One way or another Roma needed to beat Udinese on Monday evening after Gonzalo Higuain’s late goal gave Napoli all three points against Torino, briefly drawing them level on points with the Giallorossi. In the end they did it the hard way, twice letting slip a two goal lead to record a 3-2 win that was closer than it should have been.
The return of Francesco Totti following a month out through injury coincided with Roma rediscovering their scoring touch; surely no coincidence – without Totti the goals per game ratio falls from 2.37 to 1. In effect there have been two Roma teams this season: one with Totti and one without.
Regardless of whether Totti scores or not, the way that Rudi Garcia’s team play with him is markedly different to when the captain is not on the pitch. On Monday he did score, turning up in exactly the right place to slot home the opening goal before creating the second with a pinpoint long pass for Gervinho to set up Mattia Destro
At the other end man of the match Morgan De Sanctis had easily his best game in a Roma shirt, making an excellent save low down from Emmanuel Badu just after the Giallorossi had taken the lead as well as two superb stops from Antonio Di Natale among other saves. Sportingly, Di Natale congratulated De Sanctis on his 31st minute save at 2-0. There was little De Sanctis could have done about either of Udinese’s goals, but Rudi Garcia was concerned about some of the errors that were being made in front of the former Zebrette keeper.
“We made mistakes coming out of defence and with our passes on the wings – tonight was all about putting ourselves into difficulties”, the coach contemplated. “We gifted too much to the opposition – Udinese have quality, but we also had a problem of concentration with too many erroneous passes”. Even De Sanctis was a little troubled with the team’s level, saying “it was a good game in terms of the result, but a small step back in terms of the performance”.
Garcia is right in saying that there was a problem with the team’s focus, particularly immediately after scoring, and concentration levels seemed to slip as the game progressed. After a confident start Roma allowed Udinese to get themselves back in the game, and in the end the final whistle was greeted with sighs of relief when Paolo Tagliavento prevented Udinese from taking a late corner as the three minutes of injury time were up.
What was made plain is just how important Kevin Strootman and Daniele De Rossi’s defensive contributions are. Garcia looked to adjust to the circumstances with a 4-2-3-1 formation; Radja Nainggolan, particularly in the first half, battled valiantly and Rodrigo Taddei performed creditably, but on a number of occasions Leandro Castan and Mehdi Benatia lacked the cover that Strootman and De Rossi provide.
Fortunately De Rossi will be available again after Chievo this weekend, though Strootman’s return is some way off. There was a touching moment from Totti when he held up a shirt bearing Strootman’s name after his goal against Udinese, and the players had warmed up in orange shirts bearing the hashtag #forzakevin. The Dutchman’s operation on a cruciate ligament injury in Amsterdam went smoothly on Tuesday and he will start his rehabilitation work in the next few days, but is unlikely to be back in time for the start of the club’s summer ritiro.
In the meantime the Giallorossi will battle on without their Dutch enforcer. “To have a great season you have to avoid having too many injuries”, mused Garcia. “Hopefully we’ve had the last of ours”. There seems to be no end in sight to Federico Balzaretti’s hernia problem despite another visit to Brian Busconi in Boston, but with Totti back as well as Dodo, the injury problems are starting to clear as Roma enter the final stretch of the season.
