Santiago Cañizares - A Managerial Journey

Pre-Season of 2015/2016

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Fixtures:


Review:
Roma had a very easy pre-season, with only 3 matches. All of these were against Spanish amateur teams. They started the pre-season against Bembibre, who played in the Ségunda Liga 3D. Roma won easily, and Gervinho scored a hat-trick. The other goals were scored by Destro, Nainggolan and Totti, making the final score of Bembibre-Roma 6-0.

Next was a match against Anguiano, also playing in the Ségunda Liga 3D. Roma scored 6 goals again, but they also conceded a goal this match. Pjanic and Destro both scored two goals, the other 2 coming from new centre-back Schär and Daniele De Rossi.

The last friendly was against Eldense. Roma didn’t play as well as the last matches, but they still won with a margin of four goals: 4-0. Aridane scored an own goal in the 9th minute, the toher goals coming from Balzaretti, Marquinho and Totti.

Player of the Month(s):
New centre-back Fabian Schär has been very good defensively, and also scoring a goal.

Start of 2015/2016

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Fixtures:


Review:
Roma started their first full season under the reigns of Santiago Cañizares with an away game against Catania, who finished 8th last season – a good performance, considering they were a promoted team. Roma started off well, and Destro opened the score in the 16th minute, but it was flagged offside by the linesman. After 23 minutes, Roberto Aquafresca scored for Catania, and this time it wasn’t offside. Roma now had to score at least 2 goals to win the season opener. Things got worse for Roma, as they conceded the 2-0 in the 31st minute. Although Roma were dominating, they were still 2-0 behind at half-time. After half-time, it got even worse, as Roma kept leaving Catania’s strikers unmarked. This resulted a total humiliation on the opening day, as Roma lost 3-0.

The next match for Roma was one against Hellas Verona, a match where Roma had to win, after their defeat against Catania on the opening day of the season. Roma dominated the first half, but again: they couldn’t score any of their opportunities. In the second half, Roma were more efficient, and eventually won the second game of the season with 2-0. The scorers were Cristian Tello, and new man Riccardo Saponara.

Next was another home match, against Sampdoria. The team managed by former Roma manager Zdenek Zeman were one place above Roma: 11th. In this match, Robben made his debut in Serie A: he got a place in the starting eleven. In the 26th minute, a cross by that same Robben led to the 1-0, as Totti headed home from very close range. Only 2 minutes later, Tello doubled Roma’s lead: after Dja Djédjé played a great ball to the Spaniard, he coolly slotted home the 2-0. In the 80th minute, Gastaldello got one back for Samp, but Roma managed to hold on to their 2-1 lead.

Player of the Month(s):
New right-back Brice Dja Djédjé has made an instant impact: he’s been good defensively, and offensively he has also contributed an assist.

Serie A table:

September 2015

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Fixtures:


Review:
Roma started off with a tricky away match against Torino, who finished 9th last season. Torino played a good first half, resulting in a 1-0 lead at half-time for the Turin outfit. Chilean veteran striker Nelson Valdez scored the goal for Torino. After half-time, Roma looked like a different team, and this resulted in a goal by Tello after 54 minutes. Four minutes later, new signing Arjen Robben headed the ball into the goal from close range to give Roma the lead for the first time in the match. 2-1 was also the final score of the game, and Roma won due to their impeccable second half performance.

Next was a very big match for Roma: a home match against Internazionale. The team coached by Pasquale Marino were 5th in the league, one place beneath Roma. The visitors didn’t start the match well, and Roma took advantage of that by scoring an early goal: Gervinho slotted home the 1-0 after 14 minutes. Just before half-time, Balzaretti doubled Roma’s lead, and the team were clearly a class above Inter in the first half. In the 48th minute, Tello scored another for Roma, but Inter quickly reduced the margin to two goals: Ranocchia headed home the 3-1 from a corner. Vargas managed to get Inter back into the match with a goal in the 60th minute: 3-2. Roma now had to play focused and disciplined to keep their narrow lead. Some minutes later, Roma extended their lead to 4-2, as Fabian Schär scored another header from a corner, and this match was turning into a goal fest: a great match for the neutral supporters. After these quick goals, nothing really happened until in the 81st minute, when Cuadrado scored the last goal of this stunning match: 4-3.

The last match of September was a tricky away game against Fiorentina. Allegri’s team were in 5th, and last season they finished 4th, so it certainly wouldn’t be an easy job for Cañizares’ team to get all 3 points. Palletta ruined Roma’s plans with a goal in the 4th minute, but Roma quickly regained focus, and Schneiderlin equalised after 20 minutes. Robben gave Roma the lead after he coolly shot the ball into the far corner in the 37th minute. But just before half-time, Giuseppe Rossi scored the 2-2 from the spot. Five minutes after Roma kicked off the second half, Destro , completely unmarked, fired home the 3-2 after receiving the ball from Saponara. Roma were in control of the match, but when Dja Djédjé picked up his second yellow card of the match, some fans were starting to get worried in Artemio Franchi’s away fan section. Those worries became reality when Rodríguez scored a header in the 76th minute: 3-3. It wasn’t over yet for Roma, as Mario Gómez scored the 4-3 to give Fiorentina a totally undeserved win over Roma.

Player of the Month(s):
Former FC Barcelona winger Cristian Tello has been one of Roma’s players this season, and in these last three matches he scored 2 goals and gave 3 assists.

Serie A table: