Roma’s Season in Review – Seeing is Believing

Date: 20th May 2014 at 6:29pm
Written by:

New Roma LogoRoma Americana, take three. After the failed experiments of Luis Enrique and Zdenek Zeman, Roma brought in Rudi Garcia from Lille at the start of the season to bring the American owners’ project to life.

The club were once again busy in the transfer market, selling off a number of key players from the previous season including Marquinhos (€35 million), Erik Lamela (€30m) and Pablo Osvaldo (€15.1m).

The sales of such important players and the appointment of a coach unknown to most outside of France were met with scepticism and frustration by fans, but Walter Sabatini set about rebuilding the squad by bringing in experienced Serie A performers (Morgan De Sanctis, Maicon, Mehdi Benatia) as well as the sought-after Kevin Strootman from PSV and the less sought-after Gervinho from Arsenal.

Roma had a difficult start to pre-season as supporters protested against the owners and directors on the first day of training as the hangover from last season’s Coppa Italia final defeat continued. The Giallorossi needed a good start to the season to ease the pressure on the squad, and their start was not only good – it was record breaking. Roma won their first 10 games of the season, including a 2-0 win in the derby in round 4, and conceded just one goal in the process.

Scepticism had turned into disbelief in the capital; Roma were five points clear at the top going into November and were putting smiles back onto fans’ faces with attractive, entertaining football. Three draws in the next three games saw them concede the lead to Juventus though and a fourth consecutive draw at Atalanta saw top spot slip further away. By the time Roma faced the leaders after the Christmas break, they were five points back. Five then became eight after they lost 3-0, their first defeat of the season, and from then on Garcia’s side had a monumental task in chasing first place.

Nonetheless Roma still embarked on another six-match winning run, including over Juventus and Napoli in the Coppa Italia. Rafa Benitez’s side went on to knock Roma out of the cup, but while Roma won 11 of the next 13 in the league (only dropping points against Inter and Napoli), they still could not catch the relentless league leaders. Garcia had remained insistent that they would continue to believe in finishing top, but he threw in the towel before the trip to Catania and Roma duly lost 4-1.

Despite a slightly disappointing end to the campaign where Roma lost three games in a row for the first time in over three years, finishing second and gaining automatic qualification to the Champions League can only be seen as a resounding success.

Player of the Season

There are a number of contenders here: Kevin Strootman, Miralem Pjanic, Francesco Totti, Maicon and Gervinho among them. But Mehdi Benatia has been truly outstanding this season. He and Leandro Castan have formed a brilliant partnership in central defence, and have transformed Roma’s defence from the fourth worst in the league to one of the best in Europe.

Benatia was one of Sabatini’s primary transfer targets last summer after Marquinhos left for PSG, and while some felt Roma overpaid for the Moroccan (his transfer fee was €13.5m), Benatia has more than merited the director’s faith in him. He rarely gets caught out of position and is always ready to provide cover across the backline when his team-mates move forward, and even weighed in with five goals at the other end.

Such is his importance within the dressing room, Benatia has worn the captain’s armband on a number of occasions when Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi have been absent. There are rumours of Benatia leaving this summer, and one of the club’s main objectives this summer should be to ensure that he remains in the capital for next season.

Goal of the Season

There was something for everyone this season, whether it was Miralem Pjanic’s lob from distance against Livorno, the raw emotion of Federico Balzaretti’s strike in the derby, a classic counter-attack against Inter initiated by Francesco Totti’s genius and finished by Alessandro Florenzi, an outrageous overhead kick from Florenzi against Genoa or Kevin Strootman’s long range hit against Napoli in the cup.

Topping them all though has to be Pjanic’s piece of magic against Milan, accelerating through the Rossoneri defence with brilliant close control before calmly slotting past Christian Abbiati.

Best and Worst Signings

Mehdi Benatia was outstanding in defence as was Kevin Strootman in midfield until his season was cut short by a cruciate ligament injury. That they performed well was no surprise to anyone though; what was a surprise was just how effective Gervinho was.

Walter Sabatini admitted that he would not have signed Gervinho if Rudi Garcia had not specifically asked him for the out of form Ivorian, but Garcia restored his confidence and his direct running style terrified Serie A’s defences. Ultimately though, Roma’s best signing this season has to be Garcia himself. The coach united a previously divided dressing room, instilled a winning mentality into the team and achieved remarkable results.

The worst signing? Quite what the point was in signing Michel Bastos escaped me; in his three starts and 13 substitute appearances he did little to suggest he is deserving of a longer stay at the club. Of the new permanent signings though, Adem Ljajic has to go down as the most disappointing.

Brought in to replace Erik Lamela, Ljajic shouldered the burden by taking the Argentine’s old No. 8 shirt and got off to a good start, but became increasingly ineffective as the season wore on. A lack of regular playing time after the return of Mattia Destro did not help, but there is a lot more to come from him next season.

 

Comments are closed.