Roma is in crisis: Genova score four past Mourinho and co.

“The result is always important. I always say it is better to win than to play well, but the truth is that it is easier to win if you also play well” said Jose Mourinho ahead of a trip to Genova, to face the newcomer in Serie A. And is right, but his team tonight did only one thing – played well. And off course, in football, it’s not enough. And especially tonight it was not enough as Genova thrashed Jose Mourinho’s team 4-1. The situation was so ugly, that Roma legend Francesco Totti, who came to watch to game left his seat 10 minutes from time and left the stadium. Before this game, Mourinho’s teams had a combined goal difference of 13-1 (Inter and Roma) against Genoa, but tonight everything fell apart. And what it worse, this is just the beginning of the season.

This is Roma’s worst start of Serie A campaign since 2004, and in Mourinho’s third (and maybe final) season in Rome, he has assembled the strongest squad yet, but recorded three defeats from the first six games. Roma is currently two points about relegation zone with the third worst defense in the league. Empoli conceded 13 goals (7 from Roma last week), Sassuolo 12 and Roma has 11. Last season, Mourinho’s men had the fourth best defense in the league, but it’s his strongest weapon that is killing him right now. Anybody can score against Giallorossi, and that was always Jose’s biggest advantage, but now something’s wrong and he will have to figure out what quickly. Genova played tonight like a typical Mourinho’s team – ugly and defensive, but used their chances and scored four goals from the only four shots on target. A perfect scoring ratio of 100%! On the other hand, Roma played offensive, was very agile, but failed to break down Genova, apart from that one goal. They played well, but cannot accept those kind of goals.

Albert Gudmundsson took a surprising lead in the fifth minute, but Roma responded quite quickly when Spinazzola made a superb cross and Bryan Cristante’s header leveled the score in the 22nd minute. And that was it from the guest. They had the advantage, Mourinho at one point had five forwards on the pitch, but they couldn’t find the net. The young Argentinian Mateo Retegui scored a beauty just before the break, while Lukaku’s equalizer was nullified due to offside. Morten Thorsby secured the win after a corner 15 minutes from time before Junior Messias came from the bench to humiliate the guests in the 81st minute.

SERIE A - MATCHDAY 6

Tuesday

Juventus - Lecce 1-0 (0-0)

/Milik 57/

Wednesday

Cagliari - Milan 1-3 (1-2)

/Lovombo 29 - Okafor 40, Tomori 45+2, Loftus-Cheek 60/

Empoli - Salernitana 1-0 (1-0)

/Baldanzi 34/

Verona - Atalanta 0-1 (0-1)

/Koopmeiners 13/

Inter - Sassuolo 1-2 (1-0)

/Dumfries 45+1 - Bajrami 54, Berardi 63/

Lazio - Torino 2-0 (0-0)

/Vecino 56, Zaccagni 75/

Napoli - Udinese 4-1 (2-0)

/Zielinski 19 pen, Osimhen 39, Kvaratskhelia 74, Simeone 81 - Samardzic 81/

Thursday

Frosinone - Fiorentina 1-1 (0-1)

/Soule 70 - Gonzales 19/

Monza - Bologna 0-0

Genoa - Roma 4-1 (2-1)

/Gudmoundsson 5, Retegui 45, Thorsby 74, Messias 81 - Cristante 22/