Vitesse-Roma 0-1 and Udinese.

Painful game. Vitesse played better and only a great Rui Patricio kept Roma's clean sheet. Then Sergio Oliveira invented the goal in a scrum in the area. Sergio is like this: insufficient for most of the game, sent off in the 70th, he scored a very important goal. Vitesse played a game very similar to many games in Roma's past: they attacked, they found a very good goalkeeper, they missed a goals as disgraiti and in the end they lost. Roma suffered in particular in the first half with construction and in the recovery of the ball. When we are pressed, we have to pass forward, even with the long throw. In the first half of the second half, helped by the substitutions, Roma improved, but then the red card came for Sergio Oliveira and, from that moment, Roma only defended and held up 0-1. Roma often score from a free kick situation, but today, due to the precarious situation of the pitch, it was also predictable.

Mourinho said he sees a more pragmatic and less naive Roma. From what I have observed, with Mourinho compared to Fonseca, there is a greater commitment. At one point, Abraham and Pelle ran like mad to catch up on the Vitesse point guard (Tronstad): I don't remember such a thing with Fonseca. We need to improve in the recovery of the ball in midfield and in the construction against pressing, but we are on the right path.

For a strange game of fate, in the middle of the double challenge against Vitesse's double-headed eagle, we go to Udine which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918 and then to the Habsburgs who, as we said in the last article, have a double-headed eagle.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a great power of the 18th, 19th century, an oligarchic power as was Tsarist Russia and present-day Putinian Russia, which lost its power with the First World War, coinciding with the birth of the great Nazi-fascist totalitarianisms in Germany and Italy, illegitimate grandchildren of the Nietzschean superman. Then throughout the twentieth century, the word power was linked to the military aspect. The USA and the USSR (which later became Russia) were considered the two great superpowers of the Cold War because they had the best armies. Peace was generally maintained because clicking on the atomic bomb button by one country would have meant the other’s response and the end of humanity in a few minutes.

Over time, wars have transformed. They have naturally become unconventional. Close to the military aspect, the media aspect, public opinion has taken on more and more importance. Until the case of the war in Vietnam, where public opinion in general around the world and in particular in the US led the Vietkong to win the war. But in the case of the war in Ukraine, there is another actor perhaps heavier. We have said that Putin's Russia is an oligarchy and therefore public opinion has little weight, but the Russian oligarchs are keen to maintain their well-being and of this they are well aware of Europeans and Americans who have decided on very heavy sanctions for Russia and specifically for the oligarchs.

In the context of the unconventional wars of the twentieth century, the fate of this war seems to be decided by the economic aspect. If the strongest armies are the USA and Russia, the two universally recognized great superpowers are the USA and China and the USA and China must mediate for Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainians and Russians have to sit around a table. The meeting in Turkey between Kuleba (Ukrainian Foreign Minister) and Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) was already a good principle of dialogue. But it is absolutely essential that the US and China sooner or later come to a table.

Globalization does not even allow us to think in watertight compartments and this is also true for the economy. History and conditions also economic no longer allow a cold war with two economies in the world but everything branches and intertwines, as if a tree represented mankind. For a future of peace and harmony, this must be the normal solution

Turkey has shown good will for peace, but China, Europe and the US need to make the Russians and Ukrainians think about the two republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and about Crimea. If this were Russia's request, it would be quite reasonable. The main road is always the same: trust and good will.

Roma must also show good will in Udine to play more as a team and to build better from below. Talk more to find the hole, trusting your partner. Always keeping in mind the quality of Udinese, capable of equalizing with Juve, Lazio and at San Siro with Milan.

Gabriele Cioffi is a young coach with a lot of potential. He deploys the 352 in a very proactive way that can become 3412 in the attacking phase with Pereyra as an attacking midfielder. They do ball construction on the ground and often pressing, mainly from a goal kick.

Pereyra is the captain and the charismatic leader. Very good at overlapping Molina on their right side, our left, to then cross. Molina, the right back, asks for the give and go and then starts quickly on the right. He is good at assisting and shooting.

On the left side they attack with Success (if he were to play) which overlaps Udogie. Success primarily seeks the shot. Udogie can look for the cross, but he is also good with the volley on assists from their right, our left.

The most talented player along with Molina and Pereyra is the Spaniard Deulofeu: a great dribbler, good at shooting, but especially he likes to try the assist. Specifically, he is insidious when he starts from the left to go towards the center, to look for the shot, but he can also play on their right, our left, mainly to look for the cross.

They defend by zone on the corner with a few man to man and then try to attack on the counterattack. They have different corner kicks patterns. They do not look for a direct cross, but they play two or beat the short corner anyway to get the defense moving.

Good will and trust must guide Rome and the intermediaries in the peace negotiations. The path of dialogue is the right one. Roma took the road to victory. Daje Roma!

Giordano Sepi