#Roma came into the new season riding the high that came from winning their first continental crown in club history, a 1-0 win over Dutch side #Feyenoord in the inaugural #UEFA Europa Conference League. While far from their ultimate goal of Champions League success it was celebrated throughout the streets of Rome as a massive step for a club that has all too often found themselves as the bridesmaid and rarely if ever the bride.
However there was a rare sense of hope in the air going into the 2022-23 season, and it was catalyzed by the savvy business work of Sporting Director Tiago Pinto, who managed to offload a number of unfavorable contracts from the era of previous sporting director and self-proclaimed “guru” #Monchi. Players who had been seldom used but remained on Roma’s salary books such as Robin Olsen, Pau Lopez, Cengiz Under, Amoudu Diawara, and Alessandro Florenzi were sold once and for all giving Roma some much needed financial flexibility while trying to navigate UEFA’s FFP (Financial Fair Play) rules.
Pinto’s work continued as he turned to the free agent market to bring in valuable players without forking over cash on a transfer fee. Serbian goalkeeper Mile Svilar and veteran midfielder Nemanja Matic (on his third stint with manager Jose Mourinho) were signed in early June. Former Torino striker Andrea Belotti who had once been valued at $100 million was signed at the end of August on a free transfer as well. But the feather in the cap for Roma’s transfer business was the recruitment of Argentine superstar striker Paulo Dybala. A once unbelievable thought became reality after Dybala’s old club Juventus opted to not to resign La Joya, instead opting to sign Fiorentina’s Dushan Vlahovic for $70 million as a replacement. Potential deals with other Italian giants fell through as they either wouldn’t meet his $6 million salary demand or went in another direction, such as Inter Milan’s choice to bring back Belgian striker and repeat Chelsea castoff Romelu Lukaku.
Jose Mourinho and Roma continued to campaign with Dybala’s entourage, with club legend Francesco Totti even offering #Dybala his infamous and unofficially retired no. 10 shirt. And on July 20th it was made official, with Dybala and the team putting on a huge reveal and rally in the city in front of over ten thousand Giallorossi fans. Romans swooned over the thought of an attacking four of Dybala, captain Lorenzo Pellegrini, young star Nicolo Zaniolo, and leading scorer from 2021-22 Tammy Abraham. Other players brought in such as Norwegian striker Ola Solbakken and Champions League winner Georginio Wijnaldum increased depth and further increased optimism in fans that Roma would make their triumphant return to Europe’s premier competition after a five-year absence.
While the incoming players added further confidence, it was the continued leadership of the legendary Portuguese manager “The Special One” Jose Mourinho that instilled this belief in the fans, and the players themselves in the first place. After arriving last season Mourinho instilled a fighting and winning mentality that had rarely been seen in the Italian capital before. And this was noticed by fans as average attendance at home games increased from ~42,000 fans per game to a nearly sold out 62,000. And both of those figures dwarf the ~27,000 fans per game during the last pre-COVID season.
Almost all media outlets reporting on Serie A had Roma finishing in a coveted top four place, with a few even believing they could challenge for their fourth Scudetto. However, by the end of the season Roma fans were left looking back at yet another season of missed opportunities, untimely injuries, dropped points, and moments of poor luck that have historically plagued the club in years and decades past. Despite the raised expectations Roma ended the season in the exact spot they found themselves the year before, with 63 points, in 6th place.
While there were many moments to celebrate and remember fondly, from scoring two goals in the final five minutes away against Milan, to multiple spirited comebacks in Europe against the likes of Salzburg and Feyenoord on their way to their second European final in as many years. It will be impossible to look back at the 2022-23 season without feeling like more could have been achieved, especially with the bitter taste of the Europa League final still fresh in the minds of every Roma fan. Now with the season done and dusted, it’s finally time to look at the year in its entirety and talk about the issues that ended up costing the Giallorossi their ultimate goal of Champions League football next year.
The Frame of the Goal
For this part it hard to place any blame and do anything except shake your head and wonder what this club did to be so snakebitten in front of goal. Roma were the only team across Europe’s top five leagues to hit the frame of the goal over 30 times, and it cost them numerous points over the course of the season. Some were headers off of corner kicks, others were long distance efforts that almost had the perfect amount of magic to find the back of the net, and others were shots you need to score if you expect to compete for a Champions League spot. But just about every key contributor had at least one shot rattle off of the woodwork one way or another, and if Roma want to look for areas where they can improve their point total and goal output, they don’t have to look hard to find an easy one. Will shots still hit the posts and crossbar? Yes. Will it happen 30 times again next season? I sincerely hope not. And everyone on the team does as well.
Injuries, Injuries, and More Injuries
The big dazzling names brought in during the summer like Dybala and Wijnaldum were one of the biggest reasons Roma fans felt like a Champions League place was attainable. However when the latter signing suffered an MCL injury after only appearing for barely 10 minutes in his debut, it was the beginning of yet another injury riddled season for the Romans as they struggled to field competitive sides in crucial matches down the stretch, with Mourinho often having to resort to playing primavera players and other rotation players out of position. Injuries to key contributors such as Wijnaldum, Belotti, Abraham, super-sub Stephen El Shaaraway limited Mourinho’s options up front, and injuries to centerbacks Chris Smalling, Marash Kambulla, and Diego Llorente forced Mourinho to get creative starting midfielders Bryan Cristante and Eduardo Bove at centerback on occasion. But the most important absence was Paulo Dybala who was in and out of the lineup with various knicks as the season progressed and eventually suffered an ankle injury against Atalanta that would lead to Mourinho resting La Joya for most of the remaining campaign as Roma’s top 4 dreams faded and everyone’s eyes turned toward the Europa League. Other players such as wingbacks Rick Karsdorp, Leonardo Spinazzola and winger Ola Solbakken missed chunks of time with various injuries, reducing Roma’s already thin depth to next to nothing. And even in the season finale Roma were not safe from injury, losing star striker Tammy Abraham for a significant period of time after tearing his ACL in the 2-1 win over Spezia, throwing a wrench in Roma’s transfer plans to bolster their squad in the summer. As this trend continued and Roma continued to play three times a week amidst their Serie A and European campaigns it became more and more glaring that what Roma was working with was not built for that kind of a schedule and often couldn’t match the talent and depth on the other side of the pitch. It seems easy to look at all of that, shrug, and assume that something will be different next year if the team stays the course. But when looking at years past it seems to be a growing theme of injuries piling up and costing the team points down the stretch as the depth and fatigue of the team catch up with them. And if The Friedkins want to see their team improve and achieve the expectations laid out at the beginning of their ownership project, they’re going to have to listen to Jose Mourinho and get the kind of players that are up to his standard. And with free agents Evan Ndicka and Houseem Auoar expected to be announced as the Giallorossi’s first two acquisitions of the transfer window, there is reason to believe we may see this need for depth addressed to prevent another season from slipping away at the end.
Crucial Mistakes / Dropped Points
As the season progressed it quickly became apparent that it was going to be a long and messy battle for the three remaining champions league places as Napoli ran away with first place. The remaining of the seven sisters (Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Roma, Milan, and Atalanta) all had chances throughout the season to take control of one of these spots and emerge from the pack and for awhile nobody would. Roma had chances, sitting in a top four place after matchday 20, but it seemed every time they had an opportunity to finally get comfortable they would drop crucial points that eventually took them out of the race during the final matches. After recovering from a spirited 2-1 loss against Napoli, the Romans won 7 points in their next 3 games, putting them in third place. This momentum would be followed up by a humiliating 2-1 loss to then winless Cremonese, who would also end their Coppa Italia dreams in the quarterfinals right when there seemed to be a golden path to the final. After surprising many with a crucial 1-0 win over Juventus, they followed that up with a sloppy 4-3 loss to Sassuolo that felt very preventable and a 1-0 loss to Lazio that gave them their first double over their rivals in years. The final nail in Roma’s Champions League coffin came at the tail end of the season, going winless in seven games including six point fixtures against Atalanta, Milan, and Inter. Even a 94th minute goal from Tammy Abraham to give Roma the lead against Milan wasn’t safe, as the Rossinerri struck back in the 96th minute to ensure the points were split. A 90th minute game winning PK against Spezia on the final matchday from Paulo Dybala ensured Roma would finish 6th and return to the Europa League in 2023-24. And while injuries heavily contributed to Roma’s slide at the end of the season, the team found the themselves in competitive matches that could have gone their way and in the future will have to if they intend on meeting the expectations they have set for themselves.
Financial Ability
We have seen Sporting Director Tiago Pinto try his best to build a competitive team while also following UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations that have prevented Roma from splashing the cash like Premier League spenders such as Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester City, etc. And while Serie A as a whole have seemingly been shopping on a budget during the last few transfer windows, with only 32 million Euros being spent between all 20 Italian sides, and the biggest spender being relegation candidate Spezia. After Tammy Abraham’s ACL injury Roma will now find themselves without the funds they expected to raise through the sale of the English striker, in addition to now being on the market for another quality striker among their numerous other needs. And if the signings of Auoar and Ndicka are a sign of things to come, look for Pinto to continue to survey the free agent market to attempt to bring in the quality players Mourinho desires without spending money they don’t have on transfer fees. Despite this shrewd but smart business it still may not be enough to satisfy The Special One, who repeatedly throughout the season said that he couldn’t build a European powerhouse with the budget he has worked with, only spending $7 million on non free agent signings during this season. Roma have been linked to Leicester City free agent Youri Tielemens as a possible replacement for Wijnaldum who returns to Paris after a largely unsuccessful one season spell in the Italian capital. But it will be interesting to see how different this team looks come August and September, and how creative Roma will get to raise funds to give Mourinho a budget to work with. Players like Roger Ibanez and Benjamin Tahirovic have been rumored as transfer targets or pieces in swap deals to lower transfer fee demands. Other players returning to Rome from loans abroad such as Justin Kluivert, Eldor Shumorodov, and Gonzolo Villar could finally find a role with the team, at the bare minimum prove some depth options in the event of yet another injury epidemic.
Overall it wasn’t the season Roma fans were hoping for when the season began, but with the cascade of unforeseen circumstances its hard to be too critical of a team that always gave their best effort, and clawed their way to a second consecutive European final through many spirited performances against quality competition such as Salzburg, Real Sociedad, Feyenoord, and Bayer Leverkusen. And while there will always be concerns surrounding the club’s injury history, limited financial budget, and just seemingly bad luck; There are also many things you can point to as signs of optimism from this last season, from the devoted fanbase, to Paulo Dybala’s magic, and the emergence of youth players like Eduardo Bove. Any true Roma fan is used to taking the good with the bad, and its that passion from the fans around the country and the world that will always make the Stadio Olimpico a fortress and will always give the players and yourself hope for the future.