Wherever you look you simply cannot escape the name ‘Jose Mourinho’ featuring in the headlines. He is media gold dust.
The trouble for the Portuguese is that those headlines are often depicting him as a ‘past it’ manager that ‘hasn’t kept up’ with the modern game.
Can he shove those words back down journalists throats with Roma? Here we look at what he’ll need to succeed.
A Midfield Enforcer
Everybody knows that Mourinho is a manager that delivers when he is given the tools he wants. Well, in the summer it looked for all the world that Granit Xhaka would be a Roma player. For whatever reason – seemingly Arsenal upping their price – the move never materialized.
Now, whilst the likes of Lorenzo Pellegrini have been sensational so far this season, there has been one blatant problem in the midfield area. Roma struggle defensively in the transition.
Links with Xhaka have started to resurface although the odds are he stays put. He’s not the only name in the frame though; rumblings around a move for Monchengladbach man Deniz Zakaria have been present pretty much all season. Whether it is one of those two that arrives we don’t know but it’s evident Roma want a player of that ilk. It would make them a better side no question.
More Cutting Edge
Identifying a weakness in transition and problems with being clinical isn’t something that screams a good team but it’s not quite that simple. Roma are creating plenty of chances but aren’t necessarily taking them. In fact, they have more shots per game than anyone else in the league and they’re the only side in the top seven that have a ‘goals for’ column that is lower than their expected goals.
The fact that Tammy Abraham and Eldor Shomurodov – two high profile summer signings – have just four Serie A goals between them is clear evidence of where problems lay.
Both players are 1,9m tall (around 6’3 feet) and although they wouldn’t make it into the list of the tallest players in NBA history, they are still tall enough for football standards. Roma need to take advantage of their physical strength and aerial advantage, for more accuracy in set pieces and crosses.
Now, that doesn’t mean a new striker should be on Mourinho’s shopping list come January but a streak of scoring form from either wouldn’t go amiss! Of course, the recent emergence of Felix Afena-Gyan, who was gifted some new shoes for bagging a brace against Genoa, could help the team out too.
You can’t hand your hopes on an 18-year-old, but his booming start might be the pressure that forces the other two to buck their ideas up.
A Bit of Luck
It’s an old saying that you need a bit of luck in football but it’s true. We’ve already touched on the fact Roma are underperforming against their expected goals but they’re doing that at the other end too; just to level those anomalies out would almost certainly see Roma up to third whilst you could argue they’d be right in the title race.
Whatever your thoughts on where they’d sit in the table, underperforming against the expected goals for and against isn’t anything about the manager but the players after they’ve crossed the white line. It’s not all woeful finishing though; Roma have hit the woodwork more times than anyone else this season with Abraham expressing his annoyance just last month.
On top of that, you can look at refereeing decisions too; that’s something Mourinho hasn’t been afraid to point out! When you look at the big games where they’ve dropped points you can understand it too.
Against Juventus, Jordan Veretout missed a penalty but wasn’t allowed to retake it. Juve then had a similar incident in another game (against Zenit St Petersburg) but they were allowed a retake; Mourinho took to Instagram to prove his point.
There were more penalty controversies against Milan. The Rossoneri were awarded a soft penalty, which they scored. Then, later in the game, Pellegrini appealed for a penalty – and had a case – but had his requests waved away by referee Fabio Maresca with no VAR review taken.
Mourinho refused to comment after the match but Maresca was dropped from the next weeks schedule, which probably tells you all you need to know. You’d hope these things even themselves out over the course of the season but, at present, it’s definitely costing Roma points.