As much as Rudi García’s Roma remain an immovable force in second position of the Serie A, their hopes might be looking a little dashed after their questionable performance against top spot warmers, Juventus, last Monday evening. The hosts showcased deft ability in few areas, if being wholly critical, and the match was remarkably lacklustre; both sides were not especially formidable and I was left pondering how such mighty teams could look so poor at the very peak of the table.
Roma and the Scudetto: So Near, Yet so Far?
It’s worth noting that I can be a little harsh on teams who don’t offer much entertainment in a game (despite the alarming plethora of yellow cards, and that special red one for Vasilis Torosidis), and that two Italian giants meeting in such a tense feature were bound to cancel one another out, but this game was just a tad dull. Yes, there were two goals (evenly distributed, with Juve bagging one first), but there were few great signs of potential overall. Juve fans may consider the fact that Paul Pogba and legendary veteran, Andrea Pirlo, were not on the pitch as detrimental to their performance, and perhaps it was, but that does not explain the low level Roma.
With an ever widening gap between Roma and Juventus, the Romans really ought to have put every ounce of energy into clearing up during the match, especially because they were on native Stadio Olimpico soil. I should think the pressure was crippling at times for the Giallorossi, but I was anticipating more gumption, more attack, more… action.
Overall, the game was a hairdresser’s dream; it was dodgy hairdos galore and nowhere near enough angst usually found in such a powerful Italian league. However, there were moments of spirit; ten yellow cards were distributed in the match, including in the direction of Daniele de Rossi, Patrice Evra, bite victim, Giorgio Chiellini, and (deservedly) Arturo Vidal. The first half didn’t bring much other than agonising glimmers of oddly-timed possible goals; it was the second half that fired up anything resembling decent football. It has come to my attention that Carlos Tévez’s goal was actually more spectacular than I’ve given the man credit for; his free kick flew happily over the heads of the wall, soaring past an embarrassingly rigid Morgan De Sanctis. This was (apparently) no mean feat and quite an incredible goal.
Roma, in attempt to appropriately retaliate, introduced Alessandro Florenzi from the bench in hope that he could muster up a goal. This was, sadly, to no avail, and Juan Iturbe replaced the Roma Godfather, Francesco Totti, which also didn’t bring much extra flavour to the game. However, when things were looking a little glum for the Romans (despite no real instance of another chance for Juve), Seydou Keita slotted in a smashing ball, allowing Claudio Marchisio to fumble a clearance into his team’s net instead.
Prior to Tévez’s (wonder) goal, Roma were enjoying having just ten men on the field, but somehow showed us all that their best efforts derive from a bit of unexpected pressure. Irrespective of their performance against Juve, and despite it being a match of true importance, the message emerges here that Roma need tight situations to play well. Do they simply take for granted eleven men, 90 minutes and home turf? If this is the case, they should buckle up now because that nine-point void is not about to narrow unless they channel clean, methodical football. Granted, with Palma’s financial situation in tatters, teams are going three points clear every game that is not played against them, but this just means additional focus from clubs who do have matches to enter into.
Despite a fixture not entirely mesmerising, the game was not all bad; Roma could have lost against Juventus, but they didn’t. García must now regroup with his squad and formulate a watertight plan of action in order to gain that bit closer to winning the Serie A because, goodness knows, it’s been a long, long time coming.
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