Player Ratings from Roma’s Last Minute Win Over Cagliari

The Starters:

Alisson (6.5) - The Brazilian had a quiet and relaxing evening in the Eternal City. With not much interaction with Cagliari (only 3 shots and none on goal), Alisson worked up a sweat only in the pre-match warm up.

Florenzi (7.5) - Alessandro took control of his side, but couldn’t connect with willing enough bodies to find the back of the net. His dribbling, at times, made a few onlookers shake their heads in disbelief. Lil’ Flo really should’ve gone all the way on Shick’s chilena pass. It’s not Christmas yet, I guess.

Manolas (7) - With a game of no nonsense defending, Manolas kept the rear free of problems and ensured Alisson a nap here and there.

Fazio (8) - Obviously Roma’s defenders can take all the credit for today’s win. Fazio played Cagliari with no mercy and had the only goal of the game. The keeper made an error and our favorite Argentinian defender capitalized. Thanks, Mr. Federico, You saved our grits.

Kolarov (7) - Kolarov provided, again, a well executed performance on the left. He found space and didn’t allow any funny business. He played all 96 minutes with intensity.

Nainggolan (6) - His time on the field was, to me at least, cut too short. Raja didn’t have a spectacular game, but kept pushing the Giallorossi forward.

De Rossi (6.5) - Daniele registered two shots on goal and kept the center orderly. The captain worked well with Radja to keep our boys in possession and on the attack.

Pellegrini (5.5) - He didn’t do much besides a few, decent (2) tackles. He wasn’t the partner Florenzi and the right side needed to get more tallies on the jumbotron. Also, his touch was spotty at times.

Schick (5.5) - Firstly, you don’t get many rating points for chilenas unless a) you score b) it’s an assist. Sorry, dude. He wasn’t too sharp tonight. I refer to his two most notable schoolboy errors. 1) The winger ran into Dzeko, completely stopping his run, and revealed later that he forgot what team he was on. 2) He leapt INTO Kolarov’s free kick. I felt embarrassed for him.

Dzeko (6) - The biggest contribution on the night: falling down. He registered two shots and fell on his ass. We got a PK and we did nothing with it - not his fault. Edin’s night was something hardly to celebrate. His runs were poorly timed and seemed confused when the ball was given to him.

Perotti (6.5) - For all that’s good and holy, please stop the cute, “deceiving” walking PKs. The shock value is officially over. It’s not middle school any longer. Totti -god, rest his feet- needs to knock this horrible habit out of him. However, Diego deserves credit for a well played game. His dribbling and work with Kolarov was devastating on the left. He registered 4 shots and was a royal pain in Cagliari’s ass.

Substitutes:

El Shaarawy (5.5) - He came in with fresh legs at the 72nd minute for Pellegrini. Shaarawy gave Florenzi a bit more solidity and worked harder going forward that the youngin’ he replaced. Unfortunately he had very little impact on the game.

Strootman (5.5) - The Stroots replaced Radja on the left at the 80th minute. He didn’t get to contribute like he would’ve liked. He was obviously fired up, but needed more time to burn Cagliari.

Ünder (5.5) - Not at all relevant, but he looks like a Turkish Dybala. I was so tranced that I couldn’t properly rate is ineffective time on the pitch.

Coach:

Di Francesco (6.5) - Evidently, he didn’t learn much from his draw against Chievo. His strategy of vomiting shots on goal, without any intention of scoring, won’t be enough to see us through the road ahead.