How Jose Mourinho has worked his magic to make Roma a force again

Reuniting with trusty Matic, believing in Smalling to lead his defence and finally bringing the fans a player worthy of Totti’s iconic No 10 shirt… how Jose Mourinho has worked his magic to make Roma a force again

• Roma are closing in on a return to the Champions League under Jose Mourinho
• Mourinho has led Roma into Serie A’s top four and a Europa League semi-final
• The 60-year-old appears to rediscovered the desire to coach in the Italian capital

Roma’s rebirth is the result of the great work by Jose Mourinho, who has quietly strengthened the team he inherited two summers ago.

Despite Roma’s many difficulties, the Portuguese coach has had a magnetic effect to attract players with whom he had either received excellent reports of or that he had coached in the past.

Among the secrets of Roma’s upward curve is how Mourinho has been able to create a solid defence by deploying Roger Ibanez, Chris Smalling and Gianluca Mancini in a back three. Leadership of the defence has been entrusted to Smalling, the former Manchester United defender; one of the players Mourinho trusts to provide solidity and identity to his team.

Mourinho, who started his journey from Setubal without starting a single game in a top-level league, has managed to conquer the world from the bench. He has always been careful to create a dictatorial philosophy in every team he has coached in his career. The 60-year-old still commands his team, manages the mood of the fans and personally chooses the players on the transfer market.

Sometimes he makes mistakes, as in the case of Eldor Shomurodov, who is now on loan at Spezia. Sometimes he makes excellent choices, such as promoting Nicola Zalewski to the first team. Mourinho’s approach is worthy of the Eternal City and he finds himself in the perfect environment.

Jose Mourinho is reborn at Roma after challenging spells at Manchester United and Tottenham

Mourinho has turned to his former players like Chris Smalling to give structure to Roma

Mourinho initially found himself working with a team of only 14/15 players, requiring him to fill gaps in the squad with younger players like Edoardo Bove. 

He has achieved excellent results with these players and appears to have rediscovered the desire to coach without necessarily having stars in the team. 

Roma has been a great opportunity for rebirth for the “Special One”, who had become the “Normal One” after difficult spells at Manchester United and Tottenham.

What are Mourinho’s sporting miracles in Roma?

RUI PATRICIO

The experienced Portuguese goalkeeper is a reliable goalkeeper with around 15 years of experience as a starter. Patricio has had mixed performances but in the last two seasons he has earned the Giallorossi team between five to eight points with match-saving stops. 

His role at Roma has always been transitional, because Mourinho strongly wanted to sign the young goalkeeper Mile Svilar, who he considers as the heir to Patricio. When the Portuguese player’s contract expires next year, Svilar will become Roma’s new No.1.

In Serie A, Patricio has played all of Roma’s matches to date and has provided calm to a team that in the past had panicked when faced with moments of pressure. The former Wolves goalkeeper deserves credit for Roma only conceding 26 league goals this season. 

Patricio has been repeatedly compared to the Portugal great Victor Baia, despite the 30-year-old not having the ability to match one of the greatest goalkeepers in Latin football history.

Rui Patricio has made several match winning saves since joining Roma from Wolves last year

NEMANJA MATIC IS ROMA’S WASHING MACHINE

Mourinho’s greatest intuition was to understand how the former star of Benfica, Manchester United and Chelsea could still be instrumental in Serie A.

At almost 37 years old, Nemanja Matic is still a top player capable of improving the performance of the midfield. The Serbian giant has freed Lorenzo Pellegrini from his defensive tasks and has allowed Mourinho to play Georgino Wijnaldum without unbalancing the team in attack. 

Matic is like a washing machine: he cleans the dirty clothes and returns them clean to Pellegrini and Wijnaldum. He has allowed them to support Paulo Dybala without ever losing sight of the opposing playmaker.

Roma should look to clone Matic because his influence is increasingly reduced but at his age he has been one of the few midfielders in the Italian league to conquer the role of “old midfielder” in a defensive role. 

Matic is still more effective than plays better than Manuel Locatelli despite being about 10 years older. This should make Juventus reflect on their decisions in the transfer market in recent years.

Nemanja Matic has provided defensive steel to Roma’s midfield despite his advancing years

DYBALA DESERVES TOTTI’S NUMBER 10 SHIRT

Dybala is a player with physical limitations, which make him unable to play between 40 to 45 games a year as a starter in a top club like Juventus, Manchester City or Liverpool.

But he has of qualities that allow Mourinho to use him with excellent results, even with limited minutes. When Dybala is at 50 per cent fitness he still manages to be decisive. The Argentine deserves the number 10 shirt of Francesco Totti, the King of Rome for 20 years. Perhaps Dybala deserves to become the team’s symbol player in the immediate future.

Mourinho managed to seize the right moment to buy him without competition from the top European clubs, who had been frightened by his injury record. Today he is worth at least €45million (£40m) to Roma.

Roma, who have waited for him without ever forcing recovery times from injuries, continue to show their trust in him. Even if no one, including Mourinho, ever doubted Dybala’s qualities in the first place.

With the support of Mourinho, the special environment at Roma and beauty of the city, Dybala has found himself again. His contract will never be a problem but it needs to be improved and lengthened to prevent some top club from deciding to steal him from Mourinho’s team.

Mourinho has given Paulo Dybala with a platform to star despite suffering injury problems

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