what lies ahead is shady , The management cares the least about football and are all about profit , Osvaldo gone , Lamela is uncertainty but these doesn't mean anything if the team start with a great win and lets hope others stumble and fall  
this might be the xi

       De Sanctis
Maicon Benatia Castan Balzaretti
        DDR Pjanic Bradly
     Florenzi Totti Gervinho

Good luck Roma

Best possible way for the management to vindicate these sales is for the team to win today. Period.

We haven't won an opening game in like 6 years, but Livorno have also not beaten us at home in over 60 years.

I'm expecting another draw tbh.

I was hoping for that Bradley/Strootman connection to get us 3 points in the first game, but even though Strootman is injured I still feel like something special is going to happen.

Roma win this one 3-1.

Lamela on the bench, Borriello starting in the middle between Totti and Florenzi.

Good win. Suprisingly confident in defence, but a little indecisive in attack. Maicon MOTM.

Maicon was a beast, no doubt about that, he was playing like he was a man among boys  

I think the problem was the midfield kept over running the front 3, they just need to lose the third attacker and go with Totti and whoever is on form once Strootman is healthy.

Best stat I saw, Roma had 10 giveaways, and of those they recovered 9.

No idea how you don't try and get all of them on the field, considering we would control the pace of every game, just need to figure out the final third (which I think just comes with time and chemistry).

Florenzi , My boy scored and ran like a mad man the whole game , while borriello was in he was rather lost but then he scored still i feel Lamela should stay

Bradley doing the work that never gets noticed:

Second on the team in pass completion - 95%
Second on the team in pass attempts - 73
Led the team with key passes (with Totti) - 4
Fourth on the team in touches - 77
Led the team in interceptions (with Maicon) - 3

Motogp69 wrote:Bradley doing the work that never gets noticed:

Second on the team in pass completion - 95%
Second on the team in pass attempts - 73
Led the team with key passes (with Totti) - 4
Fourth on the team in touches - 77
Led the team in interceptions (with Maicon) - 3

well he is good and the performance was expected , he is on form but for example DDR haven't had a good game for Roma for long prior to this game or Florenzi was a gamble specially when Lamela is sitting on bench or Maicon had a decent game and his transfer was rather questionable at first by he is proving doubters including me me wrong . i would be shocked if bradley didn't have a good game

Maicon MOTM for me, full of running, you could see the confidence and experience and it was great to watch. I think he made more runs in the first half than Piris and Rosi did in two years combined.

Credit to De Rossi for getting this season's first goal, it felt good to see him blast one in from distance like that after so long. It was a flashback to a similar strike against Siena back in 2005 and against Chievo in 2010



Florenzi was full of running as always and got himself in some good scoring positions. A well deserved goal and great celebration from him, the guy doesn't feel pain. Meanwhile Borriello had trouble making a real impact on the game, I expect to see him on the bench against Verona.

How did Gervinho do?

Gervinho didint really do shit. Barely touched the ball.
Boriello was awful.. id take Demba Ba over him..

Yeah, Maicon was easily man of the match for me as well. Guy was a man among boys out there.

I loved that hustle on the part of Florenzi and you always knew he was going to score.

I agree with flameas, I'd rather have Ba over Boriello who did nothing and wasted the one chance he did have.

Didn't see enough of Gervinho to judge him in this game, he really had no impact on the team when he came on.

Benatia was simply immense and is in for some huge praise. Completely nullified any influence Paulinho had on the game. Won every header against him (size played a part no doubt), intercepted so many passes meant for him and was simply all over him all game. Livorno might've had good movement and were defensively sound, but with their talisman shuffling around with the change in Benatia's pocket, they weren't really a threat offensively, which allowed Roma time to break down their resistance.

 7 years ago Spaletti , first game of the season , DDR and Mancini 2-0 against Livorno  

Benatia must keep it up - next weekend he faces Luca Toni