Torino will hunt for a signature win that has eluded them in recent months, while Roma need all the points they can get to stay close to the pack as far as the race to the top four is concerned.
Serie A Week 29 – Saturday 8 April 2023 – Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino | Preview by Enrico Passarella
Torino
Torino are so on the fringes of the fray for a spot in Europe that they perhaps aren’t even truly in it. However, since nobody knows what will happen with Juventus, several clubs are vying for the position right behind them, and perhaps one will be rewarded at the end of the season. Fiorentina are the eighth-best side in Italy on paper, but they were lagging in the second half of the table in the first half of the season as they put more effort into the European Conference League and Coppa Italia. The Viola are streaking, but they are about to do that again, potentially giving an opportunity to outfits like Bologna, the Granata, Sassuolo, and Udinese.
Torino have been solid, and that’s the bare minimum for an Ivan Juric squad, although they are more finesse than grit compared to what he’s used to. They don’t lack physical players, especially in the back and on the wings, but they go without a purely muscular midfielder and a tactical no.9 or 10 in most matches. Being more gifted leads to more inconsistency, even though their ceiling is higher.
The underlying problem is that they have to start from scratch every summer since they constantly sell their best players or don’t keep those on loans with an option to buy. Even though they have been quite capable of replacing them, the newcomers and the demanding gaffer need time to get on the same page, so they tend to start slow. We’ll see whether the Serbian manager will be willing to go through the whole ordeal again or if he’ll move to a club where he could have more roster continuity. His contract is up in 2024, so he should commit and get an extension or jump ship next summer.
The rearguard has been excellent, but the losses versus Juventus and Napoli, where they gave up four goals in each, mar their overall numbers. Perr Schuurs is different but as dominant as Gleison Bremer, and perhaps more talented. Alessandro Buongiorno has flourished into a steady center-back, and he’s massive. Koffi Djidji is an ideal braccetto with his passing, even though he has lapses at times. They are exploring what they have in Andreaw Gravillon, who just joined, as they’ll need to decide whether to keep him past the initial temporary spell.
Their attack has been holding them back, as only six other teams have scored fewer than them so far. Their forwards have taken turns in having scoring binges. They have never had instances where multiple ones had it going. They prodded Antonio Sanabria for a long time but, now that he has indeed started scoring, Nikola Vlasic has fallen into a slump, and the other trequartista isn’t bringing much to the table.
Aleksey Miranchuk is their best option to round out the frontline, and he’s spectacular in interplaying with his teammates and has a feathery left foot, but he just returned from an injury, and it could be a while before he returns to form. Yann Karamoh had a great run in January, but he got hurt as well. Vlasic has also been on the mend for a few weeks. Those issues forced them to ride Nemanja Radonjic. While he’s on the verge of gliding past everybody and putting a curled shot in the top corner in most appearances, he’s highly intermittent and borderline annoying when he gets too stubborn with the ball on his feet. He showed tremendous mental fortitude in reacting to being yanked after just 14 minutes in the Derby. While his displays have been better after the incident, they haven’t been superb. The manager started that he’d tweak the hierarchy and test out consistently using a speedster, Karamor or Radonjic, and a passer, Vlasic or Miranchuk, in the next few games to try being more dangerous.
Substituting Sasa Lukic with Ivan Ilic could eventually pay off, but the ex-Verona midfielder is having an injury-riddled campaign, so their midfield is reeling from the loss of its best player, even though Karol Linetty has performed at a higher level than in the past, and Samuele Ricci has become an all-around contributor and is perfectly suited to his tasks.
This Atalanta-like scheme relies heavily on wingbacks, but their collective output has been only so-so. Wilfried Singo, who has the highest ceiling out of anybody, only recently bagged his first goals. The coach has been hot and cold on Mergim Vojvoda, who’s a strong crosser, for unknown reasons, often preferring Ricardo Rodriguez, who’s more of a center-back at this point of his career. Valentino Lazaro came back from a severe knee problem in the past game and looked fizzy. He’ll probably take over the left flank sooner rather than later, making the formation look less lopsided since it’s generally tilted to the right given Singo’s pull.
In recent years, top teams generally had a hard time facing and defeating Torino due to their fighting spirit and resilience. That hasn’t been the case this campaign, as they lost twice to Napoli and Juventus and once to Milan, Atalanta, Inter, grabbing their lone victory in this sense versus the Rossoneri back in late October. They still put up a fight, but perhaps they have decided to spare energy for matches they have better chances of prevailing, and they have indeed been more successful there.
Expected XI (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Gravillon, Schuurs, Buongiorno; Singo, Linetty, Ricci, Rodriguez; Radonjic, Vlasic; Sanabria.
Doubts: Gravillon/Djidji, Rodriguez/Lazaro, Miranchuk/Radonjic.
Injury Report: Karamoh (calf edema) – Probable; Vieira (thigh strain) – Doubtful; Ilic (ankle sprain), Aina (thigh strain), Zima (knee sprain) – Out.
Roma
Roma were so in dire straits that even a win against Sampdoria where they were helped by an early red card figures to be a healthy result. If Milan and Inter go on a little run, and they should have it in them given their quality and pedigree, the loss in the Derby risk being the decider in the Champions League race, especially because it gave Lazio a big boost. It’ll be tough to close the gap with the crosstown rivals, which not-so-gracefully bowed out of the cups to focus on Serie A.
Perhaps the Nerazzurri will never get it together and will continue sinking, and the Rossoneri won’t quit being seesawing, and the battle royale will go down to the wire. It’s hard to imagine any of the contenders being perfect the rest of the way considering their going so far. Surely, La Lupa can’t afford dispiriting losses like the one versus Sassuolo, where they just lost their identity. They’ll never have the most aesthetically-pleasing style, and, if they aren’t sturdy in the back, they have very little to lean on since their attack is chiefly predicated on extemporaneous plays by their attackers.
Georginio Wijnaldum has gotten into shape after a terrible injury. His rise to prominence, goals, and playmaking accentuated how much they have missed somebody like Henrikh Mkhitaryan. A midfielder of that ilk not only helps alleviate their scoring problem, and, more importantly, makes the team go and perfectly connects the line. The pairing with Nemanja Matic is ideal because they operate on two different levels on the pitch and the ball moves faster thanks to such combo. They are very committed to Bryan Cristante for his physicality and leadership and, if they go far in Europa League, the rotation will come naturally, but that’s their best duo.
The hopes of Tammy Abraham and Andrea Belotti turning the corner are pretty slim at this point, and finding a goal poacher will be their top priority in the summer. They both work hard, track back, and contribute in other areas, but it’d be way better if they could better take care of their main job and be lacking in other areas than the other way around. It’s not as if they lack assist-men that properly set them up.
José Mourinho turned to his beloved 4-2-3-1 from the start versus Sampdoria, which hadn’t happened since his early days in the Italian capital. It was largely a product of Gianluca Mancini, Roger Ibanez, and Marash Kumbulla all being suspended at the same time, making a credible three-man line hard to pull off. They do routinely employ such scheme when they need to score, but perhaps they should use it a little more often from the jump in easier matches.
They are deeper up front with the addition of Ola Solbakken and Stephan El Shaarawy being in a groove for multiple months. Nicola Zalewski needs some work on the defensive end, but the only way for him to improve is to star there regularly. Unfortunately, they are thin on the flanks with Rick Karsdorp going down with an injury, plus Zeki Celik seems to have fallen out of favor. They can ask El Shaarawy to play as a wingback but not as a fullback, so the go-to scheme won’t change, even though the positives would arguably outweigh the drawbacks. They’ll constantly be crossing their fingers nothing happens to Leonardo Spinazzola and his delicate muscles; otherwise, they’ll be down to bare bones.
With the first leg against Feyenoord just around the corner and more options thanks to the returns from disqualifications, a little rotation could be in the cards in this one. Chis Smalling is a prime candidate, and Diego Llorente has been strong in his recent showings. Paulo Dybala also needs to be handled with care, but he looked in top shape in the past game, so it might be Lorenzo Pellegrini, who continues to be nagged by small issues, who gets partially spared.
Expected XI (3-4-2-1): Patricio; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Zalewski, Cristante, Wijnaldum, Spinazzola; Dybala, Pellegrini; Belotti.
Doubts: Wijnaldum/Matic, Pellegrini/El Shaarawy, Belotti/Abraham.
Injury Report: Karsdorp (meniscus tear), Darboe (ACL tear) – Out.
Prediction
Draw – Under 2.5 Goals
