After Roma’s heavy defeat at the hands of Fiorentina on Sunday, the pressure on Ivan Jurić has reached a boiling point. The Croatian manager is under more pressure than ever to guide the Giallorossi to three points and take the first step in righting what has been a disastrous start to the season. Any less and we could see the Friedkins’ second managerial firing in just 10 match days.
There were numerous reports of heated arguments in the Roma locker room at halftime of Sunday’s match in Florence. Something Jurić confirmed during his prematch presser.
“Over the last few days there have been some arguments, and heated ones at that, but it’s better to have aired our dirty laundry already. The accumulated emotions over the last few days have been released - arguments and discussions have been had. We’ve steadied the ship, at least in terms of our mindset, in terms of what the team has to do, on what we have to focus on.
“In that sense I see it as a positive thing. Given my nature I favour this type of confrontation – having honest, head-on discussions, instead of making small talk behind the scenes. I’ll try to pick the best team possible with winning the match in mind. For me it’s all water under the bridge – we’re starting from scratch, sights set high, aiming to do well. Yesterday the players looked like they had the right mindset - they seemed assured. As I said, maybe it’s better for this to happen than losing 1-0 and continuing on as we were. It’s an important moment for everyone involved.”
Nevertheless, given his response, it doesn’t seem any of that confrontation will influence his line-up choices today.
There looks to be good news on the injury front as well as both Stephan El Shaarawy and Matías Soulé are again available. Additionally, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Artem Dovbyk, who missed time during training yesterday are both expected to start in the attack with Paulo Dybala.
There doesn’t seem to be much up in the air for this one in terms of starting XI outside of one central midfield spot where Enzo Le Fée seems to have the slight edge to start over Bryan Cristante to play alongside Manu Koné. There looks to be a consensus amongst the various media outlets in Italy over the rest of the line-up.
AS ROMA (3-4-2-1): Svilar; Mancini, N’Dicka, Angeliño; Çelik, Koné, Le Fée, Zalewski; Pellegrini, Dybala; Dovbyk.