Yesterday’s two-nil win over Hellas Verona was another celebration of firsts for Roma. For the first time this season in league play, Roma scored more than one goal. And with Artem Dovbyk finding the back
of the net in the seventh minute, the hulking Ukrainian forward registered the first goal by a striker this season.
Neither of these is a monumental occurrence, of course, but they are signs of progress for an attack that has lacked punch during the first several weeks of the season. The baby steps shown against Nice and Verona last week will pay off later in the season when Roma hanging two or three goals on an opponent is commonplace.
Until then, let’s pass out some halos in honor of the club’s latest league win, one that puts the Giallorossi in a three-way tie at the top of the table: AC Milan, Napoli and Roma are each on 12 points as we head into Matchday 6 later this week.
The Saints
Mile Svilar
We usually save the keeper for last in our post-match summaries, but there’s no denying Mile Svilar, even though he denies nearly every shot he faces. With three saves, including two in the box and one with his face, Svilar was once again at his best, making crucial interventions to preserve Roma’s narrow one-goal lead for most of the match. And not only that, Svilar added one successful tackle to his record.
Artem Dovbyk
With Evan Ferguson drawing rave reviews earlier in the season, Dovbyk was a forgotten man, albeit an expensive one. However, earning his second start of the week, Roma’s number nine did not disappoint. Besides his excellent hold-up play—being pressed 75% of the time he received the ball—Dovbyk’s 7th-minute header was superb, as he directed it across the face of the goal, past Lorenzo Montipo, and into the far corner.
While Ferguson has done the little things well, his lack of goalsor simply clear-cut chances may tip the scales in Dovbyk’s favor as we head into October.
Zeki Celik
This guy just continues to plug away, doesn’t he? While he may never sell many kits, the Turkish defender has become an integral component in a backline that has only allowed one goal in five matches. In 90 minutes yesterday, Celik was dependable at the back but put in one of his best attacking performances this season, creating three key passes and providing the assist on Dovbyk’s match-winner. And he did this while filling two roles against Verona: starting as a central defender before shifting to his usual right-back position in the second half.
Matías Soulé
It looking like a pretty quiet afternoon on the pitch for the young Argentinian winger, who was frustrated by the Verona defense. But Soulé made a big impact in the second half, scoring a 79th-minute goal that put the game out of reach. There are also things we can’t quite measure, like his willingness to keep pushing the ball forward, track back, and be a target for his teammates to facilitate give-and-gos.
He’ll have much brighter performances this season, but he showed patience and maturity yesterday, keeping his head down until his moment came.
Gianluca Mancini & Evan Ndicka
We’ll group Roma’s two center backs together here because they were just as important as Svilar in keeping another clean sheet. The Italian and Ivorian internationals combined for 22 defensive actions (Mancini had 17!), 14 duels won, and 17 ball recoveries. Their passing wasn’t as sharp as usual, but they worked with Celik, Svilar, and Angeliño to shut down the Verona attack and maintain their status as the league’s best defense.
Given that clean sheet and the simple fact they scored more than one goal, we’ll stowaway the pitchforks today and shine a light on a few other noteworthy performances.
Stuck In Between
Manu Koné
The French midfielder continued to do Manu Koné things yesterday, buzzing around the midfield, recycling and winning the ball in midfield, and pushing it forward to the likes of Soulé and Lorenzo Pellegrini. In addition to completing 90% of his passes, Koné won nine of fifteen duels, played eight balls into the final third, led Roma with four tackles, and covered 10 kilometers on the pitch.
Jan Ziółkowski
The young, lanky Polish defender made his club debut last night, coming on in the 71st minute for Ndicka, who received a rare second-half rest on Sunday. Although he only took nine touches in 19 minutes, he seems to have a bit of Dean Huijsen in his game, or at least how he closes spaces and uses his long limbs to his advantage. He has a long way to go before earning genuine comparisons to a player as talented as Huijsen, but he caught my attention yesterday afternoon and could be an intriguing addition to the defensive rotation as the season progresses.
