I don’t know about you, but I’ve completely lost my taste for international football. It may be that the two countries I could see myself supporting, Italy and the United States, are both not impressing; it may be that Roma’s Italian players are no longer critical elements of the Azzurri; it may be that I’m simply entirely bought in on club football due to my writing work here at Chiesa di Totti. Regardless of the why, these days I mainly consider the international break to be just that: a break.
Maybe I’ll return to my love of the Azzurri (which is what got me hooked on Francesco Totti and then Roma in the first place), but for now, it’s club football over international teams every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
So, now that the break is finally over, let’s turn our attention back to what really matters: tomorrow’s game between Roma and Torino. This match is a showdown between two new managers, both of whom took over this summer, and both of whom are trying to get their respective projects off the ground. On the Giallorossi side, we obviously have Gian Piero Gasperini and his hyper-offensive style of football; for Torino, we have former Lazio manager Marco Baroni and a side that has only gained one point from the first two matches of Serie A. Roma did pick up some bruises over the break, with Wesley reportedly nursing a minor injury, but in my eyes, this match should be seen as a chance for Gasperini to mix and match, allowing for some out-of-form players to play their way into his heart while letting at least one young star put in the work to be an even more critical part of the club’s present.
What To Watch For
Will Dovbyk and Pellegrini Get A Chance To Shine?
If there are any two players who have not been able to embrace the good vibes and successful start to Gian Piero Gasperini’s tenure in Rome, it is Artem Dovbyk and Lorenzo Pellegrini. Both players are no longer consistent starters for the Giallrossi; both players were rumored to be on the way out of the club this summer; and both players have been supplanted by newer, shinier toys (see Ferguson, Evan and Koné, Manu). Yet in his pre-match presser, GPG suggested that Dovbyk and Pellegrini won’t be condemned to ride the pine all fall:
“Pellegrini stayed, and that’s fine with me: he’s an additional player, certainly technically valuable and with important qualities. He’s back on track now, has started training more intensely, but he’s clearly not in the same condition as the others who have been training for two months.”
“He’ll still be available: he needs to improve his fitness and rev up his game, because his quality is unquestionable, but football is made up of many components. I think he’ll have every opportunity to be very useful to us during the season. For me, he’s a midfielder, not a striker. He can play a little further forward or a little further back, but he’s still a midfielder in every sense. After Dybala, I think he’s absolutely one of the best in terms of footwork. He needs to play in midfield, with all the skills necessary to play that role.”
“I expect a lot from all the players who are still here, from Pellegrini, from Dovbyk, and from all the other 20-21 players who make up the squad. What’s important is Roma and the season we have to have. I can’t talk about individual issues: everyone has to give their all. I spoke with Dovbyk, I asked him what his best qualities are, and he told me: inside the box, strength, and depth. Let’s start with these three, but I have to see them all, and at a high level.”
That quote makes it clear that Gasperini isn’t closing the door on either Dovbyk or Pellegrini, but waiting for them to meet his standards of fitness as well as ensuring that they understand his tactics. He even acknowledges the obvious, that Pellegrini’s technique and vision still set him apart. Still, the elephant in the room is that the Roman must prove he has the fitness necessary to keep up with Roma’s new system. With Dovbyk, his reputation as a penalty-box predator was the reason Roma bet on him, but with Evan Ferguson already looking like the more complete striker and Paulo Dybala reclaiming the creative fulcrum role, the Ukrainian’s path back into the eleven also depends on if he can adapt to Gasperini’s tactics—more specifically, if he can become more involved in link-up play and pressing.
Match Details
Date: September 14th
Kickoff: 12:30 CET/6:30 EDT
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Roma
Referee: Giovanni Ayroldi
Forecast: 81°F, Partly Cloudy
The season is still young, and squad depth will be tested, but the margin for error for both Dovbyk and Pellegrini is shrinking. Roma can only become even more dangerous if both players can fit into the system, but if they can’t, both players will most likely be seen as luxuries and relics of a previous project.
Will Soulé Get His First Olimpico Goal?
One player who is clearly not a relic of a previous project is Matías Soulé. The Argentine wonderkid has only increased his value on and off the pitch to start this season, with one goal already on the books and both matches prior to the international break making it clear that in many respects, Roma is his team now.
Speaking to Sky Sport earlier this week, Soulé admitted that he didn’t expect to adapt to Gasperini’s system and his new role in that system so quickly:
“At first, I thought it would be much more difficult to adapt to that position. I’d already played a bit inside in previous years, but I’m doing really well right now. The coach also always asks us to be up front, to move the ball around, and never to be with our backs turned. This helps us a lot. The more you’re in the box, the more chances you can create.”
The next step in that journey, though, will hopefully be scoring at the Stadio Olimpico, which he also discussed with the media recently:
“I think about it a lot, I hope the goal comes as soon as possible, I don’t know why I only scored away from home, celebrating with our fans would be wonderful and I can’t wait for it to happen.”
Tomorrow would certainly be a great moment for Soulé to break that duck. Matí already carries himself like a difference-maker in GPG’s setup, and while he’s shown an ability to be a difference-maker on a weekly basis even when he doesn’t score, with Paulo Dybala healthy and Evan Ferguson drawing defensive attention, the stage is set for the young Argentine to finally give the tifosi something to chant about.
