Totti Today #67: Inevitable Implications

Letdown & meltdown

Garcia’s Roma is under fire. Heavily. And Rudi fan or not (if there are any left), that is a logical thing. Not only because of the one point they amassed since Bologna but also in the way they did it. A late equalizer in Bologna, a thrashing in Barcelona and a lacklustre display at home against gray mouse Atalanta. The loss in Barcelona was inevitable (I love that word), perhaps the draw in Bologna as well (due to tough circumstances) but especially the loss on Sunday was a huge letdown.

And so we’re basically back to square one: The coach is under fire but the pitchforks are kept in the stables. For now. Garcia still has Torino and more importantly BATE to save his job. Torino away is no walk in the park so a draw wouldn’t and shouldn’t be the final destination for Rudi. BATE however is a must win game. Ugly or with free-flowing football, that doesn’t matter.

Damocles’ sword is hanging above the Frenchman’s head and although Sabatini and players like De Rossi back Rudi, you get the feeling the resignation is not that far away. They don’t make the final decision after all. Until now Rudi has always magically rescued himself in Rome. Last season he did it a couple of times and this season as well. After BATE away, Roma won its next 4 Serie A games. After the loss in Sampdoria, Roma trashed Carpi 5-1. After the painful defeat at Inter, we won the derby and the überimportant Leverkusen encounter at home,…

Rudi’s Roma seems to always find a way to regain confidence and the support and faith of the tifosi. It seems so easy. But you can easily lose that faith in 90 minutes as well. Atalanta looked like a turning point: The fans rightfully expected a revival, a revenge after the 6-1 in Spain but we got another defeat. And honestly, this loss felt more disappointing than the one in the CL. But should it surprise any of us? It was classic Roma, a meltdown on the worst possible moment. It was, you know it’s coming,…. inevitable.

Italian business

And once again we sum up a list of possible replacements: Spalletti, Mazzarri, Di Francesco, Ancelotti and even Capello are/were considered. Hell ,why not bring back Ranieri who is doing great things with Leicester City in the Premier League? One thing stands out: those men are all Italian and most of them big names in Italian calcio. Could the Americans finally mean business? After a Spaniard, a Czech and a Frenchman, could they finally opt for a someone from the peninsula?

Sad but true: Very few men can turn this Roma around and make it the big, bad football club the way the American see it. Ancelotti might bring succes to Rome but the others remain a risk, yes even Spalletti. It’s such an uphill task right now, who in their sane minds would choose an unstable environment like Rome? The chances you get sacked eventually are, yup, inevitable.

Sink, swim and dodge

Back to Rudi ‘porompompero" Garcia: It’s obvious he his 4-3-3 misses Salah and Gervinho a lot. And both men were injured since Bologna. Coincidence? Nope. So get Salah and Gervinho healthy ASAP. But apart from that, we should expect more from the current first team. Bologna or Atalanta don’t have players with the calibre of a Dzeko, Iturbe, Nainggolan or Pjanic in their ranks.

All this while poor Totti is standing at the sidelines, feeling helpless. It’s been a long time since Totti has been so absent from all things Roma related. Only 3 Serie A games. At this rate he won’t even reach 10 games by May. Since 1994 Il Bimbo d’Oro featured in at least 20 games in Italy per season. It seems age has finally caught up on him. He knew it was inevitable. We all knew.

Rudi doesn’t have much time left to safe his job. Two games, sink or swim. Almost two and a half seasons this man has managed to dodge all bullets fired at him from angry tifosi and the management. There’s a big chance that he has reached his last resort, even if he told us otherwise in his recent presser.

After two and a half years that was, how do you say it,… inevitable.