Seven minutes of ordinary madness. The season of Roma collected in a handkerchief wet with tears and blood. A tumble that you do not expect. The most unlikely. An achievement within the achievement itself.
For seventy minutes Roma ruled, Juve just really little thing, lit only by a flick by Dybala for the goal of the momentary equalizer, but then the situation is settled in the second half with the goal of Miki and the jewel of Pellegrini on a free kick. We are ahead three to one and in total control, with Tammy’s opening goal that immediately unlocked the game at the start. Then something happens.
Allegri makes the changes of desperation, Mou responds with a simple alternation, which unfortunately will be fatal. With the exit of the young Felix and the entry of Shomurodov, the light suddenly goes out. The team stops, stops playing, defensively they fail, they don’t fight, we leave spaces, open fields. We take one hit, two hits, three hits. Stunned. Like a boxer on the ropes.
In 7 minutes we are incredibly down 3-4. Then we get up, incredulous, a reaction is triggered. A chance to catch her again, despite everything, with another 10 minutes plus injury time, theoretically there would also be time for a possible counter-reversal. And instead our history, very much Romanista, says once again that we are not cut out for these things, that it is not in our DNA to straighten certain matches in this way.
And here is yet another crucial penalty wrong with so much lightness and naivety. Mourinho is right, on the pitch he lacks the strength to react, charisma, personality and leadership. This team does not reflect in the slightest with what our coach is, our true leader. Our only hope that we can see this club move to a higher level. Investments in players of a very different caliber will be needed, it is now clear. Many players have obvious limitations, both technical and temperamental.
This team wouldn’t make it even if Klopp or Guardiola came along. We are missing a lot of points due to referees, true, maybe now we would also be above Juve in fifth place. But this does not change the current scenario. In the squad we have five-six players with excellent potential, but the others are good only for the bench. To make the leap in quality you need investments, right grafts with a right mentality, in the image and likeness of the technician, therefore at another level.
This team needs to be remodelled, it will take a couple of years to compete with the first four, a three-year project as already set out. Even Inter and Milan took years to return from the dungeons of some time ago, if anyone remembers. Calling another coach like Fonseca or an emerging one makes no sense, if the ambitions are different.
Josè Mourinho is the only hope to be able to return to the levels that compete with us, this is a challenge for him too, which is different from everything he has done so far. Rome is a place famous for its fans and the city it represents, certainly not for the trophies to showcase. So why come here to ruin a reputation with a team, let’s face it, poor, almost the same as last year which finished seventh? Because there is a project, with an ambitious ownership, because he knows that winning here would be different, a unique taste.
And then, we must try to be patient, now we are neither from the championship nor from fourth place, but maybe we will be. Let’s help him instead, instead of calling him obsolete or whatever … if anyone, he’ll be someone like Allegri, overpaid too, but with other availability and demands, but beware to say it around or make fun of him, thanks to the press.
Here we need a strong figure, a strong club and maybe one day even a strong press, as they have it in the North, who can put their face to it, to defend us from wrongs, from those who attack us, from those who do not respect us. Then a Totti, De Rossi, Boniek or Nela are welcome too, a Romanista to lend a hand, who goes in front of the TV to when they put their feet up on our heads. This is, if we want to be ambitious and grow seriously, otherwise we are open to young people, let’s take people like Italian, De Zerbi or Dionisi, or bring back Andreazzoli too, with the good game of Empoli or Sassuolo. But the results won’t change. Always Forza Roma.
