AS Roma faced off against Udinese in the opening day of Serie A.
Following their 1-1 tie against Porto in the Champions League first leg, Roma came out looking for a big win to gain momentum going forward. Prior to the match coach Spalletti spoke about the difficulties of match congestion and mentioned their would be some changes to his starting lineup compared to their match against Porto. Bruno Peres made his debut after being brought in on loan just 4 days prior to this match.
Starting Lineups:
Roma: Szczesny, Peres, Manolas, Vermaelen, Emerson, Paredes, Strootman, Nainggolan, El Shaarawy, Salah, Dzeko.
Udinese: Karnezis, Danilo, Samir, Heurtaux, Widmer, Adnan, Fofana, Badu, Hallfresson, Rodrigo de Paul, Zapata.
Match Recap:
Roma looked confident right out of the gate and dominated possession. Their attack revolved around Salah and El Shaarawy on the wings, most of the attacks ended with no one on the end of passes or missed shots. Karnezis did a solid job in goal blocking a decent attempt from El Shaarawy. Towards the end of the half Salah put a dangerous ball in to Nainggolan, who was unable to finish right in front of goal.
Roma dominated the half with 70% possession including good plays to get the ball in dangerous areas, but looked sloppy with their end play. They looked far more in control than their previous match against Porto and really controlled the tempo and played at a fast pace. They looked dangerous the entire half, but just needed a goal to justify their play.
Shortly after the second half at the 57 minute mark, Roma made their first substitution subbing in Perotti for El Shaarawy. 8 minutes after being subbed on Perotti, put the first point on the board by scoring a penalty that was won by Edin Dzeko after a tackle by Danilo. 10 minutes later Perotti scored another penalty, this time won by Salah after a tackle from behind by Badu.
The Giallorossi continued to dominate possession and began looking more dangerous in their attacks. At the 82nd minute Nainggolan delivered a great pass into the box that Dzeko finished for a third goal to make 3-0. Udinese began to look frustrated and unorganized, giving up a 4th goal 2 minutes after Dzeko’s goal. Salah put in the final goal of the evening after putting in a rebound shot after the goalkeeper made a good save to block Salah’s initial header.
Roma finished the game with 73% possession and 90% pass completion compared to Udinese’s 73%. Roma also had 25 shots compared to Udinese’s 11.
Analysis:
The match was typical of an opening day match with both sides trying to establish themselves and get a rhythm going. Roma seemed to get off to a better start, but they still looked rusty and had a few changes from their last game in the way of Paredes, Peres and El Shaarawy starting.
Some high points for Roma is the solid play from the new players, particularly from Vermaelen. Vermaelen had a very bad opening game, but looked much improved and much more disciplined tonight. Also Paredes, Bruno Peres and Perotti had solid nights, so it seems like Roma’s transfer window has been a success despite the departure of Pjanic.
High points for Udinese could be that its still early in the season and the scoreboard might not reflect the teams overall ability. The first half Udinese did a solid job at stopping attacks however once a few mistakes cost a goal it seemed like the team gave up and got sloppy.
What’s next:
Roma will go on to face Porto for the second leg of the Champions League playoff on Tuesday, followed by Cagliari Sunday for their second Serie A match. We can expect to see lots of different starting lineups over the next few weeks as Roma look to establish consistency following a busy transfer window.
Udinese will face Empoli next and will look to rebound with a win against a less established team. Udinese will need to make changes however, whether to tactics or personnel as they have struggled their last two matches losing to Serie B team Spezia and losing 4-0 to Roma.
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