Roma 2014/15 Season Review – The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

Date: 2nd June 2015 at 10:17am
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Such promise fizzled out as a potential Scudetto challenge faltered at the first sign of pressure from Roma’s rivals. Nevertheless, second place was achieved but the Giallorossi wanted more.

Roma Choreography

Roma’s season has been an indifferent one to say the least. The team can’t have been said to have really underachieved, they finished second in Serie A behind a superlative Juventus side and secured an automatic Champions League place for the second year in a row.

However, it is hard to look back over the Giallorossi’s season without feeling a little empty. Although the season got off to a flying start with five wins in five games, it all fell apart with some rapidity after that fateful Champions League night in Rome, and from then on something was frequently missing. Perhaps it was the top scorer Francesco Totti that was proving so elusive in the Roman jigsaw.

A failure to score goals was frequently an issue. Roma’s 13 draw stick out among their rivals, as teams all too often managed to stave off Rudi Garcia’s attacking options or snatch equalisers to leave his side scrambling for a late winner.

After Totti’s ten league goals this season, the team only contributed 44 more. All of Roma’s top of the table rivals outscored them by around 20 goals, with the exception of the tumultuous Fiorentina.

It would fall to the Bianconeri to cut down the Roman charge, in a frantic and dramatic encounter at the Juventus Stadium in October which saw three penalties awarded and five goals scored in a 3-2 win for the champions.

The return of the Champions League had been long awaited, and the campaign was off to a promising start with a victory over CSKA Moscow and a canny away draw against Manchester City leaving the Giallorossi in a decent position to qualify.

But on matchday three of the competition, all hell would break loose and anyone watching what happened when Bayern Munich came to Rome could certainly feel the heart being ripped out of a previously spirited team.

The Bavarian’s 7-1 romp in Roma’s backyard was predicted to have destroyed the confidence of Garcia’s team by the pundits at the final whistle on the night, and little happened in the aftermath to suggest otherwise. The pretenders to Juventus’ thrown had been shown up by one of the best.

While Roma’s form certainly didn’t crumble from there, it faltered ever so slightly while Juventus began to piece together a string of typically good domestic results.

A 2-0 loss away to Napoli and a run of 13 draws in 16 games quickly put the brakes on Roma’s season. Suddenly normal order had been restored at the summit of the table and Juventus were extending their lead.

The Europa League didn’t hold much more happiness for the Roman. A narrow victory over Feyenoord guaranteed progression in a tournament that probably felt like a cheap replacement for the competition they had just crashed out of, and was overshadowed by scenes in the stands in any case.

And if the humiliation at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s Munich hadn’t been enough of a European spanking, Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina obliged to pile on yet more misery with an emphatic 4-1 victory over two legs.

A late season rally did enough to secure Roma a consecutive automatic qualification into Europe’s premier club competition while Stefano Pioli’s Lazio stalled, but even the most optimistic of Roma supporters would probably admit that this season had promised so much and in the end, delivered precious little.

Player of the Season

Florenzi -Roma

Francesco Totti might have been an obvious choice, had more of his goals come in the crunch games that decided Roma’s season and if injury had not kept him off the pitch for several spells in 2015.

Instead the award has to be given to another son of Rome, no, not Daniele De Rossi, who rather came in for ample criticism this season, but to Alessandro Florenzi.

The wing who played much of the 2014-15 campaign as a cavalier right back, epitomised an attitude that was altogether lacking in Rudi Garcia’s teams.

Five goals, five assists and four Man of the Match performances only go some way to painting a picture of what the diminutive 24-year-old has contributed to the Giallorossi’s cause.

His displays, both as a winger and makeshift defender, demonstrated a verve and passion that was snuffed out for most of the team after October, and if weren’t for the initiative of the young man bombing forward and troubling defences, some of those narrow draws and wins may have been even more dropped points.

If his work ethic and attitude were not enough alone to guarantee him the award, perhaps some of his more flamboyant exploits could. Certainly his goals were rarely ordinary, and his dipping volleyed effort against Milan, despite the eventual 2-1 loss, was deserved for the young man.

Goal of the Season

AS Roma v Hellas Verona FC - Serie A

The forlorn figure of Mattia Destro couldn’t make himself the obvious choice for Rudi Garcia upfront before being shipped off on loan to AC Milan, but he did his level best with efforts with a brilliant goal against Hellas Verona.

Brilliant awareness caught Pierluigi Gollini unaware as the striker lashed a strike in from near the halfway line.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPyQKCd0ZWk[/youtube]

Best and Worst Signings

Holebas - Roma

While The Giallorossi looked positively blunted in front of goal on numerous occasions in the 2014-15 season, defence was less of an issue. Only Juventus conceded less than Garcia’s men, and that was in no small part down to the encouraging performances of new Greek centre half, Kostas Manolas.

The 23-year-old Greek signed from Olympiakos had his minor lapses, but on the whole he was something of a rock at the back for Roma, being both calm and collected in most situations while also possessing the ability to act decisively in more desperate situations and make the tackle or block to prevent a goal.

Many would pick Ashley Cole for the far less desired accolade of worst signing. But the experienced Englishmen looked to be finding his feet during Roma’s good early season form. It wasn’t until the wheels came off for the team as a whole that Cole found himself in the wilderness.

A more apt candidate, would be José Holebas. The left back who ousted Cole from the team, was signed off the back of a reasonably impressive World Cup with Greece. Unfortunately, his displays at left back for Roma showed him to have very little in the way of skill or technique, and rather only really being a quick athlete.

While his speed and physicality cannot be doubted, Holebas demonstrated incompetence with the ball at his feet and regularly slowed down or stunted Roma’s attacks whenever he became involved. In equal measure, the Greek failed to make up for his technical failings with just as inept examples of defending.

The Coach

Garcia - Roma

The Frenchman enjoyed a good first season in charge of the Giallorossi, and looked all set to carry on his good work after a rapid start and five wins in September. However, the absolute fiasco that occurred in the Champions League and the poor form in the league that followed, has to be his to account for.

Garcia looked out of his depth when faced by superior coaches in the Champions League who out-thought him – and in Serie A, he was still second best to Massimiliano Allegri when it came to deciphering the Juventus conundrum.

That said, Garcia and his team recovered well after a long mid-season rut, and rallied to overcome their cross city rivals, both in the Derby della Capitale and in their final league position.


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