AS Roma - Getting Roma back into the Frame

Season 1
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I take charge at AS Roma. Finances are bad, underlined by a transfer budget of 800k. :|
But Roma does have a decent team with Totti (almost past his prime, but still a threat up front), wonderfully gifted Lamela, artistic Pjanic, the fighter De Rossi. I had to get the team kicking, possible hinging on these players.
The eleven during my 1st season:
Stekelenburg (unbelievably good, saved me a lot of trouble)
cassetti/cicinho - Full Back (s)
Burdisso/Heinze - Centre Defender (d)
Juan/Kjaer - Centre Defender (d)
Jose Angel/Heinze - Full Back (s)
De Rossi/Gago - Anchor Man (d)
Gago/De Rossi/Greco - Deep Lying Playmaker (s)
Gago/De Rossi - Ball Winning Midfielder (d)
Miralem Pjanic/Perrotta - Advanced Playmaker (s)
Lamela/Totti/Taddei - Trequartista (a)
Totti/Bojan/Osvaldo - Complete Forward (a)

Since I had no transfer budget to work with, I stuck to the players in the team. I was waiting to David Pizarro, Brighi, Bertolacci to come back from Loans. So didn't spend a penny the first season.

Games were tough, found it very difficult to beat the Milans, Juve, Napoli, Atlanta, Cagliari. Always lost to them. And struggled against teams playing a flat 4-4-2.

But the defence held good. Conceding only 22 goals in the 1st season, scoring 40. Managed to finish a surprising 3rd, behind Napoli and Inter. Bojan/Totti managed to get a few goals between them and Lamela/Pjanic had a good number of assists.

Also managed to reach the EURO Cup quarterfinals. Losing out to eventual champions Totenham on away goals.

Italian Cup campaign also wasn't bad, as the team reached the semi finals, losing to eventual champions Napoli.

I was pretty sure the 2nd season wasnt gonna be easy. Gago and Kjaer were going after loans. Players coming in were Borriello, Brighi, Pizarro and Bertolacci. I had great hopes from Bertolacci, and he didnt disappoint.

Story of the second season in the next post. :)

I'll go back home and make the second season story a little more picturesque.
and a little more detailed. Cuz its worth it.

And steer clear of the yellow font....it's a bit of a killer on the ole eyes!

But otherwise, great start.

I noticed. I'll just stick to CAPITALS.

You can use bold font and italics to great effect, and most colours work well....it would just seem that the yellow doesn't.

Season 2
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After a very 'lucky' 1st season at AS Roma, I move into the very testing second season.

To help my cause through I was sure i'll need a few new faces. So i decided to get players for free or marginal price, as the transfer budget for the second season was a whopping 750k :(, again.

Players Leaving: Gago, Kjaer (Both left at the end of loan deals, and i didnt have the money to buy them, no way)
Players Bought: Jerome roussillon (left side of defence was super weak), Zakaria Labyad (i had to inject some creativity into midfield), Lorenzo Ariaudo (had to find replacement for Kjaer)
Players Back: David Pizarro, Matteo Brighi, Andrea Bertolacci, Marco Borriello (all come back after the Loan spells)

The eleven during my 2nd Season
Stekelenburg (Still the wonderful servant from 1st Season)
cassetti/cicinho/Rosi - Full Back (s)
Burdisso/Juan - Centre Defender (d)
Ariuado/Heinze - Centre Defender (d)
Jose Angel/Roussillon/Heinze - Full Back (s)
De Rossi/Brighi - Anchor Man (d)
Pizarro/Bertolacci/De Rossi - Deep Lying Playmaker (s)
Brighi/De Rossi/Pizarro - Ball Winning Midfielder (d)
Miralem Pjanic/Zakaria Labyad/Bertolacci - Advanced Playmaker (s)
Lamela/Totti/Pjanic/Labyad - Trequartista (a)
Totti/Bojan/Osvaldo - Complete Forward (a)

Tried to sell of Greco, Guberti and Boriello. But none would buy. So, i believe they're gonna eat into the club finances through the season. Damn!!

The season started with the qualifying round for the Champions League. And we will be playing Matalist Kharkiv for a chance to play in the UEFA Champions League.
1st Leg at Kharkiv:
Metalist 1:3 AS Roma
Great start for the Romans. Pjanic and Lamela run Metalist ragged. A hattrick in the first game of the season for Pjanic.
2nd Leg at Olimpico:
Roma 0:2 Metalist
Just like Roma has been all these years, inconsistent. A very poor performance right after a delightful one. But managed to go through on away goals.

The extra income the Champions League brings is a great incentive for the cash strapped club like ours.

And the Serie A starts:
First game against Genoa, at Home. Looking for a good start.
Roma 1:0 Genoa
De Rossi, the champion with a 44th min header gave us the win.

Followed with a 2 draws against palerma/Inter, a win against catania. Decent start and a 2-0 lose to Juve.

Here comes the UEFA champions league draw. Roma were drawn into Group G with:

Barcelona ( i know, Damn!!)
Galatasaray
Bordeaux

Well, Roma did manage to scrape through the group in second position (ofcourse)
Barcelona 6 6 0 0 18
Roma 6 2 1 3 7
Bordeaux 6 2 0 4 6
Galatasaray 6 1 1 4 4

Wins against Bordeaux and Galatasaray at Home and an away draw against Galatasaray did it.

By the end of the Champions League Group matches, this is how Roma fared in the league.
14 matches, 8 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats. And comfortable placed 3rd behind Inter and Napoli.

On the first of Jan 2013, Roma where 3rd in the League behind Inter and Napoli.
16 matches, 9 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats.

A very happy time for the Giallorossi, 3rd in the League, into the knockout rounds for Champions League.

January:
January started with wins against Siena (2-1) and Udinese (1-0). Followed up with win against Genoa (3-2) and draw against Palermo (1-1).
The Italian Cup for Roma kicked off in Jan. But lost out in the 1st Round to Catania on penalties. BIG BIG disappointment. I was hoping to win the domestic cup for a start.

With January came to free signings: Lorenzo Ariuado (easily the player of the 2nd half of the season for Roma), Yasuhito Morimoto (19 yr old, absolute beast, scouts believe he'll be better than De Rossi, now thats something)

Roma faced Valencia is the first knockout round of the Champions League.
1st Leg:
Roma 0 - 1 Valencia
Very disappointing result. I believed we could overturn it at mestalla.

2nd Leg:
Valencia 1 - 1 Roma
Lamela puts Roma in front at halftime. A late equaliser for Soldada killed the dreams. :(

Out of the Champions League. OUt of the Italian Cup. The only saving grace was the league position.
League position on 19/3/2013 : 2nd, behind Napoli. Inter had started to drop points since Christmas.
28 matches, 18 wins, 6 draws and 4 defeats.

10 matches to go.

5 matches in April. 3 wins. A draw against AC Milana and a defeat to Atalanta.

34 matches, 22 wins, 7 draws, 5 defeats.

May:
The decisive month:
Match 1:
Parma 0-1 Roma
A Burdisso effort at 4 mins gives Roma the win.

Match 2:
Roma 1-0 Siena
As Totti toe pokes in a beautiful cross from Taddie in 91st min, the whole of stadia Olimpico goes into raptures.

2 games to go. Level on points with Napoli.

Match 3:
Udinese 0-0 Roma
A stalemate against Udinese, didnt hurt us too bad as Napoli could only manage a draw against Bologna. Thank you Bologna.

Final Matchday:
Standings:
Napoli 37 24 03 10 +35GD 75
Roma 37 22 09 06 +21GD 75

Napoli has the advantage of Goal Difference. Roma plays the Viola at home, and Napoli have Ac Milan also at home.
20 min: Juan Manuel Vargas with a goal for Viola. Roma fans praying for a comeback.
39 min: Zlatan scores for AC Milan. Roma fans are ecstatic. Hoping Milan can hold of Napoli.
44 min: Zakaria Labyad with a screamer. 1-1 at Olimpico.
HT: Roma 1-1 Fiorentina ; Napoli 0-1 AC Milan
77 min: Lamela with a superb run and finish. Roma go top. This has to the goal that gets Roma the title.
90 min: Hedwiges Maduro with a goal for Napoli. 1-1. Roma fans have their hearts in their mouth. Can Milan hold on the final assault.
93 min: Full time at Olimpico. Roma win 2-1 and go their bit.
94 min: Red Card at Napoli. Maduro given the marching orders.
95 min: Full time at Napoli. Milan hold out for a draw.

Its celebration time in the Capital. Roma, the SERIE A champs 2012/13. What a journey. :)

Roma win the League after 12 years.

Season 3 (Current Season)
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With the new tag as league champions, Roma has a reputation to safeguard.

The Serie A win and participation in the Champions League has prepped up the finances at Roma.

Season Expectations
Title Challenge
Transfer Budget
26 million

Totti is fast becoming a no-show. Osvaldo, Borini or Boriello are not the kinda players to take Roma to the top of the world. So, I felt a change was required up front, now that I have the money.

Players Bought: Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
Players Out: Boriello (Valencia)

August

Super Cup
The Bird's Nest Stadium
Roma 1 - 0 Napoli
Payback for the Italian Cup defeat. Wonderful work from the new signing, Andriy Yarmelenko.


September

Serie A commences. AS Roma fans are hoping for a good start to the season.

Serie A Matchday 1
Roma 1 - 0 Palermo
Just the start Roma required. Lamela with an excellent through ball and Yarmolenko finishes with absolute class. Great goal!!

Serie A Matchday 2
Genoa 2 - 1 Roma
Bad day at the office for the Romans. Genoa take a 2 - 0 lead at half time. A DFK from Miguel Veloso and a header from Granquist. Roma strike back with a goal from Lamela on 77th min, but couldnt force an equaliser.

Champions League draw:
Manchester United
AS Roma
Kobenhavn
Basel

UCL Matchday 1
Roma 1 - 0 Basel
Lamela again props up with the winner. A beautifully curled strike from 25 metres.

Serie A Matchday 3
Roma 1 - 1 AC Milan
Tough one this. The rossoneri take an early leade through Willian, he pokes in a cross from the left from Mesbah. Roma pull it back through Yarmolenko. But couldnt force a winner. A draw was maybe a fair result.

Serie A Matchday 4
Cagliari 0 - 0 Roma
Cagliari, the nemesis for Roma, always.
Ends in a stalemate.

Cerci, the young WB/D (L) has concerns that he is not part of the club setup. I assure him playing time.

To be continued..:)