With Juventus versus Lecce ending in a surprising 1-1 draw and both Inter Milan and Napoli facing challenging fixtures, Roma had a perfect chance to close the gap on the top three while keeping the teams
below them at a safe distance. However, there was a catch: they faced one of those competing teams—Gasperini’s former club and the well-known Roman bogeyman—Atalanta Bergamo.
Following last weekend’s 1-0 victory, Atalanta has now secured four consecutive wins against Roma. The Giallorossi’s last victory over La Dea was in March 2022, under coach Mourinho, with players like Zaniolo, Ibanez, Afena-Gyan, Mkhitaryan, and Veretout. Since then, Atalanta recorded six wins and one draw. Roma became so desperate that they even stole Atalanta’s architect of success from last summer, but that couldn’t cure their own issues.
Roma is now in fifth place in Serie A, thanks to the Bianconeri’s superior head-to-head record, following Juve’s draw. Just five weeks ago, Roma was top of the league after beating Cremonese and hosting fellow Scudetto contender Napoli at the Olimpico. Did this high-stakes match have a different outcome? Nope, Roma is stuck in a Groundhog Day cycle against bigger clubs.
Fonseca, Mourinho, Juric, Ranieri, DDR. None of them managed to make Roma beat top sides on a regular basis. Once a tough side and a pain in the ass for teams like Milan, Juve, and Inter, Roma is now hardly bigger than Udinese or Bologna in the eyes of those top sides, even if they say otherwise in the media.
Totti, DDR, Strootman, Radja, Perrotta, Vucinic, Panucci, Mexes, Mancini (the Brazilian one), Dzeko, Salah — these players were fighters capable of making a difference in such games. But the current Roma team? Who can carry Roma as Totti or Vucinic have done many times before?
Certainly, Saint Svilar is present, but as a goalkeeper, your influence on the game is quite limited. Dybala might fit that role, but this season, he appears to be a shadow of his past self. I remain hopeful for Wesley and Soulé, but the team’s ongoing growing pains are frustrating. Even after six months, Gasperini continues to discuss ‘learning, training, adapting, improving,’ and so on.
The fact remains that little has changed. Roma still hold the poorest head-to-head results among the top 6, and this season is no different: 0 points against Napoli, Milan, Inter, Juve, and Atalanta. Thankfully, we still have Lazio to dominate, but for the sake of argument, they are much weaker than the teams I mentioned earlier.
Perhaps even more concerning: Roma’s scoring issue became evident when they managed to score only one goal against all those top teams: Baldanzi’s goal against Juve. Surprisingly, this occurs after they hired Gasperini, who previously turned Atalanta into one of the most exciting teams to watch in Italy and Europe.
Roma is clearly at a crossroads: many seasoned players like Dybala, Pellegrini, SES, Cristante, Mancini, Dovbyk, Celik have been with Rome for years but haven’t been able to turn things around. The team needs to overhaul its core and focus on younger, more motivated players such as Svilar, Ndicka, Ziolkowski, Wesley, Pisili, Soulé, and El Aynaoui. Unfortunately, it will likely take one or two transfer windows to make this shift.
That said, the old guard had their chance (multiple times) and blew it. It’s time for a change. But when will Gasperini see this? As long as he keeps winning vs smaller teams, his job remains safe, I guess. Even if his very own Roma plays like a small team vs the likes of Juve or Atalanta.
The next big game? Allegri’s cunning AC Milan at the Olimpico on January 25. Looks like another Groundhog Day in the making.
