Jose Mourinho is now allegedly on the verge of being sacked by Roma, but how bad are things really in the Italian capital?
The Giallorossi again failed to impress when they travelled to San Siro to face Milan on Sunday evening, suffering a miserable 3-1 loss, their third defeat in their last five league outings.
Last week, Roma were eliminated from the Coppa Italia after losing to intercity rivals Lazio in the quarter-finals, another painful result that further dampened the spirits amongst the club’s faithful.
After 20 Serie A games, Mourinho’s side sit ninth in the table with 29 points, five behind fourth place Lazio. They’ve picked up eight wins, five draws and seven losses domestically. Whilst they’re not out of the race for a Champions League finish just yet, it only seems like a matter of time before they slip too far behind.
One figure that’s easy to blame is the coach, who has been criticised for his apparently dated tactics and inflammatory media appearances. Sport Mediaset even suggests that he could be sacked in the coming weeks and replaced by Daniele De Rossi.
The comparison between this season and last after 20 games doesn’t paint a pretty picture for Mourinho or Roma. They have nine less points than last term, have conceded six more goals and have won three less games.
The underlying numbers show a different picture of the Giallorossi’s decline; they’ve produced less expected goals, 1.51 per 90 to 1.37 per 90, but have generated a similar number of shot-creating actions, 22.7 per 90 to 22.8 per 90. They’ve also completed far more passes per 90, 372.9 last term to 428.4 this season.
In that sense then, things haven’t been too different in the Italian capital this campaign, despite the drop in results. Other factors may also explain why the club have struggled in recent months, like the injury situation.
Roma are a club who have a history of injury troubles and this season has proven no different, with players like Chris Smalling and Tammy Abraham both sidelined with serious issues. New signing Renato Sanches hasn’t managed to resolve his own injury problems, failing to prove useful for Mourinho.
Another obvious factor is the lack of reinforcements available to the Special One. In the summer, the Giallorossi brought in seven players – Romelu Lukaku, Leandro Paredes, Sanches, Evan Ndicka, Houssem Aouar, Rasmus Kristensen and Sardar Azmoun.
Of these, only two have been regularly useful in the Italian capital, Lukaku and Ndicka. Both have shown positive signs for Roma, with the former netting eight goals in 17 league games, whilst the latter has done well defensively.
Paredes and Kristensen have both featured often in recent months but neither looks particularly impressive. For Sanches, Aouar and Azmoun, there’s really little of note to say, except that it’s clear that Mourinho has extremely limited options available to him.
With only six months left on his contract with Roma, Mourinho seems destined to be leaving the club in the near future, and his two consecutive European finals will likely be seen as a historic achievement in retrospect, considering the resources at his disposal.
Mourinho’s defensive style has been a winning formula, but with football evolving towards more dynamic and possession-oriented play, there’s speculation about how well his traditional approach fits the modern game.