Roma back in business

Last weekend, Roma reignited their aspirations for a tilt to the title when they interrupted Milan’s seven-match positive run to record their first ‘real’ away win of the term after a 1-0 win at the San Siro.

Looking at Roma’s recent visits to the San Siro, one assumes that this stadium has become a perfect hunting ground for the Giallorossi as they have succeeded in beating Milan in four of their last five visits.

Roma reached Saturday’s game fully aware that anything less than a win would see them falling further off the pace.

Prior to last weekend, the club from the capital were trailing early pace-setters Milan by no fewer than 10 points.

Even worse was the fact that Roma’s only away win had ironically come in their own backyard when overcoming Lazio 2-0 in a derby hosted by the city rivals at the Olimpico.

Thanks to their victory, Roma are now seven points adrift of Milan, four behind Napoli and Lazio and two off Juventus.

Claudio Ranieri’s men have done really well in the direct encounters against the title contenders.

Apart from beating Milan and Lazio, Roma have also won against Inter (1-0) and Fiorentina (3-2) and drew with Juventus (1-1). On the other hand, two of their four defeats so far came against Napoli (0-2) and Palermo (1-3).

Roma have been very strong at their home ground, winning six of their first eight fixtures. Only Cesena (0-0) and Bologna (2-2) left the capital undefeated this season.

Since drawing against Bologna on the third day, Inter, Genoa (2-1), Lecce (2-0), Fiorentina, Udinese (2-0) and Bari (1-0) all left Rome empty-handed. The Giallorossi are the only team in the top flight still unbeaten at home.

If Roma managed to up their game and improve their home record as the competition intensified, the same cannot be said of their away form.

Up to now, they’ve dropped too many points on the road to be considered genuine title contenders.

At the start of the season, Roma were beaten by Cagliari (1-5) and Brescia (1-2). Although last season’s Coppa Italia finalists showed signs of improvement, they were not good enough to collect all points at stake in two winnable away fixtures, vs Parma (0-0) and Chievo (2-2).

Unlike last term, when Roma were short of options in all departments, this season Ranieri has to contend with some disgruntled players as Adriano and, more recently, Francesco Totti sounded their displeasure at having to settle for a place on the bench.

Up front, Ranieri is spoilt for choice as he can count on Totti, Jeremy Menez, Stefano Okaka, Mirko Vucinic, Marco Borriello, Julio Baptista and Adriano.

The other three departments are no exception. Even for the goalkeeper’s role, as Roma can count on three top-choice shot-stoppers in Julio Sergio, Bogdan Lobont and Alexander Doni.

The players at Roma have no other choice but to get used to Ranieri’s rotation policy. If not, they will be asked to seek pastures new.

The players have to understand that Ranieri’s rotation policy is for the benefit of the team, particularly from a long-term perspective. If Ranieri is still in a position to call on reserves of strength come February, then Roma could have their say in the title race.

This time last season, Roma were improving by leaps and bounds and eventually went on to place second in the Serie A and finish on the losing end in the Coppa Italia final.

The Roma fans will hope that Ranieri and his players have learnt from their own mistakes and will go a step further this time around.

To do this, Ranieri needs the complete backing of the whole clan including that of the old guard. If the issue regarding the sale of the club to new and perhaps more affluent owners is resolved, then it is even better.

Statistics

1st defeat for Milan since going down to Juventus on the ninth day. Since then, the Rossoneri had recorded six wins and a draw. In a balanced encounter, Roma grabbed their second away success of the season – the first since beating Lazio 2-0 in the derby. Roma have conquered Milan’s San Siro in four of their last five visits.

2 players – Marco Rossi (Bari) and Manuel Giandonato (Juventus) – received marching orders last weekend. One of the two penalties awarded by the referees last weekend went off-target. Michele Marcolini had a golden opportunity to put Chievo ahead but his effort was saved by Juve’s Marco Storari. Elsewhere, Andrea Masiello grabbed a vital equaliser for Bari against Palermo from a penalty. Up to now, 47 penalties were awarded… 13 missed. Palermo are the only side still with no penalties in favour.

3rd draw for Bari from their last 12 outings, all winless. On Sunday, Giampiero Ventura’s side came from a goal down to share the spoils with Palermo. This was Palermo’s first away draw of the season. The Sicilians have last conquered Bari in November 2002 (1-0). Catania returned to winning ways after a draw and back-to-back defeats to Juventus (1-3) and Cagliari (0-3) thanks to their home success over Brescia. Catania collected 18 of their current 21 points from their first nine home fixtures.

7 wins and six draws represent Juve’s unbeaten run. On Sunday, the Bianconeri were seconds away from a third straight win but conceded a Sergio Pellissier equaliser deep into stoppage time to share the spoils with Chievo. Had Juve conserved that lead, it would have been their first triumph in Verona since Nov. 2008 (2-0).

8 defeats and a draw are all Lecce have to show from their first nine away fixtures. On Sunday, Luigi De Canio’s side were moments away from a valuable draw at Napoli but Edinson Cavani had other thoughts to give the Blues a third straight win. To date, Lecce’s 2-2 draw with Palermo on the fifth day represents the southerners’ only positive away result.

13 goals were scored on the 17th day (Fiorentina-Inter and Sampdoria-Genoa were postponed). Foreign players contributed with seven goals and there were five first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 382. German Denis (Udinese) was the only player who came on as a substitute and found the back of the net. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) and Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) are the leading marksmen with 10 goals each.