One of the most difficult jobs of a manager is finding the right mix of players after a quick turnaround—especially after a match that went 120 minutes and penalties. Those European matches can take a great physical, mental, and emotional strain on players. And even though the Giallorossi should be feeling good about themselves after dispatching Feyenoord in European competition for the third straight season, those grueling minutes still take a toll on the body.
“The team is fine from a mental perspective, and very well in terms of passion. When you win a match with that kind of pathos, the sense of satisfaction remains, but some physical strains will linger too.
“We ran and played for so many minutes, which we’ll pay for in some way. Some choices will need to be made. Honestly, I don’t know what to say yet. Yesterday we did very little. Those who had not played pushed a bit harder and those who had played 120 minutes did little to nothing. This afternoon we’ll see how everyone is in training.”
As De Rossi pointed out in his pre-match presser, he will have to evaluate on a player-to-player basis ahead of Monday’s match against Torino at the Olimpico. Torino may not be Inter or Juve, but the Granata, under the guidance of Ivan Juric, has been solid this season and will be tough to beat for a tired team. Thus, De Rossi will have to find the precious balance of injecting some fresh legs into the line-up without disrupting the consistency the team has built up in his seven matches in charge.
“There will definitely be some changes. I don’t like rotation when you make 10 changes, as I’ve said many times. But there is a significant difference: an extra 30 minutes on the pitch and penalties, which still carry an extra emotional and physical stress.
“We will evaluate the situation today. So often I’ll say to you today that we’ll see about the line-up but maybe I already know it. Today I do have to see – it’s one of those days when I want to see how the players are and how they respond. Yesterday I talked to almost all of them, to understand their state, beyond the enthusiasm whereby they’ll all say: ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m not tired.’ I need to understand if they are able to cope with a very demanding match, like all the matches you play against Ivan Juric’s teams.”
With that being said, we should expect some changes to the line-up. It won’t be wholesale changes, as clarified by De Rossi, but four to five changes from Thursday’s lineup seems likely. One place where there won’t be a change is in goal, where Mile Svilar has taken the bull by the horns in claiming the starting goalkeeper job over the last few weeks.
There is some debate over who will start in front of him. De Rossi didn’t comment on many specific players in his presser, but one name that did come up is Chris Smalling. The Roma CT is weighing between starting the Englishman and subbing him off after a set amount of minutes or bringing him off the bench to build up his fitness.
“[Chris] Smalling is fine – we know he can’t do 90 minutes. We are trying to see if we should sub him on or start him and then bring him off after X minutes. We are evaluating that. But he’s fine, he’s training with the others, he’s fine in his movements – it’s an evaluation we’ll conduct over the next few hours”
We tend to think that De Rossi will steer toward the latter option against Torino and maybe start Smalling next weekend against Monza. After Diego Llorente took a knock to the head on Thursday, he will sit in favor of Evan Ndicka. Other defensive players who will also likely be rotated out after Thursday are Leonardo Spinazzola and Rick Karsdorp in favor of Angeliño and Rasmus Kristensen.
In the midfield, there will likely be one change with Edoardo Bove spelling Bryan Cristante, who played 120 minutes. The other change could come in an attack where Romelu Lukaku may cede his starting spot to Sadar Azmoun for this one.
No matter which way De Rossi approaches the changes in this one though, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him try and sub out some of the players who aren’t being rotated out. So, players like Houssem Aouar, Tommaso Baldanzi, and Nicola Zalewski should all see some action as well.
ROMA (4-3-3): Svilar; Angeliño, Ndicka, Mancini, Kristensen; Bove, Paredes, Pellegrini; El Shaarawy, Azmoun, Dybala.