There were no doubts at the start of the season that this was going to be a tough campaign for Roma who are going through a transitory period.
Their stuttering start to the domestic competition came at the back of a premature exit from the Europa League following defeat to unfancied Slovak side Slovan Bratislava in summer.
Those were clear signs that the way ahead for Roma was long and dour.
Only in April, the club was acquired by a group of American investors led by Boston-based Thomas Di Benedetto.
The takeover brought to an end an 18-year reign of the Sensi family and also meant that Roma became the first Serie A outfit to have foreign ownership.
Roma opted not to offer interim coach Vincenzo Montella a new contract in the off-season and instead hired Luis Enrique. No fewer than 11 players were then signed, most of whom foreigners.
Montella joined Catania and as things stand today, the Sicilians are level on points with the Giallorossi in the standings – 17 points from 12 games.
The decision to sack Montella and opt for a young foreign coach was inspired by the allure to imitate the Barcelona model.
The wily Pep Guardiola was an instant success for the Catalans as he led Barca to a string of impressive triumphs since succeeding Frank Riijkaard in 2008.
However, the same cannot be said of Enrique. From the outset, he was viewed by many pundits as a big gamble.
Roma’s failure to progress in the Europa League was just the prelude of a slow start in the Serie A that immediately put Enrique’s operate under the microscope.
So far, Roma have lost five times with Enrique deploying different modules in each of their 12 games.
Roma have one of the worst defensive records in the division (14 goals against) and, equalling alarming is the fact that the team is finding it hard to hit the back of the net (only 15 goals in favour).
Enrique was handed a tall order at Roma as he had to mould a group of new players – almost all novices to the Serie A – into a team.
However, the former Spain international is complicating matters by rotating players from one match to another.
It also seems that the Roma dressing room is not so united either and the incident at the end of Friday’s 0-2 setback to Udinese, involving team-mates Daniel Osvaldo and Erik Lamela, says it all.
Only last week, midfielder Daniele De Rossi was quoted as saying that Roma are not good enough to challenge for any silverware and that he could seek pastures new next year.
De Rossi’s contract expires in June and failure to reach agreement between the two parties would make De Rossi the most sought-after player in the transfer market next summer.
Francesco Totti has missed seven games so far, citing injury as his main reason for skipping training and weekend fixtures.
So, contrary to previous years, it would be a terrible mistake for coach Enrique to pin all his hopes on the captain to steer the Giallorossi out of their current wilderness.
From now till the Christmas recess, Roma have four daunting fixtures coming up – Fiorentina (away), Juventus (home), Napoli (away) and Bologna (away).
It will not be easy for them to recover lost ground and, per-haps, catch up with city rivals Lazio.
Enrique and his team have to start showing signs of recovery and fast.
It is in games like these that quality teams re-emerge. Otherwise, the season will continue taking the shape of an uphill struggle for Roma.
Serie A statistics
1st away win for Catania who conquered Lecce’s Via del Mare stadium for the first time after three straight defeats last weekend. Catania’s win, after back-to-back defeats to Milan (0-4) and Chievo (1-2), coincided with Lecce’s second consecutive setback after a 1-2 reverse to Roma. Novara ended their eight-match winless run (three draws and five defeats) with a good comeback win against Parma. The upset was Parma’s third straight away defeat.
3 penalties awarded by referees last weekend. Daniele Conti made no mistake from the spot to help Cagliari salvage a home draw with Bologna and Adrian Mutu broke the deadlock for Cesena from a penalty against Genoa. At the San Siro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic completed his double by converting a first-half penalty. Of the 36 penalties taken so far, 30 were scored.
3 years since Atalanta’s most recent home win against Napoli. The hosts were within moments of inflicting a fourth defeat of the season on the visitors but Edinson Cavani had other ideas and scored a last-gasp equaliser. Napoli’s winless run has now stretched to three games (two draws and one defeat).
4th straight win for Juventus who handed Lazio a first defeat in nine matches. For the Bianconeri this was their third successive win at the Olympic Stadium. Lazio, like Juventus, are still unbeaten away from home.
20 goals were scored on the 13th day: 14 coming from the hosts and the remaining six from the visitors, who managed three wins. Total number of goals scored so far is 279. Marco Di Vaio (Bologna), Castaignos (Inter) and Pablo Barrientos (Catania) came on as substitutes and scored. German Denis (Atalanta) is still the leading marksman with 10 goals. The Argentine is closely followed by Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale.