GIALLOROSSI YORKSHIRE BLOG
Roma surprised the Serie A world with a 4-2 win over high-flying Napoli on Sunday, with goals from Cengiz Under, Edin Dzeko (2) and Diego Perotti.
It was a superb display from Roma, who needed a reaction after losing to AC Milan the previous week. They did exactly that, putting in arguably their best performance since they beat Chelsea 3-0 back in October. Here are three of the main positives to take from the game. Dzeko finds his form again Edin Dzeko has looked a shadow of his last season’s self recently, sluggish in movement and failing to register meaningful shots . Against Napoli though, he rolled back the years with a brilliant performance. Not only did he score two outstanding goals, his movement was also a lot better than in recent weeks. His second goal took him to 50 Seire A goals for Roma. Hopefully it will be a platform for the Bosnian to build on. Roma show character to come from behind With few fans expecting a result against Napoli, let alone a win, when Roma went behind after six minutes it could have spelled disaster. That wasn’t the case, as the team responded immediately through Cengiz Under. After then taking the lead through Dzeko, Roma showed fortitude to not allow their hosts back into the game. The character shown from the team was excellent. Perotti on the scoresheet It’s a widely held belief across Rome that one of the only areas missing from Diego Perotti’s game is goals. Often criticised for his poor shooting, the Argentine proved his doubters wrong with a calm finish for Roma’s fourth. Finding space in the box, the winger had time to pick out a finish, but even so, he would normally have missed a chance like that. If he can replicate that form in front of goal on a regular basis, it will be a real bonus for Roma. Final Thoughts In marked contrast to last week, Roma looked like a team more than capable of finishing in the top four. Whilst some individual performances left a bit to be desired (namely Alessandro Florenzi and Radja Nainggolan), as a collective the team were superb, reducing a very strong Napoli side's offensive threat to a minimum. Roma now must build consistency and perform in the same manner on a regular basis.
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Following on from a 2-0 defeat to AC Milan last weekend, Roma’s fixture list gets no kinder, with a trip to table toppers Napoli on Saturday night.
Despite being eliminated from Europe, Maurizio Sarri’s side are playing some of the best football in the world right now, and will be a stern challenge for an out-of-sorts Roma. As evidenced in the encounter between the two sides earlier in the season, Napoli are a major threat to Roma’s wishes of gaining three points, and with traveling supporters banned from attending the match, it will be a very difficult game for La Magica. Maxime Gonalons has returned to the squad for Roma after overcoming injury, meaning Eusebio Di Francesco has virtually a full roster available. Selection issues were not fully addressed at his pre-match press conference, so it is still ambiguous as to who will start the game. Napoli's dangerous attacking trident of Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and Jose Callejon will be a tough challenge for Roma's backline to deal with. The Partenopei have been much more fluid in the offensive phase than Roma this season, scoring 20 more goals. Roma will be relying on their big players to step up for the occasion if they are to bring a result back to Trigoria. It all gets underway at 7:45pm UK time tomorrow night. It's Friday, which can only mean one thing: another fantasy Roma five-a-side team on Giallorossi Yorkshire!
Today's choices for Five-a-Side Friday come from John Rovere. Name: John Rovere Romanista since: 2001 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Supporters Group: Lupi Di New York Team: GK - Alisson - After serving as the understudy in 2016-17, Alisson has become a world class goal keeper. He can make all the saves, but may need to work on his passing in 5-a-side match. Looking forward to his performances this summer. Hide your wife. DF - Christian Panucci - Hailing from Savona, Italy (as do I), Panucci can play any position in defence. With a pedigree including Real Madrid, this defender was as tough as they come and rarely lost a ball in the air. MF - Damiano Tommasi - An underrated midfielder that Fabio Capello called Roma’s most important player during the Scudetto campaign. Although a knee injury derailed his Roma career, he fought his way back into the squad, displaying the heart we see from non-Romans like Nainggolan that transcend their place of birth. Also useful if the 5-a-side team needs a labour representative. FW - Francesco Totti - Heard of him? Still scoring great goals at the age of 41. FW - Vincenzo Montella - At 5’7”, Aeroplanino was not the prototypical #9 but made up for it with quick feet, heart and a great left foot. And a little magic. Aleksandar Kolarov was on fire.
At the start of the season, it looked like Roma had picked up the bargain of the summer. He may have been 31, but Kolarov, signed from Manchester City for just €5m, was having a huge impact on the form of the team. Defensively he was sound, and offensively he was on his way to becoming the team’s most important player. The tone was set with a matchday one goal against Atalanta from a dead ball scenario. Striking his free kick under the wall, Kolarov showed ingenuity to give his side the win. He was also regularly putting in good crosses, which became assists for his teammates. With the team lacking inspiration elsewhere, it appeared that their first thought was to play the ball in Kolarov's direction, awaiting the left back's creativity to conjure up an attack. His form was so good that Roma were comfortable selling one of their prize assets, Emerson Palmieri, in the January transfer window. Emerson had been one of Roma's standout players in the prior campaign, and the decision to let him go wasn't taken too lightly by the fans - although the form and increasing popularity of Kolarov softened the blow slightly. Since that sale, however, Kolarov’s form has somewhat dropped. He hasn’t been firing at 100%, nor have his crosses being perfect. He hasn't looked like a player good enough to warrant the sale of Emerson. Something has changed for the Serb. There are various theories as to what has changed, with the main one being a matter of fitness. Racing up and down the left flank for the majority of the first half of the season seems to have taken its toll on Kolarov, who now seems to be struggling to keep up with the pace of the game. This is a stark contrast to earlier in the season, when he was one of the team's fittest players. But Roma's over-reliance on him may have just burned him out. Yes, Emerson was out with a major injury, and it was unfeasible to expect him to return and immediately take some of the responsibility away from Kolarov, but there were other options for rotation that were ignored by Eusebio Di Francesco. Hector Moreno was signed in the summer with the belief that he could also play left back - something Roma fans rarely got to see before he was shipped on in the winter window. Juan Jesus can also fill in at left back; as shown by his last outing there, it is far from his best position, but against the smaller teams it could have worked, to give the impressive Kolarov a much-needed breather. There was also even Bruno Peres, who could have slotted in on the opposite side to usual when Alessandro Florenzi was playing at right back. However, none of these possibilities were explored, with Kolarov remaining an everpresent until he was taken off in the 74th minute against Udinese in late September. He then featured in every single minute for over a month, the match against Bologna on 28th October being the first game he hadn't started all season. But Kolarov's loss of form may be down to more than just burnout. Perhaps he has grown frustrated at the lack of quality shown by his teammates, giving him an extra sense of responsibility, and ultimately too much pressure to perform well. Kolarov is a professional who can handle things like this, but when so many other players - some of them senior as well - aren't pulling there weight, there's only so much Kolarov can pick up himself. Too much responsibility had been placed on Kolarov in the start of the season, and now we are seeing the dangers of such a tactic. It was the responsibility that led to him playing too much, which is having negative effects now. It was a short-sighted strategy that could ultimately damage the season. However, there is still room for hope. For a player like Kolarov, it has to be that this wretched run of form is just a blip. With the availability of the fit-again January signing Jonathan Silva, there is the opportunity for Kolarov to finally get some rest and be rotated out of the team when necessary. Silva will be required to take some of Kolarov's expectations and replicate them himself. And, with Kolarov then recuperated, the Serbian may be able to find his best form again. |
samuel bannister
Founder and editor of Giallorossi Yorkshire, who is also a columnist for Roma's official website about the women's team. Categories
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