallorossi will sign an out of contract player on a short term deal until the end of the season, with names such as Houssine Kharja, Mahamadou Diarra and even David Bentley being mentioned. However relying on Taddei or one of the youngsters is the more likely option.
Fortunately for Roma they now have a run of games where they should feel confident of picking up points, starting with Udinese this weekend before matches against Chievo, Torino and Sassuolo later this month. There has been a problem in front of goal in the last few games but Garcia advised that Francesco Totti should be in the matchday squad this weekend, which would inject some much needed creativity into an increasingly sterile attack (with Totti in the team Roma have scored 42 times in 18 games, without him it falls to 12 in 12).
After two successive games without scoring (the first time under Garcia) and the lead over the Partenopei cut to three points, now comes the real test for Garcia and his team. Losing Strootman is certainly a blow, as was the defeat to Napoli, but the character that the squad have shown before should give Romanisti confidence going forward.
