Francesco Totti - Il Gladiatore di Roma

Oh shut up you two

ROMA 2-1 SASSUOLO (LJAJIC, DODO)
LIVORNO 0-0 ROMA
ROMA 1-0 UDINESE (LJAJIC)
PARMA 1-1 ROMA (TOTTI)
ROMA 1-0 CAGLIARI (AVELAR OG)
GENOA 2-3 ROMA (BALZARETTI, CASTAN, BORRIELLO)

AS Roma may not have been displaying the most attractive football in the world over the last month or so, but they’ve certainly been picking up the points they need to currently sit atop the Serie A table by a full 4 points over second placed Lazio.

After Internazionale snapped the Giallorossi’s 4 match winning streak with a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Roma never truly recovered. The capital city side had played such entertaining attacking football through the first many rounds but suddenly was struggling to keep the ball or even defend.

Roma first hosted Sassuolo and struggled at times against the newly promoted side. However, goals from Adem Ljajic and young left back Dodo led them to victory, and so many fans believed that the winning streaks would start anew.

Roma followed this performance with a bore 0-0 draw at Livorno. Expected to be an easy win for the Giallorossi, a well drilled, defensively strong Livorno side somewhat easily managed to repel AS Roma’s once rampant attack and won a valuable point. Things didn’t improve in the next match as yet another stale performance from the first placed side was salvaged only by an early Ljajic goal in their 1-0 win over Udinese.

Francesco Totti himself had begun to sit out some matches as his performances dropped, finally starting to truly manage games from the touchline, an inspiring figure even off of the pitch. Added onto ‘Il Gladiatore’s’ poor form were crucial injuries to Miacon, Vasilis Torosidis, Mehdi Benatia, Leandro Castan, etc. as Totti’s side struggled with early injuries.

Following their win over Udinese, Roma almost dropped all three points against Parma, needing a very late Totti strike to earn his side a point to cancel out Antonio Cassano’s delightful opening goal. In that match, Parma often outplayed Roma, who often looked devoid of creativity and passion.

It seems as though Roma have finally started to snap out of this run of scraping by, having now won two matches in a row for the first time in six games. The first win was another poor one as they crawled past Cagliari thanks to an Avelar own goal, but the Giallorossi attack stepped up in a dramatic 3-2 win over Genoa. Boasting a 2-0 lead with fifteen minutes remaining, Genoa scored twice, thinking it had gotten a point, only for an injury time winner to come for Roma in the shape of Marco Borriello.

It is somewhat miraculous that after going 4-3-0 in the last seven matches that Roma still sits 4 points ahead of archrivals Lazio in Serie A and a further 2 ahead of Juventus. Francesco Totti, though, was certainly not pleased, and voiced his disappointment in the pre-match conference to the Rome Derby match at the Olimpico.

“We will not beat Lazio if we continue to play like this,” he said. “We are lacking passion, lacking drive, lacking spark. To win against Lazio we need to go back to defending strongly and passing the ball around sharply to score goals.”

In anticipation of the Derby della Capitale next week where first place Roma will take on second placed Lazio, the top of the Serie A table is as tight as ever. The Giallorossi sit only 4 points clear of second placed Lazio with defending champions Juventus only 2 points behind.

(Forgot to take a screenshot of the table, sorry! )

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Even with the poor performances........the points all count, as well as unbeaten in that run. Champions still win when playing poorly mate. Keep it up, the winning that is. Anymore lack luster performances I might have to consider our friendship.

Unbeaten run :DD

Orichieva: Oh boy, I better step it up

Couragesand: Even with some poor play, we are still not losing

Some scrappy wins and quite a few goals conceded, but at least you didn't lose, which is the main thing! I said earlier that Ljajic will look like a good player for you and he seems to be doing really well!!

Eww, scrappy wins. The unbeaten run continues

Nice unbeaten run there mate and a good stretch at the top now

Nick: Yep he's pitched in with a couple of goals and good performances, hopefully he keeps it up!

Pauker: Scrappy wins are fun too

k1rups: Thanks mate, I hope we don't lose anytime soon

First place Roma and second place Lazio, going head to head at the Stadio Olimpico. Whenever these two historic rivals meet, the whole world slows down to watch the glorious occasion, and this time was no exception. The stadium was packed well before kick off with chants and flairs being tossed about; it was finally time for the Derby della Capitale.

To add even more spice to the match, it would be a rematch of last season’s Coppa Italia final between the two sides. On that occasion the Biancocelesti had triumphed thanks to a Senad Lulic goal 19 minutes from time, and now Roma was preparing for vengeance.

Totti made two changes to his usual side. Somewhat surprisingly but still expected due to his own recent poor form, Marco Borriello was given a start alongside Adem Ljajic in Totti’s usual place. ‘Il Gladiatore’ also started Michael Bradley in defensive midfield and pushed Daniele De Rossi somewhat higher up the pitch, moving Marco Verratti to the bench.

5 minutes into the first half, the red side of the Olimpico burst into wild celebrations. Miralem Pjanic had whipped in an inch-perfect corner kick for Mehdi Benatia, whose header had thundered off of the crossbar. Leandro Castan reacted first, however, and swiftly poked the ball home before wheeling away jubilantly.

7 minutes before halftime, Lazio struck back. Brazilian playmaker Hernanes dribbled at fellow countryman Maicon before cutting the ball back to Cristian Ledesma. The midfielder cracked the ball first time from well outside the area toward the left side of the goal, and an outstretched Morgan De Sanctis got both hands to it but let it slip through for the equalizer.

Almost on the stroke of halftime, the Giallorossi very nearly regained their slender lead. Andre Dias had chopped down Adem Ljajic not far outside the area, and playmaker Miralem Pjanic stepped up to take the free kick. The Bosnian hit the ball excellently, only to watch it crash off of the crossbar and be cleared away by Lazio’s scrambling defense.

In the second half, things started again right where they left off. Both sets of players, invigorated by the fans, pushed forward with all of their might. The passion was clear to see in both sets of supporters and players. About an hour in, Francesco Totti subbed himself in for an ineffective Marco Borriello, much to the adoration of the fans.

However, very late on in the match, things got ugly. Kevin Strootman put in a terrible, two-footed challenge on Antonio Candreva, leaving the midfielder writhing in pain and causing scuffles to break out between the surrounding players. The Roma Dutchman was sent off and later banned 3 matches.

After the small fighting ceased, the match continued for the final few minutes of injury time until fulltime was called with the score Roma 1-1 Lazio, a deserved, well fought point for each club.

“It was a very difficult game, as it always is against Lazio,” said Totti. “This is a valuable point, and we will look to continue to build on this and try to stay atop the league.”

Roma continue their season with matches against Chievo Verona and Torino before traveling to the San Siro to take on AC Milan in their next high-profile match. After the derby, the Serie A table is as follows:


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Great at being First in Serie A. Hopefully you can win !!

Worse every time. God.

Whats up with Napoli?

Finally caught up on this after missing out on many story updates on this website unfortunately But it's great to see you're still top!

Couragesand: I hope so!

Pauker

aaronsinteur: No clue O.o

NVDTahir: Cheers bud, I hope you're enjoying it!