Saturday’s trip to the Stadio Maradona may not have been the wildest Roma match we’ve ever seen, but if you wanted a perfect encapsulation of the Roma experience, yesterday’s 3-3 draw against Napoli matches the description to a T.
Think about it for a moment: Gian Piero Gasperini’s group entered this match with a few blemishes but remained undefeated and within shouting distance of first-place Inter Milan. However, rather than padding their case as a genuine Scudetto contender, Roma fell behind early
to a bicycle kick from a defensive midfielder with 18 goals in 386 career appearances.
As if surrendering the greatest goal Frank Anguissa could score in five lifetimes wasn’t bad enough, any hopes of an early second-half comeback were torn asunder when Scott McTominay’s header, which initially looked like a wonder save by backup keeper Pierluigi Gollini, trickled into the back of the net.
Roma was down bad, no doubt. While the sky was falling in the digital Romaverse, something miraculous happened: the Giallorossi clawed their way back into the match. Thanks to a pair of strikes from Matías Soulé and Leonardo Balerdi, Roma drew level by the 74th minute, giving the capital club a fighting chance in the Derby del Sole.
With three points ripe for the plucking, McTominay broke Roma’s back again, rifling a low shot from outside the box past Gollini at the near post. Down a goal with only seven minutes remaining, it looked like Roma’s goose was cooked. However, in an impressive display of mettle, the Giallorossi battled to the last breath, snatching a point from their southern rivals thanks to a thumping 89th-minute header from Balerdi.
As we said, this match was wild, with a capital W. From an editorial perspective, I spent most of the match sharpening my imaginary pitchfork and compiling an extensive list of sinners. Not that I revel in such notions, but sometimes it’s more interesting to write about what went wrong than what went right.
However, as the match descended into chaos late on, my Sinners & Saints filter started leaking like a sieve. Can a goalie be a saint when he concedes three goals? Maybe, but what if that goalie made multiple fingertip saves, keeping alive the faint hope of a draw? Or what about a wing-back who misplaced pass after pass in the first half, only to serve up the match-saving assist in the 89th minute?
All of this is simply to say that compiling this list was challenging. But then again, objectivity and Roma are seldom bedfellows, so you’ll have to permit us more S&S ambiguity than usual.
Alright, away we go!
The Sinners
Gianluca Mancini
Case in point: Roma’s occasionally maniacal center-back wasn’t entirely without merit yesterday, but he delivered the footballing equivalent of a golden sombrero: the rare baseball feat of a batter striking out four or more times in a single game. In 84 minutes on Saturday, Mancini swung and missed eight times, going a miserable 3-for-11 in duels, while also contributing just five defensive actions.
We’re not suggesting that Gasperini completely cast him aside, but Mancini has a lot of miles on his legs, so it may be time to sprinkle in more minutes for Daniele Ghilardi or Konstantinos Koulierakis.
Devyne Rensch
Similarly, Roma’s 23-year-old Dutch wingback was equally profligate at the back. Yes, he made one crucial interception on the goal line early in the match, but he was otherwise missing in action, winning only 25% of his duels and failing to make a mark in defense or attack.
The Saints
Leonardo Balerdi
There can be no other. After joining the fray in the 58th minute, the Argentine defender put on a show, pulling Roma level twice late in the match. Beyond his goal-scoring heroics, Balerdi made the most of his 32 minutes, taking 32 touches, completing 23 of 24 passes, contributing three defensive actions, and wearing the hell out of that charcoal kit!
Matíás Soulé
Not to be outdone by his countryman, Matí played a whale of a match against Napoli on Saturday. Last week, while discussing Santiago Castro’s audacious chip against Genoa, I said I would let the pictures tell the story, only to fold in additional evidence and explanations.
This time, I’m just going to shut up. Enjoy!
Wesley França
After an up-and-down first half in which the Brazilian dynamo looked a bit out of sorts, Wesley rewarded our collective faith with a superb second-half performance. All told, he finished with match highs in chances created (four) and touches in the opposition’s box (nine), while blocking three shots, recovering eight balls, and playing six passes into the final third.
Marten de Roon
Man, imagine where Roma would’ve been all those years ago if they’d signed this guy at 25 instead of 25? There’s no use crying over spilled milk, but we can take solace in the fact that the club is wringing every last ounce of quality out of the veteran midfielder. With Bryan Cristante back in action yesterday, de Roon essentially stood in for Manu Koné and responded with another impressive performance: two chances created, 92% passing, 15 balls into the final third, and two chances created.
Statistics aside, de Roon is one of those players you can just sense is playing well, given the calming effect he has on his teammates. With MdR sweeping the midfield, Roma’s advanced creators were free to mount the second-half comeback, while the defense had someone watching their back…or front, as it were.
Okay, enough halos, let’s take a trip through our proverbial medium place.
Stuck In Between
Donyell Malen
The good: four shots on goal, four chances created, and two successful dribbles. The bad: only one of his four attempts was on target, and the one that was, a 24th-minute semi-sitter, was fired directly at Alex Meret. Malen may be human after all, but it’s hard not to wonder how this match may have unfolded differently if he buried that early chance.
Bryan Cristante
In his first match back after a bout of knee inflammation, Cristante responded with the most Cristante performance ever: loads of passes, 15 of which found their way into the final third, lots of ground covered, a few recoveries here and there, but few genuine noteworthy moments.
Pierluigi Gollini
Despite the scoreline, Gollorious had more than a few eyebrow-raising moments yesterday, including a pair of fingertip saves (one of which initially looked like a save), a sweeper action, a last-man tackle, and even a successful dribble. We’re five matches into the Gollini experience, and honestly, it’s been as expected: some surprisingly strong moments truncated by many more that reminded you why he’s a backup keeper at this stage of his career.
Until next time…
