Marked for Erick Sánchez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Oct 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Sassuolo, and it could have been more.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Evan N'Dicka
12 goals and a season average of 7.51 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
A performance of 8.72 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Comotto, and the manager let it.
Loan watch28 Oct 2030
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Roma, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
The one thing Paulo Dybala could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Sep 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Parma, and it could have been more.
Market9 Sep 2030
Paulo Dybala wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Roma hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market9 Sep 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Sep 2030
AS Roma say no — this time
The offer from Avellino for Valerio Cinti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match7 Sep 2030
AS Roma make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AS Roma have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
A performance of 9.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.94, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Aug 2030
AS Roma say no — this time
The offer from Udinese for Christian Comotto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market19 Aug 2030
The phone has started ringing about Valerio Cinti again, and this time the name on the line is Modena. AS Roma are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad19 Aug 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch19 Aug 2030
“I did not go to Mantova to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Roma and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Paulo Dybala knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Dybala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jul 2030
Venezia come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Roma did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Roma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Loan watch15 Jul 2030
“I watch every AS Roma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Frosinone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market15 Jul 2030
The Robinio Vaz conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Napoli will make the call about Robinio Vaz this week. AS Roma have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market15 Jul 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matías Soulé’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad15 Jul 2030
A season on the outside for Erick Sánchez
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AS Roma has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Roma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
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Boardroom
The AS Roma production line keeps running
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Boardroom
The AS Roma board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jul 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market8 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Roma can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market8 Jul 2030
AS Roma say no — this time
The offer from Modena for Valerio Cinti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market8 Jul 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Roma have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad8 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Erick Sánchez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Apr 2030
Derby day misery for AS Roma
Losing 2‑3 is one thing; losing to Lazio in a derby is a wound that takes months to close.
Squad8 Apr 2030
12 goals and a season average of 8.13. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market8 Apr 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Niccolò Pisilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Roma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Apr 2030
279 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and AS Roma know what they have.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
AS Roma release $24.2M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The terraces8 Apr 2030
Everybody has an opinion about Paulo Dybala
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Mar 2030
Napoli take the derby
1‑2, and no way to dress it up. A derby defeat follows a supporter to work on Monday, and this one will follow him all week.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Tommaso Baldanzi
26 goals and a season average of 7.89 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match1 Apr 2030
AS Roma refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 63 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Apr 2030
278 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and AS Roma know what they have.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market1 Apr 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Paulo Dybala’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Mar 2030
Whatever happens, AS Roma do not lose
15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Evan N'Dicka is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.50 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
A performance of 9.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match16 Mar 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erick Sánchez. 1‑0 against Udinese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Mar 2030
The team sheet said everything about Paulo Dybala
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Paulo Dybala.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
One of those days for Manu Koné
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Mar 2030
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Mattia Almaviva, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Dec 2029
Matías Soulé is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.83 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Paulo Dybala was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Paulo Dybala gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match22 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evan N'Dicka. 2‑1 against Bologna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
A performance of 8.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch24 Dec 2029
“I watch every AS Roma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foggia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market24 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matías Soulé’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Dec 2029
A season average of 7.55 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market3 Dec 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AS Roma heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
A performance of 9.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match1 Dec 2029
Genoa made AS Roma work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.93, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Marked 8.85 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Evan N'Dicka named player of the month
The award goes to Evan N'Dicka, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Nov 2029
The longest week starts now for AS Roma
Beaten 3‑4 by Napoli in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Evan N'Dicka takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.72 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonio Arena, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Nov 2029
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Loan watch19 Nov 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Roma, and 3 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Roma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Marked 9.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
A performance of 9.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match27 Oct 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matías Soulé. 2‑1 against Pisa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Matías Soulé
4 goals and a season average of 7.46 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Shots: 13, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad29 Oct 2029
No hiding place for Wesley
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wesley, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Defensive actions: 37, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A one-man rearguard from Mile Svilar
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.86, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Marked 8.69 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match20 Oct 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Tommaso Baldanzi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS Roma.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad22 Oct 2029
7 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Loan watch22 Oct 2029
“I did not go to Pergolettese to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Roma and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Oct 2029
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Roma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match13 Oct 2029
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A performance of 9.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad15 Oct 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom15 Oct 2029
Nobody left the AS Roma dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Roma may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marash Kumbulla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Roma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.94 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch1 Oct 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Roma, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Jul 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market23 Jul 2029
Reggiana come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Roma did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Steven Benda again, and this time the name on the line is Venezia. AS Roma are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market23 Jul 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AS Roma will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market23 Jul 2029
The name of Matías Soulé keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS Roma say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad4 Jun 2029
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. AS Roma will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AS Roma heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Paulo Dybala in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jun 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Roma have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom28 May 2029
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad28 May 2029
101 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad28 May 2029
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Evan N'Dicka is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.46 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market26 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Evan N'Dicka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match24 Mar 2029
A 3‑2 win over Torino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Loan watch26 Mar 2029
28 appearances away from home and 15 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Mar 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Tommaso Baldanzi
22 goals and a season average of 7.76 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Roma may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
He is 20, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A performance of 9.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A performance of 9.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match17 Mar 2029
Three points for AS Roma, 2‑1 the final word against Venezia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Mar 2029
A season average of 7.72 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Erick Sánchez commits to AS Roma for another 3 years.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Marked 9.65 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Marked 8.88 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match3 Mar 2029
A 2‑0 win over Atalanta, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.