A little bit of personal story-time to start this week’s Sinners & Saints. Yesterday was the first Roma match that my girlfriend watched all the way through in a serious way. She’s a fan of football in general, but follows the NWSL most closely. Thanks to my work with Chiesa di Totti, she knows what’s going on in a general way with Roma most of the time, and we’ve both been thinking for a while that it would be great for us to watch Roma together this season. Her main experience with seeing me follow Roma has
been witnessing my frustration: she knows Roma is generally a club with talented players that fail to meet expectations, a club always just on the outside looking in.
Because of some scheduling issues for the first two matches, yesterday was her first time watching a match this season in full (whereas previous seasons, she didn’t want to watch because it was “kind of depressing.” Fair enough.). 45 minutes in, she was impressed albeit deeply frustrated with Roma’s inability to get the ball past Marco Carnesecchi. 85 minutes in, I thought I was introducing her to the apotheosis of what happens when Roma Happens; when no amount of combined talent, no amount of good form, no amount of opportunities on goal seems to be capable of defeating the destiny of Roma to be just one tier below the best of Italian and European football, for eternity.
Then, of course, came the six minutes where Roma turned a 0-1 loss into a 2-1 win. I was on the edge of my seat (literally, my Uber nearly got into an accident) when Matías Soulé scored his stoppage time goal to preserve Roma’s perfect record and keep the hopes of something greater for this season alive. I’m still feeling shocked and thrilled that the Giallorossi pulled this one off, and what a game to use to truly introduce my girlfriend to Roma. Roma did concede, and Roma did look as if they were going to lose this one for most of the second half; given that, I had to anoint at least one player a sinner. But make no mistake: this match felt more exciting to me than either of the multi-goal clean sheets that started the season, and in my book is a far better signal for just how high this Roma can go than either the win against Lecce or Fiorentina.
One quick aside before diving into the sinners and saints: my love for Mile Svilar knows no bounds, but if yesterday’s match taught me just about anything regarding a non-Roma player, it’s that I want Marco Carnesecchi to be Italy’s goalkeeper moving forward. What an incredible performance; this one could have and should have been a 5-1 rout, if not for his 9 saves.
The Saints
Matìas Soulé
He got the game-winner in stoppage time, so he has to be the first saint on the list. MatìGol (can we start calling him that?) put in an excellent shift as a substitute, garnering himself an 8.7 rating from SofaScore after coming on for Rodrigo Mora in the 54th minute and practically willing the Giallorossi to the win. The Argentine attacker had seven total shots, three of which were on target; while he did miss one big chance, if you make your other one… I have no complaints with you.
Soulé is no longer the new, young, exciting attacker in Roma’s corps (that’d be Mora, who he replaced on the pitch). Yet he is still a key part of this side, and beloved by many fans. He provides the Giallorossi with the exact type of talent needed to find success against the bigger clubs of Italy and all the clubs of the Champions League. And don’t forget: he’s only 23!
Mario Hermoso
Beautiful Mario also deserves a massive round of applause for an excellent performance against Atalanta. The Spaniard played the full ninety yesterday, and he made the pitch his own in a way I’d almost compare to how Gasperini typically employs wing-backs like Wesley and Emanuele Lulli. With that in mind, it was Hermoso’s passing and shooting that made him a saint; his header was an excellent one by all accounts, but it was also his ability to tell the rest of the squad to quit celebrating and start pushing for a second goal that I’ll remember. Hermoso also had four key passes and was highly accurate throughout the match in his passing. Excellent work, Mario.
Wesley
The Brazilian full-back is practically a permanent resident in the Saints category of these articles, so it’s no surprise that he ends up back here after another strong performance on the wing. It was Wesley’s passing that was his story of the night more than anything else; he had a mouthwatering nine key passes and a 92% accuracy rate for all of his passes.
I don’t think it’s a mistake to begin comparing Wesley to some of the best full-backs Roma has had (who often happen to be Brazilian as well). If the Giallorossi continue their ascendancy this season, he will be a major reason why.
The Sinners
Evan Ndicka
Apologies, Evan, but your defending on Atalanta’s sole goal was just that bad. I have full faith you’ll be back among the Saints soon enough, but if Roma had lost this one, it would have largely been on the Ivorian’s shoulders.
Stuck In Between
Nahuel Molina: provided confidence at the full-back position after Emanuel Lulli was subbed off. Intrigued to see where he can go in a Roma kit moving forward.
Bryan Cristante: Roma’s favorite roadrunner continued his bossing of the midfield to start the season. 282 meters of carrying distance… not bad, kid. Not bad.
Manu Koné: an important part of the side whose passes are among the most interesting I see on a regular basis. And he nearly scored a goal today! That was a true rarity.
Most other players who graced the pitch were impressive in one way or another as well, but these are the true standouts, for better and for worse. Roma’s next match against Fenerbahçe SK is their first Champions League match of the year. If they can keep playing like this… the sky may truly be the limit, across all competitions.
