Roma's End-of-Year Fixtures Could Make or Break Their Season

“Maybe I was just too involved in the game,” Rudi Garcia told Sky Sport Italia after his team failed to beat Cagliari on Monday night. “This was an unexpected result. People often say if you can’t win, the next best thing is not to lose.”

The aggravated Roma coach had been sent to the stands during the game for getting a little too involved in proceedings, but even in his frustration, he made a crystal-clear point.

The Giallorossi had started their campaign at a record-breaking pace, winning 10 out of 10 and looking like they may take Serie A by storm. After a win against Chievo, they looked at the fixture list with a wolf-like hunger at the prospect of playing Torino, Sassuolo and Cagliari in succession.

Life has a tendency of tripping you up when you least expect it, and fans of the Roman outfit would not have expected picking up three draws and—more crucially—only three points out of these three promising games. Now Juventus have risen to the summit, and a dark sense of foreboding is gathering in Garcia’s camp.

Roma are now one point behind "The Old Lady," and although they are still undefeated and have only conceded three goals, the fixture list ahead still looks daunting. With recent injuries to Miralem Pjanic and Mehdi Benatia adding to an already substantial list, the buildup to the winter break now has become a different beast.

Roma’s next game is a tricky away trip to the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia to take on Atalanta. The side from Bergamo are coming off an away defeat to Sassuolo, but don’t be deceived. Atalanta have won three out of their last four home games, including victories over Udinese, Lazio and Bologna. They also drew with Inter.

Roma then host Fiorentina, which on paper promises to be one of the games of the season. Fiorentina have also been a little bit sporadic of late with defeats in Udine and Naples, but Giuseppe Rossi’s goal-scoring form could frighten any team right now.

Rudi Garcia then takes his men to Milan for a trip to the San Siro. Despite the daunting sound of this trip, Milan are perhaps the team least in form, although the big games are always go against the grain. Roma will be hoping to have some key players back by this point.

Finally, they host Catania at the Stadio Olimpico, just before the winter break. This match will no doubt have taken a different shape due to the previous results, but it is still fair to say that with Catania languishing at the foot of the Serie A table, this will be the one game they will be convinced of getting three points in.

The fixture list may look daunting as the Giallorossi scratch their heads after drawing with the Sardinians, but there is much to smile about. As mentioned previously, they are undefeated and have players due back soon, plus they are not conceding goals.

Rudi Garcia already had the answer, however, for when the furious coach marched away from the game on Monday, he blurted a message that rang true like a bell at St Peters. “People often say if you can’t win, the next best thing is not to lose.”

They haven’t, and as long as they maintain this, they will still feel and look like title contenders.