pompeyblue: Thanks, and yeah hopefully he can solidify the back line 
POOR ROMA CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE
ROMA 1-0 CATANIA (LJAJIC)
SAMPDORIA 1-1 ROMA (LJAJIC)After a scintillating start to the season that included four straight amazing victories, AS Roma have begun to stumble, and are now only atop Serie A on a head to head tiebreaker against Juventus, who they managed to beat 1-0 early in the season.
In their matches, the Giallorossi have struggled to keep possession and defended awfully, often luckily escaping with a win or even a draw. Perhaps injuries are at least somewhat to blame; Totti, De Rossi, and Borriello are big players to be missing. However, it’s quite clear for the fans to see; Roma’s losing their touch.
After their dramatic late win over Napoli, Roma hosted Catania at the Stadio Olimpico, expecting a strong win to regain form. However, the match was anything but easy, and in many ways the capital side was very lucky to win at all. Catania dominated the match with 67% of possession and 33 shots, an outstanding figure.
37 minutes in, however, Gino Peruzzi’s poorly timed tackle on Gervinho allowed Serbian Adem Ljajic to score his team-leading 8th goal of the season from the penalty spot, and from there Roma were hanging on by a thread. Wave after wave of Catania attack rolled forward while the home side struggled to string together passes. It’s a miracle they managed to hold onto a win.
Next, AS Roma traveled to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to take on Sampdoria, another side that they were supposed to handle with ease to gain three points. Apparently, neither side got the script. Roma started with a peculiar 5-3-2 formation that at first seemed to be working; Ljajic scored a penalty just 5 minutes in for the second game running.
29 minutes in, things got even better as Andrea Costa was shown a straight red card for a horrid tackle on Michael Bradley. Those who thought the Giallorossi would cruise, however, were poorly mistaken, and suddenly Catania was in the ascendency. The 10 men fought and fought, and with time winding down Nicola Pozzi scored a late equalizer to underline just how poorly Roma had played.
A heated Francesco Totti spoke with reporters after the draw. “We are playing like absolute garbage, it’s very disappointing. We don’t deserve to be atop the table right now. If we don’t step it up, who knows how far down the table we will fall. This football is disgraceful to AS Roma.”
Strong words indeed. Roma next travel back to the Stadio San Paolo to play SSC Napoli in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal and will look to continue their quest to avenge last season’s final loss to Lazio. Serie A, after those two weeks, looks as follows:
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Got a win though, a positive to take from it 
