It has only been one game of the Serie A season and this is certainly no immediate excuse to criticise Roma but rather a warning to them.
A warning to heed the disastrous campaign of last year and learn from the mistakes that were made under Luis Enrique.
They will be saving themselves another long season of hurt if they avoid falling into that trap with Zdenek Zeman at the helm.
Last year it was all too common to watch Roma defending erratically and recklessly and it was ultimately this which cost the former Barcelona B boss his job.
Disastrous and amateurish defensive play cost Roma in key games such as both derbies with the likes of Rodrigo Taddei, Jose Angel and most notably Simon Kjaer put in inept displays in games against Cagliari, Atalanta, AC Milan and Juventus.
There is no doubt at times Roma were very good and picked up some excellent wins with their 4-0 destruction of Inter in the capital an example of an afternoon when everything clicked for the Giallorossi.
Unfortunately it did not happen enough for Roma and their opening game against Catania on Sunday brought to mind some of the problems they faced last year.
Their defending from set-pieces was quite suspect at times last year as the side often took to the field with physically small players and struggled to assert their dominance both at the back and in the final third.
This came to the fore again at the weekend when Roma struggled at times with aerial balls flighted towards their defence (although considering this is Roma under Zeman, perhaps their defence should be labelled the ‘deepest-lying attackers’) and were punished by Catania upon one of them.
A complete lack of understanding and decisiveness at the back allowed Giovanni Marchese to pounce and put the visitors ahead while Alejandro Gomez scored a second from a similar cross-field pass that was perhaps even worse.
It was these kind of passes that exploited the full backs that hurt Roma so badly last season and when Gomez latched on to such a pass it brought back none too pleasant memories of the ease with which teams hurt i Lupi under Enrique’s tenure.
Even then Roma were not done showcasing that their problems in this area may not be completely banished yet as, having just scored a glorious last gasp equaliser through Nico Lopez, they allowed the visitors back in on goal almost immediately having been caught out in the wide area again and were it not for the woodwork, Lucas Castro could have made it a horrible debut for Zeman.
He is obviously an intelligent man whether you agree with his methods or his outspoken attitude or not and he should be doing his utmost to eradicate this problem.
It was painstakingly obvious for much of the season and although his philosophy is very much based on putting the ball into the net rather than keeping it out, this is an area which needs the most focus for his side.
He is already gifted with an abundance of talented attackers in Francesco Totti, Pablo Osvaldo, Erik Lamela, Mattia Destro and Marquinhos so it is defensively he should now be focusing on bringing to the high standard of his final third.
A lot of players were brought in to strengthen the backline this summer such as Ivan Piris, Dodo, Leandro Castan and Federico Balzaretti and while it may take time for a lot of these players to gel and familiarise themselves with the Zeman style, basic errors like the ones witnessed against Catania will have to be stopped.
Although having said that, it was just the first game of the season and these kinds of mistakes could be due to a number of reasons but having watched the horror shows starring the Roma back four last season, it was all too familiar and will need to be cut out quickly if they are to solidify themselves as the Scudetto contenders some have talked about them being.
