Roma v Torino: Match Discussion

“You have to get nine points from your next three games. No ifs or buts.

“There is no time to lose. You are a strong team but you have to prove it.”

Those were the collective words of Franco Baldini and Walter Sabatini to the players in a 15 minute pep talk before a training session yesterday. If those words are anything to go by, I don't think it's Zeman who will be feeling much pressure going into these next 3 games.

So basically, this game is being played on a Monday on the account of the Italian National Rugby team playing a match with New Zealand at the Olimpico. At first, I wasn't thrilled about this to say the least, but this actually works out well, all things considered. An extra day of rest won't really make much of a difference against Torino though, a side that has been deceptively good this season, especially on their travels. We'll be facing them with a good, but weakened squad.

Squad News

Mauro Goicoechea's got some making up to do. To make your 2nd start in the Rome derby as a young untested goalkeeper against the likes of Hernanes and Miro Klose, is indeed a big ask, but his mistake on Candreva's goal was just simply one created from nerves. Maybe it was the ball's slipperyness, but whatever it was, he got blamed for it and rightly so. He's going to need a rebound match and this may be a good one for him. He did show his potential talent with some great saves so we must give him the benefit of the doubt.

Ivan Piris abandoned the form that locked him into the RB position and once again looked very dodgy when faced by a lively opposing full-back or winger. With our lack of options at RB in light of Taddei's injury problems, Piris is likely to continue on there where he may possibly encounter Alessio Cerci. Leandro Castan will return to the middle in place of the suspended Nico Burdisso alongside Marquinhos, who continues to look a mixed bag of inexperience and brimming, budding talent. Balzaretti's been in steady, if unspectacular form, for both us and Italy and while he's provided solidity on the left flank, his attacking presence which was so present in the earlier games has waned noticeably, we will need that back in the coming games.

With Tachtsidis and De Rossi suspended, we're likely to see Pjanic in a possibly more advanced role, flanked by Bradley/Marquinho and Florenzi. Florenzi has probably been our most consistent midfielder despite the wane in his dynamism. Bradley, for me, has had the biggest impact on our midfield in the last 3 games he's played or so. He will be crucial against a 2-man workhouse Torino midfield. Marquinho has just not looked good whenever I've seen him this season, barring that lone goal against Inter. The lack of starting has gotten to him from the looks of his play, but he did put himself about effectively against Lazio so I would love to see more of that. There was a lot of noise made about Pjanic getting mad at Zeman after scoring his goal, which he seems as vindication for his seemingly unjust benchings. I personally like this kind of Pjanic. Simply put and to paraphrase Emperor Palpatine: His anger gave him focus. /Star Wars nerdiness



The Opposition

Torino F.C.



This Toro team is all about their excellent away form, a byproduct of being coached by Giampiero Ventura. Standing out from all of their performances away from the Stadio Olimpico di Torino, I would be remiss to not mention that 5-goal mauling they handed out to Atalanta a couple of weeks ago. A pasting like basically sums up this Torino side when they are allowed to play their game away from home. I would like to say our defense can prevent this, but I think it's our own attack we need to look to for salvation here.

The Coach: Giampiero Ventura



Perhaps best known for the Bari side he put together that included future Italy star defenders Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Rannochia, Ventura lead that side to a 10th place finish having beaten the likes of Juventus and a particular rampant Palermo side as well. An adventurous tactician who is not afraid to use young players and set his teams up to play attractive football, Ventura has adopted a slightly unorthodox, but pretty successful 4-2-4 formation that basically overloads the back 4 of the opponent while allowing one of the midfielders to come forward along with the full-backs to apply max pressure and create chances. It's not all that different from Zeman's style except that Torino's defensive is pretty well marshaled by Jean-Francois Gillet and Guillermo Rodriguez.

The Captain: Rolando Bianchi



Lazio-taint notwithstanding, Bianchi is a very predatory and skilled forward. I still remember that great season he had with Reggina a few years back. That move eventually earned him a move to Pre-Etihad Man City, where he enjoyed relative sucess. He scored 4 goals in 15 apps for Lazio before joining Torino, where he is now skipper and heading into his 144th match with the Granata. He currently sits on 64 goals. As their main forward and leading scorer, he's considered the threat we absolutely must stop.

The Danger Man: Alessio Cerci



I've always said his movement on the ball resembles that of Thierry Henry at times and I've seen that same type of silky, gliding movement from Cerci for Torino this season as he's their chief playmaker with 4 assists to his name to match Bianchi's 4 goals. Of all the players we've let go in recent years, Cerci's ostracism under Ranieri was probably the most painful to watch because this guy has quite a bit of talent and should be playing for a better side, no offense to Torino. He will have a point to prove tomorrow along with Matteo Brighi, of that I'm sure.

Objectives/Prediction

“I want to see the team play football and remain concentrated for a full 90 minutes,”

I think basically sums up what we haven't been doing all season. Though I don't think I'll ever like the fact that our defense doesn't figure prominently into our tactics (as they never really did pre-Zeman anyway), I believe I'm beginning to finally see what he's talking about. The wins over Inter, Palermo and Genoa are reference points for how this team should be playing because while we weren't completely focused for the whole 90 in that Genoa win, the common denominator here is that we did well for a lot longer than the 20 minutes against Bologna, Samp and Lazio. A 90 minute game of what we do in the first 20 minutes has just about always guaranteed us a win this season., it just hasn't been seen enough and sadly this poor trend of disappearing after the 30th minute appears to happen more often than note with the smaller, more provincial sides such as Torino. And that doesn't bode all to well for us tomorrow.

4-2 Roma

I could easily see us dropping points against this solid Torino side. Don't have much time to give my input right now, but you're starting 11 seems very probably Neal, though I think Bradley will be used in front of the backline, with Florenzi to his left and Pjanic slightly more advanced on the right. Piris came back late from international duty which is why Balzaretti was used on the right in training earlier this week, though I think the Paraguayan is set to start. Up front, really a 50-50 between Osvaldo and Destro. It seems as if Osvaldo has made a last minute recovery as he was used along with Lamela and Totti in yesterday's training session, though it would be no surprise if Zeman decides against risking him since he is still struggling I think.

All I'm looking for is a reaction, I want this team to show that they're hungry to get a result. The only sign of life I saw in this respect in the derby came in the final minutes from Pjanic and Burdisso. We need more of that feeling, if not, time to call up the primavera boys to show the South Americans what it means to play for Roma. Daje ragazzi!!!!

4-2 seems a little too highscoring in my opinion McLewis. I'm predicting a game with a 1 goal difference or less, Torino are too stable to get scored on 4 times, although the result could go to either side.

Isn't Destro still suspended for taking off his shirt? I thought it was a 2 game ban.

If Roma keep this up they will undoubtedly come away from this with a goal, and possibly the win. Problem is the last 10 minutes already showed signs of them tiring - who can blame them after so much sprinting - and that was coincidentally the time when Torino looked best and finally managed to do more than 2 passes in a row in the other half of the pitch. So I'm expect a much more open 2nd half.

Roma have also been somewhat unlucky. Pjanic's kick from out of the box would've gone in 4 times out of 5 and it was a superb save. Osvaldo was just a cm away from being at the right place at least 3 times, and he was visibly frustrated about this, could've had a goal or two already with slightly better anticipation.

Also, for all of Ogbonna's hype it's Glik who has looked like the outstanding CB in the pairing tonight.

Exactly, already tiring and movement off the ball in the last 10 minutes came only from the full backs. We had plenty of chances to go ahead but couldn't take them. We have to cut down on those wasted opportunities.

It's been a somewhat flexible 4-3-3 so far. Pjanic often moves centrally and past his midfield partners when on the ball, with Totti and Lamela immediately drifting out wide when he does so. When play is on the opposite side, Totti tends to drift towards the middle, with Florenzi covering his position on the left flank, often creating what sometimes looks like a 4-2-3-1.

Points we have to improve on:
- Back line has to watch Bianchi and Sgrigna's runs, we got lucky on a couple of offside calls.
- We have to dwell on the ball less and move up as fast as we can, utilizing the wings a little more, especially Lamela's flank.
- When Totti's on the ball, one between Pjanic and Bradley has to get into the opposing box, listen to Zeman ffs.


Expecting to see Destro on for Osvaldo very soon and perhaps Dodo on for one of the full backs.

you guys are missing so many chances ffs.

Ogbonna is a beast. Osvaldoo should've scored there

GOOOAL...PJANIC finally

It was Pjanic's 50th try and scored from a deflection
Should really learn to pass when there are better options. He did have one great shot but other than that I found him wasteful.

Ogbonna's tackle that lead to the pen was uncharacteristically clumsy, after that point Torino never recovered.

By far the highlight of the game is the 3rd clean sheet in Roma's season, Roma's defense not only looked stable, they looked good tonight. Not sure how many times I can say that this season. Castan in particular shined above the rest.

Destro's sub ended up having very little effect - and on top of that subbed a Totti that was having a very good 2nd half I felt.

FFS our finishing is so shite for what is supposed to be one of the best attacks in the league.

Anyways, I would call that a scrappy win. We got our goals any which way we could and that's what matters, especially after a loss in the derby. We controlled the game well and created so many chances, but damn, everyone missed good chances.

Gotta feel for Torino, despite being carved open a couple times, they generally played well and had the right mentality. Their counters were a little mistimed which made our lives easier. They couldn't really expose Piris and Balzaretti, the latter which didn't really impress me tonight. That penalty decision was kind of harsh. Ogbonna did hold back Marquinho (thus the material for a foul was there), but the Brazilian resisted and only went down once the second defender came in on him. Difficult decision which was ultimately made by the penalty area assistant who did have the best view.

Also, I liked what I saw from Marquinho and think he deserves a start sometime soon. His determination is evident and he'll fit in well into our midfield. I would have him start ahead of Florenzi against Pescara.

We should've won this game comfortably, but we are Roma and we always do things the hard way

It was a good match though, open at times as Torino threatened on occassion through mainly Bianchi, but Goicoechea went some ways towards redeeming himself as he looked very assured on the shots coming his way.

I was actually more impressed with Marquinhos than Castan in this match. This kid is very cool-headed for being so young. Didn't go in rashly when we could've and made some really timely interceptions, capping off one of his better games this season. Castan looked good as well, but I couldn't help be feel he looked a bit uncomfortable when Torino pressed, with him slicing a clearance that eventually ended up a corner when he could've hoofed it clear. Of the full-backs, I agree with Mike in that Piris was probably the better of the 2, but that doesn't really surprise me given that Torino's left-sided threat wasn't all that threatenting. Balza's in pretty meh form right now, I think that's become pretty clear. This feels like the right time to start giving Dodo more time, especially while he's fit.

As for midfield, well we had a little bit of everything and I think that's what Zeman wanted. Florenzi gave us zip and impetus to get forward, Bradley gave us steel, industry and a base from which to start our attacks a la De Rossi, and Pjanic gave us silk and intelligence. We largely dominated Torino's midfield so if there's a reason why we didn't score more goals than we did, we can't really blame the midfield for that as they did what they were supposed to do. Marquinho's introduction gave us more of that drive to get into the box and into Torino's faces. Also agree here with Mike that he's beginning to make a case for some playing time, but he's still well short of a starting berth I'd say.

Up front, we were very toothless for large parts of the game. Everything looked good around the box as Torino dug in and tried to repel everything that we threw at them and they succeeded by and large until the penalty, which I think was a bit harsh. People will come down a bit harshly on Destro, but we have to remember that he's not a natural winger and that's where he played when he came on for Totti. He makes his biggest impact from the center, but with Dani Osvaldo there and in good form, can't see that happening for the time being. Lamela looked a bit quiet today, but still very dangerous when on the ball and in attacking positions. He may not have scored today, but he gave his marker sufficient bouts of fear when running at him at least.

Our next match is away to a Pescara team in crisis, having sacked their coach. They are the whipping boys of the league at the moment and while I will stop short of saying we're likely winners in this fixture, I'm feeling very good about our chances of making it 6 points of the 9 we need to keep us in the hunt for Europe.