Roma: Anatomy of a crisis
However, Roma’s season began to plummet at 4:25pm on November 26th, when a slap from Daniele De Rossi on Gianluca Lapadula earned him a red card and allowed Genoa to equalize with the penalty kick. The draw interrupted Roma’s streak of five consecutive victories.
From that day on they’ve won only twice (one with Cagliari on a controversial 95th goal), with as many draws and losses, and even bowed out of the Coppa Italia in their first match. According to reports, something changed between the players. Someone on the team took those lost points hard and called out his teammates.
Then there was the Radja Nainggolan’s video from New Year's Eve, which earned him a €100,000 fine, and an exclusion from their recent loss to Atalanta.
Shortly after the final whistle sounded on Saturday at the Olimpico, Nainggolan was on a flight to the Maldives. And like him so was De Rossi, Alessandro Florenzi and many others. Their escape from troubles will be short-lived as James Pallotta is holding a summit in London to discuss who to sell in January in an effort to turn the season around.