LRO Magazine - LaRoma-online

LaRoma-online magazine will be a fortnightly addition which will discuss the current topic circuling the club. A popular feature last time, we hope it will be just as popular this time.

Crisis ? Spalletti Crisis ?

Cautious optimism was the word after Roma did away of Reggina on Saturday. Despite winning 3 - 0 and many positive signs Roma stil at periods looked very sluggish and lacking that killing instinct. Granted Vucinic did look dangerous at times, but know one really expected him to score. The lack-lusture start to the season is down to who ? We can look at the players, but the coach will always get the stick, before the game against Reggina Spalletti got plenty of criticism and media attention, some even suggesting he should be sacked. This weeks LRO we anayze our tatician.

The Tactics

There is no doubt here, that Spalletti has been a huge success here. Back in 2005 when he first joined us, Roma was a wreck with managers getting sacked daily. Roma were left with no real strikers and Spalletti had to play Totti upfront on his own. Despite a pretty poor first half the season, Spalletti's tactics worked and Roma were scoring goals and going on winnic-streaks before we know it. Is biggest success, undoubtly is playing Totti upfront. 26 goals in one season is something pretty big.

However there is a bad side to all this. With the attacking formation, Roma has been left straded on a number of occassions resulting in heavy defeats. You know the ones I mean and Spalletti's stubboness not to change the system no matter how the match is going has of course on a number of occassions let Roma lose or not pick up maxium points when we should have.

We have had many dull 1 - 1 draws against teams like Chievo, Livorno etc. While it could possible have been better playing a more attacking formation, Spalletti has constantly stuck to his strikerless system. I guess in some ways we cannot complain, with this system Roma has beaten the English champions, the Spanish champions and the French champions in the last few years with it.

Playing players out of position

Probably Spalletti's most controversly techniques is his habit of playing playres out of position. Cassetti as a centre back/left back, Baptista on the wing, Okaka on the wing, Vucinic on the wing etc. This has of course not always gone down well with Roma fans alike. Most notably Cassetti's nightmare performace against Man Utd a few years ago when he played on the wing. Or just recently when we played Palermo. Cassetti is a solid right back, but anywhere else he is a liablity.

Baptista has always played on the wing, which in truth wasn't a terrible failure, but Roma certainly won't be wanting to rely on Baptista on the wing anytime soon. Okaka who is supposed to be one of the future stars of the Roma team has also played on the wing. Despite setting up the goal in week 2, he failed on the wing and would not track back to help the defence. We can also go back a few years when Roma aquired Tavano on loan, he was also another failure on the wing.

It wasn't all failure though for Spalletti. Most notably Totti who was always a play maker. Perrotta who before Spalletti was the most defensive midfield player in the world. Vucinic who is much more effective on the wing then upfront. Spalletti has achieved succes to some extent with his "habit".

Reliance on certain players

Also another of Spalletti's disliked tactics. His reliance on players who are out of form and his stubbones to bench them. Most notably Pizarro, who is sometimes great and sometimes terrible most recently against Palermo. Pizarro is often a weak link in the Roma team, often giving the ball away which has led to a number of goals for the opposition. Pizarro can be a great player, but he really does blow hot and cold, while Brighi doesn't really get much of chance in the first time recently. Maybe Spalletti should consider benching him.

Perrotta was also very poor last season, but rarely got benched. Only till the end of the season did Mancini get benched despite playing poorly for the last 3 or 4 months. We can all argue that maybe it's because of our depth to which some extent is true, but with Spalletti's insistence on maturity rather than youth we can see the problem.

Is there anyone better ...?

Now it brings us to another question. Could anyone have done better then Spalletti during the last few years ? Spalletti inherited a club riddled with problems, financial, sulker players (cassano) team infighting and just plain disaster. We had no money and was even barred from the January transfer window of 2006. Not an easy job by any means, the first few months were hard, but he turned it around and Roma become one of the best in Serie A. How well would have Carlo Ancellotti or Jose Mourinho done ? We would be kidding ourselves if we think they could have done anything better then what Spalletti has acheived. Not to other top flight managers spend around €50-60mln a season and Roma.........

Forza Spalletti !!!

I mean it, of course Spalletti does has his faults as already stated, but he does deserve alot of credit. Changing Roma in what it is today from a circus what it was a few years ago is no easy task. A few poor games does not change that. Creating a good squad spirit is also no easy task. People will come and criticise Roma highlighting , 7 - 1, 4 - 1, 1 - 1s against very bad teams. Is all Spalletti's wong doing, no doubt about it. However equally, beating Real Madrid, Man Utd and Lyon is also all his doing. Not to mention 3 times runner-up in Serie A and two quarter-final apperences in the Champions League with about 5% the budget of the top 4 teams in the big leagues. Can Mourinho, Ancellotti, Fergusen, Scolari, Benetiz, Schuster etc say that.......? Roma has a plan and Spalletti is well truly part of it in the long term.

Next Issue - 21/10/08 - Due to Internationals