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Roma once again required some second half heroics to rescue one point from a match in which they desperately needed three. Perhaps one of these days Roma won't put themselves behind the eight ball in the first half, but that day certainly was not today. Only in this instance, it was the increasingly maligned Mattia Destro who saved the day, rather than the inimitable Francesco Totti.
As is often the case when Roma loses and/or drops points, they do so while still maintaining the lion's share of possession and completing more than their fair share of passes. What fells Roma in these situations are incredibly horrific mistakes, like the one we witnessed this afternoon, and settling for low percentage shots, which we also witnessed today. Roma were done in by a second minute turnover by Davide Astori and simply couldn't work the ball into credible attacking spaces, settling for nine shots outside of the penalty area.
That's really about it, so let's take a quick look at today's tallies.
Paulo Dybala: 2nd Minute
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There are turnovers, there are stupid passes, and then there is whatever the hell Astori managed right there. Astori's pass was lazy, misguided and had almost no chance of reaching its intended target, Kevin Strootman. From there, it was rather easy. After seeing Astori's pass from a mile away, Franco Vazquez intercepted the pass, took one touch and threaded it through to a wide open Dybala, who made quick work of Morgan De Sanctis. It's tough to pin this one on MDS given Astori's colossal cockup, but he looked awfully indecisive on a shot he should've gotten to; yes, the turnover was ultimately to blame, but MDS had plenty of time to react.
Mattia Destro: 54th Minute
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Mr Right would come to the rescue shortly after the second half was underway, teaming up with Miralem Pjanic and Kevin Strootman to level the match in the 54th minute. It wasn't a pretty goal, even by Destro's standards, but it was enough to snatch a point back from Palermo. Destro's first goal in nearly three months was aided by a wonderfully played header from Strootman, who is looking better week-by-week and could prove to be the missing link in Roma's title chase.
It's hard to know what to make of this match; the numbers were heavily in Roma's favor, but they just can't seem to get out of their own way and have once again blown a golden opportunity to put real pressure on league leading Juventus.
Roma take the pitch twice this coming week, Tuesday against Empoli in their Coppa Italia opener and Sunday when they travel to Firenze to take on Vincenzo Montella and Fiorentina.