Sette Sempre Unica: This Week At AS Roma
Vincenzo Montella’s glass is half-full. Despite being drubbed at the Donbass, l’aeroplanino was one of few to draw positives from an aggregate 6-2 reverse to Shakhtar Donetsk. With the Rome derby beckoning, could Montella’s optimism be transmitted to a team seemingly at odds with themselves?
Under Sunday afternoon’s slate grey skies and persistent rain, the ‘derby della capitale’ lacked a little of the intensity created when these enemies meet under darkness. With just under 49,000 in attendance, a third of the stadium remained vacant and this together with the daylight scheduling, diluted the normally palpable intensity – at least as a visual ‘television’ spectacle.
Being fair, with the exception of Pizarro’s thunderous effort which crashed off Lazio’s crossbar, the first half mirrored the weather conditions – dour and uninspiring. Lazio defended deep and in numbers, making it difficult for Roma to breakdown what looked to be a well rehearsed rearguard action. Reja had seemingly set-up Lazio to frustrate Roma, hoping of that Floccari and Hernanes could snatch something on the break.
Inevitably for this fixture, as the game entered into the second period matters became more fractious with variety of cynical tackles and play acting serving to make the referee’s task inanely difficult. Roma weathered Lazio’s positive start to the second period and on seventy-minutes won a free-kick in ‘Totti territory’.
Facing a rain soaked curva sud, il capitano unleashed a low drive straight at Muslera who failed to deal with the ball’s pace and bounce – queue the now familiar (albeit annoying) thumb sucking from a jubilant Totti. Then, as befits the Rome derby the game descended into chaos.
Lazio’s Radu took exception to Totti and Simplicio looking to eek away valuable minutes and illustrated this by head butting the Brazilian substitute, earning himself a straight red card from the now harangued Paolo Tagliavento. Shortly after, Simplicio again found himself involved in controversy as he appeared to be bundled over while trying to latch on to a through ball.
Tagliavento gestured towards the penalty spot as the Brazilian celebrated (albeit prematurely) in front of the now delirious curva sud. Reduced to nine men in the wake of the hotly contested penalty, Lazio saw Ledesma sent off for arguing too vociferously – not that it mattered as Totti doubled his tally and made sure of the points with a sweetly struck spot kick.
Of course the post-match euphoria revolved around Totti and the fact that this was the last derby under ‘Sensi reign’. Francesco made the appropriate dedications and Rosella did likewise, remembering her father; and former Roma owner, Franco Sensi in what was a fitting denouement to the family’s Olimpico tenure.
But does the result and post match delirium reflect a genuine, post Ukraine resurgence?
Pizarro was undoubtedly Roma’s standout player with a lively performance at the hub of the giallorossi midfield. Vucinic playing wide left found Lazio’s deep and well marshalled backline a bridge too far while Menez looked a shadow of his former, early season self. That said, Reja’s formation possessed a heavy bias towards defence and it’s easy to see why Lazio concede few goals.
Controversially maybe, Totti could be singled out for a special mention as it seems his goals derive exclusively from dead ball situations. In what could be a nod to Roma’s future owners, Totti has almost morphed into an NFL style kicker; with his goal return heavily reliant on set-piece situations, with particular emphasis on penalties.
Okay, it is churlish to criticise the two goal hero, and if every game is won by a Totti penalty who’s complaining? That said, should the former capocannoniere offer more of a threat from open play? If not, and the consensus is happy with capitano, with Boriello benched and both Mirko and Pek annexed in wide positions, should Montella tweak the prevailing 4-2-3-1 formation to afford Totti support and at least passing options within the final third?
Speaking of striking options, rumours from trigoria suggest Totti may miss this weekend’s assault on Firenze – having being omitted from full training. Irrespective of which, with Vucinic suspended opportunity knocks for Marco Borriello – who watched Sunday’s derby from the dugout. Given Borriello’s inability to play as a lone striker within a 4-3-2-1 formation it will be interesting to appraise Montella’s tactical awareness. Will the rookie tactician make allowances for enforced changes or will he persist with the prevailing tactic?
Ultimately, suspensions and injuries will serve to make Sunday’s trip to the artemio franchi an even sterner test than initially expected. Old enemy Sinisa Mihajlovic has finally got Fiorentina functioning and with just one loss in the last eight league games, the viola are in rude health. Consecutive clean sheets and four goals in the previous two matches hint towards this encounter testing Montella’s mettle to the full. A three point haul will affirm Roma’s post Shakhtar renaissance but make no mistake, Fiorentina are no pushover. And wouldn’t Mutu relish scoring against the team who actively courted his services?
For the derby game to have real significance, and for Roma’s revival to be considered genuine, the Fiorentina clash is the perfect platform from which to affirm Roma’s top four credentials. With Montella’s unblemished away record in Serie A, look for an assured performance with the ghosts of Donetsk vanquished and confidence regained from the defeat of Lazio.
Away from on-field concerns, Bruno Conti has voiced his support of Monetlla with some media outlets suggesting Vincenzo could be entrusted as coach on a permanent basis. Of course, one must allow for the Lazio result skewing sensibilities, with over enthusiastic journalists prone to making predictable assumptions. Needless to say, defeat to Fiorentina will have the press pack clamouring for Ancelotti once more such is the fickle nature of management.
Finally, while capitano has been quiet in the wake of the Champions League exit, it was nice to hear him voice support of Eric Abidal. With the Barcelona stalwart facing a battle with cancer, Francesco made public his support for the stricken star, a sentiment echoed I’m sure by all romanisti.
Until next time – forza Roma.
