The shot from Milan Badelj was a weak one and yet in what seemed like slow motion, it trickled past Wojciech Szczesny in turn ending Roma’s 21 game unbeaten streak in Serie A. The result was a frustrating one and highlighted some dangerous recurring flaws in Luciano Spalletti’s side. These problems that seem to be creeping into the squad, the poor defending and the lack of composure are dove tailed by some fantastic resolve and some superb football. These contrasting displays beg the question of, just who are Roma this year?

Kevin Strootman perhaps offered an insight to the inner confusion of the squad’s thinking after the game. He felt that his team deserved all three points, basing this conclusion on the penalty they had turned down and the fact that they rattled the cross bar. In his perplexed interview however, he ended his statements by adding that they did lose many balls on the midfield, need to improve everything and should listen to Spalletti. Should they manage to do this then they may get their confidence back? Confusing? Maybe a little.

The Dutchman was certainly not incoherent but his words reflected a team that felt they were following instructions but just not clearly enough. The fact that he also thought his team defended better than they had in previous weeks was an understatement. After the horror show of the Champions League playoffs against Porto when red cards and a total loss of composure dumped them out of the competition they have had a mixed run of results. A 4-0 trouncing of Udinese showcased the best of their attacking prowess yet a 2-2 draw with Cagliari and a 3-2 win against Sampdoria did ask questions of their defence.

The positive of the night was that they did manage to dominate the game for large periods of the match and they defended with more professionalism but in doing so the goals did not come. Good performances from the recently shaky Kostas Manolas and the very average Federico Fazio, were in some ways undermined by the toothless endeavour of Diego Perotti and Mohammed Salah. The balance is a problem that must be addressed quickly and perhaps a home tie against Crotone on Wednesday night will be just the tonic?

Spalletti himself told Mediaset Premium that “In any case, we can only deal with what depends on us. It’s a defeat that hurts, because the team did not deserve a defeat. Maybe a draw would’ve been fair, but the incidents go against us beyond the reality of what happened on the pitch.” Perhaps there is no need for him to worry too much as whilst his team sit only three points off the top of the table and with Juventus falling to Inter earlier in the day the position does not look too bad.

One other area that will concern him is the misfiring Edin Dzeko in fairness suffered from a lack of supply but is still living under the misfiring cloud of his own making. The Roma coach dismissed any option of dropping him for the Crotone game and reverting to a false nine, insisting that the Bosnian ‘completes’ his team and that he has faith in him to come good.

The problems in Rome may not be ones that are deep rooted and poisonous to the team but they are an annoyance. The Giallorossi can defend and they can be extremely offensive but getting the two together is perhaps just taking a little bit longer than Spalletti and the team want it to, What’s more it is pin pointing these marginal errors and eradicating team that seem to be the issue. Roma are frustratingly close to being a very dangerous side that could compete for the Scudetto, they just need to put all the pieces together.

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