IN recent years, it has been hard to see any coherent planning behind the transfer strategy of AS Roma. They have sold some truly exceptional stars – Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah to name just two – then replaced them with less talented players, in many cases taking huge risks on the potential of unproven youngsters.
The constant changes to the coaching staff have hardly helped; Rudi Garcia, Luciano Spalletti, Eusebio Di Francesco and Claudio Ranieri have all been charge over the past three years, while an experiment with Spanish sporting director Monchi also failed spectacularly last season.
It seemed as if all that would continue this past summer when Gianluca Petrachi was appointed to replace Monchi and he in turn brought Paulo Fonseca from Shakhtar Donetsk to be the latest head coach of Roma. When Kostas Manolas – who had comfortably been the side’s best defender – was allowed to join Napoli, it seemed as if yet another season of turmoil awaited for the club’s long suffering supporters.
Chris Smalling arrived into that situation on transfer deadline day, and to be frank it looked like a desperate attempt to shore up what was almost certain to be a porous backline. The 29-year-old hardly landed in the Italian capital in the best of form, one of many Manchester United players deemed to have underperformed at Old Trafford for quite some time.
Fonseca: "We wanted an experienced, solid centre-back and that's what Chris Smalling is – he's quick, aggressive and has the right attributes to improve the quality of the squad."#ASRoma #LazioRoma pic.twitter.com/GMCYrrnDP4
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 31, 2019
Given the circumstances that surrounded his loan move, it would be understandable if Smalling struggled. Adjusting to a new country, culture, language and playing style is difficult enough already, but doing so with very little planning and jumping in after a last minute move only ratchets up the level of difficulty.
This being Roma, there would be other challenges too. Over the last few years they have been blighted by an “above average” number of injuries according to the Corriere dello Sport, and this term has been no different with Diego Perotti, Davide Zappacosta, Cengiz Under, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Edin Dzeko, Nikola Kalinic and Bryan Cristante all suffering serious ailments.
Yet rather than slump into crisis, the Giallorossi have somehow thrived, heading into this weekend sitting fourth in the Serie A table, looking down on Napoli, Lazio, Fiorentina and AC Milan. Fonseca deserves huge credit for that, but few players have performed as well this term as Smalling, the Englishman thriving amid the chaos in a manner nobody could’ve expected.
He scored his first goal for the club this week, arriving at the far post to tap home a corner in a 4-0 rout of Udinese, but it has been his work at the opposite end of the field that has been most impressive. Smalling has proven to be a perfect fit in Fonseca’s system, the high defensive line he employs bringing the best from the central defender as he explained in an interview with Roma’s official website earlier this month.
"In England quite often you have to deal with just one striker, so you’ve got your other central defender covering you – whereas often here you can be left two-on-two a lot of the time,” said Smalling. “There’s a lot more runs in behind being made too. So it’s definitely new challenges, which I’m enjoying – because I quite like a tussle and a sprint against the striker.
"How he wants us to play, aggressive on the front foot, are all things I think fit with my game – and they’ve been very encouraging in terms of showing us clips of what they want us to work on and how we can improve, so I still feel like I’m learning each day. So it’s clicking quite well.”
There is little doubt who is getting the best of those man-to-man duels either, statistics from Opta showing that no player has yet managed to dribble past Smalling, while his seven appearances thus far have seen him register 33 clearances, 12 interceptions and 11 tackles.
He has won 100% of the tackles and 72% of the aerial duels he has attempted, while also responding well to Fonseca’s demands to play the ball out from the back. Smalling – who averaged just 34.4, 40.4 and 43.3 passes per 90 minutes in the last three Premier League seasons – has risen to that challenge too, attempting 54.8 passes per 90 minutes and connecting with a career high 91.2% of them.
He unfortunately gave away a late penalty that allowed Borussia Mönchengladbach to equalise in a Europa League clash, but replays showed that rather than handling the ball, it had actually hit Smalling in the face. That has been the only misstep to date, his resurgence undoubtedly aided by a raft of former Premier League players joining him in the Roma defence.
Indeed, the back four against Udinese saw Smalling fielded alongside Davide Santon (Newcastle), Federico Fazio (Spurs) and Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City), but he has done equally well when flanked by promising young Italian Gianluca Mancini.
@ChrisSmalling can do everything!!! ⚽️ #UdineseRoma
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) October 30, 2019
“In training we are always chopping and changing the pairings to bring up different scenarios and partnerships,” Smalling said in that aforementioned interview with the Giallorossi website, going on to explain how staying in Rome during the recent international break had helped.
“It definitely gives you a chance to really work on how the coaches want the defensive line to be – with staying back, tracking runs, shifting across and everything else.” he continued. “When you’ve got games every three days, it’s hard to put that real training in – so the international break has allowed us to put a lot of work in, especially for those who weren’t here in pre-season.”
According to Italian transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio, Roma have seen enough to open talks with United over making his switch permanent, reportedly putting in an offer of €10 million only to be told the price would be double that amount. Sporting director Gianluca Petrachi told Sky Italia that "the relationship between the two clubs is great and if there are any possibilities, we are going to consider it.”
Given how Chris Smalling has instantly found his feet at Roma, they would be mad not to.
