What AS Roma Must Do to Become a Dominant Force in Italy and Europe

A lot has changed at Roma in the last few seasons, but the Giallorossi still have a mountain to climb. If they're to establish themselves as a genuine, long-term force in Italy and abroad then they'll have to break a powerful hegemony that has dominated Italian football since the mid-20th century. 

Juventus, Inter and AC Milan have won all but 13 Serie A titles since 1950. Roma, Lazio, Napoli and Fiorentina are occasionally too good to ignore, and once in a lifetime a side like Vujadin Boskov's Sampdoria or Osvaldo Bagnoli's Hellas Verona surprise everybody, but by and large the Scudetto has found its home in Milan or Turin. Upsetting that balance of power will be anything but easy. 

Currently, Roma are in contention for their first title since 2001, but the league is still Juve's to lose. Rudi Garcia is close, but then, so was Luciano Spalletti. If the Giallorossi are to make that final step up to the podium's top spot, there's work to be done. 

Adding the Finishing Touches

This isn't the first time this has been said here, but it bears repeating: Roma need a regular goal scorer to rely on. Whether that's Mattia Destro or someone else, the Giallorossi must find a centre-forward who can be counted on to score regularly.  

Roma have a wealth of talented midfielders and dangerous, energetic players out wide. Creativity isn't a problem. Completion is.

Looking at the statistics, via whoscored.com, Roma lead the league in possession and successful passing but don't make the top five when it comes to shooting or the top 10 when it comes to individual goal scorers.

Unlike Juventus, who can count on Carlos Tevez to find the net regularly—his 13 strikes account for 31 percent of their league goals this season—Roma's most effective forwards have been Adem Ljajic and Destro, two players who don't even start every game. 

Last season, the collective approach worked to a point, but only Destro managed double figures. Gervinho's prowess took everyone by surprise, especially given the torrid time he'd endured at Arsenal, but expecting goals from a player who is brilliant at almost everything apart from finishing isn't the best tactic. 

As no less an authority than Francesco Totti put it last year (as reported here in English by The Independent's James Orr): "If Gervinho could finish, then he would be like Cristiano Ronaldo and Roma would never have been able to sign him."

This Roma squad has the potential to be devastating in attack, but too often they fall at the final hurdle. Adapting their game to accommodate a single-minded, almost selfish striker up front might take some work, but being able to rely on a dogged, physical, ruthless presence in front of goal would be worth the effort. It's not for nothing that Romanisti everywhere are still nostalgic for the heady days of Gabriel Batistuta.  

Restoring Solidity

This might just be down to injuries, but if Roma are to be successful in the short term, they'll need to rediscover the intensity and concentration that was a signature of their football in 2013-14. The Giallorossi do need a proper centre-forward, but scoring isn't their only problem. They're also giving away too many early—and easy—goals.

Compared to last season, the Giallorossi are scoring less and conceding more. That needs to change. It's never been Garcia's style to blitz teams early on, but the marked difference between this season and the previous one is that, last year, they never allowed their opponents to take charge of the game in the opening minutes.

During Garcia's debut season, Roma were incredibly tight defensively—something that allowed them to be extremely patient at the other end. In their opening five games last season, they scored 12 goals but never found the back of the net in the first 45 minutes. 

Their solidity at the back allowed them to be composed and patient going forward. They wore opponents down mercilessly and methodically before finishing them off, but the execution was more "Lingchi," death by a thousand cuts, than firing squad. 

Some people have pointed to the loss of Mehdi Benatia to Bayern Munich as the main cause for this, but Leandro Castan's unfortunate absence is at least as significant. Both were omnipresent last year, and losing that consistency in such a vital area is always going to hurt.

Add that to Maicon's injury problems and the fact that Garcia has had to juggle Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Kostas Manolas and Davide Astori, and there's an obvious issue with continuity and understanding at the back—not least because of the five new arrivals in defence last summer, only Astori speaks Italian. 

That said, football is a holistic game, and it's the whole team, rather than just a couple of individuals, who are responsible for defensive errors. It's unfair to judge defenders or goalkeepers too harshly if the midfield and forwards in front of them are giving away possession, or switching off, at key moments of a game. 

Garcia clearly knows how to motivate his squad, and with a full roster of fit players, things would almost certainly be different. Injuries, suspensions and international tournaments are all part of the game, however, so if Roma are going to become regular contenders at home and abroad, they'll need to learn how to cope better with these inevitable challenges. 

Building That Winning Mentality 

This is obvious, but a winning mentality is a huge part of every dominant team. The great Ajax, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid sides that have dominated the game have all done so not only because they had brilliant players, but also because those players expected to win. 

Antonio Conte built that mindset at Juventus, and though he's since moved on, it's still evident with the Bianconeri. They win even when they shouldn't. Like Alex Ferguson's United or Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, even when they're off the boil, they rarely look like losing. 

A trophy could be transformative for Roma. Winning big—the Scudetto or the Europa League—would be huge, but even a Coppa Italia title would provide a strong foundation upon which they can build, not least because the memory of the 2013 final loss to Lazio still lingers. 

Diego Simeone used the Europa League as a platform upon which to build Atletico Madrid's assault against Spain's traditional powers. European success, even in the continent's second competition, was a huge boost for the ambitious club.

It gave them confidence, and the Copa del Rey victory the following year made them bolder still. Then, when it came to the latter stages of 2013-14 and they were still in the Champions League and the race for La Liga, being at the top almost seemed normal. Roma need to make winning routine. 

Stadio Della Roma

The new stadium, as profiled here by Bleacher Report's Will Tidey, should be a game-changer. And not only because owning their own ground will increase matchday revenues significantly. 

Nowadays, perception is everything. Ask an average football fan about grounds in Italy, and they'll tell you that attendances are extremely low and that they're dangerous places to be. These are popular opinions, and perhaps not entirely untrue, but in the case of Rome's Stadio Olimpico, they come with serious caveats. 

Leaving aside the current media fascination with a tiny violent minority, and the socioeconomic element at the core of Italian football's problems with violence—that's an article for another day—most clubs in Italy are seriously restricted when it comes to policing their fans because they don't have much of a say in surveillance or policing at matches. Owning their own ground will, hopefully, give them greater influence on crowd control and how offenders are punished. 

As for attendances, Roma's average this season is just above 41,000 a game—more or less equivalent to Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City. But whereas those English clubs play in smaller grounds, the gargantuan Olimpico looks empty unless it's a complete sell-out. And even then, Italian fans' inclination to huddle, and the ham-fisted security measure of leaving large blocks of seats unsold, tends to make some areas look almost deserted. 

Images of a full, peaceful stadium should do wonders for Roma's image abroad and make the club far more marketable. Profits from the gate, and the concession stands inside, will bolster profits overnight, but longer-term it will be this image change that has the power to really revolutionise Roma's finances. 

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