Francesco Totti’s 300th Roma goal was overshadowed by ultras protests and bizarre team selection from Rudi Garcia as the Giallorossi lost yet more ground in the title race.
Totti, who is surely now the undisputed greatest player in the Lupi’s history, deserved to have savoured the occasion in an atmosphere far greater than in the 2-2 draw with Sassuolo on Sunday.
In terms of the resul,t the finger has to be pointed at coach Rudi Garcia for his simply astonishing team selection. Alessandro Florenzi had just scored a phenomenal long-range effort against Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday and with his adrenaline through the roof he must surely have been surprised as anyone to find himself on the bench against the Neroverdi.
Yet the Italian was not the only victim of Garcia’s tinkering of team selection. Left-back Lucas Digne was also part of the Sassuolo purge that witnessed six changes to the starting eleven from the Giallorossi’s draw with the European champions. It is hard to fathom why 21-year-old Digne cannot play two matches per week when it is only September. Indeed further sacrifices were made. Edin Dzeko was dropped despite Garcia being congratulated for finally addressing the Lupi’s goalscoring worries whilst Iago Falque also suffered.
The fundamental problem with these changes is that Garcia’s reinforcements are utterly inadequate. Maicon is far inferior to Florenzi in the right-back position, whilst Vasilis Torosidis isn’t even a left-back let alone a serious contender to Digne’s starting spot.
Yet the problem now becomes two-fold. Instead of approaching Wednesday’s game away to Sampdoria in high spirits with a chance to go top of the Serie A table, the Giallorossi will likely reinstate their best players who will have to carry additional pressure in a much tougher fixture to keep Roma in the title race.
The press in Rome are already speculating as to whether Garcia has the tactical nous required to lead the club to their fourth ever title. Now into his third season in charge the Frenchman has demonstrated at times that he can mix it at the very top of the game, but his tenure has been dogged by constant frustration and it is clear that failure this season means the former Lille coach will be very much on borrowed time.
Within just a week Juventus have managed to whittle down the Giallorossi’s advantage to just four points, whilst Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli have extinguished memories of their poor start to the season with two consecutive 5-0 wins against Club Brugge in the Europa League and over Lazio in Serie A respectively.
The bottom line is that reinvigorated strength of both AC Milan and Inter mean that Serie A will become a very precarious league for many of the coaches. The standard of Serie A this season means a team can quickly go from being title contenders one week to suddenly peering over their shoulders and worrying about finishing in a Champions League place in the next week. It is not the time to start meddling with team selection.
