Roma vs Genoa Talking Points #1327

Roma 2 Genoa 0FT

Andriy Shevchenko Never should of Taken the Genoa Job

Andriy Shevchenko made his debut in Serie A this weekend against Roma. The former AC Milan and Ukraine Legend suffered a late loss to Roma on Sunday evening in rainy Genoa. The game’s circumstances may not have highlighted it but taking this job was poor judgment for Andriy Shevchenko. Roma scored twice in the 84th and 93rd minute, ultimately collecting the points at Genoa, still scraping at the bottom of the table to turn it around. Roma dominated the match; even though they could not breakthrough until the end, they were incomplete and utter control as Genoa did not provide a thing going forward. They had very little of the ball and ultimately didn’t put their best foot forward. Indeed, they were about seven minutes away from getting the point, but that doesn’t hide that Genoa did not take advantage of what was on the plate for them. The Luigi Ferraris is one of the most passionate grounds in Italy, not to mention the weather conditions were not ideal for the visiting Romans. Roma is a much more talented team, and they eventually get the result they were looking for; however, this Genoa team provided almost nothing it was never going to be a game in which they were going to win, and they were playing for a goalless draw, and that was very obvious from the kickoff. Genoa, at the moment, is a dysfunctional disaster that seemed to be destined for relegation question isn’t purely why didn’t they win the game, and last night’s game is certainly not the fault of their new coach, but a question came to my mind during yesterday’s game. Why did Andre Shevchenko Take This Job? A lot of Italian football fans are excited about this, but from an unbiased point of view, it makes a lot of sense none of what happened yesterday his it’s his fault; I just questioned his decision to take the job in the first place. Andriy Shevchenko was in charge of the Ukraine national team over the previous five years; he’s made the quarter-finals of the Euros this last summer; he has a collection of really good players in the squad and potentially could have taken in them even further. Now, if Andrei Shevchenko would like a domestic job that has more day-to-day duties, I respect it makes sense he’s a young coach with a bright future; however, taking a job like this a relegation team that needs some kind of inspiration to survive the campaign I just don’t quite get it. He was pretty high-profile coming off the Euros this summer; he could have found a much better job, at least one with a decent transfer budget, a job that wouldn’t be relied on him to save the Titanic from sinking. I don’t fault him at all for yesterday, but this entire situation is set up to fail, and I have serious concerns with Andriy Shevchenko ruining his opportunity by taking a job that is over his head; this is not the type of manager that you need for a job like this Andriy Shevchenko has the potential to be a really good manager and stopping in Genoa in this situation might stunt his progress.

The Change in Formation Unlocked Roma’s Attack

On Sunday night, Jose Mourinho made some very important tactical changes prior to Roma’s 2–0 victory over Genoa. Roma has been typically operating out of the 4–3–2–1 formation during the season; however, Roma had hit a snag and struggled as of late. There was plenty of talk during the International break about the possibility of Jose Mourinho making a change. Jose Mourinho had the idea of applying a back 3 with two Strikers up top two pair Tammy Abraham with Shomurodov; even though Uzbekistan forward had quite a miserable game missing three different chances that could have put Roma in front of the system itself worked very well. It was a difficult game in the rain, and eventually, Roma made a breakthrough even though it took until the very end of the game, there was certainly a difference between the performance we saw from Roma last night and what we have been saying over the past couple of games. It has been such a difference in comparison. Roma dominated the game from the beginning with huge advantages in possession; they had the ball in the attacking area for most of the 90 minutes on Sunday night. They were a constant threat to score, and the game opened up in a very different way than it has so far this season. The inclusion of the counter-attack existing in this formation made Roma especially explosive there was a small level of concern that in this formation, with Lorenzo Pellegrini would have to drop back, he would not be as effective. It turned out not to be the case, and he still looked as dangerous; whether or not that will be the case going forward this season will be an interesting test as long as Lorenzo Pellegrini can be as effective in this formation. The way he played last night, he pushed himself forward a little more than someone typically in that role, so because of that, it works. It is very difficult to master the back three. There are very few coaches who can do it. Still, in this system, with Gianluca Mancini, Rodger Ibanez, and ultimately Chris Smalling, they have enough defensive prowess to be effective, still having a contribution from the outside. There were a lot of tweaks inside the system that changed the form of some players individually. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, as a false 9 role, was outstanding; the creativity and the ball distribution were excellent, not to mention he had a few chances on goal after his early goal was disallowed. He was very influential in Rome. Roma, as a team, collectively played arguably some of their best football of the season; the circumstance of the game it took them a while to eventually score, but as a team, they played brilliantly together. Jose Mourinho acknowledged that his team had an issue in the 4231 formations; that’s why he inevitably changed it. Roma opened up possibilities, especially in the attacking areas where the team regularly got on the counter-attack. Everyone played very well together, but this system in particular benefits Rick karsdorp more than anyone else. The Flying Dutchman is a very good and productive right back; we can get into some attacking areas while also having the stamina to get back and take the ball off of his opponents; however, he is a wingback goes to a different level completely. The Flying Dutchman is very attacking oriented a lot of the dangers facing he gets to his with him with the ball at his feet thrusting forward and delivering a chance into the box he has a high level of intelligence and athleticism in this formation when he can play as a right wingback he’s so much more dangerous I would argue in this type of system he is the best player at his position in Italian football he is a top-five player as a right-back, but as a wingback, he just reaches a whole nother level. He is the one player that is going to benefit from this formation more than anything else because this setup caters to his strengths and abilities not to mention if you look on the other side Stephan El Shaarawy as a wingback was incredibly explosive as well eventually Leo spinazzola will return on that flank and as long as Roma don’t make defensive errors this is going to potentially make Roma a much more difficult proposition because previously speaking counter-attacking football is not something that was expected Roma opens up much more mkhitaryan who is having a very difficult season until Mourinho change the formation and all of a sudden last night he looked as special as he did last season this was absolutely the right decision there certain things that Roma will need to figure out in this setup but the setup caters the Personnel but like I said Rick karsdorp will benefit from this more than anyone else but as a team they dominated the game that total control possession and they looked dangerous on the attack that is a recipe for success and it was something that was not happening with with the back four Lorenzo Pellegrini was just relied on to constantly save the day Lorenzo Pellegrini can still be exceptional but will have more support from the other areas Roma just looked so much more effective last night change the formation was the best thing they could have done.

Teenage Felix Afena makes Dream impact

Roma was in complete control throughout the game. It was a difficult environment in the rain, and it started to seem like they were losing a race against the clock; it would have been somewhat criminal to play as well as Roma did and not get maximum points. Late in the game, Jose Mourinho looks at his bench and puts all his faith in 18-year-old Roma youngster Felix Afena. He is a Roma Academy graduate of African descent; he recently made his Serie A debut this season and has got some minutes in the conference League. It was high-pressure, but Jose Mourinho had faith that the youngster would come through for him. It was a very risky decision to make, especially at that point of the game when Roma needed a goal. It was an incredible opportunity for the youngster, and he wasn’t going to let it pass him by. He had 12 minutes to be the driving force behind Roma turning the match around it was a must-win considering Roma was low on confidence and needed a certain level of inspiration. When Roma needed a hero to rescue them from a game in the rain away from home, Felix Afena delivered in one of the most pressurized moments of the game. Genoa is a horrific team; however, the environment of the game was difficult it was raining it was wet, and there were complications as far as finding the back of the net Roma had so many chances to break through, and in this situation, it wasn’t purely on their inability to finish it was a difficult circumstance to be in however all Felix Afena needed with the belief of his manager and just like that it happened. Mkhitaryan pushes forward on the break options to his left and his right as well as taking it on himself; as he approached the situation, it seemed like he was going to take a shot, and he thought about it, but then he saw Felix from the corner of his eye placing a perfect ball into the box the Roma teenager came through stepped up on a one-touch finish has the ball glided into the bottom corner to give Roma a 1–0 lead the first goal in the Roma colors incredibly prideful moment for the youngster ran over to Mourinho to celebrate as Roma stole one late. Believe it or not, be the 18 year old was not done in the final seconds of the game he was pushing for with the ball at his feet from well outside the box he just took a crack at it, launching an absolute bomb into the top corner one of the goals of the season converting on the long-range effort to complete a brace an enchanting performing from the youngster that came off the bench and delivered for Roma. They get back on the right track with an inspiring performance. Nicolo Zaniolo, when he first burst onto the scene, showed his qualities; however, he didn’t do something like this with Nicolo zaniolo and Jose Mourinho potentially at odds Roma have another youngster arising from the background along with Darbo and other young players, Roma have in their team this was a performance that he’d remember forever he becomes the youngest Roma player to score two goals in a single game ever it was enchanting he seems like he has a bright future and prior to this game, he had renegotiated his contract considering Roma’s limitations in certain areas we might see him start to become more of a regular occurrence if he can do that in 12 minutes imagine what he can do in 90.