Restoring The Might of Rome

In ancient times, Rome had managed to build an extraordinary empire, extended across the whole Europe and even beyond; for centuries, it managed to withstand external attacks and internal political changes mantaining itself as an image of greatness and power.

However, as all great things, eventually even the Roman empire had to end, and its decline compared to its times of greatness must have seemed quite pityful. Since then, Rome has never regained its central role in Europe, nor in politics nor, possibly even less, on the sporty side.

In fact, Roma and Lazio have never been two European powerhouses like Barcelona, Manchester United or Bayern Munich just to mention some. They have had short spells of internal dominance, but most of the time their footballing seasons revolved around the old, feisty rivalry between the two clubs and the heated derbies which derived from that. Since the start of the new millennium they have gained a quite stable position in Italian's football elite, but as competing for the title goes, after their consecutive victories in 1999-2000 (Lazio) and 2000-2001 (Roma), they have not amounted to much, especially Lazio while Roma had a series of second places with two very close calls in 2008 and 2010, both times having to concede the title to Inter Milan in the end.

Now, after the failed attempt at importing Barcelona's trademark "tiki taka" in Rome thanks to the efforts of Luis Enrique, my aim is to take the helm of Roma and build it into a top European club, capable of constantly challenging for the Champions League title, and to do so with an entertaining attacking football, based on Zdenek Zeman's style which while never really successful at the top level, has always been one of the most eye-pleasing styles around.

Fantastic opening pal. Good luck with this challenge!

Good luck buddy!!!

Thanks to both of you for the good wishes!!

Starting as a completely unknown manager, the budget I have at my disposal is not much, two million euros for the transfers and 61 million euros per year for the wages; my first actions are to build a better staff, my aim is to have at least four stars in every training category so I release the coaches who weren't up to that standard and hire new better ones. Same thing for the scouts, I release a couple which imho weren't good enough, having low capability and potential judging stats, and hire some new ones, which I promptly send to scout Central Europe, UK, South America and South Europe, searching for new gems to add to my squad; I end spending most of the transfer budget on a young Danish attacker, Andreas Cornelius, for whom I paid 1,5 million euros.

At the same time, the preseason period starts, so I focus the training on match fitness and the pre-match focus on tactics, planning to change them a couple weeks before the start of the season.

The friendlies have been a disaster, starting with a 1-1 draw against the reserve team, and proceeding with:

1-2 loss against Vancouver
0-0 draw with Philadelphia
1-2 loss with Chivas USA
1-4 loss with New England

then after the tournee in the U.S.A:

0-1 loss at home against Benfica

Between these games I've tweaked the tactic trying to resolve some problems I saw during the games, and this last loss, while bad on the result side, showed an improvement on the style of play, and the game stats showed that it was, in fact, a defeat we didn't deserve.

At this point I organized a home friendly against a very low level local side, Almas Roma to try and raise the squad morale before the first league game.

We won 9-0 displaying the kind of style I had in mind, but of course the quality of the opposition doesn't allow me to feel relieved.

The first league game, at home against Fiorentina, will be a much more probing test.

Later I'll post screens of Cornelius and of the tactic I'm using at the moment.

Screens

Here are a couple of screens, one of the tactic with the squad instructions and one of Andreas Cornelius, my only purchase in the first transfer window.

As told before, our debut in the league is against Fiorentina, at home; we set to create chances from the start, and while suffering a bit when Fiorentina went on the counter, we had the control of the game for the most part. At minute 22, Florenzi gave us the lead after receiving a through ball on his forward run, then we doubled the lead at the start of the second half, when after a corner for us, De Rossi from the left flank laid it for Piris who tried a long range shot, finding the net.

From there on, instead of cruising to victory, we were pushed back by Fiorentina's attacks, but managed to keep a clean sheet and bring home the first three points of the campaign.

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The second game is against Genoa, away; a couple of early chances seemed to hint to a game we could win comfortably, and when Lamela crossed it low for Totti to smash home in the tenth minute, the impression seemed confirmed. However, Genoa slowly took control of the game and while we had some good chances to finish them off, we couldn't find the net a second time and were left hanging on the 1-0 result till the final whistle from the ref.

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In the third game we faced Torino at home; the start of the game was a nightmare, with the opposition finding an early goal; Pjanic managed to pull us back level few minutes later smashing a loose ball home from close range, but following a corner we were behind once more; without Totti injured, and his substitute Osvaldo playing quite poorly on that left flank, I decided to risk a substitution at half time, after telling the team off for such a poor display.

Osvaldo went off, and in his place Nico Lopez went on the pitch; the young Uruguayan striker repaid my faith in him with the 2-2 goal, soon after the start or the second half, but once again we managed to make things hard for ourselves when, only four minutes later, we conceded a penalty. Stekelenburg however guessed it right and saved it, keeping us with a shout in the game.

As we know, football can be cruel and Torino went from a possible lead to being behind when Pjanic completed a brace with half an hour still to play; just like with Genoa, we hung to that one goal advantage till the end of the game, although we could and should have put the result to bed with some chances we created on the counter, still Torino could have well snatched a draw if they were more composed in front of our goal.

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Fourth game, we go to San Siro to face Inter; it is a game which I fear because I've never done too well away from home against Inter (nor against Milan or Juventus for that matter...); still, we get the lead thanks to Osvaldo finding Lamela on the far post, and the young Argentinian hitting the net with a diving header in the 18th minute; then we doubled our lead thanks to Destro freeing Pjanic into the box with a through ball, and the Bosnian finding the net past Handanovic. Few minutes passed and Inter reduced the gap thanks to Milito's header from close range, putting some pressure back on us; still, we saw the game out once more, finding the fourth win in four games. Definitely a good start of the season so far!!

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In the fith game we host Palermo at the Stadio Olimpico; they play a 3-4-3 formation which creates us a lot of trouble, and we are definitely lucky not to concede a goal in the first half. In the second one we play slightly better creating some good chances ourselves but we couldn't find the net this time; luckily, neither could Palermo and we snatched at least a draw from a game we could well have lost.

After five games we are joint first in the table together with Napoli and Juventus, all with 13 points.

A lot of writing there mate, would be good to see some screenshots into it, made a strong start to the season though!

First games of the season - Screens

great start buddy

After the goalless draw with Palermo we go to visit Napoli in a top of the table clash; there's a fierce rivalry between the clubs, which has led to name this game as the "Derby del Sole", as it is considered a derby between two towns with tipycally a sunny weather.

Cavani and Hamsik are the two players scaring me the most, since the start of the game it's us who take control of the operations and create more chances; In the 13th minute Destro picks up a misplaced pass in Napoli's final third, fends off a couple defenders and smashes it low past De Sanctis giving us the lead; ten minutes later Lamela runs down the flank, tries to find space for a cross, then laids it back for Piris who hits a first touch cross into the box; Destro jumps with a better timing than De Sanctis and heads it home for the 2-0, it's the first game he scores for us in, and he did it twice already!

At the end of the first half Stekelenburg dives to save our goal from a dangerous header, at half time we are two goals ahead which is is a good cushion for the second part of the game; nonetheless I warn my players against being complacent; they don't seem to like it much, but manage to keep concentration high and avoid conceding a goal; we were also helped by Napoli's lack of good aim as they often shot wide when they had the chance to.

As the game was heading to its conclusion, Osvaldo finished Napoli off with a brilliant counter, rounding the score to 0-3.

Thanks Zan and Dan for the support; I've taken a look around at other careers and tried to make the match report better with the addition of the highlights and the stats screenshot together with the report, do you think it's better this way, doing one game per post, or more games together and then a post with all the screens of those games?

Following the great win away against Napoli we face Cagliari at home; it should be an easy game for us, and with Destro heads home a cross coming from the right flank from Piris, picking up from where he left in the previous match, everything seems to point in that direction; however, we can't find a second goal to secure the win, and we end conceding the equaliser in the second half, Nenè putting it past Stekelenburg from close range. In the last twenty minutes of the game we have some good chances to win the game but our attackers lack composure. It ends 1-1, luckily enough all the teams around us, excluding Juventus, are held onto draws as well, so we keep the second place in the table, two points off Juventus.

Its your choice really mate, I like the looks of these, just depends how long it will take you to get bored of doing one match at a time, doing well though so kiu

Following the disappointing home draw with Cagliari we travel to Pescara to face the newly promoted side, hoping to get a win to keep the pressure on Juventus on; however, few minutes into the game Cascione finds a wonder goal which makes things much harder for us; we start playing our usual game of quick passes trying to free our attackers in front of Perin, but we manage it the young Pescara goalkeeper is ready to parry any shot coming his way.

At half time we are still behind, albeit undeservedly so; the start of the second half saw us keeping up the pressure but Pescara's goal seemed to have been bewitched because we could not score despite all our efforts; thankfully, on a corner kick for us Soddimo handled the ball and the ref saw it, awarding us a penalty, which Destro coolly slotted in. Having still more than 20 minutes ahead, we could still try and win it, but soon later Piris disgracefully set Caprari's goal with a rearward pass to Stekelenburg which was too short, the Pescara player got on the ball before our keeper, rounded him and easily made it 2-1 for the home side.

A change was needed so I called De Rossi, who I had rested for this game, from the bench together with Balzaretti replacing Dodò; and it was De Rossi who scored the important equaliser which set the score to 2-2, finalising a perfect assist from Lamela.



Scorers: 5' Cascione 64' Destro (Pen) 70' Caprari 82' De Rossi

Booked: Dodò (Roma)

I think I'll stick with the one-game-per-post scheme, although I've decided to upload the highlights only for the most important matches, as that takes quite a bit of time to do for every game

After two disappointing draws we host Siena to try and get back to winning ways; three minutes into the game Lamela volleys home a cross from Balzaretti giving us a quick lead; from then on we control the game trying to increase our goal tally but with no avail, mostly because of poor shooting when we had the chances, and also thanks to some good saves from their keeper. At the other end of the pitch, Stekelenburg was tested a couple times and managed to parry the shots, but overall it was a quiet 45 for him.

The second half followed the same script, and when the fear of a possible late equaliser started to grasp our fans, Pjanic, coming off the bench, put it to rest volleying into the net a cross from Nico Lopez from the left flank.

Overall, a good display from us ahead of the Roman derby against Lazio.



Scorers: 3' Lamela 82' Pjanic

Booked: Balzaretti, De Rossi, Cornelius (Roma); Ze Eduardo, Campos Toro, Vergassola (Siena)

Back onto winning ways with the three points we claimed against Siena, we continue our pursue of the top of the table against our fierce local rivals, Lazio, who are finding themselves surprisingly involved in a relegation battle.

They set up with a defensive approach, with a four men back line and two defensive midfielders to help it.

Nonetheless we manage to create many chances, grabbing the lead with a Marquinhos header in the 13th minute, following a free kick hit by Pjanic; Lamela then should have doubled the lead when he found himself in front of the goal from close range in the 30th minute, but Marchetti saved it.

Lazio rarely create anything in our final third, so it's not a surprise that their keeper gets the man of the match award as the final score remains 1-0 for us, a win which will delight our fans and helps us keep the pace of Juventus and Milan who are ahead of us by two and one point respectively.





Scorers: 13' Marquinhos

Booked: Osvaldo, Piris, De Rossi, Marquinhos (Roma)

Man of the Match: Marchetti (Lazio)

Great wins against siena and lazio, especially being the derby game

Roma prolongs winning streak



Last updated: 18 November 2012



After the derby win, Roma mantained their good form against Sampdoria, as Marquinhos got his second goal in a row and Lamela rounded the score for the Giallorossi

Brazilian defender Marquinhos immediately impacted the game as he headed a free kick from Pjanic past Sampdoria's goalkeeper in the first minute, a repeat of his goal against Lazio which gave Roma the three points. The home side then proceeded to create a number of chances to double their lead, but it was up to Lamela to do it with a splendid solo move in which he ran across the Doria's final third before unleashing a fierce low shot which gave Romero no chance.

The second half could have given Destro the joy of a goal, but the Italian striker saw his penalty kick saved by Romero.

The young Argentinian star inspired Roma's attacking play for most of the game, winning a deserved man of the match award.



Scorers: 1' Marquinhos 20' Lamela

Booked: De Rossi (Roma) Munari (Sampdoria)

Man of the match: Lamela

Top of the table battle at the Juventus Stadium

Last updated: 25 November 2012




Juventus and Roma share the spoils in an entertaining match
Juventus hosted Roma in the main match of the day as the two sides played for the top of the table; the start of the match was quite explosive with Pirlo netting from a Marchisio free kick, but having his goal ruled out for offiside; Juventus found the lead soon later though, with Matri found in front of the net by a Vucinic cross, and easily pushing the ball past Stekelenburg.

Roma's reaction was fierce and Destro equalised in the 16th minute from inside the box, receiving the ball from Florenzi and keeping it low to go past Buffon. The Roma striker soon later had another good chance but this time he couldn't score.

Till half time the two teams equally shared chances and control of the game, then in the second half Juventus got a slightly more firm grasp on the proceedings, especially in the last fifteen minutes when they had a number of efforts toward Roma's goal, but they also had to thank Buffon for saving them on a low hard shot from Destro in the 86th minute.

All in all, a deserved draw between two of the most in form teams of the league so far; Roma will now face AC Milan at home without De Rossi and Castan who picked up a yellow card ruling them out of the big match due to suspension.



Scorers: 7' Matri 16' Destro

Booked: De Rossi, Florenzi, Taddei, Castan (Roma) Bonucci, Pepe (Juventus)

Man of the match: Bonucci (Juventus)

Draw at the Olimpico

Last updated: 29 November 2012



Roma can't go past Milan
After the battle with Juventus Roma faced Milan at the Stadio Olimpico, hoping to keep up the pressure on the Vecchia Signora with a win; the game was controlled mostly by the home side, with Milan now and then managing to create dangers to the opposition goal, especially from set pieces; however, at half time with the score 0-0 it was certainly Roma who would have deserved the lead.

The second half followed suit, although Milan seemed more intent in trying to win the game now, and it was them who finally got the lead in the 83rd minute with Pato, following a corner which Roma's back line couldn't clear completely; Roma wouldn't accept the defeat though, and immediately equalised with a Totti free kick, which was deflected by a defender.

The Giallorossi keep their unbeaten run going, but will surely feel they could have won this game.



Scorers: 83' Pato 85' Totti

Booked: Balzaretti (Roma)

Man of the match: Florenzi (Roma)

Tough game but a point against Milan can't be snubed!

No it can't, and neither can a point away to Juventus, which imho on paper is the most difficult game in the whole Serie A.

Third draw in a row for Roma



Last updated: 2 December 2012

Udinese held Roma to 0-0 draw at the Friuli
It was an hardly fought match at the Friuli between Udinese and Roma; the Giallorossi, wanting to win to keep the title shout alive, were evenly matched by a brave Udinese which counted on Di Natale and Fabbrini to threaten on the counter, while a solid back line managed to frustrate the Roma attackers and keep them at bay.

It is understood that Roma's manager is not happy at the result and the display of his men.



Scorers: none

Booked: Benatia, Pinzi, Domizzi (Udinese) Florenzi (Roma)

Man of the match: Benatia

Need to try and return to winning ways quickly buddy!

Lamela thunderstorm on Chievo



Last updated: 9 December 2012

The Argentinian guides Roma to twin
It was an astounding display that Erik Lamela gifted to Roma fans against Chievo tonight, as the young star opened the score five minutes into the game with a splendid volley on Destro's cross from the left flank; Lamela then had another crack in the 16th minute but this time the ball fizzled not far from the bar.

De Rossi pulled the strings in midfield once again like it's right to expect from a player of his calibre, and his ball for Destro at minute 22 was another proof of that; the young Italian striker finalised it at best with a low hard shot on the near post which proved too much for Sorrentino to save.

At half time, Roma led 2-0 but it could have easily been a bigger gap if the Giallorossi strikers hadn't been so wasteful in front of goal, Osvaldo and Destro both missing a number of chances to put the game to bed; it was up to Lamela to do that then at the start of the second 45 minutes, as he got the ball in the Chievo final third, started to run toward goal avoiding two defenders and then unleashed a fierce drive to complete his brace and put Roma on its way to a comfortable 3-0 win.



Scorers: 5' Lamela 22' Destro 51' Lamela

Booked: none

Man of the match: Lamela

As you can see Lamela helped us to do just that However it's strange, we seem to go by small cycles of wins and draws, almost regularly every two or three games.

Totti aids Roma past La Dea



Last updated: 12 December 2012

Harder than expected for the Giallorossi
Roma had hoped drawing Atalanta in the first round of the Tim Cup would prove a fairly easy assign to go to the next round, and their manager set to give a rest to those who had played the most till now; however, the game proved to be far from easy for the home side which grabbed the lead thanks to a very good striker from Cornelius, but was then reduced to ten men when young Brazilian full-back Dodò gained a second yellow after 22 minutes.

Atalanta capitalised on the man advantage to equalise with Marilungo, and at half time Roma were facing a struggle, held onto the draw and one man down; however, soon into the second half Atalanta was down to ten men as well as Peluso earned himself another yellow; from then on Roma regained a firm hold onto the game and managed to snatch a winner with skipper Francesco Totti, who corrected into the net a short deflection from the Atalanta goalkeeper just as the game was heading toward extra time.



Scorers: 14' Cornelius 35' Marilungo 82' Totti

Booked: Dodò, Bradley, Florenzi (Roma) Moralez, Peluso (Atalanta)

Sent off: 22' Dodò (two yellows) 55' Peluso (two yellows)

Man of the match: Totti

There you go the wins are coming thick and fast now!

Sure they are!!