Roma went into the 2011-12 Serie A season with great expectations. New American owner Thomas Di Benedetto professed his desire to make Roma a global brand, and he did his best to begin the process by pouring money into transfers right out of the gate.
Luis Enrique was brought in to coach the team, and he also came with great expectations. Luis had coached the Barcelona B side previously, and the thought was to bring that same free-flowing beautiful football, which Barcelona has made so famous, to the Italian capital.
It would have been a difficult task for any young coach to live up to such astronomical expectations. Di Benedetto wanted results right away, and after spending €83.3 million on the transfer market he had good reason to. We all know what happened from there, the expensive signings of Miralem Pjanic, Bojan Krkic, Pablo Osvaldo, Maarten Stekelenburg, and Erik Lamela all showed flashes of greatness but never the consistency Roma needed to contend. The inconsistency was astounding, I remember Roma losing to Cagliari 4-2 in February and coming back the next week to beat Inter 4-0. It was that kind of year for the Giallorossi. They failed to qualify for any European competitions, and so Luis Enrique resigned sending Thomas Di Benedetto back to the drawing board.
One thing we know for certain is that the new ownership wanted an attack-minded style of football. This is why it is no surprise to see that Roma has brought back Zdenek Zeman as coach. He is the reigning Serie B manager of the year after seeing Pescara to promotion.
Zeman coached Roma from 1997 through 1999, and saw Francesco Totti begin his rise to prominence as Roma’s golden boy. His trademark 4-3-3 tactic has brought goals to whichever team he has coached, but his achilles heel has always been keeping them out of his own team’s net. In both of those previous seasons Roma led the Serie A in goals with Zeman as coach. Last season with Pescara was no different for the Czech tactician as the Biancazzurri scored an incredible 90 goals, 27 more than any other team.
Zeman has always been known throughout Italy as a manager who gets the most out of his young players. In 1997 he began to groom Totti as Roma’s talisman and most recently with Pescara he coached Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile and Marco Verratti. Three young men who are all considered to be among the best young Italian talents. Immobile and Insigne combined for 47 goals last year in the Serie B, while Verratti became known as the next Andrea Pirlo.
With this in mind there is a lot of optimism going into the Serie A season for Roma. Plenty of new signings have come in, Federico Balzaretti and Mattia Destro just to name a few. But what is more important for Zeman is what he will get out of the previous summer’s signings. Miralem Pjanic(22), Erik Lamela(20) and Bojan Krkic(21) are all young players that are just oozing with potential, and given Zeman’s track record these young potential stars can become superstars. With all of these attacking options Zeman has to choose from there is no question Roma can become the Serie A leader in goals.
The pre-season has been very promising already. Roma won all three games on their US tour scoring at least twice in each of them. Bojan scored twice while Lamela scored once. Mattia Destro (22) has yet to play with his new squad since making the switch from Siena, but he figures to be the target-man in Zeman’s 4-3-3 tactic. While Lamela and Bojan we’ll be pushed out wide as wing-forwards. Miralem Pjanic should pull the strings in midfield alongside Daniele De Rossi. The hope is that with another year of maturation, all of these young players will continue their growth but more importantly become more consistent. But it won’t be easy, after all nothing comes without a little hard work. Along with his incredible track record for bringing goals to a team, Zeman also brings cigarettes and a strong work ethic.
His reputation for chain-smoking on the sidelines during games is so notorious throughout Italy that he was even asked how he would handle the non-smoking policy in the US stadiums. He managed of course, but all kidding aside Zeman has brought a rigorous training regimen to the Giallorossi pre-season.
“We are halfway through pre-season and the lads aren’t completely accustomed to my methods yet. They have suffered a bit, but you have to learn to suffer in football. I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.”
A quote from Zeman from a couple of weeks ago that stood out to me. He is going to bring a strong work ethic and an extreme fitness level to the squad. Without it, you may lose your spot in the team. This will no doubt run thin as years go by, but it can produce results in the short term. Which is why Zeman has never lasted long at any particular club he has coached.
However, the ultimate downfall for Luis Enrique last season was Francesco Totti. Enrique fought all season long with Totti and suffered grave criticism for leaving him out of the squad. Totti is on his last legs, and although he is still a great player, he would be better served as a ‘super-sub’ rather than a starter for this attack-overloaded team. Totti has claimed in the pre-season to have ‘adjusted’ to a new role, but it remains to be seen if that will last throughout the season. Zeman will suffer the same criticism Enrique did if he is to leave Totti out of the starting eleven. However if he can put wins on the board consistently, then Roma’s fans and critics will have no problem accepting this change.
The work continues in Zemanlandia as he gets his new squad ready for the Serie A season. The pre-season has gone along swimmingly so far with no bumps in the road just yet. This team has the potential to be great, but their two biggest obstacles will be in defense and how well Totti takes his role change. One thing I know forsure is that I will be watching the Giallorossi as often as possible, because they have the offensive talent to compete with anyone in the Serie A, and now have the coach to exploit that talent.
Follow Dan Riccio on Twitter: @DanRiccio23 and be sure to check out his Serie A blog as well.
