Deputy
Schnesznzcey (damn it) is supposedly out for 4-6 weeks after Suarez for a minute thought that a football has five fingers and decided to step on the Cznszzzzeees hand. Auwch. Out went the big Pole (195cm, taller than Edin or Rüdiger) and he was replaced by Morgan De Sanctis. Usually the fans tend to sweat a bit more when the second-choice keeper has to come on. But not this time. Because Wojciech’s (finally, got it right) deputy is actually one of Roma’s better players of the past two seasons.
72 Serie A appearances for Roma in two seasons, including a lot of clean sheets, over 400 games in total in Serie A, jam packed with experience and motivated/eager to play like a 21-year-old. Since 2002-2003 Morgan never played less than 30 games in the league, apart from 2007-2008 at Sevilla. There are far worse alternatives. At last, it seems AS Roma has nowhere near a problem in the goalkeeper department for once. What a relief. Oh how things have changed.
Credit
Let’s imagine this situation happened in one of the previous seasons. Our no 1 goes down for more than 4 weeks and we have to rely on the second keeper for more than one month. This means guys like Skorupski, Curci, Arthur or Goicoechea would see a lot more minutes than we expected. Would you still feel at ease like with Morgan now? The Brazilian duo Doni-Julio Sergio was decent and had its moments, but now I truly feel Roma is prepared for the worst. To be honest, I already missed Morgan Batman but Wojciech’s performances couldn’t and shouldn’t go unnoticed. A very smart piece of business from Sabatini. Credit to whom credit is due. Bravo Walter.
Of course, once the giant Pole returns, Morgan will be relegated to the bench again. After all, Wojciech is 13 years younger and very motivated to participate with Poland at Euro 2016. Plus, he’s still on loan and eager to prove himself to both Arsenal and Roma. Not only Wojciech but also Roma can and will benefit from this. Maybe even already in January when Roma open negotiations about his contract with Arsenal.
Luxury
If he keeps up this form, Wojciech could easily beat Morgan’s 72 appearances. And why not aim for Antionoli (102 games) or Doni’s (149 games) numbers in Italy while he’s at it? After Morgan, Julio Sergio and Stekelenburg, it’s time to hand over the keys to the young guns. As long as De Sanctis plays a part in the Coppa Italia and some less meaningful Serie A games, I’m as ‘happy’ as Pharrell Williams.
If Roma somehow fails to end in top 5 this season, it won’t be the fault of itss goalkeepers.Of that I’m certain. Roma never had this much luxury in goal. And then we’re still forgetting about a certain Bogdan ‘man cat’ Lobont. The youth and elderly brought together.
Bless those 3 Guardians.