On his debut as Roma coach, club icon Daniele De Rossi is shaking his way to victory against Hellas Verona, who are threatened with relegation. His problem could be that his style is too similar to that of his predecessor José Mourinho.
After his first game as coach of AS Roma, Daniele De Rossi said of his team’s performance: “We’re putting ourselves to sleep.”
Imago / Augusto Casasoli
In the AS Roma fan curve, you don’t know who to celebrate first at the moment. “Mou, uno di noi” – “Mourinho, one of us” – was written on a banner in the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, where the capital club won the league game against Hellas Verona 2-1. However, the star coach José Mourinho, who was praised by the fans, was no longer on the bench; he had been released a few days earlier.
The decisive factor for the separation from the dazzling Portuguese was the defeat at AC Milan and the elimination in the cup against local rivals Lazio. And the statistical record is miserable by Mourinho standards. With Roma, for the first time in his coaching career, his number of wins remained below the 50 percent mark. During his time at Inter Milan and Chelsea, “Mou” had a 62 percent match winning rate, and at Real Madrid and FC Porto it was as high as 71 percent.
But these numbers weren’t reason enough to deny the coach affection. After all, by winning the Conference League in 2022, he brought Roma the first international cup to the Tiber since the Trade Fair Cities Cup in 1961 and thus refreshed his reputation as a “Special One”. That’s why there was a banner hanging in the fan curve on Saturday with the inscription: “You defended our Roma, brought us victories – José Mourinho, eternal glory.”
Roman fan chants in tribute to José Mourinho.
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Can a coach who is fired be celebrated more widely? Hardly likely. And that’s probably why Mourinho shed tears when he left the training ground in Trigoria for the last time. One of the fans outside the gate asked him worriedly: “Are you disappointed?”
De Rossi’s influence on Italy’s national team in winning the European Championship was limited to motivational skills
However, Mourinho’s successor was no less celebrated. Daniele De Rossi’s name was chanted again and again on Saturday. He once played for AS Roma for 18 years; He was first a “capitan futuro” in the shadow of the eternal Francesco Totti, and later the undisputed captain himself. Rossi played 616 competitive games for Roma and the defensive specialist scored 63 goals. And so it was said from the stands: “You left us with a promise. Now we find ourselves redeeming it. We are all Daniele De Rossi.”
There was a victory for the returnee on his debut; AS Roma led 2-0 at halftime against Hellas, who were threatened with relegation, thanks to a quick and concentrated transition game. But the Giallorossi were not convincing in the rest of the game. In the end they had to tremble because, among other things, Hellas had awarded a penalty. De Rossi criticized his team’s leisurely ball circulation. «We’re putting ourselves to sleep. You play slower when it’s not clear in your head what you want to do with the ball.”
De Rossi has not yet been able to convince as a coach. At the second division club Spal Ferrara last season, in a kind of fire service operation, he only managed 3 wins in 17 matches, a success rate of 17 percent. And his influence on Italy’s national team as assistant to head coach Roberto Mancini in winning the 2021 European Championship title was primarily limited to motivational skills. De Rossi’s credo at the time: “There are a lot of scientists, but the great masters like Mancini make football easy.” One can only hope for the Roma that De Rossi, the once rustic man of will, does not completely reject modern methods of analysis.
A compilation of some of Daniele De Rossi’s greatest moments as a Roma player.
Youtube
For those who sorely miss Mourinho, there might be some consolation
At least his debut didn’t fail. And: The most important goal of the season, reaching the Champions League ranks, is not yet out of reach. A lot depends on whether De Rossi manages to get his plans into the heads of the players. They recently seemed quite drained after two and a half years of stress under the constant motivator Mourinho.
And there is reason to doubt whether De Rossi has the appropriate antidote in response to Mourinho’s practices. Because the ideas of the two trainers seem to be very similar; they rely more on willpower than on game ideas. At least from AS Roma’s point of view, the Tifosi are appeased for now because they have an old favorite back.
And for those who sorely miss Mourinho, there could be a small consolation: the wild changes in world football could lead to a quick reunion with the Portuguese because he is linked to the Saudi club Al-Shabab. Roma will face them in a friendly on Wednesday.