Ranieri Reflects on Loss to Alkmaar: “We had the game in our hands, and we let it get away from us.”

Sir Claudio didn’t hold back when discussing Roma’s struggles against AZ Alkmaar this evening.

Despite their sluggish start to the season, Roma remained alive and well in the Europa League, sitting firmly in the middle of the 36-team table ahead of today’s Matchday 7 fixture against AZ Alkmaar. While a victory over their Dutch adversaries wouldn’t have guaranteed a spot in the Round of 16, it could have potentially helped the Giallorossi avoid the anxiety of the playoff rounds, where 16 teams (placed 9th through 24th on the table) vied for one of the eight remaining spots in the knockout round.

Claudio Ranieri’s side played a lot of pretty football this evening but came up empty-handed, as more often than not, the combined trickery of Paulo Dybala, Alexis Saelemaekers, and even Matías Soulé went for naught in Roma’s 1-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar.

Given that the match itself was light on highlights, we’ll jump straight to Ranieri’s post-match presser—though the highlights themselves are embedded at the bottom of this piece.

From the official club site:

What were you most disappointed with this evening?

“The fact that we mostly controlled the game and yet the other team won. It’s a shame because conceding a goal like that – from a throw-in – is hard to take. It can happen but it shouldn’t happen.

“We played well and created lots of openings but our opponents have got all three points having spent the match defending. We had the game in our hands and we let it get away from us.”

When AZ scored their goal, there were six AZ players against four Roma players. It’s not the first time Roma have conceded a goal like that, especially away from home.

“That’s what we’re like. Not good. Clearly, we’re not smart enough, not streetwise enough. We make some incredible mistakes. That’s our takeaway from a game we were in control of. But that’s football: we weren’t able to score. [Mile] Svilar didn’t have any saves to make. We tried everything but, at the end of the day, had no end product to show for it.”

How did the two midfielders get on? Could Manu Kone perhaps have been a bit more attacking?

“He definitely could have. He wasn’t supposed to carry the ball up the field – I told him not to do that – because they’d then have attacked us with two or three players. They could foul us, and the referee might not blow for it. That’s why I asked them to move the ball around quickly then play it forward. But we didn’t play it forward very much.

“We did much better in the second half, with [Matias] Soule. But ultimately, we did this, and we did that, but we did nothing. It’s a shame because it was a good performance. The team played well but what have we got to show for it? Nothing. They’ve picked up three points with minimum effort. It’s really disappointing.”

Did you perhaps need more players getting up into the box?

“Maybe we need to be a bit nastier, a bit more determined. The funny thing is we got three, four, five players up in the box, and this time, we moved the ball around but weren’t able to get decent shots away. It’s such a pity because we played well. Now try telling someone we lost 1-0…”

This was a remarkably candid reflection from the 73-year-old manager, who didn’t pull punches when describing his club’s struggles this evening in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, Roma’s failings this evening—an inability to create and/or finish clear-cut chances in the final third—aren’t tied to any particular tactical approach or failure on Ranieri’s part. Roma just seems to turn in clunkers like this periodically—it’s almost as if its coded into the club’s very DNA.

Ranieri’s task ahead of next week’s do-or-die fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt—and even before this weekend’s league fixture against Udinese—is to figure out a way to de-clunk Roma’s approach in the final third, if you will. Whether that means playing more directly through Dovbyk, putting Dybala closer to him, or even trying an entirely new formation, Ranieri can’t rest on his laurels; this type of profligacy tends to linger.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. A win next week against Frankfurt will ensure Roma qualifies for the Knockout Phase playoffs, keeping the Giallorossi’s European dreams alive for another few weeks.