The King of Rome

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26/04/2021
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Roma get let victory over Inter and step 3 points closer to title

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Dramatic end to the game between Roma and Inter at the San Siro as Pastore scored the winner from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute despite I Giallorossi being a man down for over an hour in this game. Firmino gave the away side a great start as he scored in the 3rd minute before Gnoukouri equalised for Totti's ex-team as Inter even took the lead 4 minutes later through Stanislas Tessier just 4 minutes after Roma's red card but Firmino showed great character (as would Brendan Rodgers would say) to score in the 45th minute and keep pushing pressure on the home side to grab a victory late on. It's a fantastic performance from Roma which puts them just 3 points away from the title as a win against Spezia next week would be enough for the Wolves to win their 3rd Serie A title in a row.

Yes! I couldn't believe the end to this game! We were under so much pressure from the fans after they were really unhappy with our loss to Manchester City midweek but we gave them complete reason to believe in us now, just 3 points away from another league title! I'm really excited for next week and I'll make sure the players are all ready for the game because we've already won two trophies this season and it would be amazing to get a third one in with 4 games to spare, especially considering our last few games should be really fun ones to play if we win the title early. I'm really proud of a lot of things the players have done this season and a league title would bring a perfect close to a good year; not great, but good.
 
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29/04/2021
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Roma win Serie A again!
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On a great afternoon at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma have won the Serie A yet again to make it 3 in a row for the club, a first in the club's history! The fans were ecstatic as they saw their players and club legend Francesco Totti lift the trophy in their own stadium and it was also incredible for them to see Totti wearing a jersey again as he stormed on the field with a Roma jersey under his shirt to celebrate with his players. It was coming since December 2020 and they've finally won a title that they've now basically made their own. Three times in a row is an incredible achievement and Roma might look to try and win it 6 times in a row to equal Juventus' record of most Serie A titles won in a row, as the record holders are currently in 4th, which could be one of their worst finishes from the past 10 years. This also marked Totti's 8th title with Roma since joining them back from Inter in 2018 as a manager and his 13th title since he started his managerial career, which is already an absolutely incredible record for a manager who started just about 4 and a half years ago.

What a day! I mean I just can't believe it! Well I can, we knew we were going to win the title today so we were looking forward to this game for the entire week but still, it's an incredible day. I ran on the field with my old school jersey on to celebrate with the guys at the end of the game because I was so happy I mean 3 times in a row? What a record! We're making history at this club with the team we have here and it's just incredible to think that we're now regularly getting Champions League football and league titles. I'm so happy to be here at this club, these are the moments I really cherish as a manager since I started and to be able to celebrate all that hard work thinking about tactics, drills for practices, and transfers, to see it all pay off at the end of the season is magical. This club is magical, those fans are magical and this stadium is magical and if I ever had doubts about whether I wanted to stay at this club or not, those are definitely gone. This is my home; AS Roma, is my home. What made me believe that even more was when the fans started singing "Totti is the King of Rome, our king" over and over again. Tears came to my eyes like they did on my last ever game for the club and it just made me realise how much I love this club.

 
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09/05/2021


It was a beautiful afternoon and a perfect day at the Olimpico for the season awards. After a long, hard season, all the players deserved this kind of attention and celebration from the fans. There's always a great buzz around the place when these awards come around because the fans just get so excited to see the players and see us lift the trophies we won as well and it's just a good time all around. First though, we were shown the Serie A table on the big screens:

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After a big cheer from the fans, clearly appreciative of our season with just one loss and having the best attack and second best defence in the league, awards started showing up on the stadium screens with the stadium announcer yelling out the players' names as the awards came up:

"And the Serie A Player of the Year goes toooooooooo Brunoooooo Migueeeeel Gens Luiiiiiiiiis!"

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"And now, coming in third place in the Serie A Young Player of the Year award, Abdouuuuuu Lahaaaaaat Diakhateeeeeee!!!"

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"Now our players in the Serie A Team of the Year award please give a big round of applause for Gens Luiiiiiiiiiis!! Robertooooooo Firminoooooo!! and finally, Kenedyyyyyyy!!"

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"Next up, please welcome Stephaaaaaan El Pharaohhhhhh and Roberto Firminooooooo for winning the Italian Media Italian Player of the Year award and the Italian Media Foreign Player of the Year award respectively!!"

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"And now, another big round of applause for both Juaaaaaaaaan Iturbeeeeeee and Gianluigiiiii Donnarummaaaa coming third in the Serie A Midfielder of the Year and Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year awards!"

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"Another warm welcome for the Serie A's top 3 goalscorers, all from Roma, it's Kenedy, El Pharaoh and Firminooooooo!! Also coming in the player with the second most assists in the Serie A, Bruno Miguel Gens Luiiiiiiiis! And the goalkeeper who conceded the least amount of goals this season, Gianluigiiiiiii Donnarummaaaaa!"

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"And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the Serie A, Manager of the Year... Is none other thannnnnnn Illlllllllllllllll Capitanooooooooooo!! Francescoooooo Tottiiiiiii!!"

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"Finally, we'd like to thank you all for coming and voting on asroma.com for your team of the season, player of the season, signing of the season and young player of the season, here are all the players who you voted for!"

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"And there we go, thank you all so much for coming and participating in this Awards ceremony, we'll see you all here next season or even before if you come for the pre-season matches, tickets will be available on asroma.com starting early July for next season! Thank you again, thank you to all the players who gave their all today and continue to make us believe in this club, we love you all! Il Capitano and manager Francesco, club captain Radja, top goalscorer Kenedy, everyone played a huge part in our success this season so thank you again and see you in a couple of months!!!"

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What a great end to the season, honestly. I know that very soon Sheikh Mansour will call me up to ask me to join Manchester City but both you and I know what my answer will be. I love this club, I love everything about it, so does my family, and I really don't have a reason to leave. I took a final lap with my daughter to see the fans one last time before we all went home and enjoyed our short holiday before next season and work even harder in the Champions League to try and win it again. Thank God for this opportunity and these fans, I really don't know where I would be if it wasn't for them and the Roma board who gave me a start as a player and trusted me enough to manage them today and I'm glad that they don't regret it. We worked hard this season for sure but didn't do enough at all and you can be sure that next season, I Giallorossi, the Wolves, AS Roma, will be on top of Europe again! FORZAAAAA ROMAA!!!
 
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10/05/2021
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There; here's a good way to end all those rumours about me leaving. The media didn't reveal my wages and clearly messed up the date of expiry for my new contract as shown above but that doesn't matter. Me signing a new deal even before the start of next season will give the board confidence in my abilities and will allow them to really trust me even more and the fans will be really happy, especially the ones who were genuinely worried about me leaving the club. Sheikh Mansour will be disappointed but I don't care, I'm at Roma to stay and until something goes horribly wrong if ever, I will stay with this club and make them the best in history.
 
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21/07/2021

Transfer news

With a big club like PSG coming in for him, he decided his adventure with Roma had to end. We got around 35 million euros in total for him which is a great deal considering Spalletti bought him in 2017 for just 8 million euros. He was a very solid centre-back for us who played almost every game but I just couldn't step in his way. I tried, but it was like the Salah deal, he felt like he needed a new challenge. Fair enough, I started to look for a replacement and a few days later, we had finalised a deal.

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Let's just say he has a Carles Puyol-esque look to him, which really can't be a bad thing. When the Roma scouts came to me to offer him to me, they looked quite excited and to be fair he is a really talented youngster. Forty million euros is a lot for sure but he has the potential to become the next Gerard Pique or Giorgio Chiellini so I'm sure it'll be a good investment in the future. I mean, the guy is just 21 years old and he's already got 6 caps with the Spanish national team and scored a goal, that tells you something. The fact that he's from La Masia as well definitely makes me think that we got a **** of a deal and we're very lucky that he played for Celta Vigo and not Barcelona when we came in for him, otherwise we could've paid a lot more. Arguably not the biggest signing of all time right now to replace Velazquez but he'll be worth it in the future for sure; plus, we've actually made profit in terms of transfers this season.

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23/07/2021

Pre-season update

Four wins from four games so far and we've still got 4 games until our first official game of the season but still 2 friendlies after that before the start of the Serie A. Very impressed with our results against Chelsea and Everton as they are two very strong English teams but we still managed to grab somewhat easy victories. Diakhate and El Shaarawy have been the highlight of the pre-season so far and I hope they'll keep this going as we go further into the season.

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What a legend. He actually has the legendary status to enter the Roma Hall of Fame and has played 298 league games for the club now, as well as 345 games in total. He's an absolutely incredible player that I've had the chance to play with for a long time back when I was still a player at Roma and to be his manager now is an absolute honour. Hopefully he'll stay in the footballing world when he retires and gets a coaching role here in Rome because I love working with him. I really hope he has an amazing season this season because it could be one of his lasts and he's just an absolutely immense midfielder. I have to go for his testimonial now, it should be a fun game against Stuttgart and nice to see some of the old players again like Edin and Mohamed.

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Well said, we honoured him. It was nice to see Mohamed to score for us again and see Leandro Castan in the team, he was an absolute legend here and such a solid defender back when he played for us. I'd say 4-1 is a very convincing victory and is definitely reflective of our excellent pre-season so far and hopefully we can keep it going and just hope for the best. Mason Holgate almost signed for us as well by the way, but because Joan Durán signed before him, we just didn't really need to sign him anymore so canceled the deal. Dejan is interested in a move to Zenit though so we might think about going back for him, who knows; with the board still leaving me with a transfer budget of about 70 million euros, I have a lot to work with if I need it.
 
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19/08/2021


I decided to train a bit with the players ahead of our first Serie A game of the season against Palermo in 3 days as it's always nice to get the boots back on again and participate in the training sessions. For some reason the only bips we had available were the Champions League ones we received from UEFA earlier this month as we're participating in the group stages but it's not a problem. Our pre-season was excellent to say the least and despite getting some injuries, we did really well and are ready for the new season.

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A very long pre-season but definitely worth it, we had some amazing games and overall only lost one and drew 2 which is an amazing record. The wins against Chelsea, Barcelona and Stuttgart were really good wins and it was also great to get a win against PSV as a revenge for last year's Champions League. El Shaarawy, Iturbe and Kenedy were definitely our best players during the pre-season and I hope they can perform that well in the opening game against Palermo because we could definitely use that kind of firepower this season; not that we need it that much since we scored 97 goals last season in the Serie A, but it'd be nice to do just as well or even better this year! Joan had a really good debut against Juventus in a big game for our season opener and honestly, I'll take a 2-1 win over Juventus any day. Now that Lazio are in Serie B (they didn't even get promoted last season, somehow), we kind of needed one team to have a big rivalry with and that's definitely Juventus so I'm happy to have gotten a win and that's our first trophy of the season (even though my emails are telling me we won a double with the FIFA Club World Cup which was last year? Weird). Defensively, we were okay in the sense that we could have really conceded a lot less goals, but 9 goals in 11 games isn't too bad I guess. I'm confident ahead of our game against Palermo and hopefully we can kick it off with a win and get all 3 points, let's go.

Transfer news

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Well, that's another one of our centre-backs gone to PSG. I can understand and it's not a big deal since we've got a youngster who came back from his loan at Leicester last season and is a very promising centre-back, plus Leonardo Berardi and also Lucas, so we should be good in that department. A bit annoying to see him leave for 3.5 million less than Spalletti bought him for at 32 years old, I couldn't expect a lot more money for him.

Injury news

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Just as I was talking about Lovren's departure not being an issue because we had a lot of young centre-backs as backup, Berardi gets injured. Great. He'll be out for the start of the Serie A season and so will be Roberto Firmino whch are two big blows to the team but I guess we'll live with that. Not much we can do now but tell the physios to do their best to get them back on their feet as fast as possible and we'll play our games with what we've got, which is still a lot of talent and quality thankfully. Just 3 days now before the first game of the season, let's do this.
 
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23/08/2021
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Solid victory for Roma in opening game
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Roma start off the year in a very solid way as they beat Palermo 3-0 with goals from Konoplyanka, Lazaar and Gens Luis. I Giallorossi have now won their opening game of the Serie A for the past 7 years, an incredible record that really goes to show how well they do in pre-season and how prepared they come into the Serie A. Luca Gallina, preferred to Javi Manquillo today, got the man of the match award and the young Italian right-back has definitely been a rising star in Roma's set-up and we can expect to see him in the starting line-up for years to come now as Totti is offloading his older players and promoting players from the Roma academy into the first team where so far they've all done really well.

Great way to start the season. I wanted a win and told the players to do whatever they could to get that and they did a marvelous job. Hopefully, we can keep that level of confidence and performance going as we go further into the season but I'm very happy with how we played and we were very dominant so even if in the next game we don't dominate as much, I'm sure it will stay be enough to grab us a victory. Eugene was playing for the first time in a long time because I felt like he needed some playing time as a key player in this team since he arrived from Barcelona and he fully delivered which is great to see. Lazaar and Gens Luis continue to perform, very expectedly, and I hope they can score even more goals in the near future to get us some points and build up a bit of a lead early on to secure 1st place this season again!
 
Not so surprised that Totti did reject Man C but what if Real Madrid comes knock in your door?
 
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29/08/2021

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A bit of an event-heavy month this August. Indeed, we had to play our first league game of the season, we have our second one later tonight and I also had to pick my squad for the next Italy games. On top of that, we had the Champions League group stages draw which was very crucial because we wanted a somewhat of an easy group in order to be able to maybe top the group and go through.

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I picked a solid squad for our games against Wales and Cyprus even though one might think they're not the toughest opponents we could get. With the World Cup next year, I want us to do well and secure qualification early on to just lose that kind of pressure and enjoy ourselves later on. Three very good goalkeepers in the team and even though it might seem like we have just two forwards, a couple of our midfielders can play there which should make it easier to rotate between games. A couple of Roma players in the team too and a lot of people criticised me for it but to them I say, I pick the best players and if Roma are the best team, you;re going to see a lot of Roma players in the squad.

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Literally 5 minutes after the squad went online, I got a call from Matteo who was really nervous and unhappy about the fact that I had left him out of it. Let's be honest, Manchester United have not been one of the greatest clubs in the past 5-6 years and even right now they're not doing that well in the Premier League; actually no, they're third with 4 wins from 4 so they're doing well but Matteo has been awful, averaging a 6.5 rating since the start of the season. I just told him straight and he seemed to understand and told me he'd do his best to get back in the line-up so let him do that, I love a bit of competition between my players.

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So for the first time since I came back to Rome, I decided to not fly to Monaco for the draw. It's always nice to take the flight and a bit of a time off and relax there but I wanted to experience the draw with the players so we turned on the TV, Daniele came next to me and asked me if I had any idea who we could land on and I just looked at him and laughed; as if I could do that! The draw started and we were the last team to be drawn as fa first seeder. Monaco came next, and looking at all the players they seemed pretty happy with that. We could have gotten a much tougher opponent so Monaco will be a challenging one but not an unbeatable one, which is good. Then came Sporting, then came Legia Warszawa. Overall, our Group H is a very good one. It gives us a great chance of going through to the next round and all the players looked quite confident after the announcer on TV thanked everyone for watching the draw. A lot of players actually feel very stressed about the draw but mine were completely fine and you know what, I really feel like we could top this group.

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So, a bit of a surprising move for a lot of people. Let's be honest here, the player who scored the winning goal in the World Cup final in 2014 was a free agent with no one coming for him, I really had no choice. With Firmino out injured, Nainggolan and Pjanic approaching retirement, we needed a bit of a backup centre-midfielder and I'm really happy we secured Mario Gotze as that midfielder. He's an outstanding footballer with incredible skill who will be incredible for us if he performs to the best of his ability which I'm sure he'll be able to do. He's a great signing and hopefully he'll perform.
 
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30/08/2021
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Goal-friendly Roma win again

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Another fantastic performance from Roma and a great debut for Mario Götze wearing the jersey numer 18 during the game as he scored his first goal for his new club since being released by Bayern at the end of last season. Lazaar scored his third goal of the season in as many games for Roma as the Moroccan captain continues his amazing start to the 2021/2022 season, with Roma looking to secure a 4th consecutive league title. We've now got the international break which should be a good time for the players to rest and enjoy themselves with their teammates and hopefully get a couple of good results, especially for Italy who face rather weaker opponents in their FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

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What a start to the season and Gotze what a start to his Roma career! I knew he would be a great signing and he's proved that today already! It's a really great result for the team though which takes us to the top of the league already ahead of the international break which is always a great confidence booster. We also have the best goal difference in the league and still haven't conceded one which is really pleasing. I'm excited for the games with Italy now where we'll hopefully get a couple of wins too but another good result for Roma and Lazaar has been absolutely brilliant, being our top goalscorer this season so far.
 
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06/09/2021

With 10 goals scored in just 2 games and once conceded, Italy have kept their 100% record with 5 wins from 5 games and have taken a huge step towards qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, taking place next summer in Canada. Italy's playing style under Totti has been very similar to the way he gets his Roma side playing and clearly that seems to be working for them and despite having a relatively easy group, not many people would have expected them to be that performant especially in front of goal given their last few tournaments.

Two great performances from us which put us in a really commanding position; it's no less than I expected but still very satisfying. With the next game against my former club Inter (which really isn't that emotional anymore), we're going to have to prepare well despite being at home. We've smashed them in our past few games and I'm confident we can keep that run going, especially considering the form that El Shaarawy's in right now both for club and country.
 
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11/09/2021
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Italian champions go down to 3rd after draw with Inter

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The big clash between Roma and Inter disappointed at the Olimpico, finishing 0-0. The highlight of the game was Roma's 4th clean sheet in a row and the former Serie A leaders have moved down to 3rd after Juventus and Napoli won their games in hand over I Giallorossi. Totti will feel like his side should have probably gotten at least one goal from the game after they manage 11 shots to Inter's 2 but they were just simply not efficient enough in front of goal. Pjanic was the man of the match as he controlled the midfield throughout the game and actually provided most of Roma's chances on goal but it just wasn't their day.

A disappointing result considering the amount of chances we got but still a decent performance. The fact that we were so dominant in terms of chances is encouraging but also tells us that we NEED to take those chances and score goals. At least we've not conceded in 4 games now and Miralem played really well today but I would've been happier with a win, especially because so early on in the season it's important to try and get a lead at the top, a lead which we lost since we now move down to 3rd. We have a Champions League game against Sporting next then we play Sassuolo so it'll be interested to see how we deal with all that in terms of fitness but hopefully we can get good results against them.
 
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15/09/2021
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Roma start Champions League campaign with yet another defeat

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In a very tense game at the Olimpico, Roma lost yet again in the Champions League as a throwback to their Champions League campaign last season, a year after winning the whole competition. With tough games against Monaco still to come, it's not putting Totti's side in a very comfortable position and gives Sporting a big advantage for later on in the group stages. Cristiano, coincidently enough, was the hero for Sporting as he scored twice in the first 14 minutes to give Sporting all 3 points.

What a terrible performance... When we drew with Inter, I knew something was wrong, I knew our momentum was gone. I hoped that the support from the home fans would help us in this game but clearly 60 000 fans weren't enough and we didn't get the three points. This strangely looks like our campaign last season and there is no way I'm allowing that to happen again because it'd just be ridiculous to get knocked out of the Champions League two years in a row despite having won the competition 3 years ago. I know the fans want that trophy again and to be honest so do I, Roma can become the best club in Italy if they win it again and can be on course to try and win it as many times as AC Milan and Inter. With our next game against Sassuolo now, I hope the players can pick themselves up from this and try to get a good result at least in the league.
 
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19/09/2021
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Roma concede first goals of the season but get all 3 points
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Despite dominating most of the game, Roma struggled to get a convincing victory and managed to get away with all 3 points as Lazaar scored twice to gift his side a 3-2 victory away from home. The two goals that they conceded were their first 2 goals conceded since the start of the season and Totti will be disappointed that the record is gone but still very happy about the performance as they got all 3 points. Roma stay in 3rd despite winning as Napoli and Juventus both won their games and I Giallorossi will need to work very hard to ensure that they can win their 4th Serie A title in a row at the end of the year.

A good performance all round despite conceding two goals. Stephan andAchraf have been immense since the start of the season and they've proved their worth once again today. I'm really happy with the way we're playing despite our loss in the Champions League midweek but we know how tough it is to come to Sassuolo, we've come here a lot of times in the past and since I became the manager here, we always had a hard time against them so I'm happy. Our next game is against our rivals Atalanta and again, they're also a team that we know is strong and capable of great things, especially against us so I need to get all the players ready to face them so we don't keep dropping points and try to come back at the top of the table. The earlier the better.
 
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22/09/2021
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Roma get close win over rivals to keep unbeaten run going

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A disappointing result for a team of our calibre. Actually, the result in itself isn't disappointing since we won and got all 3 points and went back to 1st with that win, but the way in which we won was disappointing. As a team who have now won the league 3 years in a row, fans and just the fooballing world in general has expectations of how we should play and today we were just way under those expectations for sure. We took the lead from an own goal I mean, come on! Our next match is against newly-promoted side Pisa Calcio and if whatever's on paper is right, we should get a really, really easy and convincing victory.
 
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25/09/2021
A fantastic performance AND result this time not only for us but for everyone who thought we didn't deserve to have won the league 3 years in a row. This game showed exactly why we've been so dominant in Italy in the past few years and I'm really proud of the whole team. One player I'm particularly proud of is Achraf; he's grown so much as a player since joining the club and he's currently our top goalscorer since I started playing him as a left midfielder. Nevertheless, he's always given absolutely everything for the team and it shows in every game whether he scores or not. Our next match is a crucial match against Monaco and I remember what it's like to go to Monaco to play from my playing days. It's not an easy place to go to, that's for sure...
 
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28/09/2021
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Roma finally impress as they crush Monaco away from home

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What a win! We were absolutely outstanding out there and fully deserved our success in Monaco. I thought that going there was going to be a really hard task so I switched back to our good old 4-1-2-1-2 formation and it worked to perfection. We were honestly so dominant out there and shut a lot of people up who thought we'd get smashed today. Now it's up to us to keep that form going and hopefully for the next round in the competition because I won't be able to take another knock-out this year. Next game against Bari, a much easier game compared to this one but we all know what small Italian sides are capable of (throwback to our Spezia Calcio games where we struggled to win so often). They've been doing okay in the Serie A so far but honestly, if we play as well as we did today, we should absolutely run away with that next game.
 
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03/10/2021
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Totti's Roma keep clean sheet and grab yet another Serie A win
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I wasn't expecting anything less from this game at all. An easy victory that really just shuts everyone up who thought that we weren't worthy of being top of the table. I don't understand how after 3 years of us winning the league, some people still think we're not the best team in Italy. I can already tell this formation change is going to change Stephan into a goalscoring machine again as he scored yet again today and Luca was outstanding, as he always has to be honest. Kenedy's also been a bit of an unsung hero in the past few games because he just scores and scores but gets no recognition. Don't worry though, I always congratulate him and laugh around with him during training, especially considering how easy training sessions are for him; he's honestly such a talented footballer and I can't believe how easy it was to buy him from Dortmund 3 years ago. I mean come on, in 98 league appearances he's scored 63 goals!!! Amazing.
 
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