Roma and Fiorentina kicked off their Serie A campaigns at the Stadio Olimpico with a 2-0 victory to the home side.
The Viola failed to get on top of Roma in the first half and had to withstand a prolonged period of pressure. Radja Nainggolan scored a rebound, before Gervinho sealed the win in the 92nd minute.
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Roma
Morgan De Sanctis- 7 – Awake
Spent the first half watching a football game happening 50 yards away from him, but when the action came his way he responded with a great two-minute double salvo. Firstly, he tipped Josip Ilicic’s free-kick onto the bar just before excellently parrying Khouma Babacar’s low shot.
Vasilis Torosidis- 7 – Busy
Torosidis was up and down the right-flank all evening, being a danger to the Fiorentina defence with plenty of crosses, and helping create Roma’s first clean sheet of the season. Fiorentina’s toothless wing-attacks were, in large part, down to his defensive positioning.
Kostas Manolas- 6 – Newboy
A debut game in many senses for Manolas, who was clearly still adapting to his surroundings. Replaced late on to allow the experience of De Rossi into the defence, and of Seydou Keita into the midfield. Still, a clean sheet and a first game under the belt for the Greek will be a positive going forward.
Davide Astori- 6 – Settled
While also making his debut, Astori looked very stable at the back and made sure to get tight to Khouma Babacar, as the striker dropped deep several times. In doing so he made some good challenges high up the pitch, and recieved a yellow card for the less good challenges.
Ashley Cole- 6 – Comfortable
Cole didn’t try to do too much on his debut, and put in a solid performance- if rarely under any threat. Rudi Garcia may want him to attack with a bit more gusto in the future, but will be satisfied with this showing.
Radja Nainggolan- 8 – Everywhere
A real combative performance from the Belgian, his work-rate saw him cover many miles of grass, putting in a man of the match performance. And yet, it was his technique in distributing the play- shown by assisting Gervinho’s goal- and starting the move that he finished for the opener.
Daniele De Rossi- 7 – Typical
A definition De Rossi performance tonight, rarely straying too far forward but very comfortable in possession and able in breaking down attacks. Slipped into central defence to see the result home as Fiorentina flustered in search of an equaliser.
Miralem Pjanic- 7 – Classy
Tonight, Pjanic was all about the flicks and turns. Neat touches in attack, he caused plenty of problems for the opposition, and always looked dangerous. This served as a reminder as to why Pjanic is so highly-rated at the Olimpico, and all over Europe.
Juan Iturbe- 6 – Flair
A really nippy player, the diminutive Iturbe used his speed and creativity to force openings. Sadly, they didn’t all come off and, while willing, he failed to create any clear chances.
Francesco Totti (C)- 6 – Backseat
Sitting in deep for large parts of the game, Totti didn’t look to get involved all the time, but when he did he often provided class. Booked for his reaction to a foul on Iturbe, who wouldn’t have been through despite the foul, as Totti had a weak return pass blocked. Nevertheless, produced a wonderful flick to start an attack that he would nearly finish himself.
Gervinho- 6- Reward
A hard-working, and seemingly fruitless, night for Gervinho. In the first half his passes and shots were poor, and he probably should have scored the attempt that fell to Nainggolan for the first goal. But, it paid off in injury time as the Ivorian’s pace sent him through, and after rounding the keeper he sealed the win.
Substitutes
Seydou Keita- 6 – Capable
Used by Garcia to hold onto the lead as it became more fragile towards the end of the game. That’s a tactic that suited the 34-year-old, so expect to see it more.
Alessandro Florenzi- 5- Runner
Put on to chase and press for counter-attacks in the dying moments, but didn’t really get on the ball very much.
Adem Llajic- 5- Run-out
Adem didn’t get enough time to make an impression in the game, as he came on to primarily rest the legs of Iturbe.
Fiorentina
Neto- 5 – Pressure
Plenty of attempts from Roma, and some were well-saved by Neto, but ultimately he’ll be disappointed with the two goals. Arguably, however, he couldn’t of done anymore for the first, having already parried Gervinho’s effort. The second was a case of tired legs chasing a lost cause.
Nenad Tomovic- 6 – Solid
Generally a strong showing from Tomovic, mainly down to seeing Roma focus on the opposite flank for their attacks. Whether or not he can take fault for the first goal is debatable, but otherwise tidied up well from right-back.
Gonzalo Rodriguez- 5 – Masked
Sporting a fetching face mask, Gonzalo was part of a defence that was under pressure for large parts. He got booked for a cynical foul on Iturbe in the first half.
Stefan Savic- 5 – Worked
Could of done better on the line as Nainggolan powered home Roma’s first, but the young Serb found himself with plenty to do tonight. Turned quite easily by the likes of Pjanic, he still managed deal with a fair portion of the Roma attacks.
Marcos Alonso- 6 – Encamped
Alonso didn’t get a chance to breathe from the first minute to last. Iturbe attacked him early on, and was dealt with fairly well by Alonso. A booking and heavy workload stretched the Spaniard, who made a great block to deny Gervinho in the 2nd half.
Joshua Brillante- 4 – Mistake
Lasted just 35 minutes, and despite such a brief spell on the field Brillante managed to make the error to give Roma the lead. In truth, it was an errant and lazy pass back to Tomovic which was sniffed out by Nainggolan. Otherwise, with Fiorentina’s lack of threat in the first half, Brillante failed to make a positive impact and ended up being subbed of for Josip Ilicic inside the first half.
David Pizarro- 5 – Bystander
Didn’t really get a grip on the midfield, who was forced into plenty of defensive jockeying and unable to unlock the Roma defence when Fiorentina had a foothold in the game.
Juan Manuel Vargas- 5 – Quiet
A pretty anonymous performance from the Peruvian that ended on the 70th minute, subbed off for Alberto Aquilani. Contributed with some aimless crosses and a poor long-range effort, and will generally be disappointed with his season opener.
Borja Valero (C)- 6 – Grasping
Tried to grab hold of the game when Fiorentina were on the back foot, but bar a shot every now and then Borja Valero couldn’t make the impact that he worked hard to create.
Khouma Babacar- 6 – Target
The young striker tried to utilise his strength as much as possible, and while a little slow in decision making, he was affective at worrying the Roma backline. Had a great chance just before being subbed off, seeing his low shot saved from 6 yards out.
Mario Gomez- 4 – Absent
Memories of Gomez in this match won’t have lasted long, if anyone had any in the first place. Slow to get on the ball, and rarely on the end of anything productive.
Substitutes
Josip Ilicic- 7 – Threat
Credit to Vincenzo Montella for bringing Big Josip on in the first half, because he helped swing the game back into Fiorentina’s favour for large parts of the second half. A great save from De Sanctis denied him a free-kick equaliser.
Joaquin- 6 – Impact
The Spanish winger was brought on to make an impact and did just that with a run from the left-wing and shot that hit the side netting. Soon after that, Roma retook their grip on the game and Joaquin was ineffective.
Alberto Aquilani- 5 – Lacking
Subbed on for Babacar to bring that killer ball into Fiorentina’s game, but failed to do so.
