Party at Palermo: Roma wins 0-3

Before I begin, my apologies for this less than detailed review of Palermo. I'm not ashamed to say that I didn't watch a single minute of this match, but maybe that's the reason they won because I watched the Lyon tragedy from start to finish... Once again, my apologies for this voodoo.

Right, on to the island of Sicily. Spalletti rotated a bit (well, beter late than never) and gave starts to Grenier, Paredes, Rui and SES. Woj took back the gloves from Alisson as usual in serie A, while Emerson, Dzeko, Dani and Strootman were all put on the bench this time. I don't know Palermo's roster that well, but jeezs, some names I have never heard off: Fulignati, Cionek, Chochev, Lo Faso,... Such a downgrade if you could have a frontline of Dybala-Belotti-Cavani. There's a reason why they're on a relegation spot after all.

As I said earlier, I haven't watched the game so I leave the detailed analysis for Bren and co. And really, Roma won and that should be the best news of your day. After three painful losses in one week (Serie A, Coppa and EL), a win in Sicily was absolutely a must, whether it was with nice or ugly football. Napoli, Juve, Inter all won their games so as always, Roma couldn't fall behind. Three points, anything less would be considered a disaster.

And Roma did the job. SES scored his fourth goal, his first since the 4-0 against Sampdoria in January. Spalletti opted for SES up front and is more agile and unpredictable than Dzeko. Speaking of Edin, he also got on the scoresheet, albeit as a sub for Grenier, who didn't disappoint today and might be my next man crush since Borriello left town. Ahem, anyway, it was Edin's 20th goal in Serie A and his confidence seems back (for now). As we've seen so many times before: As Edin goes, so goes Roma. If the Bosnian Bomber scores, than Roma almost certainly wins the damn thing too.

Apparently there was a major Woj blunder and also Bruno Peres of all people scored a goal today, but those are details in the end. Guess what, AS Roma won a game in the hellhole that is March 2017 and we should be frikkin' relieved about it! After eight goals in three games, Roma also kept a clean sheet today. Okay, so Palermo isn't exactly a force these days, but a trip to the Barbera isn't always a walk in the park and history taught us that there simply are no easy games if Roma goes into freefall.

Now the team can work with a little less pressure and more focus towards Lyon next week. The goods news is that Roma now has four (!) home games in a row coming up. Lyon + Lazio in EL and Coppa respectively and Sassuolo + Empoli in Serie A. It should be doable to win ³⁄₄ of those, advancing in at least one competion next to Serie A.

Perhaps the schedule was just a bit too strenuous with three top games in the space of one week. It should be less stressful from now until at least April so let's see if last week was just a hick-up in the otherwise well-oiled machine of Spalletti. From what I've read they didn't play outrageously tonight and still managed to score three goals. When you only look at the numbers in Serie A it's not THAT bad: They won five of their last six encounters, scoring three (or more) goals in four of those games.

Make no mistake, they still got a chance to turn things around. They took the first step in Sicily, now they just need to repeat this scoreline on Thursday. Don't stop believin' - Journey.

Unless Roma happens again of course, then abandon ship.