When Zdenek Zeman took over as Roma coach, I never thought that I would be able to look back and compliment his team’s defending. Come to mention it, I didn’t think I would be able to just a few weeks ago.
It has been just over eight months and 24 games since Roma last recorded two consecutive clean sheets, but the last two games have seen the Giallorossi beat Torino 2-0 and Pescara 1-0.
Fans have been so accustomed over the last 18 months to seeing suicidally high lines, defensive blunders and players’ terrible defensive positioning (I’m thinking of you Aleandro Rosi) that when Roma finally do defend well it deserves to be noted.
After playing at right back and left back this season, Marquinhos has shown what he is really about in the centre of defence. Some have already observed that Roma have looked more solid when he has started, and the 18-year-old has indeed shown a maturity beyond his years in his handful of appearances so far.
Leandro Castan may be more brutish and try Lucio-esque runs forward on the ball, but Marquinhos is the more technically gifted of the pair and has shown impeccable timing on a number of occasions both when tackling opponents and when choosing his moment to step out and close players down.
The way in which he has settled in has taken even Marquinhos by surprise, telling the Corriere dello Sport last week that “I know that Zeman wanted me, now he is putting a lot of faith in me. I feel good because my characteristics are adapting to his style of play. I came here with the desire to assert myself but I didn’t expect to do it so quickly”
The continually improving Ivan Piris merits a mention, while Mauro Goicoechea has also recovered well from his mistake against Lazio and kept his first clean sheets for the club.
The Uruguayan should certainly consider himself ahead of Bogdan Lobont in the pecking order for the number one spot, and when Maarten Stekelenburg returns from injury he should not necessarily expect to walk straight back into the side. Goicoechea has put in some solid performances since deputising for Stekelenburg, and hopefully his mistake against Lazio can just be put down to derby day nerves.
To borrow Sid Lowe’s phrase, there is a caveat here; last year Torino and Pescara were both Serie B sides, and the latter are a far cry from the team that dazzled their way to promotion. If Roma want to achieve their objective of Champions League football next season, these are the sort of games that have to yield three points.
While Roma had to fight hard for their win against Torino, their defensive abilities were equalled, if not outdone, by Pescara’s offensive inabilities on Sunday. Tougher tests are to come for Zeman’s defence – after Siena next weekend, Roma host Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina. If Marquinhos and co. can put in a similarly good performance then, that would really be a sign of progress.
