Roma entered their 23rd match with renewed hope for their league ambition of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League after watching Torino, Lazio, and Fiorentina all drop points this weekend while they themselves were on a two-game winning streak and entering the match at home against Cagliari as heavy favorites. However, despite the easier opening stretch of Daniele De Rossi’s managerial career with Roma in terms of opponents, asking a coach to win their three first games with only days to prepare before the first in addition to squeezing a (hopefully lucrative) friendly in Saudi Arabia into their schedule between the first and second matches is a tall task. Despite this, with wins over Hellas Verona and on the road against Salernitana (only Roma’s third road win of the year), they entered the Stadio Olimpico with a chance to create a little distance between themselves and the majority of the pack chasing that fourth spot.
Daniele De Rossi only made two changes from the side that beat Salernitana, with newly acquired Angeliño in the place of Rasmus Kristensen at left back and Leandro Paredes making his return from suspension in the place of Edoardo Bove in the midfield. De Rossi opted for a 4-3-3, with El Shaarawy and Dybala on either side of Romelu Lukaku, and Dybala having the freedom to drift inside to get involved with the buildup.
And it did not take very long for Roma to get off and running, as within the first minute of the game we saw a great longball from our wingback (weird to read I know) from Angeliño to El Shaarawy that led to an early corner kick. And a short ball into the box was turned goalwards by Paredes, bounced off of the legs of Andrea Petanga, and was poked into the back of the net by Lorenzo Pellegrino who scored his third goal in as many games and gave Il Giallorossi an early lead. Alberto Dossena had a chance only a minute later to equalize off of a corner kick, but the header went wide right.
Angeliño continued to feed the Roma attack with great long passes and through balls, including a gorgeous long ball to Bryan Cristante which he struck on a volley and was only denied by the post. However, Roma continued to press and in the 23rd minute scored their best team goal of the season, and it was so good it needs to be described in detail. It started with a pass from Rick Karsdorp down the right side to Paulo Dybala, who dummied the ball and left it for a sprinting Cristante (most people’s casual jog) who halfway to Cagliari’s box switched fields to El Sharaawy on the left, who then on his left foot rolled a pass between the legs of fullback Gabriele Zappa to Pellegrini in the box who passed it to the face of the goal, where Romelu Lukaku let the ball go between his legs and reach the orchestrator of the whole play Paulo Dybala to slot the ball home for Roma’s second goal. It was just beautiful.
There was a brief scare before the end of the first half where a penalty was awarded to Cagliari for a foul on Diego Llorente. Until VAR took a look which revealed it was actually Gianluca Lapadula who stepped on the foot of Llorente and the penalty was annulled, which allowed Roma to preserve their two goal lead going into the break.
During the last two games under Daniele De Rossi, Roma conceded a late goal after going up 2-0 which set up for a couple of nervy finishes despite ultimately winning. However tonight Roma left no doubt about the result of this match, as the attack continued in the second half, and only five minutes into the second frame a Bryan Cristante header struck the hand of Andrea Petagana and referee Matteo Marcenaro immediately awarded a penalty. Like usual it was Paulo Dybala to take the penalty, and like usual it was Paulo Dybala converting a penalty which gave Roma a 3-0 cushion, although Dybala didn’t seem to care as he immediately grabbed the ball and brought it back to the halfway line, perhaps fueled by a combination of desire for a hat trick and by anger over the antics of Cagliari attempting to mess with his placement of the ball prior to taking the penalty.
With the result firmly in their grasp De Rossi opted to make a triple change in the 55th minute, bringing on Nicola Zalewksi, Edoardo Bove, and Dean Huijsen for Stephen El-Sharaawy, Lorenzo Pellegrini, and Diego Llorente. And only four minutes after being brought on it was the eighteen year old Dean Huijsen who made his presence felt off of a corner kick, soaring into the air to meet the ball and send it into the top left corner, giving Simone Scuffet no chance to stop it, and giving Roma a 4-0 lead on a night where it felt like everything they touched turned to gold.
Roma continued to hunt for more goals, and always looked the more likely team to score next, with Lukaku missing a couple chances in front of goal, and Dybala attempting an ambitious volley off of a corner kick to try and complete a hat trick. In the 74th minute Dybala came off and in his place came his understudy and Roma’s big transfer pickup Tommaso Baldanzi making his debut for the club, looking good in his limited time on the field. The last fifteen minutes didn’t present too many chances aside from a Bove goal being waived off due to him being offsides. But Roma still showed intent to keep attacking and had a few opportunities that were a pass / move away from creating a dangerous chance, while Cagliari were able to get the ball into Roma’s half more than they had the majority of the match despite not creating many real chances from it. And after the two added minutes were played the official called for the final whistle, ending a very impressive performance from Roma, and the first clean sheet of the Daniele De Rossi era.
It was a huge result for Roma, obviously first and foremost for their Champions League qualification ambitions, but also for building confidence for their next match at home against Serie A leaders Inter Milan in what will be by far the most challenging opponent of Daniele De Rossi’s short managerial tenure in Rome. And while Roma may have been favored to win all three of De Rossi’s matches in charge, it is impressive nonetheless getting nine points out of nine to start a coaching tenure. And the way they have played while doing it has been more impressive, with the team really appearing to buy into De Rossi’s plans and tactics. It is going to be a very intriguing match on Saturday, but with Roma’s great form and upwards of 60,000 fans in the Stadio Olimpico behind them, maybe just maybe they can surprise the league leaders who have only lost one game all season. It would be a pretty cool early birthday gift for me also (February 12th even though you weren’t wondering).
Are you impressed with Daniele De Rossi's start as Roma Manager?
Yes
No
Meh, kind of