After Roma succumbed a last-minute equalizer to Cagliari, coach Luciano Spalletti fell to the floor – a fatal shot to the heart, and a second missed opportunity this week.
His swan dive to the floor told the onlooker everything they needed to know about Roma’s week, fueled by individual errors. His experienced move to the 3-5-2 formation had lifted the pressure off his side and made the win within arm’s distance, but Roma became its own worst enemy.
But individual errors have been caused by more than just a lack in concentration – a missing tooth in the Lupi’s mouth have forced its players to adjust to playing without a central reference point. In the wake of Miralem Pjanic’s transfer north, the Giallorossi opted to relinquish their chase of a similar suited player, if that were Franco Vazquez, Borja Valero, or name your pick. This choice to move on without a possession based, attacking midfielder reared its ugly head most notably in both halves of the 2-2 draw.
With Leandro Paredes sat on the bench, De Rossi anchored behind Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan, as the two more advanced midfielders pivoted in and out to their respective flank.
Often seen in Eusebio Di Francesco’s Sassuolo side, these two midfielders are supposed to play in tandem with one another, moving diagonally after coming together. However, Nainggolan and Strootman isolated themselves, pushing play into the corners for the wingers, rather than coercing a systematic attack off of one another.
As the first third of the game to a close, it was hallmarked by a De Rossi longball onto the wingers. This very un-Spalletti-esque play saw the ball being forced, rather than properly channeled from the anchor, to the central outlet, and onto the most-forward players.
The rest of the match was filled with similar plays to the coach’s annoyance. Revolving horseshoes, from the left wing, to the left back, to the centrebacks, following the same suit onto the right sided players – and vice versa. This form of stagnant possession is what made Luis Enrique’s tenure in Rome a failure.
When Roma went up by two goals, Cagliari’s mounting pressure forced central play, as there was no other choice in some moments but to quickly release the ball. In escape and counterattacking, the players found difficulty as they tried to push the ball forward through center, but this often led to bad passes. This was most visible when Ale Florenzi passed to where the attacking midfielder typically would have been sitting, but it went to a Cagliari player and the equalizing goal just seconds later. Muscle memory.
On the other side of the field, 28-year-old attacking midfielder Davide Di Gennaro put on a display worthy of a top club, quick to recover and accurate in passing, with give-and-goes slicing and dicing past Roma’s midfielders which advanced the ball quickly up Roma’s defensive third. It’s spirited performances like these from the Italian that the right sized plugs are needed to keep the ship afloat. Only when such solutions are found can Roma find stability in a city that rocks day and night by the sway of this season’s seesawing results.
The post What went wrong for Roma against Cagliari? appeared first on IFD.
from IFD http://ift.tt/2bCiW3G
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
