There are no instructions in Fifa’s Laws of the Game for what to do when the ground starts to shift beneath your feet. The second of Wednesday night’s earthquakes in central Italy struck at 9.18pm, at a time when nine Serie A matches were in progress, and was felt inside several football grounds.
Only one fixture – Pescara-Atalanta – was suspended as a result, and even then only briefly. Not all fans were pleased by referee Marco Guida’s decision to resume play after a two-minute pause, and a number abandoned the stadium. Although the tremors felt at the Stadio Adriatico were not too severe, anxieties continue to run high after the catastrophic earthquake in Amatrice in August.
Further disruption to Serie A’s midweek schedule arrived 175 miles away to the north. Fiorentina, having already been obliged to abandon one match, away to Genoa, this season due to inclement weather, feared they might need to do so a second time as torrential rain forced players off the pitch midway through the first half of their their match at home to Crotone.
Play eventually resumed after a delay of almost an hour, though the Viola might wish that it hadn’t. On a pitch that had become a puddle, they could only draw 1-1 against their last-placed opponents.
There was no such interruption at the Stadio Mapei, where Sassuolo hosted Roma, but the visiting supporters here, too, walked away contemplating acts of God. Not the kind that lawyers refer to when discussing natural disasters, but rather the sort that might occur on the stage of a silver-tongued evangelical faith healer.
Before their own eyes, a man’s sight has been restored to him. All through last season Roma’s fans had teasingly referred to their own striker, Edin Dzeko, as Edin Cieco – Edin the Blind. The former Manchester City striker had all the physical tools to be a top-notch No9, but when the time came to take a shot on goal, he never quite seemed to see straight.
His misses were often extraordinary. Presented with an open goal from point-blank range against Palermo, he somehow contrived to pass the ball wide of the far post. Against Atalanta he did the hard work, rounding goalkeeper Marco Sportiello, only to then pelt his shot clumsily over the bar.
During his worst stretch, from mid-November 2015 through to February 2016, Dzeko went 11 hours and 50 minutes without scoring a goal in Serie A. In fact, if you take two successful penalties out of the equation, this dry run could be said to have begun in September, and stretched to an incredible 23 hours and 32 minutes.
“It’s difficult for attackers in Italy,” explained Dzeko this week, “because there are always two defenders marking you.” It is a claim supported by countless others who have made the switch to Serie A from other European leagues, but still does not justify his inability to stick a ball into an unguarded net from two yards out.
Plainly, confidence was a factor. Unrealistic expectations had been dumped on Dzeko’s shoulders from the moment he touched down at Fiumicino airport in August 2015 to find thousands of Roma supporters waiting. This club has been craving an heir to Gabriel Batistuta for more than a decade. Those are some intimidating boots to fill.
Dzeko will never be as brilliant as the Argentinian, possessing neither the technique nor finesse. But at this rate, he might just join Batistuta in the elite group of players who have scored 20 goals in a season for Roma. A brace on Wednesday night gives him 10 in as many league matches so far in 2016-17. That is two more, already, than he achieved in his entire previous Serie A campaign.
Better yet, he is delivering in those moments when his team needs him most. Roma had fallen behind early away at Sassuolo on Wednesday, putting themselves at risk of losing the ground that they made up on Juventus over the weekend. They were still trailing in the 57th minute, when Mohamed Salah played Dzeko through on goal.
Last season, he might have rushed his shot and fired off target. This time, he took a touch before picking out the bottom corner with an elegant side-footed finish.
It was Dzeko who then won, and converted, the penalty that gave Roma the lead. Two minutes after that, his knock-down for Stephan El Shaarawy in midfield launched a counter-attack that concluded with Radja Nainggolan slotting home from close range. It was enough to seal a 3-1 victory for the Giallorossi.
“The credit is all his,” replied Luciano Spalletti, when asked about Dzeko’s improved form. The reality might be more nuanced. Roma’s wide players are doing a better job of playing off the striker, the likes of Salah, El Shaarawy and Diego Perotti working to get the ball into his feet rather than going it alone or swinging in aimless crosses.
As a result, Dzeko is enjoying far more scoring opportunities. He has averaged 5.2 shots per game, almost twice as many as he had last season – and more than any other Serie A player by a wide margin (Ciro Immobile sits second in this category with 4.3). Dzeko’s efficiency in front of goal has improved, but less drastically than you might imagine.
Spalletti will not mind how many shots are required, as long as his team keeps on scoring at its present clip. As a team, Roma have piled up 26 goals in Serie A already.
They did suffer a significant blow on Wednesday, when Alessandro Florenzi left the match against Sassuolo on a stretcher. It has since been confirmed that he suffered a torn cruciate ligament. His absence will hurt Roma, depriving them of both a talented player who lends consistent support to the attack from right-back, and a leader in the changing room.
But injuries, just like earthquakes, are beyond the control of any manager. Even one who found a way to restore sight to the blind.
Talking points
• Before we move on from Roma and Spalletti, I should also call attention to his colourful press conferences over the past few days. Frustrated to be asked a question about the “atmosphere” around the team after Sunday’s 4-1 win over Palermo, he responded by thumping his head repeatedly on the desk. (See the viral version, set to We Will Rock You, here.) Then, at his pre-Sassuolo press conference on Tuesday, he told the same journalist that he would only respond to questions from people who say ‘Forza Roma’. Happily, for the sake of press freedom, the journalist in question refused, and the conversation moved on with Spalletti not holding to this line.
• Roma are not the only team from the capital with the bit between their teeth right now. Lazio thrashed Cagliari 4-1 on Wednesday night, lifting themselves to fifth. Immobile has six goals in his last four games.
• Three days after beating Juventus, Milan got walloped 3-0 away at Genoa. This was a reality check for a team that – for all its youthful optimism – does still lack the depth for a serious title challenge. Vincenzo Montella made only two changes to his starting XI, but both of them were disastrous – Andrea Poli replacing Ignazio Abate at right-back and failing to pick up his man on Genoa’s first goal, while Keisuke Honda came in for Suso on the right side of attack, and contributed absolutely nothing. Of course, it didn’t help that Gabriel Paletta got himself sent off for an absurdly reckless challenge at the start of the second-half either.
• Juventus, of course, bounced back with a win, beating Sampdoria 4-1 at home. Encouraging notes for the champions included Claudio Marchisio’s first appearance in 192 days, as well as Mario Mandzukic’s first goal for the club since April.
• Frank De Boer lives to fight another day at Inter, and has Joe Hart to thank. The goalkeeper, so steady in recent weeks, made a costly blunder as he rushed out to intercept a through-ball but failed to claim it, instead allowing the ball to bounce off his body, on to the boot of Mauro Icardi and back into the net. Torino did subsequently pull level, but the Argentinian scored again to secure a much-needed win for the Nerazzurri. Icardi had not scored in six games – the longest dry run of his Inter career – but, ill-advised autobiographies notwithstanding, he should not carry the can for the team’s loss of form. He has scored eight times for Inter in Serie A this season, whilst his team-mates have mustered just five strikes between them.
• If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a b … ah, never mind Mauro.
• The good news for Napoli, ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Juventus, is that Dries Mertens did an excellent job leading the line in the absence of Arkadiusz Milik and Manolo Gabbiadini. The even better news is that they finally managed to keep a clean sheet on Wednesday – their first in six games. After the game, Mertens was asked whether he might share a joke with Gonzalo Higuaín when they meet again at the weekend. “At the most we’d like to give him a slap,” replied the Belgian. “There are no friends on the football pitch.”
Results: Chievo 1-1 Bologna, Fiorentina 1-1 Crotone, Genoa 3-0 Milan, Inter 2-1 Torino, Juventus 4-1 Sampdoria, Lazio 4-1 Cagliari, Napoli 2-0 Empoli, Pescara 0-1 Atalanta, Sassuolo 1-3 Roma.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus | 10 | 14 | 24 |
| 2 | Roma | 10 | 14 | 22 |
| 3 | Napoli | 10 | 9 | 20 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 10 | 2 | 19 |
| 5 | Lazio | 10 | 9 | 18 |
| 6 | Atalanta | 10 | 0 | 16 |
| 7 | Torino | 10 | 7 | 15 |
| 8 | Genoa | 9 | 5 | 15 |
| 9 | Chievo | 10 | 1 | 15 |
| 10 | Inter Milan | 10 | 0 | 14 |
| 11 | Fiorentina | 9 | 2 | 13 |
| 12 | Bologna | 10 | -3 | 13 |
| 13 | Sassuolo | 10 | -4 | 13 |
| 14 | Cagliari | 10 | -6 | 13 |
| 15 | Sampdoria | 10 | -5 | 11 |
| 16 | Udinese | 9 | -5 | 10 |
| 17 | Pescara | 10 | -6 | 7 |
| 18 | Palermo | 9 | -10 | 6 |
| 19 | Empoli | 10 | -11 | 6 |
| 20 | Crotone | 10 | -13 | 2 |
