Re: The Official Roma Thread

[McLewis]

Obviously eager to see if Mou can still do it with the second tier level club and players he has to work with nowadays Already getting a relatively expensive buy considering its Roma? He demanding more buys as usual I suspect?

Well I don't think he's demanding buys, it's more the club recognizing that they need to give him as much as they can within financial reason. The Friedkins (the new owners) have been pretty generous with the cash they're moving into the club to help fund these transfers and contract extensions.

Mou holds the biggest cards here. He knows the club needs him more than he needs it. They will likely bend over backwards to give him what or who he wants to keep him happy and motivated.

[rincon]

Zaniolo comes back and scores a goal 400 days later, celebrating in tears.
https://streamable.com/pmpfc9

“Yeah, it seemed like the end of the world,”
“But I’m still here! Thank you all! I’m back.”

[Guest]

some very shrewd business by roma so far. well done ... i have them as top 4 team this season

[Kick]

Tammy Abraham has just landed in Rome. He’ll undergo his medical and then sign as new AS Roma player until June 2026. Salary around €4/5m net per season. #ASRoma

Chelsea will receive €40m plus €5m add ons on permanent deal. €80m buy-back clause starting from June 2023.

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 15, 2021

Frankly, I wasn't sure this one would get done. Pinto has done very well so far though.

On Abraham, I'm just not sure about him imo. I'm leery of any purchase with the price tag and wage we're paying Chelsea and him.

I consider this a significant risk, but we can't be afraid of that. High risks can yield high rewards.

Nah, don't worry.

Tammy is goals. Play him and he'll score.

He's got a lot to improve in other areas but one thing he'll do is score goals.

If Jose puts his faith in Tammy then you will have a fantastic player on your hands.

[McLewis]

Been almost a year since I posted in this thread. Interesting.

Jose has his own thread so I'm not really going to post much about him here. This will be more about the players themselves.

Last season, the club surpassed expectations by winning the inaugural Conference League title, a pivotal moment in the club's history for a number of reasons. The signing of Tammy Abraham and Rui Patricio, at opposite ends of the pitch, along with an absolute surge to prominence of Lorenzo Pellegrini and a welcome return of Nicolo Zaniolo, propelled Roma to this achievement. It's a small one from the perspectives of bigger clubs, but when there's been such a drought of silverware as the one Roma has suffered, you take anything you can get and you celebrate the fuck out of it. That's what we did.

Now for this season, Jose's 2nd and his 1st true summer with the club. I must say, it's been a good mercato thus far. We've signed:

- Mile Svilar from Benfica as Rui Patricio's backup
- Zeki Celik from Lille as competition for Rick Karsdorp at RB.
- Nemanja Matic from Man United to add experience to midfield.
- Gini Wijnaldum from PSG to add some dynamism to the midfield.
- Paulo Dybala from Juventus to add that star power up top.

Where I think Tiago Pinto has really done well is that we only paid a transfer fee for Celik. About 8m IIRC. Svilar, Matic and Dybala were all free transfers and Wijnaldum is a loan with PSG paying half his wages. That's excellent transfer work, especially if these signings pan out.

The other area where Pinto has done well is selling players.

We've raised just under 45m from the sales of:
Pau Lopez (Marseille)
Cengiz Under (Marseille)
Jordan Veretout (Marseille)
Robin Olsen (Aston Villa)
Alessandro Florenzi (Milan)
Riccardo Ciervo (Sassuolo)
Tommaso Milanese (Cremonese)

Addition to them, the wage bill has been further cleared by the free transfers of:
Daniel Fuzato (UD Ibiza)
Salvatore Pezzella (Triestina)
Stefano Greco (Potenza)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter)

Pinto wisely decided against permanently signing:

Borja Mayoral (Real Madrid)
Sergio Oliveira (FC Porto)
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)

Lastly, Bryan Reynolds was loaned out to Westerlo in Belgium and Davide Santon was released entirely.

And Pinto's not done yet.

On the outgoing front, Carles Perez is likely on his way to Celta Vigo, Justin Kluivert is looking set to join Fulham in the PL, both Riccardo Calafiori and Eldor Shomurodov are out of Mou's plans and are being shopped around, and there is still the matter of getting Amadou Diawara to move on though he's determined to stick out his contract, and has rejected all offers. He seems set to be the Juan Jesus of this generation.

On the incoming front, a CB is still needed with Eric Bailly (yuck) and Marc Bartra being touted as cover options though most Romanisti want to see Feyenoord's Marcos Senesi signed. Another fan favorite transfer target is Sassuolo's Davide Frattesi, a product of Roma's vaunted Primavera. As with Pellegrini, we're in pole position to sign him given that link. The unlikely alternative is Spurs midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, but not sure if that's going to happen. Up top, Andrea Belotti remains the favorite to be signed as vice-Tammy ahead of Ola Solbakken. So there are still some missing parts for Pinto to work through.

By and large, he's done excellent work.

[Firenze]

the Bailly disrespect

good post, thanks, I'd been following the incomings and thinking Roma were doing good business, wasnt really paying attention to the outgoings, seems like smart business all around. Very curious how Roma perform this season, for various reasons, but the starting 11 looks pretty strong to me. Hope you can seriously compete for CL spots, don't see any reason why not.

[McLewis]

My biggest problem with Bailly is his injury record. Dude can't stay fit and we've had enough of that with Smalling. I don't think Mou's going to be here long enough to wait around for Bailly to eventually get healthy (if that happens). I don't see how this makes sense beyond the fact that he's been coached by Mou before. Senesi is probably the better option.

And yeah CL spots should be the goal here. We'll have our hands full with the Europa League as I do think we're going to try and make a deep run there. I don't think we necessarily have to win it. A deep run and qualification of the CL would be a good season to me.

[rincon]

Very exciting team that Roma is building. Maybe back to Sabatini levels when they had De Rossi, Nainggolan, Strootman, Salah, Alisson, Dzeko.

Dybala, Abraham, Spinazzola, Pellegrini, Zaniolo, Mancini, Patricio, Wijnaldum is hell of a core for Roma.

[Lord Awesome]

Yeah it aint bad with Dybala in as well as Wjinaldum. I wouldve wanted to keep Oliveira, Veretout, and Florenzi but now that we know Zaniolo is staying I think it would be solid enough for Roma to place higher than last year this season. Would've liked Berardi as well but the man doin't wanna leave Sassuolo.

[McLewis]

Yeah we're never getting Berardi. I've never been high on him personally, but that's just something that's never going to happen. I was in that same boat with Belotti and still am until Friedkin flies him to Rome. That's the new PDF with this owner.

Dybala and Wijnaldum will rightly get the headlines, but I think the new signing that will make just as much of an impact will be Zeki Celik out on the right flank. I really think that's going to turn out to be an excellent piece of business from Pinto.

I can't think of a time where Roma have been this secure in the full back positions. It's been ages.

[Arquitecto]

Straight up predicting Dybala to flop.

We all know his talent but this is a player with an incredible talent to create drama, create situations built around him and sulks when he does not get his way. The constant father-son drama between him and Max were something else. He isn't versatile the least bit in his role, isn't young anymore and of course injury prone.

Then you have Mourinho who cannot stand mental midgets like these and won't tolerate if Dybala gives anything less than his 100%. I know he will have his moments and somehow he has a legion of fangirls who will defend him no matter what, but I can't see this going well.


Roma overall on the other hand are by far the most interesting prospect to watch this season. Coming off that European win is a monkey off their back let alone the high of it. Mourinho now settled in and loved, an improved squad and a very experienced big game player in Wijnaldum will be what they need as they've lacked in that department for a while.

Roma though after being high on some crucial victories we know can collapse in their usual theatric fashion but genuinely hoping for their success and a José renaissance in Rome.

[futbol_bill]

Just to throw a little salt on all this optimism!

Remember this is year 2 for Mourinho, the last chance for any real success. Next year, based on his historical record, will be his last!

[McLewis]

You know me. I'm about as even-keeled as can be when it comes to Roma.

There's always a 50/50 chance of this season being an unimaginable success or an absolute meme. It's what makes the club fun to support. We rarely get what we think we're gonna get with this team. I made my peace with that a long time ago.

It's all vibes, as the kids say these days.

[McLewis]

That draw against Juve is a point we need to take and run back to Rome with.

Lots of Romanisti upset that we didn't dominate this Juve side, but I don't think they're living in reality. Juve own this particular fixture. There's a reason we haven't won there in years.

We're really lucky to have escaped with a point.

[BarcaLearning]

Roma looked awful in that first half, so many mistakes n that midfield looked really bad? Didnt watch much the second half but it seemed Rabiot injured n Juve went downhill? Both teams kinda suck Juve's lineup nowadays look pretty depressing and EL level...

[McLewis]

Yeah that's pretty much the story of the game. Poor first half primarily down to Juve's pressure from midfield and the overloading of the flanks. Rabiot and Miretti's quick tempo really caused issues for Matic and Cristante, who just couldn't cope. This forced both Karsdorp and Spinazzola, both famed for their attacking ability, to defend, which they are not as good at doing. This completely deprived Pellegrini and Dybala of the ability to link up with Tammy, who didn't as much as a sniff in that first half.

For the 2nd half, it was looking like more of the same until Rabiot came off injured. This gave us a chance to slow the tempo and start to create possession. Where Spinazzola struggled against De Sciglio, Zalewski excelled. Then Karsdorp went off for Celik, who gave Kostic more of a challenge. All of this allowed for Roma to exert some pressure, which led to Tammy's goal from the corner, our most effective way of scoring these days. Allegri made some adjustments, bringing in Zakaria, McKennie and Rovella, which allowed Juve to regain some of the lost control they had, but not enough.

[BarcaLearning]

Nice summary McLewis... regarding Rabiot, how highly do u rate him? Seems everyone thinks he sucks but I dont

[Lucifer]

Belotti done. What a Mercato for Roma.

[McLewis]

Nice summary McLewis... regarding Rabiot, how highly do u rate him? Seems everyone thinks he sucks but I dont

He was the lynchpin for Juve yesterday so I think that speaks to his quality. Had he not gotten injured, I don't think we would've gotten back into that game.

Belotti done. What a Mercato for Roma.

Yeah this has been some mercato from Tiago Pinto. Just need them to stay healthy.

[McLewis]

I must say, watching Mou tear Tammy down after Juve only to build him back up after Monza has been something to watch.

Something doesn't feel right about it, but I can't argue with the result.

[McLewis]

A 4-0 humbling at Udinese is perhaps what's needed right now. Once again, the fans of this club have grown too arrogant. Too many thought we'd win this one easily, forgetting how many times we've come to Udine and gotten our asses kicked.

Just because we have Mou, Dybala and a great mercato doesn't mean we won't get a hiding in fixtures like this one. Nothing is guaranteed and that's a lesson Udinese are dealing out right now. Full value for their win. Well deserved for Sottil, who set his team up so well.

I have no complaints.

[farfan]

Roma are such a weird team. Regardless of their form or who's coaching them, it seems like a thrashing is always around the corner.

[McLewis]

It's in our DNA. The fanbase is arrogant when it has no right to be and that rubs off on the players. And then there's shock and dismay when we get that ass beat. It would be comical if it wasn't so repetitive.

[Arquitecto]

Okay Roma getting absolutely thrashed by Udinese after their champion level start is the most AS Roma thing to happen in a while.

[McLewis]

Yeah been a while since "Roma happened". People literally thought it wasn't going to happen under Mou.

We once lost 3-0 away to Parma under Capello, his worst ever loss in Serie A as Roma coach IIRC. This was a couple of seasons after the scudetto so that team was on the wane. Still oozed quality though. When it's not our day, it's not our day. The coach doesn't really matter.

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