Roma’s on and Off-The-Field Issues Set to Continue as Club Searches for Its Fourth Manager of 2024
We are only just coming into the third international break of the season in November, and AS Roma are looking for their third coach of the season. Ivan Jurić, who took over from Daniele De Rossi in mid-September, was fired thirty minutes after Sunday home to defeat Bologna via phone call.
In fairness, it is a far kinder treatment than the manner in which the Friedkin family sacked José Mourinho and Daniele De Rossi in January and September, respectively. Both were sacked before training early in the morning and the players found out on social media. So, both Dan and Ryan Friedkin are learning a little bit in the ways of communication at a football club.
Juric was on a hiding to nothing; he came into an environment which was at toxic at best and was bubbling over. He was on a lose-lose situation, what ever he did on and off the pitch would not have mattered in the eyes of the Roma fanbase. They just seen their hero sacked in ruthless style after just two points from the opening four games of the season.
The philosophy of Daniele De Rossi playing a 4-3-3 with the squad being built to play a 4-3-3 system was ripped apart and tossed away in the bin when Ivan Juric was brought in by the Roma hierarchy. Ivan Juric is a Gian Piero Gasperini disciple and shares his philosophy on how to play football, a 3-4-2-1 system which completely nullified and wasted Roma’s transfer spree which was used on a different tactical format.
It started off brilliantly for Juric and Roma as his first game in charge in Serie A was a comprehensive 3-0 home win over Udinese. The club, fans and the players needed that after the turmoil during the week before the game. In the UEFA Europa League, it was a 1-1 home draw against Spanish side Athletic Club, with the Basque side scoring late thanks to Aitor Paredes header from an Athletic Club free-kick five minutes from time.
The third home game in a week was Juric’s second Serie A game in charge and it was a come-from-behind home win over Venezia where Bryan Cristante and Niccolo Pisilli scored twice in nine minutes to give Roma a much-needed win. Then the form started to drop off both in Serie A and in the Europa League, it started with a trip to Sweden to Oscar Hiljemark’s IF Elsborg side.
AS Roma Part Ways with Daniele de Rossi after Eight Months in Charge
The home team won the game 1-0 thanks to a Michael Baidoo penalty just before halftime. Roma could not break down the Swedish side’s resistance and struggled to a 1-0 defeat. In the following eight games in all competitions, Roma would only win two of the games both winning 1-0 at home to Dynamo Kyiv in the Europa League and a week later in a midweek round of action in Serie A at home to Torino.
The writing was on the wall in a game that was sandwiched in between which was a trip to Florence where Roma was royally humbled by Raffaele Palladino’s Fiorentina side. An ex in Edouardo Bove who was casted off into the Roma abyss in the latter stages of the transfer window, showed what his parent club was missing with a five-star performance. La Viola destroyed the men from the capital 5-1. The writing was on the wall then and you could see the signs of discontent, but nothing was done until a couple of weeks later.
A late humbling in Verona where Abdou Harroui stuck the knife deeper in the back of Roma with a late goal giving Paolo Zanetti side a priceless 3-2 away win. The travel sickness continued in Europe a few days later with Roma struggling away in Belgium against Union Saint-Gilloise. Yet another equaliser late on in the game with Kevin McAllister the brother of Alexis McAllister scored, and Roma conceded again from a set piece, yet again another disappointing performance.
The final nadir and nail in the coffin were the home defeat to Bologna, a soulless performance against Vincenzo Italiano side where Roma were bereft on confidence and lacking ideas. The showed a little fight in the second half to bring the game back to 3-2 thanks to two goals from Stephan El Shaarawy but did not offer anything in the dying embers of the game when it really mattered. Jurić’s time with Roma was up just twelve games after his panicked announcement in September.
1.25 points per game was Ivan Jurić’s record for Roma in his eight games in charge and that is the worst points per game record for Roma in the last twenty years. Jurić is behind Luis Enrique who had a points per game record of 1.38. There is one thing I find quite laughable with Roma at the moment is that they brought in a World Cup winner in Mats Hummels to work with Daniele De Rossi.
A smart free transfer after the window shut, for some reason Ivan Jurić did not play him. His time at Roma has seen two coaches changed while only playing twenty-three minutes of football this season. You honestly could not make it up. The disrespect that he had this season is an utter joke.
The off-the-field problems is chaotic to, Roma will be looking for their fourth manager/head coach in the last eleven months, the third since mid-September. You must ask where the consistency, stability and what the structure of the club looks like. Because as a fan looking in from the outside there is no stability, consistency, or structure at all. You have hired coaches who play three different brands of football and no wonder why the players look completely lost on the pitch.
Lina Souloukou was appointed AS Roma CEO and General Manager in April 2023. She resigned in September 2024 after the backlash after Daniele De Rossi departure. Lorenzo Vitali is the interim CEO and to date they have not announced a replacement. You also have the Friedkin family taking over Everton looming over AS Roma. The Friedkin family agreed a majority stake in Everton in September 2024, just around the time Daniele De Rossi was sacked at Roma.
AS Roma now sit in the bottom half of the Serie A standings and the next three games after the November international break is Napoli away in Naples, Tottenham away in London in the Europa League and then Atalanta at home on the Monday night early in December. A mere two points separates league leaders Napoli from sixth-placed Juventus, but whilst those two sides are going full speed ahead with Atalanta, Fiorentina, Inter and Lazio in an enthralling title race, Roma find themselves stuck in a traffic jam, trailing Juve by 11 points and sitting just four points clear of the drop.
You’d have to go back all the way to 2013 for the last time that Roma failed to qualify for European football, but today, the Giallorossi find themselves on the outside looking in. It remains to be seen whether or not 12th-placed Roma can arrest the slide, but one thing’s for sure: they cannot afford to mess up their next appointment, which will be their fourth permanent manager of 2024.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Fabio Rossi / AS Roma