Rome, defense with three and two points: Mou studies the revolution. But what happens to the attacking midfielders?
“It’s time to go back to work,” Mourinho wrote on social media on Monday. Paraphrasing: “It’s time to change something”. The cultural revolution in Trigoria with the advent of the Special One has already begun and although it may take longer than initially imagined managers, fans and the coach himself, the Portuguese nevertheless enjoys the esteem and total trust of all. However, the tactic will be combined with the cultural revolution. First evidence of change has already been in Venice. The result did not reward the Giallorossi, who came out defeated 3-2, but encouraging signs have arrived. And if the three-man defense on Sunday in Marassi will be difficult to repeat due to injuries (to date Mou has only Ibanez and Mancini available), the speech for the two strikers is different. Shomurodov and Abraham both found the goal against Penzo and even with Genoa at the resumption of the championship they could both be on the starting line.
The formation with the two strikers, however, knocks out as many attacking midfielders and if Pellegrini on Sunday is at risk only because of a non-optimal condition, the ones who worry more in the future are Zaniolo and Mkhitaryan who for different reasons are not becoming Mou si could. On Sunday, if the Giallorossi captain does not have the opportunity to play Nicolò as the Special One continues to aim despite only scoring one goal (in the Conference League) from the beginning of the season and often wrong the last choice. Paradoxically, Mkhitaryan ends up even further behind in the hierarchy of the coach and its sale in January is not excluded a priori if this trend is confirmed also in the championship days. In Trigoria with the new module, in fact, they would still feel covered thanks to the presence in the squad of El Shaarawy and Carles Perez, with the Armenian money that could be reinvested in the roles where Mou complains of shortcomings.