The weeks follow and are similar for AS Roma. Even if the identity of the coach changes every two months, the Roman players fail to be solid, regular and encouraging. While Daniele De Rossi was fired after four days, his successor Ivan Jurić did not do much better since the Roman management decided to sack him after 12 matches in charge. It is now the legend Claudio Ranieri who has been called to the rescue. The 73-year-old coach came out of his well-deserved retirement after one last great adventure at Cagliari during the last two seasons: “AS Roma are pleased to announce that Claudio Ranieri is the new technical director of the first team. At the end of the season, he will assume a role within management, continues the Louve press release. He will be a consultant to the owners on all sporting questions. The search for a new coach will continue in the coming months and Claudio will also have a say in this decision“.
A few days before the match against Atalanta (0-2), Florent Ghisolfi, sporting director of AS Roma, publicly castigated the Italian refereeing body, symbol of a climate more tense than ever among the Giallorossi: “we are in difficulty, but we are not looking for alibis. Our difficulty should not be a reason to accept that everyone walks all over us. The message is clear. We demand respect and fairness. This season, Roma have suffered seven proven refereeing errors, recognized by major national newspapers and slow-motion videos on television. We no longer accept this type of error and we ask to be respected by the refereeing body and the institutions, especially in a historical period in which any oversight can be repaired by technology. We want to play a football of our time, not that of absolute subjectivity, and we believe that the protocol must be updated and updated“. But beyond this internal fire, it is the results that continue to fail the Giallorossi and no matter the coach on the bench.
Ranieri wants more time
After the defeat against Napoli, AS Roma wanted to strike a big blow against Atalanta. But at home, the Giallorossi almost did not exist and the oiled machine of the Dea dominated the debates. Despite everything, Claudio Ranieri wants to retain the positive to move forward: “ we saw a glimmer of light, I saw players who wanted something positive. Now we have to make our fans proud. We’re not as good as I’d like, but that’s not possible after just 10 days of work. The negative notes from the match against Naples have faded. We can win or lose, but I repeat: we must make the fans proud. We have important players that we are trying to bring back to their best level. Then the future coach will decide who to keep. We will do everything possible to please him. Rome wasn’t built in one night, so give us more time», he declared, while the Roman supporters dedicated a very pretty banner to him on Monday evening to wish him a very good return.
If optimism will not do any harm in this collective slump, the shortcomings in the Roman game still persist. The executives cannot make themselves heard, the collective is still absent and the defense suffers from glaring wanderings. Neither Daniele De Rossi nor Ivan Juric managed to heal the wounds. And Claudio Ranieri must live with the same ills: “I congratulated the boys, you had three very difficult matches (Napoli, Tottenham and Atalanta, editor’s note), now there are even more difficult ones. It’s Italian football, you have to do it with your head. If the team continues to follow me, we will find the key to the problem. I don’t like those who play and want to give up, I have never accepted that. We have to react and fight on every ball, until the end, the changes I made were dictated by that», concluded the 73-year-old Italian coach. As a result of this setback, AS Roma suffered a fourth consecutive defeat in Serie A and is now in 15th position, just two points behind Como and the red zone.
