Why Fonseca is flawed in his inflexibility with Dzeko and Mayoral

Two themes have followed Paulo Fonseca around all season in his interactions with the press.

First is the fairly obvious debate of why Roma are still yet to beat a direct rival in Serie A this term. And second is why he still refuses to play Edin Dzeko and Borja Mayoral together.

Both questions reared their head again after a 1-1 draw with Atalanta. Roma were under the cosh for most of the match but were in the ascendancy late on, only to lack a certain something to go in for the kill.

Their attempts to do so gave a rare glimpse of Dzeko and Mayoral playing together, but only for about 10 minutes. For those who have been calling for this combination for months, it was all too little.

Fonseca attempted to explain why in his post-match interviews. The head coach claimed he didn’t like how Roma played when the duo were both on and said there wasn’t enough time to work on it in training anyway.

With the second statement, he may have had a point. But sometimes things unfold on the pitch that you can’t prepare for, and sometimes there has to be a response that may stray from what has been practiced beforehand.

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It was quite alarming that he was willing to pass judgement on the tactic from just 10 minutes – if that – of action. Fonseca seemed quick to deflect the idea that contrasted with his own. If he acknowledged in part that it takes longer to develop these ideas, then he shouldn’t have ruled it out on such little evidence.

This was another example of the almost stubborn nature of the coach that may play a part in costing him his job this summer. Had he been receptive to other ideas earlier, who knows how things might have changed?

Of course, the media’s fixation with Roma appointing an Italian advisor to Fonseca may have been a little too undermining. But even so, he seems to have refused some other ideas rather than taking responsibility.

His justification earlier in the season was that teams don’t change their style. On course for a seventh-placed finish in Serie A, are Fonseca’s Roma a good team? They certainly have some good players, but as a unit, that question can be asked.

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Going back to the concept of playing two strikers, Fonseca did have a decent explanation. He argued that it would have also changed Roma’s structure behind the two attackers.

But sometimes such instinctive switches are necessary. It is not as if Roma have been blessed with a consistent formation in the attacking and defensive midfield roles behind the striker. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jordan Veretout still looked to be not at full fitness, and the likes of Gonzalo Villar and Carles Perez – the former a starter and latter a sub – have suffered from loss of form recently. Perhaps Fonseca could have shown more flexibility to adapt in these circumstances.

Specifically, would pairing two strikers together have worked? Maybe it wouldn’t. (In one instance against Atalanta, for example, they both made the same movement to meet a cross rather than making differing runs). But at the most basic level, one is among the club’s greatest ever goalscorers and the other is enjoying one of the best ever debut campaigns for a Roma player in front of goal. Fonseca may have his principles but it simply has to have been worth more of a try than giving up after 10 minutes.

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Against Atalanta, Dzeko struggled to link up with the other members of the starting front three in the same way that opposite number Duvan Zapata brought his fellow attackers into play. The one aspect in which Dzeko did do well was the number of aerials he flicked on.

Sadly, Mkhitaryan and Lorenzo Pellegrini lacked the mobility to get on the end of them. Mayoral, on the other hand, has sharper movement and could have thrived getting into one-on-one positions. Instead, whenever Dzeko won a header, the ball tended to trickle out of play or to an Atalanta shirt.

Of course it is important for a coach to stand by their ideas. But sometimes they need to adapt, and this was an example of when it may have helped Fonseca to do so.

To his credit, he has reverted from his preferred ideas before, when he abandoned the 4-2-3-1 formation in favour of a 3-4-2-1. But in terms of playing two strikers up top, no matter how good they both are, it seems this is one thing Fonseca will never allow fans to see.

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