Lazio prevails in a desolate footballing match.
As predicted, what has been the usual ugly, dirty and blocked Lazio-Roma for two years now takes place at the Olimpico, which can only be decided by one episode. After 50′, Huijsen’s rash intervention arrives, but blaming the 18-year-old in his first start would be like looking at the straw without noticing the beam, since in 90′ Roma offered a disarming performance, producing only one chance in the final with Belotti on the rebound;
Sarri chooses to immediately follow the tendency of the match to lean towards a Florentine football brawl, opting for the most muscular midfield possible with Cataldi as director and Vecino and Guendouzi (the perfect derby animal) as midfielders. Mourinho responds with the usual 3-5-2, with the botched Kristensen-Mancini-Huijsen defense and Dybala and Lukaku in front singing and carrying the cross. Lazio creates density in the middle and leaves the width to their opponents, aware of the atavistic difficulties of the Giallorossi fifths in proposing something that makes sense from a footballing point of view. The first 45 minutes drag on so wearily until half-timealso thanks to the absence of Immobile’s attacks in depth, which could have at least created some problems for an aggressive but not always effective defender like Mancini;
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In the second half the match it begins and in fact ends with the penalty converted by Zaccagni. What happens next is something that is difficult to trace back to the game of football. Roma try without a shred of idea of what to do with the ball, Lazio closes in order – there isn’t even a shadow of Sarriball and in any case it can wait – and without even too much effort, so much so that all things considered the Biancocelesti were closer to 2-0 than Roma were to equal. Mourinho changes the formation or positions of the players on the pitch 3 times and begins to insert attackers in abundance, not resigning himself to the sad conclusion that time passes, sport evolves, and it is not enough to appeal to the Gods of football as if it were still 2009;
Finding a man of the match in such a match is a complex exercise, but the performance of the central pair must be highlighted Romagnoli-Patric, always careful to contain Lukaku’s physical exuberance and prevent him from communicating effectively with Dybala first and then with the ghost of Pellegrini. Even Vecino, a somewhat surprise favorite over the mystery Kamada, plays a game of great substance and is fundamental in providing precious centimeters to avoid the mismatch in the aerial game. Castellanos is seen little but in the narrow zone he shows interesting shots, on the rare occasions in which glimmers of space open up in the central areas. The Sarri’s men they had the merit of throwing themselves into the battle in the mud without losing clarity, showing good management skills and an excellent dose of maturity. For entertainment football it wasn’t a game, and it’s probably not even the season;
It is almost impossible to comment on the players of a Roma team that was eighth in the league and came second in a very affordable Europa League group, which had the great opportunity to try to aim for an affordable trophy (at least in terms of number of matches) like the Italian Cup. However, hopes were suddenly dissolved, in yet another exhausting test to follow, precisely on one of those cup nights in which it was reasonable to expect that Mourinho’s star should shine. Only the number of derbies lost is growing, along with the number of matches against top-ranking teams, on which the record is even worse than that of the reviled Fonseca. For the rest, the team seems to have settled into an embarrassing mediocrity, it does not show any form of growth in terms of play or solidity, and the most serious fact is that no player appears to have improved since his arrival in Rome. The banner “with Mourinho to hell” is now a declaration of intent that comes dangerously close to reality.