Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
De Rossi's Struggles at Roma
00:00:05
Speaker
Next question comes from Yuna Skovby. He's a Roma fan and he says, De Rossi is understandably so, finding it difficult to settle in on the lineup in a starting 11. Given the players at the coaches disposal, how would you line up Mark Violet's
De Rossi's Departure and Fan Reactions
00:00:21
Speaker
favorite team? And just I've just seen the news of De Rossi being sacked, effing loser club. Thank God I'm having my kids follow Real Madrid too, so they don't grow up being as bitter as me.
00:00:31
Speaker
Anyway, who would you like to see Roma bring in for the bench now?
Ivan Yurich's Appointment at Roma
00:00:35
Speaker
Well, it's going to be Ivan Yurich, isn't it? Yeah, as we're recording this, it's unanimously reported by everyone in Italy, including Di Marzio, Skira, all the Sportitalia, I think, as well. They're all saying that it's going to be Yurich. The deal has been done until the end of the the current season, 24-25, so it's it's um there may be an option, I believe, depending on how he does too.
00:01:01
Speaker
to to extend that.
Reasons for De Rossi's Dismissal
00:01:03
Speaker
um So let's break this down. Let's talk about De Rossi being sacked first, then we'll move on to Yurich. Now, as as it is, nothing, not too much has come out officially or with any real insight on why the Rossi has been
Analyzing De Rossi's Tactical Abilities
00:01:22
Speaker
set. Now, I think there's more to it than just simply they've had a bad start to the season. that's That doesn't make much sense because it's only four games and it comes after a game in which they actually played well. They dominated Genoa. They had about an XG of about 2.7 in the game against Genoa.
00:01:39
Speaker
And they deserve to win this game by at least a couple of goals. They completely dominated the first half. Second half Genoa got a little bit better and they obviously scored 96 minutes. But Roma played well in this game. So you don't sack de Rossi on results after four games and after, you know, a good, well, actually two good performances because they played well against Juve as well without creating that match, but they deservedly got a draw against Juventus. They look really well set up.
Roma's Transfer Strategy and De Rossi's Unhappiness
00:02:08
Speaker
so De Rossi has shown his tactical tactical qualities, I think, in these last two games. So I don't believe it's on results. I think it will come out in the next days why he's been set. I have a feeling, this is just my personal hunch,
00:02:22
Speaker
is I have a feeling De Rossi's not happy with the transfer market. That's what I think. I know they spent a lot of money, but as I said, I was quite critical of their Medcarto in the sense that they went out and they bought a bunch of players, spent a lot of money, but a lot of these players suitable to one system, other players suitable to another system, some of these players not quite ah fitting in with players that are currently at the club. For example, you know, you have you have Dovbic, who needs to play in a system with crosses, then you start start this the season with ah playing in a 4-3-2-1, because De Rossi's trying to fit in both Di Barla and Sullo, who for me clearly can't play together, really. ah And then, do you know what I mean? So then you have De Barla. Well, how do you play wingers when you've got De Barla? I know they tried to sell him. Maybe De Rossi was unhappy that they didn't manage to sell it. Maybe De Rossi wanted to sell it. I don't think
00:03:19
Speaker
it's been well thought through, the Medcato, in terms of creating a proper team with a clear system and a clear style of play. um My feeling is De Rossi is unhappy with that. Maybe there's been some kind of argument or fight about it, um especially in light of this bad start to the season. Maybe they had a meeting and and they discussed what's going on. We haven't won yet. And De Rossi maybe starts saying, well,
00:03:46
Speaker
You know, I'm not happy with the market. It's very difficult for me to get these players into a working system. You know, Di Bala can't play with city, blah, blah, blah. That's just that's just
Internal Conflicts at Roma
00:03:54
Speaker
my hunch. I might be wrong, but I reckon I reckon that might be part of it. And maybe Roma turn back to him and they think, well, we'll hang on a minute. We've just spent over 100 million and you're telling us you're not happy with. Do you know what I mean? So and they're not having that.
00:04:08
Speaker
ah yeah That's just my hunch because it doesn't seem like a planned decision when they've just given him a new contract Like they just extended his how long ago did they extend his contract that was in June? Yes in June. So this isn't a plan thing And he had a really great end to the season after coming. He had a great second half of the season. Look at it statistically. Look at the number of points they've got, you know, and then nearly got to the final again with Leverkusen, you know, they were seconds away from force and extra time in that time. So, you know, I think the minutes, I think it's, I think there's more to it and it will come out exactly, exactly what went wrong. What do you think?
00:04:50
Speaker
I think it's exactly that. I don't think it's a technical decision like that. I think the Friedkins don't like being having their authority
Yurich's Preparation for Roma Role
00:04:58
Speaker
questioned. um ah There's been reports of arguing as well, and there was a report about a bust up between Kystante and De Rossi.
00:05:06
Speaker
Then there's been reports of dressing room Conflicts I think that they um they They don't I think it's it's it's something more like that because nobody expected it and also Angela Mangente from Skye who would know ah given how much he covers Roma says that you know de Rossi was just turned up to training today and then he was summoned and um Yeah, that's kind of what went down One interesting fact about Yurich. He watched the following games, which Patrick Kendrick tweeted out. um Como Bologna, Milan Venetia, Atalanta Fiorentina, and Parma Udinese this last weekend.
00:05:51
Speaker
um he was he was he he was He was spotted at all of those games. Now a simple look at Roma's next couple of games in the Serie A are Udinese, Venetia,
00:06:05
Speaker
Monza, Inter, Fiorentina. So there's a couple of teams there. So this was definitely planned over the, oh this is something that's been going on for a while. They just haven't leaked it to anyone.
00:06:18
Speaker
I did notice him being being at so many different stadiums and did it did I did think this is strange. Is this just him just you know just trying to grow as a coach, taking in games, trying to learn? Or is this just him keeping himself in the limelight because he wants a new
Yurich's Coaching Strategy at Roma
00:06:36
Speaker
job? Or is this, like you said,
00:06:38
Speaker
is he already contact started and he's preparing for job maybe and then mixed opponents. Now you say that, possibly, yeah, though obviously the fact that we're here now just a few hours recording this, a few hours after his sacking and it's already been confirmed that Djuric is going to take over, um then that suggests that, yeah, this is something that that obviously you know you don't just do a contract just overnight. It takes a bit of time, doesn't it? So I think Yeah. It's interesting, it's interesting. And then you, what I think of Yurich, 3-4-2-1, tighten them up defensively, ah high press, what happens to Dibala, lots of questions. um But I do think that Iman Yurich deserves this chance, given what he's done. um You know, this is the right step upwards. I've been trying to, I've mentioned Lazio in the past. um I think Rommel Lazio is exactly the level he should, you know, the next natural step in his career.
00:07:39
Speaker
um And it's going to be interesting to see what they do because they because his Torino created chances. It's just they couldn't seem to score. um But, you know, he's never worked with players of this high quality either at Roma. So I actually think he'll do well. I think this is a good appointment. Personally, I would have preferred to see Sarri.
00:08:01
Speaker
um But it seems they want to they want to play with a back three. I think that's that's what they've decided.
Criticism of Ownership and Coaching Choices
00:08:08
Speaker
So it's an interesting one. It absolutely is an interesting one. Yeah, it is an interesting one. I mean i think the goalscoring thing is obviously the big weakness of of the
00:08:22
Speaker
of Djuric. Throughout his career at Torino before Verona, his goal scoring numbers are of ah terrible. um you know and yeah i ah i mean I'm just looking at the XG as well. It's not good at Torino either. so i mean yeah is is that he needs to They need to be much better in attack now that he's at big club. um But one thing he does have, he has actually been good at developing players.
00:08:50
Speaker
which is weird for a team that usually if a team doesn't score many goals, usually you don't develop, this so it's kind of weird that that that but he has developed quite a lot of talented players, especially defenders, doesn't he, in recent years. So that that could be something. um The only thing I don't like about this, the other thing I don't like about this is, I saw Nick Olasquira talking about this this morning.
00:09:18
Speaker
is that apparently the the Roma, the owners, the freekins were absolutely determined to hire a foreign coach, not an Italian coach. and They wanted a foreign coach and it was going to either be Djuric or Tezic. Tezic is the other manager that Roma have held talks with according to skin. and Obviously Djuric has now got it, and but Roma and Tuco was a dream option, but obviously his salary was always going to be too much for Roma. So this obsession with, it seems to be, this is obsession with American owners in Serie A to hire foreign managers because, and I hear this term all the all the time, this
00:10:00
Speaker
quote, international dimension. It seems to be like a ah tagline that I see with the always being mentioned around American lines. We saw it with Milan when they hired Fonseca. It was clear this was that this was ah this was the reason why Milan went for Fonseca or before that Lopatega. They wanted a foreign coach because they seem to believe that it gives them an international dimension to have a foreign coach. This is just ridiculous. I mean, listen, I don't want to be just just going after Americans here, there's a lot of good things that they bring. But one thing that they just don't seem to to get is what is this obsession with foreign coaches thinking just because you've got a foreign name, it's it's it's going to somehow help to grow the club. No, one thing that we have in Italy, we do a lot of things wrong. We have the best coaches in the world.
00:10:49
Speaker
We had to buy quite a distance the um the number of top class coaches that we have well class coaches we have is is is unbelievable and there just seems to be this obsession among. among American owners that they have to go for a foreign coach because it's some helping to bring some international prestige or maybe help with the markets in that you've got me a load of bollocks.
00:11:12
Speaker
Like no one cares about coaches. Coaches don't sell the club at all. Trust me, I know that. I've been working in the media for 15 years and we're literally one of the first rules is never use, try wherever you can not to put the ah ah ah an image of ah of a coach or headline with a coach. Just try and avoid them as much as you can because they they they literally don't sell. they They're like a traffic killer. Like that's like one of the one of the key rules.
00:11:38
Speaker
you know and they seem to think that having an international coach is somehow gonna what sell the club it doesn't it doesn't do nothing coaches do not sell a club doesn't help with marketing forget about coaches unless there's some kind of absolute superstar personality like a merino used to be or someone like that they do not sell at all so just get over it americans like it's just ridiculous Absolutely ridiculous that you think that having Ivan Urich as a coach just because he's foreign is somehow going to grow Roma and all of a sudden they're going to sell 100,000 extra shirts a month because they've got Ivan Urich as coach. Clueless, absolutely clueless. It's just ridiculous. Red sheet wankers. That's what I call them. Red sheet wankers.
00:12:26
Speaker
I don't think Yurich being appointed has anything to do with him being Croatian. He's about as Italian you can get, given his career and where he coached before and he came up through the Italian um ecosystem. Well, I'm just going on what Skira said. Skira said that Roma had made the decision to to appoint a foreign coach because they want to they want to bring a a coach of an international dimension. The options are Tezic or Yurich and Tutu was a dream.
00:12:52
Speaker
you know So I'm only going on that and so I just i just think it's ridiculous. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. yes Yes, you certainly made made that very clear.