A year ago Roma beat Barcelona to enter the Champions League semifinals. Today we don’t even know if will succeed in winning a single game from here to the end of the league. They don’t fight and they don’t run. This is since the beginning of the season last August. So many embarassments since. We remember Chievo, Atalanta, Bologna, then Spal, Udinese, Cagliari, ending with many other indecent performances ending with the disgraceful 7-1 in Florence.
The team is in pieces, mentally and physically. Now everyone’s looking for a scapegoat. On one side, there are the legitimate expectations of the Roma fans, against the reality of things, and everything that revolves around the Roma world. The fans spit sentences and judgments according to the situations. In the end we are always looking for a culprit. Until three weeks ago Di Francesco was the evil of everything, formation, changes, choices. He was not good enough for Roma, he could only coach in Sassuolo, it was said.
Then Monchi, the cashier of Seville who is said to have dismantled the team, bad buys, only interested in making capital gains. Then we saw him leaving the sinking ship. So they say. Then, Ranieri the Messiah arrives, all to acclaim Romanismo and the “normalization of things”, welcome back Claudio. Now, after 3 games we hear people throwing the cross on Ranieri, he is old, inadequate, retired, he only knows how to play “catenaccio”.
Cannot blame Claudio, in the face of this we raise our hands. That Di Francesco was sent away to give a shock, we all agreed. Even if now it’s even worse. All right Ranieri, a Romanista to try to normalize things, we agreed also here, but knowing that he could not work miracles. So, we must stop here. Guys, this is Roma this year, not just now. So you have to start from afar to understand a little better.
The 10-year American era saw the exit of Montella and the entry of Luis Enrique, all the way up to Ranieri, passing through Zeman, Rudi Garcia, Andreazzoli, Spalletti and Di Francesco. A myriad of players, collaborators, managers, fitness trainers, marketing gurus and so on. An endless list. This is because Pallotta entrusted himself to his main contact, someone living between London and South Africa. Pallotta does not understand anything about football, and it is right for him to delegate and rely on those who should understand it to carry out the “project”.
Whether he came here to do business and for the stadium we all agree. Lawful and understandable, we cannot expect him to be like Dino Viola or Franco Sensi. But is there anyone else who wants to take it, I don’t know, some old dodgy building developers in Rome or some wild filmakers at Sampdoria? We would certainly be in better hands. sure. Or maybe Mr. Pallotta is just waiting for the definitive go-ahead for the construction of the stadium, with Qatar Airways ready to take over everything? Mind you, the recent trip of totti and co. to Doha is quite significant.
The truth is that ranting is the fault of this or that is of little use at this time. We would stay here for hours and hours talking about Monchi or Pallotta, or anyone. The truth comes from afar. What Pallotta needs to do is to stop trusting those who have chosen strange philosophies and strategies so far, those who have continued to change almost always wrongly. Big Franco is always there, in between a book by Paulo Coelho, walking around Hyde Park or sorting out coffee machines in Cape Town. This is Baldini, a different man from the fighting one of the Franco Sensi era.
He was fascinated by a different but football utopia, that cannot exist in the world of football. He was wrong and continues to do it. It can’t be him who continues to decide. Here, now is the time for change in this regard. It’s time to sit around the table only with Totti and De Rossi, and cut all the others out of the discussion. Now, not in June, Champions League or Europa League, regardless. Plan now. Totti said it, he is ready. It must have all the powers to reorganize the technical part.
With the new Technical Director in place, bring back Bruno Conti with maybe Claudio Ranieri behind the scenes, and a Sporting Director that only buys players chosen by the future coach. With a clear and transparent strategy in front of the fans. That coach could be Daniele De Rossi, a suggestive solution for the moment, especially if the team will be downsized, perhaps initially supported by someone on the bench. Contract for the next 5 years, for all of them, need continuity regardless. Few heads to decide, but normal heads, with Roma hearts.
Pallotta and Baldissoni must think only of building the new stadium, and if they manage to do so, hoping that it is not only for the rich, that it is a stadium for 60,000 and that it has two Curva stands at accessible prices. Let’s not make another mistake, it would be wrong for the city and the people, or Pallotta might end up sitting in the stands alone with all his friends in question. Forza Roma.