While Sinners & Saints can produce controversial selections, I can assure you that each selection is carefully weighed and considered, especially when Lorenzo Pellegrini or Bryan Cristante is involved! All kidding aside, every edition of S&S includes at least one or two players I agonize over as I try to parse the ambiguity of match reports and make sense of the scattered notes I kept during the previous 90 minutes.
However, when a Roma player notches the league’s first hat-trick in over a year, these
pieces tend to write themselves. Thanks to Donyell Malen’s three-goal romp over last-placed Pisa on Friday, the Dutch forward has removed most of the guest work from today’s S&S. We say most simply because, in between and around Malen’s three goals, Roma was mostly meh, so we still have some digging to do.
But let’s start with the man of the hour…
The Saints
Donyell Malen
Three shots, three goals. That pretty much sums it up, right? Well, dig a bit deeper, and Malen’s binge looks even more impressive. Yes, Malen scored what looked like three relatively easy goals, but he exceeded his xG by nearly 1.8, according to SofaScore. The xGOT on all three of Malen’s goals—essentially the value he added with the quality of his finish—was higher than the xG. These weren’t lucky goals. Malen increased the goal-scoring probability with all three of his finishes, particularly his capper in the 52nd minute, where the xGOT (0.84) was 75% higher than the xG (0.48).
As impressive as that might be, the strangest note from Malen’s performance was perhaps the most striking. With 10 league goals, Malen is now third in the Serie A scoring race despite playing only 12 matches. With leading scorer Lautaro Martinez dealing with an injury, if he gets on another heater, we may have a Capocannoniere race on our hands.
Bryan Cristante
Everyone’s favorite lightning rod turned in a quiet but sharp performance against Pisa yesterday. In 90 minutes, Cristante took a game-high 105 touches, won 11 duels, and contributed 13 defensive actions, including four interceptions and five successful tackles, both match highs. Throw in nine balls played into the final third, and Cristante had a tidy little performance on Friday.
Devyne Rensch
The Dutch wing-back didn’t have a statistically significant match, but I’m sure I wasn’t alone making this face while watching Malen yesterday.
Rensch did a little bit of everything last night, winning six duels, playing three balls into the final third, completing four defensive actions, and setting up Malen’s second goal in the 43rd minute. Performances like these give you faith that he can be a piece of the puzzle moving forward.
Daniele Ghilardi
Roma’s proto-Nesta was on point against yesterday. In 90 minutes, the slick-haired defender terrorized the Pisa attack, covering large swaths of the pitch as he racked up 11 defensive contributions and won over 50% of his duels. Check out his heatmap and take note of all the hot spots:
On top of that, Ghilardi played a game-high 14 passes into the final third, competed 67% of his long passes, and took 75 touches. He has a bright future ahead of him, no doubt.
Mile Svilar
While he wasn’t tested much, Svilar faced nine attempts on goal, seven in the run of play and two via set pieces, and made five saves (including three in the box), made two high claims, one successful punch, and kept a clean sheet against 1.20 xGOT. Roma was seldom in doubt in this match, but Mile was always at the ready.
Stuck In Between
These players were solid, if not spectacular, against Pisa yesterday.
Matías Soulé
Making only his second appearance since mid-February, Soulé had a solid 64-minute turn against Pisa, highlighted by his defense-splitting assist on Malen’s third and final goal. All told, Soulé took 48 touches, completed two dribbles and notched one assist before being replaced by Neil El Aynaoui in the 65th minute.
Evan Ndicka and Mario Hermoso
While Ghilardi and Svilar had more noteworthy performances, Roma’s remaining two center-backs weren’t too shabby against Pisa. Combining for 18 defensive actions, nine duels won, and 12 recoveries, Hermoso and Ndicka did their part to keep Pisa under their thumbs.
