Rudi Garcia... under pressure.Rudi Garcia... under pressure.

Up to November, Roma were competing neck and neck with Juventus in what promised to be a tight two-horse race in the Serie A this season.

At the time, Roma were at their peak and looked likely to oust English champions Manchester City for a place in the last 16 of the Champions League. But a promising year is suddenly turning into a frustrating campaign for Rudi Garcia’s team.

This has been a very hard winter for Roma.

They were knocked out of the Coppa Italia quarter-finals by Fiorentina and then relegated to the Europa League after finishing third behind Bayern Munich and Manchester City in Group E of the Champions League.

In the Serie A, the Giallorossi have only managed 17 points from their last 11 outings (three wins and eight draws), a slump that saw them slip a massive nine points behind Juventus ahead of Monday’s direct clash at the Olympic Stadium.

Initially, Roma had given the impression that they were good enough to challenge Juventus and, perhaps, outmuscle the champions in the title race.

In recent weeks, however, reality proved otherwise as Roma failed to keep up with the pace, leaving the way clear for Juve to win the scudetto for the fourth season in a row.

Roma’s failure to win matches against modest opponents cast doubts over their status as genuine contenders for the honours.

Like Juventus, they are still unbeaten at home but they have also shared the spoils with Sassuolo, Milan, Lazio, Empoli and Parma in front of their own fans.

In Turin, Juventus have only dropped points against Sampdoria and Inter in back-to-back 1-1 draws in December at a time when Roma had started experiencing a dip in form.

Last week, Roma could not go beyond a 1-1 home draw with Feyenoord, currently third in the Dutch League, in a Europa League match overshadowed by crowd violence.

This was a game to forget as Roma were made to pay for a couple of missed opportunities, leaving them with an uphill task to make it to the next round.

The result also meant that Roma are without a home win in all competitions since beating Inter in the Serie A on November 30.

Various factors have contributed to Roma’s decline in recent weeks.

First, Garcia’s ill-timed declaration that Roma will win the scudetto despite his side’s 2-3 away defeat to Juventus in October, failed to motivate his players.

Fabio Capello, who led Roma to their last league title in 2001, once famously declared that a scudetto won with Roma is worth 10 at Milan or Juventus.

That demonstrates how difficult it is for teams from the south to gain the upperhand on their rich rivals up north.

Also, last season, Roma won 26 matches, drew seven and lost five. This season, they have already drawn nine and lost two from 24 outings.

More worryingly is the fact that last season Roma scored 72 goals and let in 25. Until now, Garcia’s men have scored just 37 goals and conceded 18.

These worrying numbers lead us to another important factor… a dismal transfer campaign.

Roma’s star signing Juan Iturbe (€20m from Verona) has barely left his mark as the influential Kevin Strootman has been out for most of the season, making just six appearances.

Gervinho was sorely missed in attack while on international duty with Ivory Coast where the ex-Arsenal striker was instrumental in his nation’s second Africa Cup success this winter.

Meanwhile, it is still unclear why Roma offloaded arguably one of the best strikers around – Mattia Destro (on loan at Milan) – and replaced him with Victor Ibarbo (Cagliari) and Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow).

But, perhaps, Roma’s biggest mistake was to let central defender Medhi Benatia leave for Bayern Munich last summer and then failing to find a suitable replacement with the money derived from the transfer deal.

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